C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

     First things first—before we get to the actual training for today—as you can probably tell, this will NOT  be your typical training journal (for the most part).  I will try to also include plenty of the psychological and the spiritual in my entries.  Hopefully, this will allow you to see—if not completely understand—how physical training (especially certain kinds of physical training) can become a true  mind-body-Spirit process. Training Entry #1: The One with the Colds and the Christ Presence Tuesday, December 15th, 2009      When I arrived home from work this afternoon, I absolutely—and in no friggin' way—felt good.  I had (and have as I write this) a cold.  My body ached—not too bad, but plenty enough to be annoying—and my throat was sore enough that it was hard to swallow.      I walked through the kitchen, dropped my keys and my wallet on the counter, then headed straight to the bedroom.  I took a 30 minute nap, but made sure I set the alarm on my phone so that I could ca...

     I thought it would be good if—from time to time—I discuss what a training session looks like for me.  All of these will be under the heading of "Training Journal".      Enjoy. Bodyweight Conditioning and Awakened Training      Of late, I've been doing a lot of bodyweight training.  (Read my earlier post on bodyweight training to understand why.)  For today's particular session, I thought I would take the opportunity to also do what I call "awakened training."  If you want to understand more about awakened training, then I have a couple of past posts on the subject.  If you don't, then it basically goes something like this:  Awakened training is my take on what used to be called "instinctive training" and has been called by the bodybuilding legend Dave Draper as "freestyling."  For this kind of training to work, you must really know  your body.  You also need a firm foundation in "basic" training.  Basically, with Awaken...

     Do you have a passion  in life?  If you do, why do you do it?  What drives you to excel at it?  What drives you to continue at it?      What drives you to do it?      I have a passion for lifting weights.  I have a passion for working out.  I have a passion for reading.  I have a passion for traditional martial arts—the kind that can take you from gross to subtle to Causal.  I have a passion for True Spirituality—the kind of spirituality (hence the capital "T" and "S") that transcends common, everyday run-of-the mill spirituality; the kind that transcends spiritual materialism in all of its maddening forms.  (And sometimes I even have a passion for writing.)      And, yes, sometimes I have a passion for things that I shouldn't necessarily have a passion for—women and beer; drugs, even, at one time in my life.  (By the way, there isn't necessarily anything wrong with any of these three things—or other things often thought of as "wrong"—don'...