On day 4 of our recent retreat, we had a big hike scheduled.
The group didn’t know about this, but it was going to be about 45 minutes away in the Glasshouse Mountains, then probably 3 hours or so of hiking, before a drive back.
The hike was known to be tough, however, everyone was strong and had more than enough ability if we were going to do it.
Throughout the week, temperatures had been in high and humidity through the roof.
The heat was slightly taxing. One of the goals of the retreat was to teach down-regulation and awareness of sustainable training practices.
Anyway, as we looked out over the 45 acres, steam was coming off the earth. It was cooking.
We decided that the environment was not telling us to do the hike.
We went for a swim in the dam and went through some handstand basics instead.
This is simple, but important.
When we are caught up in society, in our training programs and our work, how often are we going against what the environment is telling us? How often do we go against what our body is telling us?
We are tired, but we stay up late. We feel like alone time, but we socialise anyway. We are short on sleep, but we get up early for intense training.
The concept of going against is industrial. It’s productive (in the short run), but taxing. Traditionally, we had to learn to go with the environment. The wind, the rain, the temperature, the water and food supply.
When you start to go with, you find a long term practice. You then play the long term game and get the long term results.
