Blake, Emily, and myself have been enjoying keeping this site together. As you can tell, our main focus so far has been the training logs, with an occasional post under each of the other topics.  Personally, I feel this is working well and I hope you are enjoying interacting with us.

Today we welcome a new friend to the site, Emily Helt. Some of you may know her as @mindfulness108 on Twitter (and if you don’t follow her yet, I suggest you fix that).

Welcome to IronLotus, Emily!
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I have always been physically active and grew up a pretty serious athlete. The first time I touched a basketball I was five years old and I never put it down after that. As I got older, things got more serious- I started seeing basketball trainers, playing AAU, and getting ready to compete in high school with serious plans for college ball. Eventually I started losing interest. The love I once had began to fade as basketball started to feel like a chore. This great passion I had was fading and I couldn’t figure out why. Then, my sophomore year I had no choice, I had to stop playing to get back surgery. I was restricted from sports for a year and this changed my life.

Overtime I realized that physical discipline is meaningless without mental focus and emotional maturity, both which I had spent little time cultivating. Looking back, I can see how I lacked mindfulness as I immersed myself entirely into basketball. I DO love playing basketball and after dealing with injury I was able to refocus and discover a new appreciation for it.

Although most of the time my injuries frustrate me like crazy, I am grateful for the challenges and lessons I’ve learned. Now, I focus on keeping balance and push myself with the knowledge that maintaining this is what sustains my fitness. When I’m not cooped up in the gym I am scouring the Internet for random geekery, blogs, or creative inspiration. My computer is an integral part of preserving a balanced life.

– Emily Helt “@mindfulness108”