I’ve been experiencing (and coincidentally reading about) the seductive nature of gravity lately.

Ever since I got the Owl my spirits have been stoked about the prospect of climbing again. I was a climber in a past life – for a little bit, anyway, back from 99-03, before I lost touch. The Owl and I head out the the gym midday for a b r a k e to all the online testing, reviewing, planning, etc., for some play on the faux rock, a whole new kind of beta, and ascending the bliss body.

Collaboration is key to motivation and moving beyond the boundaries you limit yourself to  - and I am loving my climbing partners. I’ve learned so much in the two sessions on the big walls and the two weeks at the bouldering gym than I did in all those years of doodling on rocks faux and non.

I love the strength and the grace that comes with a beautiful climb. It is full of intention and an awareness that is expansive and aligned with the powers vested within – a work of beauty to be sure. I spent the first week building confidence and getting in tune with my balance and center, but today I hopped on some mid-range routes with flying success and the epic support of an amazing climbing partner.

I leave the rock gym feeling the same way that I do after I leave a good tango or yoga class: connected to my core and full of an aliveness that wants to defy gravity while at the same time has surrendered into its grasp. An interesting thing about ascending geological features: even as gravity holds you in her pull, you’re still connected to the earth.

(It helps to have a chalk bag representative of your totem animal ;)