The Biggest Lesson My Motorcycle Taught Me

How motorcycle riding became my clearest path to presence

Collecting patches from everywhere I ride because I'm a Girl Scout at heart. // Summer riding in central Texas. Nothing like putting on a jacket in 95 degree temps.

Before I ever twisted the throttle on a motorcycle, I came across the phrase Be Here Now in a dog-eared copy of the Ram Dass book. You can count on every yoga studio having a copy of this book on a shelf near the bathroom. I read it during yoga teacher training, only half convinced I understood the concept and more concerned that I’d never nail an arm balance. The root of the book is the practice of presence. To witness the moment. To, as the title suggests, be exactly here, exactly now. Simple, but challenging in practice—especially when paired with the discomfort of pigeon pose. With the outline of a concept (and my yoga teacher training certificate in hand), I tucked the phrase into the margins of my mind and carried on with the chaos of life.

Then I signed up for a motorcycle safety course at a Harley dealership just outside New Orleans in May of 2022. Suddenly, the phrase Be Here Now meant something loud, immediate, and alive. The course was designed for beginners, but I and another woman were the only true beginners in the class. Most of our classmates were middle-aged men who had been riding for years without a license, now chasing an insurance discount. They already understood the clutch and the balance, and they knew how to read a curve before they even entered it. I showed up wide-eyed and stiff, silently terrified inside my helmet, hoping my hands would stop shaking long enough to do my best.