Soul Food...

"Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you." ~ Oscar Wilde


Balance. I am constantly striving for balance in life. Body, spirit, mind. So far I'm not doing too badly on the body and mind part. I have a set schedule of work now - important when you work from your home. And I am working out regularly - also important when you don't have a race schedule and are no longer calling yourself a triathlete.

What I have been lacking in, sadly, is the spirit part of the equation. Okay, so I practice mindfulness throughout the day. It still doesn't touch me deep in the root of my soul. Rather, it's a constant reminder that I need to go deeper...

One step I took to remedy the situation was to return to my beautiful sangha. I hadn't been going as I hadn't been in town to go, but I knew I was needing a good dose of meditation - not to mention the energy my sangha brings.

So I went. And I sat. It was heavenly. Only one problem there though...it would seem that I only sit (ie sitting meditation) when I'm with the group. Here's the silly thing - I know it brings me great peace and it feeds my soul/spirit, and yet I don't sit on my own! Why is this?? I have done it before, but I never seem to keep up the practice.

Therefore, I'm going to put this out there, I am going to bring my sitting meditation time up to 2-3 times a week. There, I wrote it so now I have to be accountable for it. This means one night with the sangha, and two more times ON MY OWN. (Gulp.) Oh, and I'll just confess right now that I though about sitting meditation a lot this week, but never managed to get it done. Hopefully the accountability thing will work. Wait, that doesn't sound too committed does it?

Anyways, the other method of feeding ones soul, at least my soul, is with yoga. It had been so long since I've been to a class that when Keith's wife, Linda, asked if I wanted to join her, I jumped at the chance. The class was held in a wonderful little space in an area that one would think least likely to find a yoga space. I was curious how this would all unfold.

Of course as soon as I walked in the room and saw all the Buddhist statues, especially Avalokiteshvara, I knew I was in the right spot.

The moves our Yogi, Helen, had us doing were exactly what I needed to work out some issues both internally and externally. It was pure heaven. I'm actually going to be going back again this Friday for a class and, mindfully, can't wait! I'm also going to try out one of the local yoga studios in my wee town this week. One of my pool mermen, Garney, mentioned the class is on Tuesday nights, so I'm going to attend this week!

There you have it. Soul food. Without it, one cannot strike a balance in life. At least I can't.

Peace out my beautiful friends.