Bulletin: Body Talk

Exercising mindfully
With pain
Is interesting.
I’m rarely more aware
When I’m active,
Than when I’m moving
The body in this fashion.

The reaction is often
Quite unexpected,
As is the reaction
To the reaction.
It’s always a surprise
Which parts hurt
And which feel comfortable.
Plus, so many times I complain
And it’s so often the same
That I wonder why I bother.

These habits of mind
Are so well established
And hard to stop
That during this process
My compassion also
Gets a work out.
My loving-kindness
Gets trotted out,
My equanimity develops,
And my patience grows,
In response to the challenge of
Having and caring for an aging body,
Being with this fragile frame,
This temporary state of affairs
That all too soon will be
Replaced by some other process.

All of this I notice
When I exercise
In this mindful way.