Meditation in motion

By Sheel Vardhan Singh/ The Speaking Tree

As a child, chasing butterflies was what life was all about. As an adult, I often wondered if running was all about chasing rainbows. A fellow senior runner, as regular like myself, once told me that running is about being always fit enough to realise one’s dreams and yes, if one falls down, it’s about being able to get up, limp a little if in pain, and then start running again.

Each morning I ran like a man possessed. And when the first signs of a slowing down appeared, I ran, chasing my youth that ran ahead of me, faster than me.

One day, tired and exhausted I paused and heard a rumble behind me. I turned around and saw a storm on the horizon. It made me uneasy, anxious. I was afraid of this storm. I started to run faster. I saw the senior runner and levelled up to him, running alongside. I told him about the approaching storm, he smiled and said the storm had already overtaken him.

The storm hit me with a vengeance. Thrown off balance, I fell. I got up, walked a few steps and fell again; but stubborn as I am, I decided that come what may, I’ll run. As I ran up the hill I saw the line of trees in the distance. Effortlessly the sun rose in the horizon and the fog melted. The world opened out and the morning winter sun lit up my face. The storm had overtaken me. Now, as I run, I always see around me the garden full of flowers and butterflies. There is no youth running away from me in the distant horizon or anything following me.
