As an athlete, I have had the opportunity to do contemplative practices all the time. In my “athletic world”, a lot of the times, these practices have the name of race visualizations. Me and my boat would gather the night before the race, close our eyes relax and have our coxswain (the person that give the directions in the boat) “walk” us through the whole process of getting to the start line, race and finishing the race. The say that for the brain it is like you are actually doing the race. That practice prepares you in a mental way so you can keep your emotions in control the day of the race. “Your body will do whatever you command, it is the brain you need to convince”, that is a phrase that we hear all the time in my sport and it is said so when we start experiencing severe pain from how hard we are pushing, we keep pushing harder. We push so hard that a lot of rowers pass out after races. That keeps reminding me how powerful the brain is. I am glad that we get the opportunity to reflect on the contemplative practices we do in class. I really feel more connected to the present in every practice but there was one that really got my attention. Some weeks go, we did a standing practice. After standing we had to walk but only looking down, making zero eye contact for some minutes, just us and our thoughts, so alone in a room full of people. It was just like everyday life, walking around the campus while looking on our phones, taking for granted the moments and the people that walk past us. After walking around in the class looking down, we were told to start making eye contact. After so many weeks of class with these people, iIt was like I was meeting everyone for the first time. We would look each other and giggle for no reason, something so pure that almost made me feel like a kid again. I saw the smiles of some people in the class for the first time. On the documentary we saw last week, “Journey of the Universe”, there was a part that it was talking about living among statues and how it changes our self perception. And that go me wondering, if we take a moment to actually notice the world, by seeing all people running through their lives and be these moving “statues” what can change in our consciousness and self conception?