Mark Welte is a yoga-guided writer who has been practicing for over ten years and teaches in the San Francisco area. He aims to spread greater vitality in others-in mind, body, and spirit-through yoga, and help to de-mystify the ancient practice. Plain-spoken and humorous, Mark helps make yoga and its benefits accessible to everyone-including his wife and daughter! Reach him at . ilfaunoyoga@gmail.com
With so much going on for the first few hours of the swim--new waters, gargantuan challenge, a pilot boat the size he'd never encountered before, etc--Eddie neglected his Tummo. At the six hour mark he started Tummo, and "I started feeling warm, which totally changed my crossing. It became a joy. The water temperature was below 60 degrees but it felt like the Caribbean. When I finished I was on fire: standing on French shores I didn't feel cold or hypothermic. I got on the boat and my crew insisted I put on some clothes, even though I didn't want to. Later that evening, eating dinner in an English pub, I had to remove my pants because I was so hot! I got very little sleep that night."
Eddie was in the water for twelve hours and twenty-nine minutes, at temperatures under 60. He still practices Tummo, "it's winter and the Bay is getting cold!" He'll be using Tummo next week as he attempts to set a record for swimming from Alcatraz while towing 13 kayaks, as part of a fund-raiser to help repay the generosity the South End Rowing Club bestowed on him, helping him raise the funds necessary for his Channel crossing. The water temperature is currently around 54 degrees, and the swim should take well over an hour.
While Tummo's role in the athletic feat is undeniable and impressive, it's Eddie's larger conclusion that might be the most profound. "I would say you are what you believe. I see everything in life as energy. What we think about, we will attract. If we can mentally see ourselves accomplishing something, then we will accomplish it. As they say, “What you believe you will achieve.”
To the yogi that's truly paying attention to their practice, that sounds about right.
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