Quantifying Workouts & the Human Machine

It's interesting to me how much we tend to quantify things at the gym. "How many reps should I do?" "How many minutes do I need to be on the treadmill?" "How many calories did I burn?" "How many pounds have I lost?" While the numbers do have a certain amount of importance, I find focusing too much on them takes something away from the experience.

Feeling my body moving and doing is exhilarating. Knowing all parts from the synapses firing in my brain and the fibers in my muscles making limbs move to the my heart pumping blood to provide more oxygen to my lungs and body is nothing short of miraculous.

So while it is important to keep track of one's progress, the “mindful workout," I try to practice, feeling ALL parts working in harmony, is incredible. It reminds me that I am a complex biological machine capable of infinite things.

Kenshō

The other day I had one of those "timeless" kenshō moments. I was walking from the kitchen to the dining room with my lunch soup. I felt “hyper present” like every step was almost eternal. Not in length of time but more like each step was moving through everything all at the same time. In those kenshō flashes I have the overwhelming sense of an understanding and belonging to everything. I can feel everything. It always gives me an overwhelming sense of centeredness and calm. The troubles and cares of the day and life drop like loose clothing. I feel totally unencumbered and peaceful.

In that flash nothing had any of the importances we assign them. There was no stress or concern. It’s a vulnerable sensation, but one that also feels comfortable.


For past kenshō blog entries and a better understanding of it, visit the links below.

Kenshō and Satori

Kenshō - Wikipedia

Satori - Wikipedia

60 and Act III

The approach to 60, albeit a year and three-and-a-half months away, is really having profound (that word is so cliche nowadays) effects on me. Some I can literally feel happening daily. I can go to bed one day with a certain feeling or way of thinking about some thing, someone, or some place only to wake up the next day ready shed that thing, person, or situation. The thing is, thouhg, I have no regrets about that sometimes-daily “culling”. The importance of people, places, things, and beliefs is changing rapidly. It would be easy to say it might seem a bit frightening not knowing what’s ahead. Yet I know for certain those holes being created are going to be filled with much more meaningful things; calm, “solid,” mindful, and centered things that are going to make Act III deeply rewarding and meaningful.

Appearance of Being Alive

"That seems to me the great American danger we're all in, that we'll bargain away the experience of being alive for the appearance of it."

— Mike Nichols

I've always been a very vivid dreamer. Sometimes I can have as many as three, four, or more dreams each night that I can clearly remember the next day. To explore the themes, patterns, and meanings of my dreams I've started a blog to record them. It's both fascinating and fun.

Click the image above to visit the blog.