Ode to a Gym
A Special Place
I sit in the still quietness of morning;
Eyes closed, cross-legged
Breathing deeply, rhythmically
Random thoughts float by
like so many summer clouds
Brain struggles to replenish but
quickly yields to stillness…
My Special Place
That rests between;
Earth and sky,
Moon and sun,
Heaven and hell,
Euphoria and angst,
Courage and cowardice,
Light and dark,
Right and wrong,
A place of safety and peace;
Sanity and reason
Unlimited consciousness
Where true-self dwells
Where all is possible - Ray Lucero
There are a lot of gyms that I think are ugly. Mine is not one of them. The paint color, the plants, the light; all of this comes together in harmony to create the perfect backdrop to rather boring looking metal equipment. I presume it takes a lot for a workout space to remain beautiful through the many years that she exists. Like a hard-working person who sweats yet doesn’t stink, a gym without many blemishes is a rarity. Nicks on the wall, grease smudges on the leather, sweat stains on the floor; a gym is not meant to be a museum. It is meant to be a place where you workout your life.
While the outdoors are a place to get caught up in the grandiose of one’s surroundings, I go to the gym to go deep inside of myself. It is a place that I go back to over and over again.
None of the following photographs were taken during an official photo shoot at Reliquum Training Studio. On the contrary, they were captured on ordinary days at ordinary moments during rest breaks of the pushing and pulling of weight. This is a place I know very well.
“I stand and watch the clock;
I only wait for it to stop;
The doors are shut and all the windows locked;
The only sound is from the clock;
I sit and wait alone in my room.”