“Trust your equipment.” That’s what world-class mountain biker and founder of Fluidride, Simon Lawton, (https://fluidride.com/aboutfluidride) told me during my private lesson. He was responding to my comment of being afraid that the bike would slide out from under me as I took the bank turn. You see the tires are made specifically for traction. And as I have good equipment, which I did, and I keep the equipment in good working order, which I do… I can trust my equipment.
His statement has never left me. I’ve said trust my equipment as I fly down black diamond ski runs because I’ve tuned my skis. I say it when golfing so I focus on the rhythm of my swing because the clubs should take care of the distance. I even found myself saying it as I recently learned to wake surf.
I believe this statement can work as a way of life. You see our “equipment” is our practices that we take time to do to build our spiritual armor. Practices like meditation, exercise, yoga, mindfulness, and responsibility of choice. All these practices are our internal equipment for when we face challenging times in our lives. Those times when we have to admit we were wrong, short-tempered or simply not being able to clear our own energy so we can ground into the present energy and hold space for another. Lightyear Life Coach creator and one of my spiritual teachers, Susan Conrad, calls this principle: Clear, Ground, and Hold Space. We simply cannot do that for another, much less for ourselves if we don’t keep our “equipment” honed.
So equip yourself by committing to a spiritual or health-based practice whether it’s yoga, meditation, or mindfulness practices. Or hire a life coach to learn daily practices to hone your equipment. Then build the practice of learning to trust yourself… “trust your equipment”. Thank you, Simon!