From a number of posts I can see that some of us at Treeleaf are runners. On Saturday afternoon I sat Zazenkai and then the next morning I went for a two hour run (2hrs 9 mins & 11 secs - to be precise - these things matter to runners :roll: ). As I plodded through the streets, on that early Sunday morning , out into the countryside, along the river and back up that big hill (which defeated me at 1hr and 54 mins 
), I was struck by the simularities between the two experiences, i.e:
- the time it takes to settle into ones stride
- the feelings of elation (oh - this is great - out into the fresh air, time to myself)
- the feelings of despair (oh - bloody hell, another hour to go and I feel dreadful)
- the persistent thoughts that run around in my head (what is this pain in my right side?)
- witnessing the beauty of the world (cheerful fellow runners, nature, birdsong, the smell of wild garlic in the woods)
- witnessing the grottyness of the world (traffic, noise, dogs mess, rubbish)
- and best of all stopping, that wonderful afterglow of no longer having to run or sit .
Anyway - just noodling.
Best wishes
Jools
ps - I will let you know my half marathon time at the end of the month - anything under two hours would be good :wink:
), I was struck by the simularities between the two experiences, i.e:- the time it takes to settle into ones stride
- the feelings of elation (oh - this is great - out into the fresh air, time to myself)
- the feelings of despair (oh - bloody hell, another hour to go and I feel dreadful)
- the persistent thoughts that run around in my head (what is this pain in my right side?)
- witnessing the beauty of the world (cheerful fellow runners, nature, birdsong, the smell of wild garlic in the woods)
- witnessing the grottyness of the world (traffic, noise, dogs mess, rubbish)
- and best of all stopping, that wonderful afterglow of no longer having to run or sit
.Anyway - just noodling.
Best wishes
Jools
ps - I will let you know my half marathon time at the end of the month - anything under two hours would be good :wink:
Sometimes I see an animal or a bird but most of the time the beautiful flowers (the white and blue ones that come out when the snow melts), pine and birch tress and moss on the rocks along the path that is covered with birch bark. I decide not to stop for them and come back for a walk another time but often find myslef jogging on place in front of a fantastic tree trunk, not even realisiung I am doing that (very much like zazen indeed)! :wink: Then I" wake up" and go further :-).
Comment