Training for Life.... Every Day.

strength trainingvulnerabilitytraining for life

Sep 15

A passion isn’t what you do... it’s what you bring to whatever you do.

Olympian Erik Vendt describes his passion for swimming...

“I loved the feeling of getting out of the pool every day exhausted- mentally, physically, emotionally exhausted....how much you push yourself is ultimately up to you”.

Exhausted is not necessarily suffering. Exhausted can be exhilarating. Exhausted can be wrung out to the extent that you let go of what is holding you back. It is the place of finding depth, staying in when you want to get out, deciding to find your own limit, choosing to show up, getting past your first wind so you can get to your second wind. Exhausted is your body saying ‘thank you’ for the reminder that you are alive. It is a sign that you are in training, and every moment is strengthening you for this life and whatever life-quakes arise. And this training, this getting stronger; it requires peeling away layers to get vulnerable and real with yourself.

In this place of life training, we are challenged to be “in the suck”, to feel the full intensity of tough stuff, and quite possibly fall down. And only if we are willing to risk falling down, do we ever get to this place of passion in challenge - to this place of flow state. This can be on a strenuous training run, or taking your surfboard out in some big waves, or a bitter heartbreak. Life can come at us hard. In any moment, we may struggle and suffer and fall. These moments are not easy, but they can be filled with strength. And, when we stand back up, we get to choose how to face the next moment....with passion and fire and love, or with fear and struggle. We write our story. We decide that our pushing to exhaustion might just be passionate exhilaration and that getting past the self-imposed constraints of our mind might just be growth and training for life.
Training for the real things that knock us to our knees.
So that we know intimately the strength to stand back up with grace and fortitude when it really counts.

The 2-year old granddaughter of a yoga student was "practicing" with us on Zoom, and said, "Noni, why Jess always say, 'STAY WITH IT'?".... Until she told me that cute antidote, I didn't realize that was my go-to mantra when teaching. That when we are in side plank, holding and lifting and exerting, I say, "stay with it". When we are in our power flow, through reps of synchronized breath and movement, push-ups, and lunges, I say, "stay with it". When we are in a place of opening, a long holding hip stretch, when thoughts tend to pull us and bombard us with stories, I bring us back to the present and I say, "stay with it." These three words can be applied to about any situation or scenario that we face. This "stay with it" goes beyond endurance, to presence. Stay with the now. Embrace this moment. Even if it is the toughest moment you will ever face. We can do it. We can do it together. We are stronger. We bring passion to what we do. We choose to show up.
This is training for life. One moment at a time.