sculling and alignment

September 27, 2005 by Mary Wynne-Wynter 

I spend a lot of time lately thinking about alignment in business: organizations, projects, teams, relationships.  But this week I had an experience of physical and nature alignment as I was sculling alone in a fairly remote part of the Charles River.  The weather was perfect; the water was flat but had some nice current; birds, swans and turtles were unperturbed as I glided by.  Although I expected to be tired I felt energized and the workout felt quite effortless as I gained the feeling of ‘flow’ that my coaches are always talking about.  Two days later, I had the opposite experience.  I was in a hurry to get my workout in before the wind kicked up, and the harder I rowed the worse I rowed.  I was fighting my boat, the water, and myself and trying so very hard to remember all the technique things I’ve been working on. 

Its always a surprise to have such vastly different experiences from one day to the next and I try to learn something that I can share.  I think this learning is about ‘awareness’ of alignment and that over time this awareness can become a practice that you don’t have to really think about.  I all my activities and endeavors, including rowing, I will try to be aware of ease, effortlessness and flow and know they are signs of alignment.  I will also try to be aware of forcing, overthinking and grim determination, knowing they can be signs of mis-alignment.

Sure, there are always those days when you just have ‘a really bad row’ but why not practice taking the path of least resistance, or in other words, the path of alignment?   

Filed under: Consciousness, career, going solo
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