14th June, 2015, Grace's Passage West to Blackrock Castle cycle

BIKING AND BACK BENDING

Grace Writes:

Albert Einstein wrote that 'Life is like a bicycle, you don't fall off unless you stop pedalling'. Yesterday I pondered this while cycling down the line as far as Passage West. Its not a ideal route for a cyclist and can sometimes feel like you are in a computer game when anything and everything can jump out in front of you. The route is packed with walkers, small children and dogs....and dogs who have long leads! 

Tips & Suggestions For Biking Your Dog

http://www.thedogoutdoors.com/coforbiyodog.html

The serious cyclist might turn his or her nose up at this route for the sake of speed and time but I quite like this route for exactly those reasons...it slows me down and strips away all the thoughts and the mental lists and the only thing you are left with is awareness and concentration.

 I do yoga everyday, I practice meditation, I have gone on more retreats than I can count on one hand but the place where my mind is most quiet is on my bike. I am not thinking of anything or trying hard not to think, I am just trying to keep pedalling so I don't fall off. 

After sleeping in too late to make the family cycle to Passage West, I decided to just go and cycle the route myself as I had a back bending workshop later that day and it would be a good way to warm up. Since I started cycling more regularly, I have become more conscious of the position of my body on the bike.

My learned position would have been to crouch forward on to the handlebars and hold on for dear life to the point that I would often come off the bike with a sore neck and shoulders from the tension I would send up my arms.

Being mindful that I had a back bending session in the afternoon I decided to focus on relaxing my shoulders and taking them away from the ears which would open up space in my chest also to get more breath in and lengthen the spine in the process. It was so much easier and enjoyable to cycle this way and I thought this is how we should be in life as in yoga, heart open and moving forward. 

Passage West Walking and cycle path

I read an obituary on Saturday for the cyclist Eileen Gray who was a pivotal figure in female cycling and who fought to have women's cycling included in the world championships and the Olympic Games. She is quoted as saying that cycling turned her from a "timid, mousy young woman" to a more confident woman. She goes on to say: "it was the one thing that changed me, it sort of opened the way".

Later that day, when I was in the middle of back bending and we were focusing on opening the front of the body in order to let the heart chakra shine forth, I thought about Eileen and this quote. Cycling has also "opened the way" for me to live in a more focused and mindful way and have fun at the same time....and is'nt this what life is all about?