Prompt: Body integration. This year, when did you feel the most integrated with your body? Did you have a moment where there wasn't mind and body, but simply a cohesive YOU, alive and present?
I have actually have felt this—it is pretty amazing. I have felt this integration when I have been backpacking. When I am on the trail I am totally reliant on my own two feet. I’m in a place where it doesn’t matter what I look like, whether or not I have makeup on, it doesn’t matter that I am overweight. It only matters that I am out there and I am doing it. I think part of it is the paring away of the pressures and influences and obligations of everyday life. I leave who I am behind, that fragmented being, and become something else that is inside of me. My mind, body and spirit are joined and focused on moving forward, taking in the full sensory experience of being in the outdoors.
Since I met my husband my backpacking has gone down to a dull roar (though he is good enough to have accompanied my friends and I on several weeklong backpacking trips). We did not make it out this past year, so I did not have that transformative time. I also run, however, and there are times when running will bring a similar integration.
I think this moment occurs when all parts of my being are pulled out of my usual self and are focused on a challenging (yet highly enjoyable) task. It is not a place for me to remain, but a place to visit to refill the well, lay down my burdens, and find the joy I don’t always see.
You make backpacking -- and running, for that matter -- sound transformative and fulfilling. Now, I wanna go! May have to take up jogging again.
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