Just did some yoga in my dorm room. I’ve been lazily doing nothing (watching anime) for the last few hours, so I decided to do something active like yoga for a bit. It felt really good and I enjoyed every bit of it. I haven’t done it in so long, and it was good to get back into it like that.

After yoga, I sat and meditated for a bit. It was great. It was not one of those super spiritual meditations, but a very peaceful meditation instead. After meditation, I saw how peaceful and calm the world is. It’s like a sentient being without a care in the world. It just does its own thing.

Today at Living Buddhism, we brought in this image (The Flower of Life) to meditate on.

It was a gazing meditation in which you simply gaze at it. You don’t stare at it, looking for a certain thing. You just keep your eyes on the general image and allow different things to pop up. It’s really cool as it shows so many things about life and Buddhist principles. We did it for 15 minutes, which flew by. It was a nice meeting that I really enjoyed :)

After classes today, I strolled on over to the gym to do yoga at 4:15. It was soooo nice. We did a couple of new things, and I tried to have good form throughout. It was physically tough as always, but it was fantastic at the same time. I haven’t really been in a setting similar to XC practice for a long time, but that was close to it. It reminded me of strength workouts after practice. The short meditation at the end was also really nice. The teacher was gorgeous also :)

After that, my friend and I went over to a Turning In meeting. Turning In is a club which is secularly spiritual. My friends have been and I know the leader, but I had never been for. The leader, Rob, is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. He is just so kind and loving. Anyway, we started out by going around a circle and saying who we want to give light to. I gave light to my oldest sister because yesterday was her birthday. I also gave it to Chris and Connor because we shared a very special moment the other day.

Then this reggae rasta dude spoke, and he definitely opened my mind. After that, we had a short 10 minute meditation in which I had some colorful images flash in my head. That has never really happened, and it was really cool to just watch them and not try to affect them in any way. It was a fantastic meeting and a wonderful day.

I wish everyone a fantastic rest of the week :)

Love, peace, and kindness

I’d been having some trouble getting out the door lately, but on a whim, I put my KSOs and started running before I even got off my porch. My mind had been quite lazy, but my body had been itching for a run.

Here’s my run in points:

• The KSOs felt fantastic. I hadn’t run in Vibrams in a while, so I have to get reaccustomed to them a bit.
• Some middle schooler yelled, “Run Forrest! Run!” I was already ahead of him, so I simply put a thumbs up to the side of me and kept running. I decided it was best for me not to deign a negative remark.
• This old grandma in her lawn was getting on some type of scooter. I put up a friendly wave, and she said, “Wanna stop and watch an old lady get killed?” I gave out a fake laugh and ran my ass away from the crazy bitch.
• I felt so calm from going at a slow and steady pace, I stopped on a grassy median in a neighborhood to meditate. When I finished after like 5 minutes, everything was so peaceful. I was fully content with the world.
• I picked up a pair of a baby’s shoes that were nasty and on the side of the road.

Yesterday, I participated in a Spirituality Dialogue sponsored by an organization at my school, and the goal was simply to talk about spirituality (secularly), what it means to us, and our experiences with it.

We were talking about yoga, and one girl chimed in, “I hate yoga, haha. It just has never hit home for me. However, I do love to run. And I don’t know…when I’m running…I just get this feeling…as if it’s my form of yoga or spirituality.”

Right when she said that, I knew EXACTLY what she meant. I imagined how I felt when I run. How I felt more connected to myself when I’m out there on the road, trail, or mountain. Sometimes I’ll go miles without having a single thought. Other times, I’ll be consciously thinking about life, school, running, friends, family, etc. Running IS my meditation. It’s how I like to feel connected to myself, the environment, the root of human nature, and the world.