I placed third at the Dunsmuir Games in the C class last weekend! Good stuff.
If you haven’t tried the ‘Games, you should. Google “Highland Games” and your state’s name. There are bound to be some nearby. At the very least, go watch. They’re a blast!
Here are a couple of pics of yours truly on his worst event, the Heavy Weight For Distance (56lbs):
And one of the crew, C’s and Master’s:
My client said this to me the other day.
Josh, he said, “I realized that I’ve been trying to catch up with the past.”
Wow, I thought. That’s deep.
The more I think about it, the deeper it gets.
How far down does the rabbit hole go?
First, I guess, you need to decide what this means for you. For me, it means that there are places and things that I keep trying to get to that are based on ideas I had in the past. They aren’t current. It’s like trying to go someplace with a map of a different area. Some of the streets have the same names. You might get somewhere. But you won’t get where you want to be, because you aren’t admitting where you really are.
Where in your life are you trying to catch up with the past? Where are you doing things based on old ideas of yourself, or hopes or dreams you had years ago, instead of dealing with yourself in the present moment?
Once I started to think about it this way, a lot of things came up for me. I’m still trying to learn this lesson – to drop old ideas and start from right here, right now.
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Two recent comments/commentaries struck a deep chord with me.
The first was in an email from Tony at TrackersBay, a local group devoted to primitive survival skills.
Tony’s email had a very salient point. To provide my own interpretation of his message, his point was that we’re only truly part of an environment that we actually take part in.
Most of us take a very limited part in our local environment (aside from leaving waste in it). As Tony points out in his email, even if we’re very active in our environment, and taking part in community supported agriculture, or growing our own “victory gardens,” we’re still not participating in the environment-at-large.
For those of us in cities, the type and extent of participation we can get is limited. However, that doesn’t reduce its importance. Many of us can still get into contact with our local environment with a little effort. Find a local tracker organization in your area, or a local hiking and hunting group, and go on a few trecks. Start making dandelion wine, hunting for mushrooms, and fishing in your local streams (provided they aren’t polluted) for food.
The second message came to me from Erwan Le Corre’s most recent blog post. Erwan asks the question – “Fit for what?”
That is, what is it we’re getting fit for? Erwan says that we should be getting fit “to be strong, healthy, happy and free,” and that our ultimate goal should be to “explore our inner nature.”
I couldn’t agree more. So many of the messages we receive from the world of fitness are related to fitness as “fitting” a certain image, or expectation, of being “fit” to perform (what? our desk-jobs?), or of being “free” from fear of death from all of the dangers out in the world.
No messages of joy, exuberance, or the exploration of the miracle that is our own unique life as part of the Whole (well…there are a couple I can think of, but none that are “popular”).
Go read Erwan’s blog. Hook up with an Exuberant Animal trainer. Play with kids at the playground and forget about rules. Read Eckhart Tolle’s book “The Power of Now.” Explore your world and yourself, through movement, through communication with the world around you.
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My good friend, brother, mentor, and fellow Exuberant Animal, Mick Dodge (a.k.a., The Barefoot Sensei) has begun his thousand mile trek across the state of Washington, delivering the Exuberant Animal “antidote” to everyone he meets.
Mick Sets Off!
Check out Mick’s progress and photos on the EA blog – here.
Yoish Mick!!!
Mick, trying out huaraches
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Well, this is my hundredth post. I’m surprised I’ve written so much! I hope that some of it has been useful to my readers.
I just want to use this 100th post to announce a new effort. One of my primary interests in exercise are the basic functions of the human being. How do we do what we do?!
To me, this question is of primary importance to anyone. It encompasses anatomy, physiology, biology, evolution, chemistry, physics, psychology, etc. While I won’t go into very extensive detail, I hope to outline basic concepts of human function that are accessible to anyone, and that add to the reader’s understanding of themselves.
If that knowledge leads to more action, great!
Within each post, I’ll relate the topic in question to exercise and overall health.
You will be able to find all of the posts in this series under the heading “The Human Body.” Please let me know how you feel about these posts. If they’re too full of jargon, or too dense, I can cut them back. If they’re not informative enough, I can fix that too.
Thanks for reading!
Intention is key in life. Knowing what you’re trying to do, specifically, leads you to the path of success more frequently, and with greater speed, than haphazard attempts will.
Don’t forget intention. Carry it through your daily life as much as possible. Do things intently, and intentionally. Practice using intention, and you’ll get better and better at it. This is something you can do all the time.
I just realized that I’ve never posted about the gym I train in, DIAKADI Body!
This place is the greatest gym I’ve ever had the honor of working in. It’s got all of the toys I love, the owners and staff are super-nice and happy people, and the trainers are incredibly diverse, knowledgeable, and exuberant people!
I’ll post a few pics of the gym later…
I love training here. No one looks at me sideways when I start having people crawl all over the place! Thanks for everything DIAKADI!
I’ve been leading a play-based “bootcamp” (let’s call it a “foot camp” from now on) going on four weeks now, and it’s AWESOME!
First off, what is a “play-based foot camp?” Well, the easiest way to describe it is this – go to the playground and watch what the sweaty kids are doing. That’s what we do, plus some! We play a lot of the games highlighted on the Exuberant Animal site, as well as some more traditional games, and some other, new activities.
As many know, and everyone in the camp is starting to find out – play-based exercise not only offers all of (if not more than) the strength, endurance, and awareness benefits of “regular” exercise, but is also FUN!
We’ve been playing like there’s no tomorrow. The highlight for me, so far, was last week, when we had six people – three adults and three kids – playing duck-duck-goose. The way we made it fair was by making the tag/chase a bear-crawl! That made it challenging enough for the adults that they were on par with the kids!
Something else happened Friday that I have to mention – I got stung by a bee! Actually, I stepped on one when we were playing a game in a clover-patch. Poor bee! But MAN, that hurts! I can’t remember the last time I was stung by (or stepped on) a bee…it’s been a while. No wonder little kids cry!
I really just want to say thanks to everyone who has come out to the camp these past four weeks, and has made it such a wonderful, enriching experience for me. I hope that you’re getting as much out of it as I am!
For anyone who wants more information about the camp, contact me, and I’ll be happy to speak with you about it.
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I just got back from a trip to Kalamazoo, Michigan, to visit my family and attend my grandma’s 89th birthday celebration. It was awesome!
While I was there, I got to go sledding with my nieces, who are 6 and 10, my sister, and my fiancee Mary. We had the best time sledding down the snow-covered hills, and then sprinting back to the top.
When it was all said and done, everyone was totally wiped out, and starving! Mary remarked on how hungry she was.
Sledding is one of those types of play where you just don’t realize how hard you’re really “working.” You’re also challenging your stabilizing musculature, running uphill on a slippery, uneven surface.
So if you’re in a place where there’s snow – GO OUTSIDE AND GO SLEDDING! Go every day! Have fun! You might end up with washboard abs in the process!