My Moving Meditation

It felt strange to attempt a sleep-in; by the time I realized I might as well get up,  good ol' iphone revealed I already lost an hour.  Got into my gear,  with a light windbreaker for cool air, and headed out past the park, the sun already cresting trees.  Still breaking in the new Flows,  and recovering nicely between some decent runs.  Surprised at my own resiliency in the midst of all the high drama at work.  The gods clearly conspired to give me a breather, however.  Yesterday clients canceled, and today, no quarters for laundry.  I have a personal policy to always, if at all possible have 1 day NOT to go anywhere, not to drive.  Driving is very stressful for me, and I am a bad commuter.  I drive like I'm maneuvering through a pack of runners...but I digress. 

Warm-up walk to my start point up the road, curving around and through quiet Emerald Hills to pick up the big Griffin loop and a few areas I haven't seen in a while.  My pace, which waxed and waned for a while, seemed to relax into it's own steady rhythm, and the shoes clearly helped;  I could gather those moments,  like precious pearls,  when I forgot I was running and lost track of 'self' while I was clearly entirely focused on ideas, things in my mind.  Amazing though I always seem to notice the landscape.  Is it an automatic pilot? Learned muscle memory?  If you are a good enough runner,  can you just forget about 'the run' and use it as a platform for other experiences?

My jacket was off within a mile,  the chill air tickling the warm surface of my skin, heated by the sun.  Even in so-called winter,  the sun in south Florida is always warm.  Somewhere I heard that humans are ideally suited to an environment between 70-90, moist and warm,  where life flourishes...welcome to SoFlo.  Solar medicine, as I think of it, is also my anti-depressant, my Vitamin D.  I am moving along at my turtle's pace,  thinking of nothing and everything going on,  and being healed on so many levels, in so many mysterious ways.

Fab pit-stop at Publix,  back on the roads, cruising through the trailers and back around to my neck of the woods,  patting myself on the back for 'job well done.' 

I was rewarded with the gentle nudge Mother Nature seems to give me when I'm outside,  to notice something or other;  and as I approach the park,  the light came bouncing through the southern oaks and begged for picture-taking....resplendent with happy light, refracting down the spanish moss, reaching out to embrace me, congratulate me, thank me for noticing.  Yes, as I begin my walking/cool down,  where ever I find myself,  there is a moment of astonished satisfaction, and as if all Air, all Light, all gravity, earth, spiritual forces propelled me along and celebrate my accomplishment.  As good as any finish line.  My moving meditation.