2/8 Whole Life Wednesday

Red Feather climbs the rope. She is doing the WLC and has a regular meditation practice.
Our Whole Life Challenge Lifestyle Practice this week is to meditate. Most people erroneously believe that meditation is intended to clear our mind of all thoughts. This, my friends, is impossible. Meditation is intended to make us AWARE of our thoughts. To make us connect with who we are so that we are making choices based on who we really are as humans, not based on habits, judgements or autopilot. Here's the simple instructions for this week:

1. Find a quiet place to sit, free of outside distractions.
2. You may use any form of silent contemplation you are comfortable with. Some options: a meditation practice you already have; sitting quietly and observing your body, thoughts, and surroundings without judgment; silent contemplation; or simply observing yourself breathing in and out.
3. Sit and be with the practice you choose for ten minutes.

The WLC folks think this is an important practice because: 

"We spend most of our time judging and evaluating, consciously or otherwise. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it leaves little room for anything to make a new or different impression on us. We see something and we immediately know all about it — how it will limit us, what a person must be like, or our presumption of what we must now deal with.

Already “knowing” is a practical thing, but it can limit your experience of the world. Have you ever met someone you were sure was going to be a jerk or a know-it-all, only to later discover that he or she possessed far more positive qualities than your first impression allowed for?

The practice of removing immediate judgment — of your body, your thoughts, other people, and your surroundings — leaves you open to discover the richness and value these things might have for you. A value you might otherwise completely pass up.

The practice of meditation can be a practice in noticing how much judgment you have. It’s not about emptying your mind, shutting off thoughts, or reaching some mythical state of bliss or nirvana. It’s a chance to see how much of your choices are being made unconsciously by a mind that thinks it already knows the truth of everything.

P.S. There is no “perfect” in meditation — the mind does what it does. Meditation helps to separate your “you” mind from the “machine” mind that pumps out constant decisions. If you don’t see those “machine” mind things when you sit down, don’t worry, in time you will (the voice that just said “I don’t do that” is the machine I’m talking about, by the way).

If you see and hear a lot of machine-mind stuff, that’s a good thing, too — you’ll have material to work with. And don’t worry if your machine mind is loud. Your job isn’t to shut that down. Your job is to practice having the real you see and hear everything clearly so the real you can make your own call."

Today's Workout 
Buy-in: 100 Double Unders for time (this is a BTWB Bodyweight Fitness Level workout)
then, 
5 Rounds for time of:
5 Dumbbell (DB) hang power snatch (HPS) Right arm
7 DB overhead squats (OHS) Right arm
5 DB HPS L arm
7 DB OHS L arm
2 Rope Climbs ​
Today's workout is a practice session with dumbbells. We know they're going to be used in The Open (which starts next Friday.) We are exploring all of the possible DB movements that are likely to be programmed by Dave Castro. 
Today we're working on power, speed, balance, coordination, stamina, and flexibility. Good luck! 

Femme Fatale Week Starts Monday! 

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