Anima Sana In Corpore Sano
After college I realized I needed to be more active. Easiest path to activity: buy shoes, lace up, go run. It's a little more complicated than that once you get into running, let it become a hobby, run some marathons, become one of those weird people who talks a little too much about running. But I digress.
Some of the first shoes I owned were ASICS. The name is derived from the latin Anima Sana In Corpore Sano, which translates to "A Sound Mind in a Sound Body." It's a nice acknowledgement of the connection between the physical and mental. I've used running as a means to balance my mental and emotional state. Thought about it in a philosophical sense. An act of self destruction with positive outcomes. Active meditation, or time to space out and think of nothing. Running can be so many things, often something completely different from one mile to the next.
In time I've realized the need or value in other forms of exercise. Running was the path of least resistance at one time. I hated it until I didn't and still there were the days I still did. But I started rowing. The No Days Off idea is all well and good, but if you aren't training for something and just need to remain active, an indoor activity is nice when it's raining buckets or the temperature is crazy (low or high depending).
But I've buried the lede a bit here.
Recently I decided to add jump rope to my activity list. Why? In part because I watched a video describing the benefits. But more so to give myself a new challenge. I'm clumsy. One might even say uncoordinated. I've never jump roped in my life. At least not effectively.
After some internet research, a few short days later a jump rope arrived on my doorsteps. The first attempts involved a lot of swearing and very little jumping of rope. The next attempt. Same results. I wonder what any passersby on the street might have thought of this guy in his 40s jumping up and down on his front porch swearing a blue streak.
A bit more research revealed perhaps the problem was my choice of jump rope. A basic plastic rope with very little weight. Something heavier gives a better feeling of where the rope is in air, thus making it easier to learn on. I felt slightly better about my ridiculous attempts to perform a physical task requiring more coordination that it seemed I had. Another jump rope was ordered. This time beaded, a proper beginner's rope, in black and white alternating beads.
A few more days and it arrived. The first attempt was still an uncoordinated mess, but there was a distinct feeling of possibility that had been missing with the lighter weight rope from before. I managed a few jumps at a time before losing the rhythm. The feeling of the rope arcing through the air was in fact much easier to track, making the timing of each jump somewhat more obvious, if not still tricky.
And now, some days later, I've discovered what it feels like to get tired before fouling a jump. Even if it's only 30 seconds, it's enough time to begin to really feel the rhythm of the process. Time enough to become mindful of what's happening, to feel the connection between mind and body. The soundness, if one can stretch the term a bit, of beginning to master a new skill.
Lessons
Obviously, the right tool for the right job. Learning to jump rope, I should have started with the jump rope that might look more like a toy, but functions better for the beginner.
But really, the bigger takeaway is mindfulness and skill development. There was a lot of swearing in the beginning. It was difficult. But now I can feel and see the improvement with every session. And in that lies a comparison to the work I do, the things I make. I feel a direct connection between learning a new physical skill and the necessary eye hand coordination that sitting at a computer and operating a mouse, drawing an image, carving a linoleum block, or painting a canvas.