The eastern sky is brightening up, except for a soft whirr of the bicycle tires on the tarmac, there is no other sound. Soon, there will be cuckoos, drongos, and flycatchers, all adding their voices to the morning melody. I am indulging in my favorite pastime, am cycling through the beautiful Sal and Bamboo forests of central India, about fifty kilometers from home. As I take in the beauty of nature around me, the rhythmic motion of pedaling puts me in a mindful state.
I was not always a cyclist; I have not even been a cyclist for very long. My cycling journey began about four years ago when I was diagnosed with Bilateral Idiopathic Achilles Tendonitis. In more layman’s terms, I had very painful swelling on my ankles, back of my ankles to be precise, and my doctor friends could not find any reasons for it. Medicines and physiotherapy were not helping much. An option presented was local injections of steroids, which I was not very much in favor of. Around that time, another friend suggested I try cycling. Cycling somehow did the trick, the swelling went down within a week, and my ankle started to heal. I was also hooked to the experience and endorphins that cycling provided.
I heard the cycling community members in my city were talking about some french words “brevets” and “randonneuring” I was intrigued. A target of 200 kilometers in less than 13.5 hours. Unthinkable! I was nearing 50, my peers were settling into walks and breakfasts on Sunday mornings rather than day-long bicycle rides, but I have never been much like my peers. I signed up for my first 200km brevet, did it under 10 hours, went on to do the 300, 400, and 600km brevets too, and thus gifted myself the title of super randonneur just a few months after my 50th birthday.
I am often asked the question, “Why do I cycle?” Honestly, there is no single answer, but if someone was to pin me down for it, I would say I cycle to be with myself. Cycling is a very “mindful” activity for me and affords to me the solitude, which I otherwise find difficult to access. As a therapist, it helps me clear my mind and destress. Cycling has also provided me with some interesting analogies for my practice. I often tell clients, “Change is hard but seldom difficult” to convey it better, I use the analogy of cycling for 200kms – it is not difficult as a procedure. You get on the saddle, turn the pedal, keep turning it till you complete 200km but consistently turning the pedal for that long is very hard. It requires commitment and efforts but again, it is doable.
Just as I was not always a cyclist, I was not always a therapist. Before being a therapist, I was a software entrepreneur. Still, I was not always that. I was a medical doctor, a pediatrician, and a forensic pathologist before being an entrepreneur. In those days, I told my patients that I could care for them from the cradle to the grave and beyond. Now I tell my clients, from medication to meditation, I can prescribe you whatever you need.
An extract from this article was published on Psychotherapy Networker.
Written by Dr Tarique Sani, an introduction to CBT for everyone, grab your copy
I help IT executives overcome anxiety, overwhelm and procrastination, unleashing their potential using 1:1 CBT sessions | Assertiveness Training | Burn-out Prevention | Beat Perfectionism | Crush Imposter Syndrome