Ahh, March, the start of spring, a time of transformation and rebirth!
Daffodil spring background
In the Roman calendar, this month was named after Mars, Roman god of war, who was also regarded as a guardian of agriculture. Not surprising, then, for the month of March to signal the burgeoning rebirth of spring, and also, for mankind, a reigniting of spirit, heart and consciousness.
For the month of March at Fit Journey, we’ll embrace the theme of courage, possibility, and coming out of the comfort zone! This theme may be gently applied or layered on with strong encouragement. As always, your practice will be your own, and what’s best for you! Don’t worry – no gymnastics in Gentle Yoga, and courage in Yoga for Stress & Anxiety may simply be to keep coming back to your breath. However one can never anticipate what Beatrix might pull out of her ‘bag’ in Stott Pilates, or the latest HIIT drill that Lee will bring to Boxing!
Courage and fear are brothers (Proverbs). Courage is described as facing a challenge in spite of fear. This theme has me thinking about where I exhibit or lack courage in my life. My days are routinely consistent, I have my wonderful students and clients, my supportive family, my running community. Hmmm, not a lot of breaking out of the box for me these days. I’m going to take this on as my strength challenge this month: to find ways to be courageous every day! Will you join me?!
I’ve never done anything exceptional while IN my comfort zone.
I do have one fond memory of facing a fear. Several years ago, I had some friends who were training for triathlons. I thought, I can do that: a Try-A-Tri (a 400 meter swim, 10k bike, and 3k run). Running and cycling were ‘in the bag’, altho my 20 year old bike was a joke. Swimming on the other hand . . . really not in my comfort zone. My friend Bev agreed to do lengths with me in a local pool, I think we trained in the pool about 5 times (and I didn’t do an open water swim before race day).
The race was in Kincardine, Ontario, on the east shore of Lake Huron (one of the bigger Great Lakes). It was a windy day (= big waves). We wore the yellow caps (anyone who’s done a Tri knows what that means – the last wave to go out!). When I got into the lake about up to my chest, I had one of those ‘life flashing before me’ experiences. I thought “I could die out here”. Bev saw the look on my face, got me to swim on my back, and breath, and she stayed with me the whole swim. She saved my life that day!
Needless to say, next training season, I took swim lessons, and I did some open water swims prior to race day!
My first swim lesson was surreal. Let me confess: I could not put my head under water. I hung out in the slowest lane, dog paddling, side stroke, breast stroke, back stroke. Hey, not too bad. After about 4 lengths, I paused in the shallow end and looked up. There was the coach, Kim Lumsden, looking down at me with her hands on her hips. “You can’t put your head in the water, right?” Busted.
She proceeded to show me how to lay my ear in the water, breath in, turn my head with my face in the water and breath out. Okay, I can do that. Now add the arms. Okay. Now go swim. Gulp. I did maybe 3 strokes and grabbed the side of the pool. Calmed down, went a little further. On that first day, I swam half a length doing the crawl. I heard my father’s voice in my head ‘Easy does it, pumpkin head’.
At the end of the hour, I got out of the pool and walked over to Kim, threw my arms around her and said “Thank You, I didn’t think I could do that!’
Alright, let’s get on with this month of finding courage, coming out of the comfort zone, while staying grounded and clear! Applying courage can be as simple as saying hello to someone new. It can be as complex as addressing a relationship that isn’t working well, laying down some boundaries, or, walking away. You could set yourself a daily fitness challenge: getting out every day for a walk, pushups or plank challenge (see schedule attached), or signing up for a new race to spike your training. Think about something that’s been on the back burner, perhaps now’s the time to bring it forward, clear the barriers and make it happen!
Would love to hear your ‘courage’ stories, please share!
Sandy
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