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“Start a ripple effect of heart shaped bicycle routes, and create a more heartful, loving world”...
Day after day, night after night, that sentence would whirl around my head. Approaching Cycle Your Heart Out’s 6th birthday, I needed to finally fulfill that wish and overcome my fear of organising! For years I’ve helped people make heart shaped routes, but never in a group picnic, June 25th changed all that. Celebrating Cycle Your Heart Out's 6th Birthday in Barcelona with 19 different nationalities was a dream come true. It was beautiful to watch people's faces as they created their own heart-shaped route, and see the ripple effect finally come to light... Click here to read more
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6/2/2017 0 Comments Heart Route 21 in BarcelonaThe Heartful Sunrise The feeling of satisfaction as you plot your heart on a map, set off on your bike and ride for the sheer joy of riding, is priceless. Your mind only focused on the heart map before you and the next road you need to take. As your eyes dance around a route which you’ve created, you begin to notice your surroundings with more intensity, more wonder. You spot a tree you never appreciated before, the looks on people’s faces as you roll on past. The surrounding birdsongs appears to grow in volume. Thoughts of what you need to do tomorrow somehow get put on hold, regrets about past failures fade out, your inner critic takes a nap as you cycle your heart out heartfully, appreciating the whole journey, from beginning to end Follow your heart Do you ever notice how little we sometimes look into people's eyes? All our information seems to be at our fingertips. But can our smartphones smile back at us, or hold a gaze enough to lift our mood? I've been wanting to create a new heart-route in Barcelona since 2013. At the end of October, my heart finally spoke... The World's Biggest Eye Contact Experiment took place on Saturday 29th October around the world, a beautiful annual event run by The Liberators & Good Vibrations Barcelona. The idea is simple, share 1 minutes eye contact with a total stranger to help regain human connection. I grew up extremely shy, always avoiding eye contact... which is why I went last year to the event. I was a bit nervous at having to stare into a stranger's eyes for 1 whole minute, but the more I did it, the more my confidence increased, convincing me to return again this year. The event was back again in Gracia, one of my favorite neighbourhoods in Barcelona, the perfect place to cycle my heart out! Cycle your heart out... and share 1 minute! Location Gracia, Barcleona If you live in Barcelona you can use their local bike hire scheme called Bicing. I love how much freedom it gives me, and has saved me from going crazy without a bike these last 2 months. If you’re visiting Barcelona there are also plenty of good bike rental shops to choose from. Heart route On the morning of the event I was looking at my map of Barcelona and the route just jumped out at me, it was probably the fastest route I've ever made. I cycle frequently up Passeig de Gracia and Gran Via which I think helped in creating the route. These 2 streets are super wide and I love how bicycle friendly they are. View Heart Route Map Length: 8.22km Cycle your heart out I really love this new route, you get to cycle past all the popular spots of Barcelona, while still making use of the wide bicycle paths. Highlights include Passeig de Gracia, Casa Batlló, Casa Milà, Gracia, Placa Del Sol (where the event was) and the Sagrada Família. I love eating in Gracia, one of my favourite spots to eat is Sol Soler in Placa del sol, the same place the Eye experiment was in. I love their Bravas and being able to sit and relax on the terrace. I discovered this rooftop at Royal Hotel with a friend last winter and instantly fell in love with its views. It's the perfect spot to sketch as the heaters keep you nice and warm, while the views of the sea keep you in a state of pure bliss. Spread the love Thank you to Emma Bradford, one of the Co-organisers of Good Vibrations for taking the time to share her thoughts on the event in my video (see below). Emma is also a NLP coach and runs an online Facebook community which offers free guidance and support, to find out more you can visit her website here. I am also grateful to all the people I shared 1 minutes connection with at the event. I really admired one lady who told me she has trouble looking into people's eyes, which was why she came to the event. A big thanks also to my friend Guiu for sharing the event with me for the 2nd year in a row! The song in the video below is called Pillow Talk by Guh, it's been part of my morning playlist for over a year now. Would you like to create your own heart route? Click here for my top tips! 13/2/2016 0 Comments Cycle Your Heart Out With... Nic!Meet Nic, a Beauty Therapist from EnglandFollow your heart This Valentines day Nic decided to cycle her heart out to follow her artistic dreams! Cycle your heart out... and dream! Location Barcelona, Spain Bike rental: Mondo rent, Barceloneta Heart Route 11km, view heart route Cycle Your Heart Out Highlights: Crying with laughter watching Nic chase her heart (watch the video below to find out more). Riding past many of Barcelona’s main highlights, including Arc de Triomf, Barceloneta Beach and Gaudi's famous Sagrada Familia. Sketching our hearts out at the rooftop of the Barcelona history museum at the 1881 Sagardi terrace. Ending the ride at the TedX event all about following your dreams! Watch the video below to find out what Nic ended up sketching! Spread the love Feeling inspire to create a heart route with your friend? Click here to see my top heart making tips! Follow your heart On Sunday me and Mirian from Quiroyogasatori decided to help spread the love on International Women’s Day with a heart shaped ride! Location Barcelona, Spain Heart Route A 7.81 mile route which I actually created back in 2013! click here to view the map Cycle Your Heart Out The ride took us on a relaxing journey past many of Barcelona’s main highlights, including Arc de Triomf, Barceloneta Beach and Gaudi's famous Sagrada Familia. The best part of the ride however was keeping a look out for women to surprise! Spread the love To help spread the love, Mirian a masseuse and yoga teacher from Quiroyogasatori gave out free massage vouchers to the women, "I want to say thanks and be thankful to all the working women who are bringing happiness to others with a simple smile". I thought it would be a lovely idea to also give them my 'Cycle Your Heart Out in Barcelona' book of my sketches from the route. Thank you so much also to everyone that came along and cycled their hearts out!      So after one year of researching, filming and painting, my Barcelona video is now up! To view all my Barcelona heart routes click here! |
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