Introductions

Life is not a box, it is a multi-dimensional work and play space. We have shut ourselves inside, away from the life-giving environment all around us for too long. Today we create our health and happiness in the wide open spaces that are our natural inheritance. Let’s get outside!

My triumvirate of fitness (with personally sketched iconography) is as follows:

STRENGTH

The first component is essential to the latter two and is represented by a tree morphed into a woman’s body (note the daft cleft between the boughs) inverted and buried headways into the ground. The imagery of permanence, rigidity and flexibility is demonstrated abundantly in the perpendicular, uprightness of the arboreal-ity. We will incorporate the resilience and resolve of the deeply rooted, noble plant as we gain our foundation under us. We are built in their likeness, with strength and stature, and so we must consider where we bury- or anchor- our roots.

SPEED

The second is born of the first as permanence becomes motion, for strength is not really so powerful without the responsiveness to spring into action, to overcome the initial inertia of a body at rest, and to gather its intensity into a focused and concerted effort. So speed really is not merely strength moved to act, but the capacity to attain peak performance and sustain this for extended durations. Speed is, therefore, levels of strength divided into intervals, such as a single punch or leg kick or a 100 meter sprint.

MASTERY

And at the top of this holy fitness trinity is a sense of completion, a positive result of intentional action, be it a set (of 10 reps) or a magnanimous task like climbing Mount Everest, landing a triple axle, or sinking a three point shot. Any single action should be composed of grace, strength and poise.

The more complicated the movement the greater the coordination- and therefore mental sharpness- needed to complete it. But complexity should not be a requirement. Simple movements and breathing exercises can instill the same profound sense of fullness; movement is our objective in all of its variegated manifestations. Our own noble and recreative spirit is affirmed in all the tangential, angular, pinballing that life may bowl our way and so we dance and whirl and fly unsuited to sedentary stagnation.

So there you have it. Now go out and climb a tree, splinter some wind, and kiss the sky. You’ll thank me later.