Hearing vs. Listening

Hearing is simply the act of perceiving sound by the ear. If you are not hearing-impaired, hearing simply happens. Listening, however, is something you consciously choose to do. Listening requires concentration so that your brain processes meaning from words and sentences. Listening leads to learning. (source: http://www.d.umn.edu/kmc/student/loon/acad/strat/ss_hearing.html)

My yoga teacher talks a lot, or I should say preaches a lot, and I say 90% of the time, I tune him out. But last week, rather than just hearing him, I listened to him. He was going on about how yoga is healing, but competitive sports are not. According to him, "Yoga heals the body (joints, muscles, internal organs) and mind, while competitive sports wreak havoc on the body. We only participate in competitive sports for our egos."

I can't say that I totally agree, but more importantly, I found myself listening to him when most of the time, I'm just hearing him. Those of you who follow my blog know I'm big on clues from the Universe. And this my friend, is a clue. I'm taking a break from the swim, bike, run thing until I figure out the cause of the mystery ailments. Both the ear infection and excessive pissing are still there, but I do feel an improvement, so I'll just keep resting. The bright side of taking time off is that I am able to pursue other things like skiing and boarding! And I had time to edit the video I took from a recent training day. Like most of my videos, the inspiration came from the song.

Since we are on this topic of competitive sports not healing, I thought I would share this piece I wrote about four years ago on my website: http://racingawareness.org/antiendurance.html

I Swear By the Yoga

After 10 weeks of 90-minute yoga practices twice per week, I'm happy to report the tight glute and hamstring are feeling, well...waaaay less tight. I'm sold on the yoga because after two years of trying various remedies, most of which were half-assed on my part, the yoga has really stuck and I enjoy the practice. I'm also happy to report that since that disastrous yoga class (some of you might recall this story), I've since found a class that is, well...less yoga like. The instructor has a good sense of humor and she often makes fun of yoga "traditions". The class is full of former gymnasts, dancers, and martial artists, and I constantly feel pushed. It's like the triathlon of yoga. I'm getting very close to lifting myself up into a handstand and holding it, something these two girls in my class do quite well, to the amazement of everyone else in the class. Check out FlyingYoga in the Temescal neighborhood of Oakland. Temescal is like the east bay version of the Mission in SF.

But yoga is not just about stretching and increased flexibility, it's also great for core strength. I did my first track workout last week and my mind kept coming back to how solid and strong I felt. In the past, as the speed and intensity picked up, I sort of felt like my legs and arms were slowly breaking apart and coming out of their joints/sockets (imagine a scene in an action movie where a car or plane slowly breaks apart as it nears combustion). But last week, as the effort picked up, I just remembered thinking to myself, I feel solid. I'm sure it is a combination of both the yoga and the weight program...or maybe I just wasn't running fast or intense enough.

The theme of this week is tired, not good since I'm racing a half marathon on Sunday. I did a ride with my teammates on Saturday, and not only was it my longest ride of the season, it was the most hard effort ride of the season. And every workout since, I am reminded of that ride. But this is ironman training, which means pushing through the physical and mental states of tiredness. The half marathon is not so much a race but more like a hard effort run with a lot of other people. The run is precluded by a full week of training including a 4 hour ride, swim, and weights the day before. Reality check...checked. Setting up excuses for a slow time...checked.