practice – The Conscious Pilgrim

At this point, I have a number of daily practices. I’m a bit of a creature of habit when I’m home, partly because when I’m not home, I need to adapt. This is fine, and I have no problem doing it because it’s part of a greater plan, but when I am home, I keep it pretty rigid.

I was recently reflecting on the pandemic times with someone, and was reminded of the practices I had in place that have gone by the wayside, though many are still in place after several years. Then I began to reflect on all the podcast episodes and audiobooks I’ve digested since then.

I’ve really dug into philosophy and self-betterment over the past 5 years as a vegan, and longer, actually, as I was already on my spiritual journey when I came to veganism (though that was a big turning point). The rub is that once these things became part of my modus operandi, I didn’t have to focus on them specifically anymore.

I don’t have to think about stoicism because I’ve adopted it.
I don’t have to think about veganism because I’ve adopted it.
I don’t have to think about not drinking alcohol because I’ve adopted it.
I don’t have to think about endurance training or weightlifting because I’ve adopted it… they are a part of what I do. I do not thinkk about the merits of doing or not doing any of these things because the decision has been made a long time ago to do them.

It’s easy to think about the morning journaling and evening yoga practices that fizzled out after the pandemic, when demands on my personal time resumed, but it’s somehow less easy to think about the practices I have that stayed with me because they’ve just become part of what I do. Even so – as I type this and mourn my lost evening yoga practice, I suddenly remember that a Yoga Nidra practice gets me to sleep every night.

I also have to trust myself – something I’ve struggled to do for years, because I was not trustworthy for a long time. I couldn’t be trusted in a room alone with a box of donuts not that long ago, so this trust has come slowly, but at the base of my being I can always trust that I am doing my very best. I know that, because we are all doing our very best. So now I must trust that since I have tried all of these practices and some stuck while others didn’t, that the ones that didn’t just weren’t for me.

That is to say, just because someone wrote a book about daily journaling doesn’t mean that I have to journal daily. I journal weekly… and you’re reading that journal now! I also write songs with both frequency and urgency… so to say my writing practice has fallen away isn’t a fair assessment, either.

At any rate… this recent reflective time has shown me that; although there are miles to go before am finished, I am getting it. There are always things to try and things to stop trying… but I have to trust myself to hold on to the important stuff and filter out the suggestions that don’t mean so much to me.

I’m getting it.

The irony of this post is that despite trying my very best, I somehow managed to overlook the fact that last week, I didn’t manage to get anything posted. It was going to be a songwriting featurette but I just didn’t get it done in time.

So for the first time in 3 years… I missed the mark. Ahh, well.

I’ve had a meditation practice in play for a couple years – however at times it’s felt haphazard to a point that I might have called it a seasonal practice at some point, because with the advent of long runs (meditative as they can be) a few things took a back seat to a few extra minutes of running time. This practice for me has regained it’s priority status as of late and it’s made a significant impact on my life.

When the snow so abruptly arrived to the Edmonton area, I attempted to regain my morning routine from the previous winter – but with an aim to improve. A few changes in my schedule made this difficult, but I do aspire to maintain it even when it feels like I’m running to catch up to it.

Anyway… It just so happens that a popular podcaster and well-known scientist, Andrew Huberman, compiled some data and spit if out in (mostly) a language I can understand. That episode is right here and I recommend it.

I’m in no way affiliated with Andrew Huberman,
but he does some excellent deep-dives into some great topics…
some of which I just can’t ignore.

A few things that resonated with me include the difference & merits of interoception vs exteroception which is the difference between focusing inward (your heart beat, third eye, breathing, etc.) or focusing on something external (the horizon or any other singular object). He mentions that in order to get the full benefits of meditation, your practice can be as little as a few minutes per day – BUT that whether your focus is internal or external might be determined by the situation.

For me; a person who spends a lot of time in his own head, I’d likely benefit more from focusing on something outside of my body, like an object in the room. This is because focusing inward is not much of a challenge, and I’m less likely to hone my meditative skill. However, when I am feeling overwhelmed by a lot of commotion, such as when I’m sitting in a food court in the busiest mall in the city, introspection will help me center myself, as opposed to focusing on the commotion that is causing me to be overwhelmed.

The other thing – and it’s a big one – is the issue of distraction. He outlines that distraction is a given. In fact, that’s how the practice is strengthened – by course-correcting your thoughts back to your singular focus, and away from your work day or how hungry you are, etc.

Champion level meditators are not free of distraction. In fact, they become so adept at redirecting their attention back to their meditative practice from the myriad of distractions around us all the time that they seldom even register the shift. Essentially, what may seem like tuning out the outside world completely is the opposite, because the most experienced meditators are actually MORE aware of their surroundings than those of us who feel easily distracted.

In fact, if we shift our attention to the location of our ‘third eye’ (which is behind the front of our forehead) we’re bound to have random thoughts and emotions creep in, because that is the part of the brain responsible for perception – so to focus that part of the brain on itself is to remove all physical distraction, thereby opening the pathway from emotions, feelings, and thoughts to enter our minds and THUS providing us with something to shift our meditative focus away from – which; again, strengthens our practice.

It’s pretty heady stuff, and I’m not sure I’m doing it justice in my laymen explanations, honestly – but I did feel a massive boost in confidence in regards to my meditative practice, and I’m optimistic that you will as well if you throw a couple hours at this video. This is big particularly in this time of the year when there’s so much focus on improving ourselves.

It’s also bound to help those of us fighting off seasonal depression this time of year.

Training is seeing some changes. I’m opting for – you guessed it – more endurance time. This is not because I need more frequency, but because I need more long sessions with an elevated heartrate, so I know go for 80-90 minutes in Zone 2 on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday, with a 45 minute session on Friday. Weightlifting happens on Tuesday and Friday and rest days are Wednesday and Sunday.

These changes are always punishing in their infancy, but well warranted in the end. I know I have a few months before I can be back outside with any regularity but I don’t want to skip a beat when that day comes. I’m anticipating a fairly busy year, travel-wise and I look forward to it, but it will bring it’s workout-related challenges. I look forward to mastering this, as well. THAT SAID – if you’re reading this and you’re in the Grande Prairie area, consider swinging by the great northern casino to see Robin Kelly’s Elvis tribute act. I’ll be playing guitar for that.

I also have some pretty lofty goals this year… physically, artistically, and financially. One day at a time.