The Blue Room

That place.........where you go..........in your head. Not the 'bad' place. The really good one.

That place where you either have so much stuff to do that on the task in hand, that the day to day 'worries' or concerns dissapear, or that place where you are weightless, warm, relaxed and completely zoned out and nothing but where you are that moment matters. No room for tax returns, no room for anxieties, no room for 'whats for dinner tonite' or 'what shall I get my brother for xmas'.

Just you on cruise control.

To many this is 'meditation'.  For me this is 'The Blue Room'




 Gordon Reef in the Red Sea waiting patiently at 40-50m for Hammerhead Sharks

 The Blue Room Underworld

The Blue Room comes from my 17 years of diving. When diving in places like the Red Sea the water is near 30 degrees Celcius, you are neutrally bouyant ...'weightless'. My rebreather makes no bubbles so is silent. It's literally a flotation tank with my eyes open. In this wondrous place (and it really is!) anything 'topside' is irrelevant. I find myself in a very calm tranquil place. My movements are deliberately slow and relaxed in rhythm with the sea around me. I am in what I came to call The Blue Room.

2000 ft up over Thruxton in a Piper Cherokee

The Arial Blue Room

There is the gentle rhythmic throb of the engine blocked out by your big headphones. You are 'weightless' above a very slowly moving landscape (even though you may be travelling much faster than most sports cars )  and beneath a shiny huge blue sky. Unlike diving there is so much to do....navigate on the correct heading, maintain correct altitude, make radio calls, carb heat , switch tanks, reset the DI. It is this heavy task loading which forces  you to 'zone out' of the day to day life we live. If you use autopilot  flying you are missing the point.

I got my pilots license in 2007. During my 45 hours of training I discovered another Blue Room in the sky.

The Blue Room at Ground Level

Its very cold and frosty. I can feel it on my face as I breathe, but beneath my running clothes I am warm. The frost crunches under my steady rhythmic running pace, the music in my headphones absorbs me and the sky breaks through the woods clear and blue on a winters day.Sometimes when I'm running I am so 'zoned out' I literally run past Deer and other walkers without even seeing them until I'm almost on top of them.

This is my Running Blue Room. One I can go to every day. A little bit of daily meditation. My body guides me like an autopilot through the tracks, over the obstacles, up the hills without noticing them.

Greensand Way marker near Hambledon

Where is your Blue Room ?

The Blue Room is the reason I can run long distances. The ability to 'zone out' and not notice your tiredness, or aches. A lot of people think running is hard and that long distance runners are mad. I find that Im not even warmed up properly for the first 45 minutes (usually way after most people have given up on a run). Once in the flow of the run I can go for miles because of this ability.

Dave told me recently that he was starting to find long distance running addictive. I think he may have his own Blue Room or two but never thought to name it. Im willing to bet he gets the same feeling when he is absorbed in a guitar performance with his band.

So ....where is your Blue Room ? ........If you dont have one go find one. Tell me about them.