I go to Basic-Fit about four times a week.  Some days I’m on the elliptical (called a cross-trainer here).  Other times I rotate among thirteen strength training machines.  (I’m sure you can imagine me spinning around!)

What I most enjoy is a half hour of stretching – fourteen different ones on or beside a yoga mat.

In my favourite stretch, I bend my knee so the outside of my leg is on the mat, foot pressed against the other thigh.  Then I bend forward and … kiss my knee.  It’s a marvelous symbol of self-love.

I wonder why this is so special to me.

Today I was walking near home and peered through the window of an art gallery:

The woman is so horizontal in the arms.  The fingers stretch long.  The back is arched.  Such beauty.  Such … length.

Oh, to feel the body becoming bigger.  The world seems closer.  More of my surface area is available to touch.  All the pores are open.

Sometimes I feel that a presence is pulling my head upwards.  As I extend, I am above the trees.  New vistas invite me to adventure.

In other moments I’m flowing over the land, beckoned to new worlds around the curve of the Earth.

Longer

Outwards

Touching more of life