Morning Meditation

I was back at the pool this morning. I had some work to do at home but still made it in by 6:50 a.m. There is something surreal about driving through pitch black darkness at -24 when the snowbanked streets are still semi-deserted, hair wet from the shower and stuffed under a toque, sipping my first cup of coffee in a travel mug, all to go strip down into a bathing suit and launch my half-awake body into not quite warm enough water. 

Having set the bar at 50 lengths yesterday, I settled in to my routine pretty quickly. I only did a couple of legs-only lengths before my arms got into the action. My shoulders tight from sitting at my desk yesterday, I felt the need to move them. I laid back and listened to my breathing and to the upbeat music pumped through underwater speakers, counting lengths like a meditative chant. I quickly reached the halfway mark.

Setting a goal and testing yourself against it whether it's a fitness benchmark, a skill or a carpentry test is an important part of growth. If you apply yourself to something daily, you're bound to get better, as I'm sure my friend Catherine Gillespie at almost daily paintings would attest: http://catherinegillespie.blogspot.com/

All around me in the other pool lanes were people working on their own set goals, each at different levels, some holding onto floats, others equipped with goggles and bathing caps in full out race mode.  All of us working alone, but somehow in solidarity. It reveled in being a part of this early morning club of individualists.

Then I noticed something funny happen around length 46. I got impatient to reach my number 50 and had to actively slow myself down to just enjoy the feel of the water against my body,  relax into the rhythm of steady movement and breathe. At 48, I wanted to slow down even further, not ready to be done for the day. So instead I met my goal at 50 and pushed myself that little bit further to reach 60 lengths.

That might not sound like much to some, especially since I'm still using flippers as support to get me there. But remember, in November I could not move at all without extreme back pain and I had to force myself to stay still for almost a month and a half. My muscles lost all those benefits of summer hiking in the Yukon, long beach walks in Ucluelet and Tofino, city walks around Vancouver streets. A simple feat like walking the dogs on leash was beyond me.

Now I'm coming back full bore. Nothing can stop me.

surfergrrrrrl, signing off