badbadtzmaru

A very belated week 2 report: Yoga and meditation still going well. Crane pose still not happening. Went on a beautiful 90 minute hike on Sunday. Then came down with the flu, unfortunately, so week 3 has been a little bit of a wash so far. But, I am feeling well enough today to rally for the trip to a friend's house for Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving to all of the U.S. nerds... :-)

Achievements unlocked last night! Complete the beginner short form class (tai chi)Get promoted to intermediate class (tai chi)Join push hands class I'll update my first post accordingly.

I picked up tai chi about 15 years ago and did it for a couple of years - then I moved, got busy with work, and stopped going to classes. I've been doing it again for the past year. I do the Cheng Man Ching form right now and will be starting tuishou soon. There's a sword form class which I am dying to join, and also a Yangjia Michuan form and a neigong class - these are invitation only and I need to put in more time before I'd be eligible.

Hi - things are mostly going well. - Meditation is going really well, and I'm getting it done everyday. - Yoga is also happening 6/7 days. - I took a decent walk this weekend back in my neighborhood, which is very tree filled. I would have gone longer but was with my husband, and he had messed up his back earlier in the week and wasn't up to anything very long. The one area where I'm not getting an A is the crow pose practice. I've done maybe three practices so far. I think that I need to be more consistent with that if I'm going to see progress.

Day 3 - 10 minute meditation and 30 minute yoga session this morning. No crane pose practice yet today - and I've had a couple of glasses of wine already tonight so we'll see if I can motivate myself sufficiently before bed. I had tai chi practice after work and I am almost through learning the Cheng Man Ching form. I've been going for about a year now -- my teacher really focuses on the mechanics and martial applications of each move in the form, so it is slow going. Form practice isn't part of my challenge, but I should probably add it to my daily practice list.

Hi Taijibum. I am a tai chi student (Cheng Man Ching) working in the Assassins Guild during this challenge -- and I would love to see the handout if you're willing to post it.

Hi, Kenyo - I have a daily yoga goal, too. We'll become super flexible morning people together this challenge :-) Good luck with your first week!

Just popping in to say that I especially love your "don't worry" goal. Outside of the NF challenge I am doing a "no negativity November" challenge and it's really surprising to notice how much my mind tends to head down that road! I really like your plan for catching and redirecting your thoughts.

Day 2 - 10 minute meditation and 30 minute vinyasa flow practice this morning. I worked a 12 hour day today and by the time I got home I only had enough mental energy to attempt to get into crane pose once. I kind of love the yogaglo site so far. There are tons of different classes available - all different styles, class durations, etc. I'm on a free two-week trial right now, but after that if I continue it is only $18 per month for unlimited access. Considering the cost of a single yoga class in my city is $20 it seems like a pretty good deal.

Day 1 is a success. Did a 10 minute meditation, 20 minute yoga practice that focused on twists and forward bends, and then did 10 minutes of crane pose practice. I definitely am going to need to work on my arm strength but I also will need to work a lot on getting over my fear of a major face plant. I hope everyone else is having a good first day of the challenge!

I love your aggressive meditation plan, and will be interested to see how that works for you. And as someone with a crane pose goal, I was excited to see the hand balancing tutorials in your sig - I'll definitely be taking a look to get some tips!

Subscribing! Nice to meet another assassin with similar goals and a similar love for Yoda. Good luck!

Hi, Assassins! I've been away from challenges for a while but I'm back to make sure I end this year right. My main quest is to be strong, flexible, and content in mind and body. This challenge, I really want to focus on sticking with some habits that I think will help me get closer to achieving this. Consistency is key for improvement. As Yoda says... 1: Yoga Every Damn Day Yoga helps me increase my strength, flexibility, and mental fitness. I should be doing this more often! I picked up a subscription to yogaflo.com and will be doing videos at least 6x per week. Doesn't matter if the video is 20 minutes or 90 minutes, as long as I complete a prescribed routine. 2: Get into Crane Pose My arms are noodly appendages, and I want to get stronger so I can do nifty arm balances. I'm going to start with Bakasana (Crane Pose). Here's a link with instructions and some preparatory poses: http://www.yogajournal.com/pose/crane-pose/. Aiming for a minimum of five minutes a day of practice specifically related to this. 3. Get Outside and Feel the Force When the weather starts to get chilly, I have a bad tendency to hunker down in my house on the weekends. I want to make sure I get outside consistently - I feel much better when I get fresh air. One long walk each weekend, preferably in the park. 4. Meditate, I Will Meditation 6x week for 10 minutes each session. That's it! Best of luck to all of you -- and I look forward to seeing everyone's progress!

Two yoga classes and one at home workout this week -- not all the exercise that I had wanted to do, but much better than nothing! On a non-exercise note, I have decided that this month is "No Negativity November" - I have been feeling like I get into a rut of complaining about the same boring work/commute nonsense daily and I'm tired of listening to myself. My husband is doing it with me - every time we are negative we are going to put a dollar in a jar. So, by the end of the month I hope to have trained my brain to stick more to positive thinking and/or we will have a lot of money in that jar that we can put toward a dinner out or a vacation. Either way we win :-)

I did the challenge workouts listed above 5 of 7 days and went to yoga classes on Tuesday and Thursday - so not a bad start. I am thinking that I need to focus more on pushups, because mine are pretty lame and not legit -- they aren't controlled and my body is definitely not in a straight line when I do them. My lack of upper body strength was pretty apparent in the yoga classes too - poses where my arms are supposed to be holding the rest of me up are not so smooth! But I'm pleased with myself just for doing something and trying to ingrain the habit - I will get better the more I do these things.