On the weekend we went to a party given by a colleague. His wife is a very interesting person. To bad we don't live closer, as I would love to have her for a friend. She told me she has started walking and she counts her steps, to turn her walk into a walking meditation. She walks between 5,000 and 6,000 steps a day. I was flabbergasted that she could concentrate enough to count up to 6,000.
I decided to try this on my bike ride. I quickly decided that counting my pedals was a non starter, but I did decide I could count my breaths. For beginning, I decided to just count my breaths on the ride up the hill, not the whole trip. I start at the gate at the bottom of the hill. I bellow breath, otherwise known as back breathing. First time up I counted 560 breaths. Second time 590, but I was ticked about something and kept getting distracted. Third time (today) I counted 550 breaths. Ted also counted his breaths today and this is the really interesting part- he counted 415 breaths. So even though my time up the hill is faster, and Ted is 6ft 5 compared to my 5 ft 4, and about 80 pounds heavier, he had over 100 fewer breaths. I don't know enough physiology to totally get this.
