What rituals or practices help me come home to myself?

I am not sure this is going to make sense. When I am rowing in a rowing shell, out on the water, there are lots of things going on at once. First, you don’t want to capsize, so my body is constantly re-calibrating with the shifting of the tiny boat on the water as it encounters the forces of the wind and swell (if any) and the weight of my body as it moves on the seat up and back with each stroke…Then there is the adjustment of the force on each oar which I use to control the direction of the boat, correcting any drift from the aforementioned wind and swells. Then I have to look back over my shoulder periodically to check to see where I am going and insure I am on the course I have set. There are then the sights and sounds, giveaways to approaching hard surfaces to be avoided if possible.

Combined, all the above are distractions from my form and the catch, drive, release and return of each stroke. These four elements are the core of the endeavor. And they suffer from distraction. So there is a thing rowers learn from their coaches early on: Put Your Mind In The Boat.

That is what I do on land as well. I can get so caught up with the myriad details and commitments that I start to get ‘sloppy’ and have to get ‘my mind in the boat.’