I fell into a bit of a hole, exercise wise, which I’ve now emerged from. And about time. Need the energy and go-get-em enthusiasm that regular exercise seems to bring me.

So, I was trying to work out just what sort of exercise to go for. I walk lots each week, lots of 20 minute walks to and from the office. Can’t really work up a sweat doing that, though. Not enough.

Swimming? Well maybe. I live across from the beach right now. That won’t be the same in England, though. I need something portable.

So running seems to be it for now. But done gently. I found The Couch to 5k Running Plan on Cool Running and I’ve been gently working my way up to more and more running. Really lovely this morning, that sensation came where I didn’t want to stop running, that feeling where my body feels light and almost airborne while running.

Talk about lucky. I’m a bit sore this morning and a little grazed in places. Now that doesn’t sound lucky, but gee I sure got off lightly.

Last night, we had just got home and I was sorting stuff out. I stepped out the back door of our placed and missed my footing on the step and somehow launched myself into space. There are about 5 steps to ground level. So, I’m falling, and my right foot lands in a large glass bowl at one side on the bottom of the stairs. It is sitting on a couple of bricks and is full of water and fairy stuff. That’s Bea’s fairy garden for those that have seen it.

It shatters into a million pieces and I keep falling. I mid-air kind of twisted onto my right side and landed on the bricks under the washing line, grazing my right knee, elbow, and hand. I bumped my head a little too.

So after all of this, I have a little cut on my foot. No glass cuts at all, and a couple of grazes and a few bruises. Man, I am lucky. I could have had a foot full of glass or a broken ankle or who knows what.

After Rich mentioned that Larry Lessig is doing a virtual book signing in Second Life, I signed on last night, download the app and gave it a go.

I haven’t stepped into an online world like this for a long time. I’m way impressed. I can see why people are talking about using Second Life for business meetings and prototyping designs. I bumbled around for a bit, then found a quite incredible dance club and spent much of the evening there dancing away.

Maybe see you in there sometime. In Second Life I’m called Gra Itoku.

So far so good with the morning meditations. I’ve managed to get to sit and meditate every morning for at least 20 mins for a week now, except for New Years Day, when I was probably still trying to walk home after that party.

Impressions so far: It is much easier to get my breathing and thoughts into the right place, even after only a few days practice. So the real meditation seems to start quicker and there’s less trying to get comfortable. The meditation time passes quickly. It seems to create a lot of space in my mind that carries through the rest of the morning.

Bea woke and came upstairs while I was meditating this morning. Tried to encourage her to sit still and concentrate on her breathing. Didn’t really work. She woke with many questions and ideas in her head and was just busting, as she would say, to talk about them. So this morning’s meditation ended there and we went down for a swim.

Today is a sad day. I’ll explain why in a couple of days.

I’ve acidentally fallen into this rather blissful pattern of getting up early, making a cup of tea and then doing a short meditation before starting the day. And that short meditation leaves me in a really calm and peaceful state which lasts well into the day.

Long may this continue. I hope I can stay in this pattern for a while.

My favourite meditations:

• the Mindfulness of Breathing
• Loving-Kindness Meditation (mettabhavana)