Mina Samuels's Blog, page 8

espnW and Walt Whitman

It's all over women's sports news, and that's the point of course--why do we need a women-dedicated sports media outlet? I'll let Laura Gentile (of espnW) answer with her opening remarks from the recent retreat espnW hosted with for a star studded group of women who love sports.

And, in case you don't have time to read her remarks, I just had to pull out this stanza she quoted from Walt Whitman's, Leaves of Grass, predicting the coming of a race of "fierce and athletic girls," who:

"Are not one jot less than I am,
They are tann'd in the face by suns and blowing winds,
Their flesh has the old divine suppleness and strength,
They know how to swim, row, ride, wrestle,
Shoot, run, strike,
Retreat, advance, resist,
Defend themselves,
They are ultimate in their own right -
They are calm, clear, well-possess'd of themselves."

We are ultimate in our own right--indeed!

Why do we workout?

I've been feeling burned out--long summer of training for a long race.

I need a change, probably temporary, but a break from the usual running, biking etc. regime.

Looking for the fresh, I tried a new workout this morning. It's called the Nalini method--but elsewhere in NYC (and, I gather, LA and other like locales) a similar workout is variously called Physique 57 or Core Fusion. The workout is billed as a combination of yoga, pilates, barre work (i.e. ballet), strength and resistance training, with, it seems to me, some boot camp thrown in. All this will make me longer and leaner--I wish.

Or do I really? Is that even why I workout?

I am struggling with that question, as I ponder the possibility of parting with the monthly membership fee required to take the classes. I'm not usually a class person (so is it really the change I'm resisting?), except for yoga, but somehow that doesn't feel like a "class" in the same way. The yoga I traditionally take focuses on alignment and calming the mind. For me, yoga is simultaneously energizing and soothing. So is running, and biking, and hiking, and swimming, and cross country skiing and so on.

So is that why I workout? To soothe and calm?

Or is it to be outside, rain, snow or shine? Or maybe to be strong, to test my mental and physical endurance? To forestall aging? So I can eat chocolate cake?

Or maybe it's to do something special, that I think other people can't do?

Then I get knotted up worrying that some of those reasons are vain, or arrogant, or delusional.

Until I remember the reason of reasons--joy. Too much thinking is going on, and not enough feeling. I need to stop wondering "why" and feel the answer. Do my Eckhart Tolle, Power of Now, scan of my physical-emotional being and ask, am I happy? Do I feel pleasure in my very fibers?

I'll give it a feel, while I nurse my sore muscles.

Define Old...

The best definition of "old" I've seen in a long while, from Mavis Hutchinson: "You don't grow old; when you stop growing you are old."

Indeed!

We Are Heiresses

Here's a great article I came across about our sportive predecessors, whose legacy we enjoy every time we engage in our athletics. Being an heiress isn't always about money, sometimes it's about freedom (in this case the freedom to do sports, which we inherited from these hip chicks): Great Women Athletes Who Paved the Way for Women in Sports.

The Density of Dreams

Coming home tonight I was drawn into the spiraling suction of the partially lit high rises, disappearing into the horizon, around the curves in streets, ad infinitum, the overly brightened sky a black, starless dome. So many of us, cheek by jowl, the sheer density of all the dreams in such a small space. It's a wonder we can each hold on to what we want, within the swirl of energetic desire jostling for attention.

Argentinian Soccer, Not Just for Boys...

Just heard about this inspiring documentary about girls playing soccer in one of the toughest slums of Buenos Aires: Goals for Girls (the movie).

I thought everyone in Argentina was practically born dribbling a soccer ball between their feet. Silly me, what I meant to say was that everyone who is a boy is weaned on soccer. Girls, it turns out, are not necessarily welcome in the sport in that soccer-loving nation. In fact, girls have to fight hard for some turf on which to kick the ball aro...

Golf Like a Girl

For a long time, golf was a very male (I might even say "white") sport. Even now, there are some golf courses closed to women during the busy weekend times, and it remains a sport that intimidates many women, partly because many of the opportunities to play golf also revolve around doing business, and women are typically far more reticent to get out and play, if they don't think they play well.

Turns out, says Christie, who is responsible for corporate partnerships for the LPGA (Ladies Pro ...

Is Cheerleading a Sport?

A Connecticut Federal Court judge ruled that cheerleading is not a sport, at least not as far as Title IX is concerned. Quinnipiac University pulled funding from its women's volleyball team to fund a competitive cheer team instead. The volleyball players complained. And won.

At first I thought, you go girls!--about the volleyball players that is. I admit that cheerleading has always seemed a bit second place to me--the women don't even get their own sport, they're decoration to boost the ...

Not for Girls

Saw this commentary on the cool site WomenTalkSports.

Nike doing ads about soccer that seem to forget that girls play, too!

Sexist Nike Ad

Some Days We...Just. Can't. Do. It.

I've been thinking about burnout lately, as I'm lying in bed and can feel the tiredness in my legs, pulsing like waves. Am I pushing too hard, or do I just need to get into better shape? Am I being too disciplined, or not disciplined enough?

In the yogic tradition, the energy and austerity of discipline is captured by the term "tapas," not to be confused with the yummy small plates often served at Spanish restaurants. A Sanskrit word, Tapas translates as "the purifying heat." According t...