The Cosmic Soup Where Science and Spirituality Meet

The Bicycle Effect – Cycling as Meditation By Juan Carlos Kreimer

If you have ever got on your bike and started pedalling and felt that your actions were independent of your will, and that everything you were thinking about was put on pause, I don’t need to explain what I mean. Zen calls this being fully present. It is the end of 1982, and I am 38 years old. One day, at noon, I notice that my bike is steering itself. Later, I am sitting on the bay, which is today occupied by the Memorial Garden, facing the Rio de la Plata. With me is Daniel Coifman, a psychotherapist friend who has spent a couple of seasons at the Esalen Institute of Big Sur, travelled several times to India and, to put it briefly, gone exploring the mysteries of consciousness.

To access this content, you must purchase Monthly Membership, or log in if you are a member.

About Juan Carlos Kreimer

Juan Carlos Kreimer was born in Buenos Aires in 1944. He is a cultural journalist, writer, and editor. His books about rock music—Beatles & Co (1968), Agarrate! (1970), and Punk: La Muerte Joven (1978)—were the first on the subject to be published in Spanish. In 1982, he founded, and directed for 12 years, the magazine Uno Mismo. He is also the author of ?Cómo Lo Escribo? (1981), Contracultura Para Principiantes, El Varón Sagrado, Rehacerse Hombres, and three novels: Todos lo Sabíamos, El Río y el Mar, and ¿Quién Lo Hará Posible? Since 1995, he has been the editor of the Spanish version of the For Beginners series and of De La Flor’s graphic novels. He has adapted two novels—Los dueños de la tierra by David Viñas and The Stranger by Albert Camus—as graphic novels. Two of his previous books have appeared in English: Krishnamurti for Beginners (Writers and Readers Publishing Inc., London, 1998) and Counterculture for Beginners (Zidane Press, London, 2017). He teaches a course on “Self-Discovery Through Writing” at the Colombia Foundation.