I'm beginning to figure out where I tend to fall off the train. This week, and last, I missed practice on Thursday and Friday. See what I've come to realize that while an evening practice is possible, it's tough. I'm best served by making sure that I make it to Mysore in the morning.
Thursday is the toughie. I sign in the Mysore class at the studio and then head straight to work. By the time I come home I'm exhausted and have no strength or motivation to practice. I think I'm going to hold on to Thursday as my optional day of rest. I mean, it's not completely keeping with the original intent of this project. However the MAIN intent of the project was to observe the process of a consistent practice. With that being said I've observed that I really need that day both for the sake of my schedule and my body. But Friday is another matter. If I'm going to take Thursday as rest I'm going to need to be vigilant about making it to Friday Primary class.
So what does this all have to do with patterns? Well, I've realized that my challenges with those days (Friday specifically) have come from my complacency with my diet. Now many would argue that I'm healthy, and sadly by American standards I'm way healthier than the rest. I maintain a Vegan diet and try to avoid processed food, etc. However since this experiment began and my schedule's gotten booked I've really fallen back into some bad habits. This has created a drag on my system which makes it hard to wake up in the morning even when I go to bed early and thus miss morning practice.
Mainly I've stopped cooking and have relied on prepared foods. Now this isn't necessarily all bad but its expensive and greatly increases my chances of eating crap. Confession: I've been eating at Burger King (GASP!) more often than I would care to (which is not at all). They have a Veggie Burger and my roomies go there a lot so it's an easy choice. I've also been neglecting to eat enough fresh veggies mainly due to my not preparing my own food.
So what am I going to do? Well, the cooking is going to be a bit of a challenge but it's something I'm going to work towards fitting into my schedule. In terms of prepared foods I'm going to stick to the least processed, highest quality foods I can get. Probably mainly from TJ's and Whole Foods.
I'm also making a conscious effort to eat less. It's so easy when we follow a Vegan or other healthy diet to go out of control with portions. Now I'm not trying to lose weight. It would probably be really unhealthy for my weight to drop any lower. What I am going to work greatly on is eating smaller portions of healthier foods. I've really come to realize how much big portions of caloricaly dense foods slow me down. The past few days I've been monitoring portions and only eating till I'm full. I already feel much better.
I may expand on this as I progress but I think those two steps are a great place to start.
Now what does this have to do with my practice? Well, EVERYTHING! I have forgotten how instrumental the entire diet and outside life is to a successful practice. Sure, I've been doing my Asana and getting great results. But I know deep down that by implementing these bigger changes my other practices will be greatly assisted. I'll feel better and actually have the energy to practice every day (or almost every day at least).
Just to check in. Asana is going swimmingly. I'm progressing very steadily I would say. This is the first time I've ever been so consistent for so long and I can definitely tell. I won't go into too many details, I'll save for a later post.
Another project: renewing my Dharma Practice (It's also going great but I'll also save that for another blog entry)
Final Project: Get back to writing on here every day! I have so much to talk about and it really helps me check in and keep focus.
Stay tuned for the continued evolution of this process. And if you're one of my friends, either real life or online, please help keep an eye on me! One of the main reasons I started this blog was so that I would have public accountability. I love hearing from you guys and appreciate all your support!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
on the food-prep front, as someone who packs her schedule way more than any one person should, i cannot extol the virtues of a slow cooker/crock pot highly enough. if you're able to splurge on one with a timer, it's even easier. but i don't have fancy one and i find it helps me to cook for myself MUCH more often than i used to - put the ingredients in the pot in the morning, turn it on low as i leave, come home to delicious food. it's especially great at this time of year for veggie soups and stews. there are loads of vegetarian/vegan slow cooker cookbooks out there too.
ReplyDelete