CIELE ATHLETICS

Seven Paths of Zen

Kanso — simplicity

Drink espresso. Grab 2 shoes and lace them up. Run from your door as the sun begins to color the eastern horizon. 

Fukinsei — asymmetry or irregularity

The path changes before you, pavement giving way to trail, slope angling toward the cliffside as you ascend. Aspect change defines light and texture; South facing slopes remain dry and dusty; their northerly counterparts holding ice and snow. The only perfect path is the one you are on.

Shibumi — beauty in the understated

Light shifts subtly as the colored sunrise slowly mutes into morning blue. Pines grow shorter, more stunted, as the air thins. Your measured breath continues to lightly fog in front of you. 

Shizen — naturalness without pretense

A deer crashes across the path, alarmed by your presence, paradoxically coming nearer to you in it’s efforts to gain safety. It crashes into old growth, snapping twigs and rousting the squirrels into the trees, then stops, frozen and alert as you pass. 

Yugen — subtle grace

Your decision-making is little more than intuition; your pace adjusts thoughtlessly in response to terrain and fatigue.

Datsuzoku — freeness

The summit nears, fatigue no longer important. You are compelled upward weightlessly, effortlessly. This where you are supposed to be, what you are supposed to be doing. 

Seijaku — tranquility

From the summit, peace is known. You stare out over the valleys below, the cradle of all you know. You rest briefly before descending.