Tuesday, January 06, 2015

Journal: Rowing Meditation

Monday Workout:  180 calories --I think -- in 16 minutes on the rowing machine.  I'm finding that it helps to imagine that I am rowing a serpent-headed long boat across a wide river or lake under the full silver moon.  650 cal / hour.  There's an older priest, craggy and dark, in the bow of the boat, holding a crescent tipped staff.   703 cal / hour.  He has a full robe engulfing him, with jagged navy and turquoise waves -- like the glyph for Aquarius or the hieroglyph for the Nile -- rippling along the cuffs of the robe's sleeves.  768 cal / hour.  And the ripples of his sleeves turn into the ripples of the boat gliding through the water.  And the boat is a snake, undulating through the water, its body sending waves waking back in widening V's.  812 cal / hour.  And to ease the ache in my back I imagine the snake straightens up my spine and reaches for the moon above me.  886 cal /hour.  And my legs are twinned snakes.  And I'm rowing, the priest in the boat in front of me, his staff leaning against his shoulder, the crescent tip dark against the silvery full moon.  The moon sliding away from the fullness it had hours ago and closer to the first new moon of Winter, weeks away.

And then someone walks by me or the house-flipping show on the TV turns into a dance commercial and I'm aware of my ungloved hands (I left my gym gloves at home) on the plastic grip of the rowing machine and I'm trying not to think too hard about my breath, or I'll mess it up.  I end my rowing session with 45 seconds around 1000 cal / hour.  

I did my usual free-weight routine, with some extra stretches for my back, which has been bothering me ever since my trampoline-fest (Wonder Woman!  Wonder Woman!) two weeks ago.

Writing:  Mostly critiquing, editing, and trying to get a handle on my inventory of stories that need to be sent out and manuscripts in need of finishing or post-critique polishing.

No comments: