i have always loved swimming. it's a wonderful way to get exercise, but also, once you get warmed up in the pool, it's imperative that you get to the deep end and do somersaults in the water. this is a must; to remind that you used to do this in the womb. And there can be quiet space in the world. And that you can hold your breath for longer than you think.
Yesterday, my friend Raj and I were talking about time, space, religions, the origins of life. He talked to me about Brahma, which i know very little about. How there is an idea that we all spring from the same thing. That everything comes from the same thing. That our lives are like droplets of water that briefly get sprayed out from the flow of the Big River and that we eventually return to that from which we have come. I liked this idea alot. It made me feel peaceful about alot of things in the world. And I usually don't feel peaceful. I wake up tense these days. Like alot of people, I read the news first thing in the morning and spend the rest of the day, either literally, or metaphorically, with my head in my hands--worried that we are creating Hell on Earth for ourselves. (Why are there still ads for Hummers? Seriously. Who is still buying these things?)
I joined the YMCA of Central Maryland on Monday. They granted me a scholarship so that I could afford the membership fees and I'm grateful for the opportunity to belong to a pool that I can use every day of the week and get my swim on. I used to swim The Mile in college, which is less of a race and more of an endurance thing. My coach would stand on the side of the pool and yell things like "Putchinski, where is your fast twitch? Use your fast twitch kick and get MOVING!!" I was a slow mile-r, but I did always finish. It's a long race and very meditative. Some people do it fast the whole way. I paced myself at a medium speed I could handle and then for the exhiliration of it, I would sprint the last 2 laps. I want to get back up to some speed and power and stamina to be able to swim it again. I know there is a race here in Maryland where people swim the length of the Bay Bridge in May or June. I would like to try that swim one of these years. Also, I had a free meeting with a personal trainer and he helped me map out how I could achieve each of my fitness goals. He laughed, but said he would help me achieve even my most important one: that i wanted to have the kind of "abs" where I could take a punch and it would hurt the person's hand a little.
This weekend, I watched a Ewan McGregor narrated documentary about the MOTO Grand Prix races with super fast bikes and daredevils driving them. It was good. Very good. Too fun to watch. Those dudes are fast and now we have the technology to strap very tiny cameras to the wheel base and experience what it might look like for an insect clinging to the wheel base of these loud, fast, wonderful machines.
Granted, they aren't hybrids and they use all kinds of crazy fuel and it's dangerous. But WOW, to watch those guys lay down, practically on their sides, while going 70-110 mph around corners...then getting up to full speed, going 197mph.....198mph....199mph. I can't even imagine that thrill. It's thrilling just to watch.
Yesterday, my friend Raj and I were talking about time, space, religions, the origins of life. He talked to me about Brahma, which i know very little about. How there is an idea that we all spring from the same thing. That everything comes from the same thing. That our lives are like droplets of water that briefly get sprayed out from the flow of the Big River and that we eventually return to that from which we have come. I liked this idea alot. It made me feel peaceful about alot of things in the world. And I usually don't feel peaceful. I wake up tense these days. Like alot of people, I read the news first thing in the morning and spend the rest of the day, either literally, or metaphorically, with my head in my hands--worried that we are creating Hell on Earth for ourselves. (Why are there still ads for Hummers? Seriously. Who is still buying these things?)
I joined the YMCA of Central Maryland on Monday. They granted me a scholarship so that I could afford the membership fees and I'm grateful for the opportunity to belong to a pool that I can use every day of the week and get my swim on. I used to swim The Mile in college, which is less of a race and more of an endurance thing. My coach would stand on the side of the pool and yell things like "Putchinski, where is your fast twitch? Use your fast twitch kick and get MOVING!!" I was a slow mile-r, but I did always finish. It's a long race and very meditative. Some people do it fast the whole way. I paced myself at a medium speed I could handle and then for the exhiliration of it, I would sprint the last 2 laps. I want to get back up to some speed and power and stamina to be able to swim it again. I know there is a race here in Maryland where people swim the length of the Bay Bridge in May or June. I would like to try that swim one of these years. Also, I had a free meeting with a personal trainer and he helped me map out how I could achieve each of my fitness goals. He laughed, but said he would help me achieve even my most important one: that i wanted to have the kind of "abs" where I could take a punch and it would hurt the person's hand a little.
This weekend, I watched a Ewan McGregor narrated documentary about the MOTO Grand Prix races with super fast bikes and daredevils driving them. It was good. Very good. Too fun to watch. Those dudes are fast and now we have the technology to strap very tiny cameras to the wheel base and experience what it might look like for an insect clinging to the wheel base of these loud, fast, wonderful machines.
Granted, they aren't hybrids and they use all kinds of crazy fuel and it's dangerous. But WOW, to watch those guys lay down, practically on their sides, while going 70-110 mph around corners...then getting up to full speed, going 197mph.....198mph....199mph. I can't even imagine that thrill. It's thrilling just to watch.
1 comment:
This Universe is but an eye
in the lotus which grows from
the umbilicus of Brahma and sometimes he blinks
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