There’s a definite edge in having nothing in your hands when you go for a walk. To me, to carry things takes away from the freedom of the walk. Occasionally, I pass by walkers with walking sticks, boots, back-packs. Undoubtably training for a big trek later in the year or something similar. Yet still, I...
In recreational sports, people like a sense of “accomplishment.” It feels good to have done something. Typically (like with endurance sports, or lifting weights), the more we do (weight, distance etc), the better we feel. This is largely a conditioned response. Therefore, sports which allow us to express this, but without too much upfront discomfort tend to...
Steven Pressfield talks about the resistance in his book “The War of Art.” The resistance is anything that stops you from doing your work. Interestingly, almost all of the resistance is internal. When we set off on health/training/exercise journeys, there are a few big ones that limit your ability to show up, to do the...
In his books, Carlos Casteneda writes of his lessons from the Shaman/Sorcerer don Juan. Don Juan talks about the accumulation of inner silence. To me, this could be likened with stillness, “no mind,” “meditation” or anything you’d like to call the true absence of thought. Many people ask me “how much should I meditate?” “How...
One of my friends Vik, who I’ve mentioned here before, has a great by-line for his business, which hopefully I got right here: “Exercise is optional, movement is essential” Succinct, yet powerful. I thought that was worth sharing. If your training is long, arduous, a chore and leaves you with a frown, then perhaps it’s...
On the recent retreat we ran, a guest, presenter, friend and mentor Cole Clayton took us through some work with the breath. In one of the early sessions, he invited us to observe the breath over a period, we were going to be lying down. Thoughts would inevitably come, he said, but when they did,...
While the fitness industry has popularised a “lean” look as the epitome of health, we know that this could be achieved while sacrificing other areas of health that we know to be important. Despite being “ripped,” if your immunity, resilience, mobility or libido are low, then your overall health may not be up to scratch....
The one-arm handstand, or doing a handstand on one arm, is a difficult movement. It’s something I’ve been playing with in recent months on and off. The thing is, it’s far more than twice as hard as a regular handstand. According to circus artist and handbalancer Mikael Kristiansen, the one arm handstand is 10-20 times...
