I am one of the more fortunate people on the planet to live bang opposite an evenly grassed park that accommodates two cricket grounds side by side. In a nutshell, it makes for a 500 metre lap. Given the parsimony in population that Australia revels in, the park is one of the hot spots for joggers and pet owners during the evenings. A few Indians including myself enjoy a game of cricket 4 times a week on the matted pitches adjoining the park. Now why am I writing all this?
No, its not because I am a real estate agent trying to sell a few properties around my home but because I have taken to the park at night-time. Now this is an old habit of mine. I sleep at around 3am hence I occasionally go for a jog in the park at midnight. What I would like to share is the absolute sense of delight as your heart rate increases with each lap in the stillness of the night. The park is desolate with the occasional car passing by the road that makes the only sound. Once you are in the running rhythm, you feel an expansion of the self. One of the most fundamental of human drives seeks to manifest itself. As the body tires with each lap, your senses become sharper. You start to feel like the park itself. You start picking up each flutter, every ripple in the breeze; you even start to feel the grass under your feet respond to your running rhythm. You stop limiting yourself to your body and become the consciousness of your environment. Keeping up the pace is a non-issue. You become aware of your body only when you slow down. It seems so relaxing to keep a steady pace. The quiet of night seems to welcome you into her tresses and you feel peacefully vulnerable to the seduction.
I strongly suspect that an increase in fitness will result in a heightened sense of awareness; and I do not just mean sensory awareness. I want to emphasize the awareness of the self. The understanding that there is no fundamental boundary between the body and the world at large. The limits are set by consciousness alone and these limits are revealed by silence alone.
In other words, running in the night is as much an appreciation of the self as it is the appreciation of the world around. When this boundary between the self and the rest starts to fade, I guess what remains is the ultimate Narcissist who loves everything and everything is the Self!!
No, its not because I am a real estate agent trying to sell a few properties around my home but because I have taken to the park at night-time. Now this is an old habit of mine. I sleep at around 3am hence I occasionally go for a jog in the park at midnight. What I would like to share is the absolute sense of delight as your heart rate increases with each lap in the stillness of the night. The park is desolate with the occasional car passing by the road that makes the only sound. Once you are in the running rhythm, you feel an expansion of the self. One of the most fundamental of human drives seeks to manifest itself. As the body tires with each lap, your senses become sharper. You start to feel like the park itself. You start picking up each flutter, every ripple in the breeze; you even start to feel the grass under your feet respond to your running rhythm. You stop limiting yourself to your body and become the consciousness of your environment. Keeping up the pace is a non-issue. You become aware of your body only when you slow down. It seems so relaxing to keep a steady pace. The quiet of night seems to welcome you into her tresses and you feel peacefully vulnerable to the seduction.
I strongly suspect that an increase in fitness will result in a heightened sense of awareness; and I do not just mean sensory awareness. I want to emphasize the awareness of the self. The understanding that there is no fundamental boundary between the body and the world at large. The limits are set by consciousness alone and these limits are revealed by silence alone.
In other words, running in the night is as much an appreciation of the self as it is the appreciation of the world around. When this boundary between the self and the rest starts to fade, I guess what remains is the ultimate Narcissist who loves everything and everything is the Self!!
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