NEW COLUMN – The Holistic Fly Fisher’s Body-Mind-Soul
NOTE – We’ve dabbled in healthy information for fly fishers in the past, but there’s still a visible need to not only take in healthy food, but feed our mental and spiritual fly fishing health needs as well. In the spirit of New Year’s ambition, I want to add a weekly (there’s the ambition) column on the things that will add longevity, or counter some of the “bad” habits I/we all enjoy so much.
BODY – MIND – SOUL
There’s a move afoot here. While we’ve been going down the physical mountain, which feels like straight up, and while we’ve been keeping our minds fresh and supple with the mental gymnastics of all that is technical in fly fishing -constantly adding new information, we are now about to add the third ball to our holistic juggling act.
SPIRIT SOUL OR NOT?
Books abound on the spiritual aspect fly fishing has to offer, and a good number of writers have written long and short about their own crossover from sport to spirit in fly fishing. Each has their own words and views and all are absolutely valid and valuable.
But how do we actually add soulful practice to our lives, or integrate it, before we hit the casting platform, the trout stream or the vast flats of our vision of mecca?
And make no mistake, I have stumbled across fly fishers who take their spiritual beliefs to the extreme … the extreme dark side with “666” and pentagrams all over their personal websites, even using demonic references as their pseudonyms. (That’s an interview I would love to do.)
MIND
Simply reading helps our minds, right? I read more often to add to our technical knowledge, than to add to my spiritual knowledge – in general, and through fly fishing. What other mindful things can we do to enhance ourselves, our fly experience?
BODY
I was blessed with good DNA. Up until recently, I could take a few weeks, even months off from my workout routines and not suffer when I came back to it. That’s not the case anymore. Heck, readers here know I even do things that may not be helping (see cigars, see beer, see whiskey for more information). It’s about the time where I accept that some of these vices actually aren’t that bad in moderation, but have to be countered by a new, more aggressive physical regimen.
For example, I believe most “older” fly fishers (55+ years-old) have falls while fly fishing mostly because of lost balance. So I am going to learn a lot about balance, agility and the minute things that keep major things from happening. We’ve already started down the diet road as well. In the 2013-14 growing season, I was the self-crowned KING OF CALE. We will continue the adventure of new physical activities to prolong the life of any fly fisher’s fly life – well past what the doctor recommends!
Have a fantastic Sunday! I have been getting numerous photographs ranging from the Louisiana marshes to Beavers Bend, Oklahoma – all with fish in them! Imagine that! I’ll have a story about how that feels … soon.
NEXT WEEK – Prescription drugs, Mexico style.
+Shannon Drawe
+Texas Fly Caster
Category: Body-Mind-Soul, Culture on the Skids
