Ambisagrus

Thanks, LT. Should be a good season.

SoCal has no winter, which is a shame because it's my favorite season. I love running in the cold dark morning when no one else is out, pushing back into the undeveloped parts of the landscape where no one has yet manufactured a themepark virtual reality for the residents of Sleepyville. The best I can do is get up early, early, before the desert sun even thinks of peeping over the mountains. So this is mostly a running challenge, but there are other elements, too. Body Goal: Reinvigorate my running practice, with commensurate weight loss and nutritional maintenance. Plan: Run 5x weekly for at least 30 minutes Proper hydration! Reduce refined carbs (again) Mind Goal: Begin to master the bass guitar! This is also a spiritual goal, but I've purchased lessons now, so this is the intellectual part. Plan: Complete weekly bass lesson Practice bass 5x weekly Complete at least 2 of my books on meditation that are waiting in the wings Spirit Goal: Maintain and continue to develop meditation and yoga practice. Plan: Yoga 5x weekly, with meditation Meditate on demand -- whenever the urge strikes Build my light saber. Ha! Kidding, but maybe the goal should be to contain my damn excitement about SW7.

What kills me is that alcohol is sugar. :/ Booooo

Welcome back! Geez, an hour of meditation...I'd have to take a vacation day to get that. Awesome!

Hi all...believe it or not, I started role playing back in the early 80s with a mimeograph of the original D&D gamebook. Proceeded through various iterations, ShadowRun, GURPs....but it's been over 20 years since I've owned dragon dice. ::sigh::

Ok, well...workouts are happening and food is pretty good, but meditation and reading are spotty this week. I probably will tweak some stuff after this week, unless I figure out the getting op early thing before then. Dropping too many early workouts. :/

Week 2, Day 5 Body: Slept through the row, PM Swim. No breakfast. Snacky lunch...I guess heat is keeping my hunger low. ETA: grabbed another 45 minute swim at the community pool. Mind: No reading or meditation. Spirit: 20 minutes practice. Bike is fun...it's not the fattest tire ever, so it's not completely absurd, but it's absurd enough.

Week 2, Day 4 Body: Another sleep-in and an over scheduled day = nada. MY bike arrives today so there may be a half hour ride later on... Mind: Missed it again. Didn't even read. Spirit: About to practice, so let's count 20 minutes. Another day down, but I'm ok with it. High activity level out of the office...all good for now.

Week 2, Day 3 Body: Ummm...got the swim in. No morning row due to sleepies. Lunch and breakfast as planned. Mind: No meditation. Spirit: No practice. Not a very successful day in challenge terms, but got a lot done in the real world. Meh.

Week 2, Day 2 Body: AM Yoga was more like laying on the floor and a few tiny stretches; PM run was hot! Brought lunch, big ass breakfast. Mind: Meditation with reading -- beautiful quote: "The element of air invites us into a sense of trust and surrender to the invisible forces of our lives; it invites us to follow where the spirit leads us." Spirit: 20 minutes practice: scales and site-reading music...slowly, but still. Oh, and guess what arrives tomorrow? Is that thing absurd or what? (Mine is white, but the picture was too big)

Thanks, Sterre! I really do like the 30 minute workouts...much easier to manage than trying to do it all at once. On that note, I actually squeezed in a short 'run of opportunity' in the evening. Lol Also, compiled a playlist for bass: - Ramble On (Zeppelin) - Criminal (Fiona Apple) - Going to Hell (The Pretty Reckless) - Heaven Knows (The Pretty Reckless) - Clyde (Waylon Jennings) - The Chain (Fleetwood Mac) - Hysteria (Muse) - Get Down On It (Kool and the Gang) - You're the One that I Want (Grease) - East Bound and Down (Jerry Reed) - Freak Like Me (Halestorm) - Longview (Green Day) - Call Me (Blondie) - Don't Rush (Kelly Clarkson / Vince Gill) - Feel Like Making Love (Bad Company) - Fields of Gold (Sting) - Sacred Love (Sting) - I Love Rock n Roll (Joan Jett) - Sweet Emotion (Aerosmith) Good start, mix of genres and complexity, and I think a lot of fun!

Noooooooooo. Lol. Congrats on the good start this week.

Week 2, Day 1 Body: AM Row, PM Swim (cut down to 20 minutes due to time constraints, but we made it into the pool). Packed lunch, made breakfast. Woot! Mind: Read another section on air -- gift of life -- before swim, so it led me to focus on breath. Nice! Meditated after the row. Spirit: Got some good recommends for bass-heavy rock (Fleetwood Mac) talking shop with a buddy. 20 minutes practice playing scales and walks. Not a half bad start to week 2, but I know the challenge is really keeping the momentum Thursday.

I agree...bass is definitely earth for me, though I can see water and even fire if you throw effects at it. But mostly earth. I have been practicing Kiss songs...they have a great groove and I like sticking my tongue out farther than recommended. Lol!

Religion isn't about ethics, but identity. The focus on doing what you 'should' is a product of institutionalization (e.g. The Romanization of Xianity and the Westernization of Buddhism). At its core, each tradition represents a path to transcend the ego and enter the true self. It doesn't make sense if you practice it concretely. Hobby horse. Sorry.

So how's the wheels?

Every clan has a mythos -- the 'global' religions simply sought to expand their clan to include all other clans. Christianity, Buddhism, Islam -- all stemmed from a tribal root or a previous amalgamation of tribal traditions, but still each one breaks down into tribes. I find it impossible to deal with a monolithic "Christianity" - too many sub-tribes and individual variations to say that any or all are one thing or the other. I myself am a contemplative Christian (ETA: though the term itself is far too limiting), and I have plenty of folks who think I'm more of a Neopagan or Buddhist (ETA: which I am...). There are plenty of folks who I think completely miss the spirit of religion. But so what? They practice a closed-set approach, where I practice a centered-set and use the mythos as a guide. I think you'd find that Islam is more directly in line with being 'God's subs' (ha!), since the word actually means something close to 'submission to God's will,' but the analogy works if it works for you.

Subbing

We experimented with decreasing our meat servings (not servings per week, but the actual size of each serving) and it worked pretty well. It's also less expensive, since meat tends to be one of the costliest items on every grocery list. It's easy to do if you pick dishes that use meat as just another ingredient, like a stir-fry that you throw some diced chicken or ham into, and compensate with 'hearty' vegetables (e.g. not a leaf). I've also found that a two-egg breakfast helps keep meat cravings at bay throughout the day. My favorite is to fry eggs over grass fed butter and drop them into a whole grain tortilla with a slice of ham and a few cheese shavings for a breakfast quesadilla. It's a one-skillet meal.

Thanks Nika! I'm reading 'Water, Wind, Earth & Fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements' - it's from a Celtic Christian contemplative perspective. Apparently, there's a deep 'earth centered' tradition there. Who knew? I'm an aspiring rock bassist, but pretty much anything would be fun. The joy of the bass is laying down the groove. I think it can elevate anything...especially when the norm is campfire guitar. Nothing wrong with that, mind you, but it sounds better to my ear with the bass! Edited to correct the title and ad the link.

Fell off the radar...lots of updates: Week One, Day Three: Body: AM Row...lost the swim due to a forgotten swimsuit, which for me would normally not be an issue, but you know...public pool. Mind: Incorporated the book into meditation, so now it's: read a section, meditate. Not bad. Spirit: 20 minutes freestyle practice. Looked at the circle, but didn't really work on it. Week One, Day Four: Body: Noon run, followed by immediate swim. Missed Yoga altogether. Mind: Meditation with reading. Spirit: 15 minutes practice, practiced constructing scales on the fly Week One, Day Five: Body: Slept in, no row (thinking of doing it tomorrow), Noon swim. Have been taking lunch, and...whole wheat breakfast quesadilla! Mind: Meditation with reading Spirit: No practice yet, but it's on the agenda. Hectic week, but so far I've gotten 8 of my 10 scheduled workouts done. Tomorrow I'll make up one, so hopefully I'll finish the week at 10 of 11.

Week 1, Day 2 Body: AM Yoga; PM Run -- only 25 minutes, including cool-down. I could blame it on running later, or being hot, or a big lunch, or just plain deconditioning, but meh. It wasn't what I wanted, so I cut it short. Experience says it'll smooth out over the next few weeks. Lunch, as noted, was bigger than it should be, but breakfast is about where I want it (two-egg sandwich on whole grain rounds + clementine) for now. Mind: Meditation with yoga (5 minutes breath). I did include mindful rowing yesterday, but forgot to mention it. It helps keep the mind off the math. It lasted about 2/3 of the row. When I started getting tired, effort kicked in. Spirit: Read a portion of chapter one, dealing with the element air. Nice thoughts for a running day. Happened into a conversation at work about constellations of self and fields of consciousness -- pretty airy, alright. Circle of fifths with bass practice -- walking progressions around the circle plus just some rote memorization.

Great first day

Week 1, Day 1 Body: AM Row, Noon Swim, no undue snacks. Woot. Mind: Meditation (5 minutes breath, 5 minutes compassion) Spirit: 15 minutes bass practice, printed circle of 5th, purchased book Off to a good start.

That's a great idea. I usually just do math about pace and rpm. I'll give it a go.