For the month of December, I’ll be participating in Reverb 10. Each day gives a new prompt, which is a chance to reflect on 2010 and manifest what’s next in 2011.
December 12 – 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? (Author: Patrick Reynolds)
Swimming. This summer I relearned how to breathe while swimming and in doing so, I was able to experience exactly what Patrick Reynolds is mentioning in his prompt.
Swimming, more than any other activity, allows me to become one with myself. When I’m under the water, I’m not thinking about anything by exactly what I’m doing. I’m in the moment. I enjoy the feeling of the water on my skin. I relish the way my body glides through the space in the pool. I feel free, alive, and able to do anything. For me, nothing else compares. It’s almost like a spiritual experience.
So in the summer of 2011, when the pool I use reopens for the season, I will be there as often as I can – daily if possible. Now that I live so much closer (literally 3 minutes by car), there is no reason not to incorporate some laps into my daily routine. It’s definitely something I’m looking forward to about summer (I say as I’m typing this in December on a cold, gray day).
Until then, I’m going to make sure I hit more aqua aerobics classes, because it’s the closest I can get to the water this time of year. Those classes do make me feel very empowered and energetic, too. It’s in those classes that I can be the star athlete that I wish I could be in others. You know what, I think I just decided that I’m going to go to an aqua class at least once this week.
Have you ever felt completely “one” with your body? During which activity?
Bella on the Beach 
I was wondering if anyone would post about anything not athletic for this category. I chose my happiest and strongest race of the year, since it was short, it seemed to be all integrated and all glory w/o any pain or distraction that sometimes happen if I do anything physical for a long period of time. I don’t have easy access to a pool (about 10 miles drive each way, which is too much for me to do daily), but I bet swimming would be an awesome integration sensation.
I am trying to think of a time when I really feel one with my body. It is so difficult when you spend your entire life being so conscious of your body, what it looks like and how it feels. My mind rather obsesses with my body. I think when I feel MOST at one with my body is when I am teaching. When I have the chance to work with children I tend to forget my physical appearance and it becomes ONE with who I know that I am.
I was curious what routine you are using. I am having a difficult time getting the exercising thing in. I am doing VERY well with my eating, but the exercise is a different story.