As animals stripped of the necessary labor of sustaining life, we humans must seek out stimulation for our restless bodies. Subdued by psychotropic drugs from both dealers and doctors we stir with pent up energy. Our jobs, traffic, spouses, and any of an innumerable number of events trigger our parasympathetic nervous system. Fight or flight is the signal, yet we sit, and our bodies slowly die, corroded from within by an endogenous acid rain. Consuming plasticized fats and sugars wrenched from corn we are consumed.
Release of physical energies counteracts this process by balancing the homeostatic scales. Movement whispers (or shouts) life into our bone, sinew, and organs, opens nervous pathways, and aerates the blood and brain. Where we drink this ambrosia does not matter; a gym, at home, with friends, or alone. Simply looking for chances to explode, dynamic and unbound, reveals their presence.
Imagine this, spread out in front of you is a vast expanse of dunes and waves. Cooled by the salt sea mist and faintly aware of a nearby rotting fish carcass you squint your eyes against the glare of the sun and survey your surroundings. What do you see? Yes, a beach, but what else? There is sand, a shock absorbing and unstable surface beneath your feet. And water, an element that provides both buoyancy and resistance. Perhaps, there is a large, heavy chunk of rock at the terminal point of its journey from the sea bed. Within your field of vision lies the making of a relaxed afternoon, or, with a discerning eye, a killer workout.
The world is a jungle gym and your inner child is waiting for the bell.
Took a 4 hr hike down the Wild and Scenic Chatooga River yesterday - navigated rocks, trunks, and used a rope to scramble over a steep rock embankment. Last hr. slogged through drenching rain. All the hikers were joyous and laughing, sweating. The youngest one was 53; the eldest 84 years old! Children indeed :)
ReplyDelete