luckyfiredragon shifts shape

[lucky fire dragon]

Week 1 Day 1 - FAIL

 

the glorious kick off day wasn't that glorious as I though

 

had a lovely evening into the new year at my sister's, with nice food, drinks and playing games together. But as I say I think I'm getting old, because not only did I sleep in the next morning, I had lost all momentum and only really got up at late morning (kids are old enough to rather prefer this  ) and as we were expecting friends for visit in the afternoon I quickly went for a walk but otherwise got the house neat and baked some chocolate rolls to offer and after they left I cooked supper and well, did not meditate anymore. Nor write on my book, nor do any chin ups etc and even with the walk I had only about 9000 steps, so no goal achieved

 

 

BUT good times were had, so I'm not totally upset 

 

WEEK 1 DAY 2

 

 

Daily 10  - DONE

 

Chin ups from tip toe 3/2/2/2/1
Push ups 12 knee push ups

Knee tucks from hanging 11

 

counting towards the mini, isn't that nice  

 

Yoga - not today

 

 

10 000 steps - DONE

walking around airport while dropping off eldest plus going for long walk through wind and rain to wash the following blues off did the trick

Walking outdoors really is such good medicine!

 

30 minutes writing - DONE

straight this morning after meditation some notes, plus later on after walk,

not much but still, yay

 

plus I managed to find my way around the cubase program that I've had for years and never ever worked with as it looked entirely cryptic to me. Well, I didn't master it yet, but I managed to find the asio4all driver that it needed to run and adjust the settings so that I can import music and voice recordings and put them together on separate tracks and then work with them - YAYYYYYY - this means I can actually up my guided meditation recordings a bit more professionally, isn't that exciting?! I'll try out with personal meditations for home use, where I don't infringe any music copyrights and once that works, I'll try and see if I can record some singing bowl sounds, maybe a simple harp tune for the background and humming or the like to weave a little sound carpet to accompany my spoken meditations. Took me 2 hours of online research and lots of nerves to figure it out and now I am just the more excited about it

 

 

Meditation - Got it  

 

Tuning Into New Potentials meditation again, felt like home, so yummy. Both hubby and me would like to vary it a bit though, which got me looking into the mastering and editing program that I had received when I bought my recording device years ago and never yet worked out because I got another program as well that was just for editing and that had always been enough. Tomorrow I'll up my skills some more and get creative me thinks

 

[lucky fire dragon]

42 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

Well when you decide you start again, just start from the beginning.  

 

not really clear on that one, but I get you and will try

 

42 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

 

Nah you're not getting old, that's just a regular new year's day.  That you baked is enough of an achievement!

 

aww that is comforting, thanks  tbh it was puff pastry (ready made dough) with nutella spread onto it, rolled up and cut into slices to bake in the oven.... the laziest baking ever, but everyone enjoyed it

 

24 minutes ago, tei_ said:

Yeah, his doctor is rather non-standard  He was using it a lot for about a year 2-ish years ago and doesn’t use it quite as much any more, but my impression is that he kind of got what he needed from it at that point!

 

interesting! Yes, that's what it is there for, I guess. You get a feeling for what coherence feels like and what helps you get into it and then you won't need to measure much any more. Kind of like counting calories to get a feel for what it means to eat more than you burn or less...  I guess

 

8 minutes ago, sylph said:

Indeed! (though I've met my new aerial love, the rope)

 

oooooh, nice!! Will have to go check you out 

 

[ElizeElvinFoxRyder]

1 hour ago, lucky fire dragon said:

So she is giving it her all but it's still not enough at times and now she has to learn to give her best while setting boundaries and standing up for herself. I know she can do it, it's just tough to watch her having to

Man, we don't want to see our kids struggle. But learning to set boundaries young is definitely going to help her throughout her whole life. She also has an awesome mom who I believe gave her great advice and supports her all the way *hugs*

1 hour ago, lucky fire dragon said:

because January 1st saw me sleeping and sleeping and

shaking awake to go for walk and rushing to bake for guests and have hours of fun with said guests and then fall into bed real early again and guess what

yah sleep again 

Sounds pretty normal to me *gasp* your normal!

[lucky fire dragon]

1 hour ago, elizevdmerwe said:

Man, we don't want to see our kids struggle. But learning to set boundaries young is definitely going to help her throughout her whole life. She also has an awesome mom who I believe gave her great advice and supports her all the way *hugs*

 

Thank you, I try. Thing is, everyone over here knows that she is a gem and that they are super lucky to have her. I think the kids over there know it as well. She is super kind, caring and has a great sense of justice. Plus she has a gift of empathy that makes her see what is under the surface and she always aims to have everyone treat fairly and honestly. So when the host mom is stressed and says things like "It can't go on like this with nobody really looking after the kids" I am speechless.

But as you say, learning how to deal with that will serve her so well later on in life!!

And also, she can't wait to go study next autumn  nice side effects. Often the boys are super sweet though, wrote her really warm christmas cards and baked her special muffins for her birthday in November and hug her out of the blue and things like that. So in the end it all seems worth it.

 

1 hour ago, elizevdmerwe said:

Sounds pretty normal to me *gasp* your normal!

 

I guess it is.... unless you have a challenge going on, that you wanted to get started on that very day! *Mumbling something about crazy rebooters*

[Mad Hatter]

1 hour ago, lucky fire dragon said:

not really clear on that one, but I get you and will try

 

We'll chat when you feel ready.  

 

1 hour ago, lucky fire dragon said:

aww that is comforting, thanks  tbh it was puff pastry (ready made dough) with nutella spread onto it, rolled up and cut into slices to bake in the oven.... the laziest baking ever, but everyone enjoyed it

 

Totally counts.  

 

14 minutes ago, lucky fire dragon said:

baked her special muffins for her birthday

"special" muffins  

 

Jk. Shame that she doesn't get the recognition that she deserves. Unfortunately there are a lot of parents out there like that. But hey that's life. 

[sylph]

1 hour ago, lucky fire dragon said:

 

oooooh, nice!! Will have to go check you out 

 

Prepping for a silks performance at my gym's next student showcase, but actual class-wise I'm taking a vertical apparatus class (so, silks & rope both). It's super fun.

[lucky fire dragon]

9 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

We'll chat when you feel ready.  

 

Cooooooool

 

9 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

 

Totally counts.  

 

"special" muffins  

 

I wish, that would balance out a lot

 

9 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

 

Jk. Shame that she doesn't get the recognition that she deserves. Unfortunately there are a lot of parents out there like that. But hey that's life. 

 

It is and as long as she knows not to take to heart tooooooo much (it's impossible to expect her not to at all) she will be so much the stronger afterwards - at least that's what I tell myself

 

[lucky fire dragon]

15 minutes ago, sylph said:

Prepping for a silks performance at my gym's next student showcase, but actual class-wise I'm taking a vertical apparatus class (so, silks & rope both). It's super fun.

 

found it and boy oh boy is this exciting stuff! Thanks for popping by here, you have so motivated me to get back into my aerials now 

 

@Mad Hatter can we talk?

 

 

mind you I've lost like ALL of my skills  so you'll have to help me find baby steps

[annyshay]

7 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Nah you're not getting old, that's just a regular new year's day.  That you baked is enough of an achievement!

Agreed! Sounds like fun.

[ElizeElvinFoxRyder]

12 hours ago, lucky fire dragon said:

Plus she has a gift of empathy that makes her see what is under the surface and she always aims to have everyone treat fairly and honestly.

She sounds like a wonderful girl, and I'm sure there aren't really any complaints, especially if the kids love her. The mom... eish, like you said, she is stressed. Doesn't give her the right to make accusations, and also not fair to expect your daughter be in charge of the kids 24/7, if I read between the lines, and your daughter having to put up boundaries. Hopefully things will sort themselves out, or your daughter's boundaries will work.

 

LOL, I also wanted to start the challenge on the 1st, then I said to myself: nope, not going to happen So I just moved it one day up. You can do that. So you officially started on Tuesday now, the first work day of the new year, which makes sense ...

11 hours ago, lucky fire dragon said:

mind you I've lost like ALL of my skills  so you'll have to help me find baby steps

Isn't it like much of any training, that as soon as you start it up again, your muscle memory will come to the fore and slowly but surely you'll remember things? Go girl! With @Mad Hatter's help, you'll soon be swinging around the pole and hoop again!

[Mad Hatter]

23 hours ago, lucky fire dragon said:

 

found it and boy oh boy is this exciting stuff! Thanks for popping by here, you have so motivated me to get back into my aerials now 

 

@Mad Hatter can we talk?

 

 

mind you I've lost like ALL of my skills  so you'll have to help me find baby steps

Hahaha it didn't take you very long to jump on the aerial bandwagon again.  That's a true assassin right there.

 

Ok baby steps! The key is really to boost your confidence. You might think that you've lost all your skills and strength, but you really haven't. It's still there in muscle memory so the main thing is to get back on the apparatuses and start exploring.  Put on some tunes, and play around.

 

Think about what you did in your absolute beginners classes. For pole that was probably front hook, back hook and fireman spins. Just play around with those to start with, see what they feel like. Link them together, throw in a pirouette or a fan kick if you want to. Whatever you feel like. Just move around. Then throw in a little simple conditioning in the form of hanging knee raises.

 

If you can't remember the spins there are plenty of tutorials online, or you could find your own first video (just don't compare yourself, it's pointless!)

 

For hoop I'd get into the hoop any way I can. It doesn't have to be pretty. Do some knee hangs, man in the moon, stand up in the hoop, spin around a bit, explore. This is not so much about tricks but to familiarise yourself with the hoop again. Start really simple, and soon enough you'll be adding things on your own as they'll start popping into your heaad. For conditioning try some sit ups in knee hang, and some hanging knee raises. Do as many as you can, it doesn't matter what number that is.

 

This is where I'd start.  Suuuuuper simple. You'll do a whole lot more in no time but for now the important thing is to do SOMETHING and to not compare yourself with where you were before, but to have fun being a beginner again. But it will all come back to you a lot faster than you think!

[sylph]

1 hour ago, Mad Hatter said:

the important thing is to do SOMETHING and to not compare yourself with where you were before, but to have fun being a beginner again. But it will all come back to you a lot faster than you think!

Seconding all of this! Was off any circus apparatus for more than a year. Back about 8-10 months now and everything came back much more quickly the second time around.

[lucky fire dragon]

On 3.1.2018 at 8:14 AM, elizevdmerwe said:

She sounds like a wonderful girl, and I'm sure there aren't really any complaints, especially if the kids love her. The mom... eish, like you said, she is stressed. Doesn't give her the right to make accusations, and also not fair to expect your daughter be in charge of the kids 24/7, if I read between the lines, and your daughter having to put up boundaries. Hopefully things will sort themselves out, or your daughter's boundaries will work.

exactly my sentiments. I also see how it will train her to actively look for the positive aspects in her situation and I noticed how she does that already, but mostly when I don't encourage her to  isn't that interesting? Well, spring will come and make many things easier due to longer days and light alone...

 

On 3.1.2018 at 8:14 AM, elizevdmerwe said:

 

LOL, I also wanted to start the challenge on the 1st, then I said to myself: nope, not going to happen So I just moved it one day up. You can do that. So you officially started on Tuesday now, the first work day of the new year, which makes sense ...

 

good point  thanks!

 

On 3.1.2018 at 8:14 AM, elizevdmerwe said:

Isn't it like much of any training, that as soon as you start it up again, your muscle memory will come to the fore and slowly but surely you'll remember things? Go girl! With @Mad Hatter's help, you'll soon be swinging around the pole and hoop again!

 

23 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Hahaha it didn't take you very long to jump on the aerial bandwagon again.  That's a true assassin right there.

 

Ok baby steps! The key is really to boost your confidence. You might think that you've lost all your skills and strength, but you really haven't. It's still there in muscle memory so the main thing is to get back on the apparatuses and start exploring.  Put on some tunes, and play around.

 

Think about what you did in your absolute beginners classes. For pole that was probably front hook, back hook and fireman spins. Just play around with those to start with, see what they feel like. Link them together, throw in a pirouette or a fan kick if you want to. Whatever you feel like. Just move around. Then throw in a little simple conditioning in the form of hanging knee raises.

 

If you can't remember the spins there are plenty of tutorials online, or you could find your own first video (just don't compare yourself, it's pointless!)

 

For hoop I'd get into the hoop any way I can. It doesn't have to be pretty. Do some knee hangs, man in the moon, stand up in the hoop, spin around a bit, explore. This is not so much about tricks but to familiarise yourself with the hoop again. Start really simple, and soon enough you'll be adding things on your own as they'll start popping into your heaad. For conditioning try some sit ups in knee hang, and some hanging knee raises. Do as many as you can, it doesn't matter what number that is.

 

This is where I'd start.  Suuuuuper simple. You'll do a whole lot more in no time but for now the important thing is to do SOMETHING and to not compare yourself with where you were before, but to have fun being a beginner again. But it will all come back to you a lot faster than you think!

 

Totally true about the muscle memory! Thanks for all the encouragement and Hatter, thanks so much for the excellent advice and taking the time to coach me here 

You know what: I did exactly that just before you wrote it!! I mean exactly! I didn't get my steps in as I walked to town for errands but then such torrendous storm and rain started up, hubby actually drove to pick me up  and boy, was I glad for him to have done that. I would have been soaked through and through and so would the shopping have been.

Sooooo, without the chance for proper walking I tackled the pole instead, squeeee

 

 

Started off with pirouettes mostly and yes, basic front hook and back spins  Little bit of fireman and some long leg versions, then I trained a tiny bit of climbing just to see if I could hold on at all still and my weak side slid down only at first but after 2 or 3 attempts both sides held, woot woot

I played with climbing while spinning and quickly went to safety in seats  did supergirl but with upper hand held high for feels of safety and decided not to tackle cross knee release just yet. But managed to invert with a swing mount on both sides and even a tiny caterpillar with hands on floor instead of on pole. Something very satisfying about having low expectations - one can only be pleasantly surprised and I was 

 

confidence was boosted, yes maam!

 

Fan kick is a good idea, I forgot about that one. Knee raises I did some, yes and also headstand on pole and even attempted some headstands against wall, was I courageous or what

 

As for comparisons, I find that I am at the same figure as when I started the first time but somehow I am less judgemental on it. Maybe because I know I had changed it before and I am positive I can do it again, maybe because it's not the ultimate factor for my happiness, maybe because I have learned to tolerate less self-abuse over the past years and rather stay in my joy.... whichever it is, I am really glad about that!

 

21 hours ago, sylph said:

Seconding all of this! Was off any circus apparatus for more than a year. Back about 8-10 months now and everything came back much more quickly the second time around.

 

Beautiful, that is so encouraging to hear!

 

[Mad Hatter]

Haha I suspected that once you started you'd do a hella lot more than my list.  I just didn't want it to sound intimidating by adding too much.  Awesome job!

 

7 minutes ago, lucky fire dragon said:

As for comparisons, I find that I am at the same figure as when I started the first time but somehow I am less judgemental on it. Maybe because I know I had changed it before and I am positive I can do it again, maybe because it's not the ultimate factor for my happiness, maybe because I have learned to tolerate less self-abuse over the past years and rather stay in my joy.... whichever it is, I am really glad about that!

This is great stuff.

[lucky fire dragon]

Catching up a bit on reports here as I was busybusy

 

Week 1 Day 3

 

Daily 10  - DONE

 

Chin ups from tip toe 3/2/2/2/1
Push ups 10 knee push ups

Knee tucks from hanging 12

 

Yoga / Aerial - 45 min

Decided to change this goal for aerial options to be included, because why wait

Fun pole play with low expectations and happy results

 

 

10 000 steps - nope

not for lack of trying, it already looked darkening as I went out, but I went anyway thinking I might be quick enough... well I wasn't. Got 6800 steps in at least, so there is that

 

30 minutes writing - DONE

probably a bit more, but not much as I spent too much time in the kitchen baking rusks - yummy  My first attempt at them ever, but equipped with recipe from mil (who is one of my big personal heroes) it all went well.

 

 

Meditation - DONE  

 

This time I did the "Reconditioning the body to a new mind" as he does a special breathing technique in this one that I'd like to mix into our more tailured meditation - which still needs to be created though and despite my enthusiasm for it the day before I haven't yet started that. There is just too much nice stuff to fill my days with - luxury problems I know

 

[lucky fire dragon]

6 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

Haha I suspected that once you started you'd do a hella lot more than my list.  I just didn't want it to sound intimidating by adding too much.  Awesome job!

 

Your list is brilliant! Perfect as is and thanks 

6 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

This is great stuff.

 

growing older has its ups

[lucky fire dragon]

Week 1 Day 4

 

 

Daily 10  - DONE

 

Chin ups from tip toe 3/2/2/2/1
Push ups 10 knee push ups

Knee tucks from hanging 10

 

ugh I felt heavy today... struggled quite hard

 

Yoga / Aerial - not today

 

 

10 000 steps - nope

it's still pouring, so I went with umbrella but really had enough after an hour of fighting wind and cold, so am at a total of about 8000 now and probably won't get far beyond it, meh

 

30 minutes writing - DONE

this was my main project today and I probably spent between 5 and 6 really focussed hours on it. Realized how the lecture/presentation I am to give on the subject of healing properties of breath and meditation is in exactly one week's time and how it's time to really fill in the gaps in my concept now. My problem is that I tend to complicate matters and when I am onto one aspect I forget about the others I had in before and then I realize "ooops now it's all about this part only, but that is only just a fraction of what I want to say" and then I switch to a new tactic and in the end I felt like having 10 loose ends and now line to unite them.... ugh, why is is so much easier to simply guide a meditation for people to relax with then try and teach them what I do there and why?? I often don't even consciously know what I am doing, I just do it as it arises and follow what feels best. That always works real well, but it's a bit tricky to teach

Well, I have now roughly 14 pages of various bits of information intermingled with breathing and mindfulness exercises, so the majority of my content should be there now. Did a dry test run with hubby for feedback and will definitely have to work on my structure still tomorrow, but it's beginning to take shape. Then I still want to choose some nice music for background during the 20 minute guided meditation I want to close with and maybe draft a little take-home sheet with some helpful reminders for people's own practice at home.

 

Had several moments where I'd normally pack it in for the day, go do something else instead and then tackle it later afresh. Instead I decided to suck it up and push past the confusion or reluctance or whatever and keep going. Hope it was worth it  nah, for sure it was, as it will cause less last minute stress later

 

 

Meditation - DONE 

 

Simply doing the Tuning into New Potentials again. Struggled a bit as I knew I wanted to tackle the writing afterwards and was gonna get to the tougher parts, and that kept my mind very active in anticipation already. Also struggled with some worries about finances and the like. Not my best day of meditation. Tomorrow will be new again  

 

[annyshay]

Way to go with the writing flow!

[tei_]

That is the cutest darn jellyfish (?) I've ever seen.

 

Nice work on all the writing, damn!

[otterbyte]

22 hours ago, lucky fire dragon said:

Had several moments where I'd normally pack it in for the day, go do something else instead and then tackle it later afresh. Instead I decided to suck it up and push past the confusion or reluctance or whatever and keep going. Hope it was worth it  nah, for sure it was, as it will cause less last minute stress later

 

 

This is awesome. I love Leo Babauta's advice concerning mastering discomfort from his blog, Zen Habits. He specifically mentions pushing through this point where our brain just wants to give up, and how freeing it is, and that it's the key to overcoming procrastination and fulfilling your goals. 

[Mad Hatter]

2 hours ago, otterbyte said:

 

This is awesome. I love Leo Babauta's advice concerning mastering discomfort from his blog, Zen Habits. He specifically mentions pushing through this point where our brain just wants to give up, and how freeing it is, and that it's the key to overcoming procrastination and fulfilling your goals. 

I liked that article. Though for me I often find it's the idea of discomfort that's more off putting than the discomfort itself. When I actually do the task it's usually fine! 

[sylph]

1 hour ago, Mad Hatter said:

 I often find it's the idea of discomfort that's more off putting than the discomfort itself. When I actually do the task it's usually fine! 

I can certainly relate to this.

[annyshay]

23 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

I liked that article. Though for me I often find it's the idea of discomfort that's more off putting than the discomfort itself. When I actually do the task it's usually fine! 

YES.

[ElizeElvinFoxRyder]

On 1/4/2018 at 8:45 PM, lucky fire dragon said:

Started off with pirouettes mostly and yes, basic front hook and back spins

Woot! Woot! for pole.

Your girl sounds like she has a lot of you, and with your example, she can't go wrong. Will pray that things go a bit calmer and smoother her side these last couple of months.

On 1/4/2018 at 8:59 PM, lucky fire dragon said:

My first attempt at them ever, but equipped with recipe from mil (who is one of my big personal heroes) it all went well.

What kind? the rusks, that is?

On 1/4/2018 at 9:22 PM, lucky fire dragon said:

Chin ups from tip toe 3/2/2/2/1
Push ups 10 knee push ups

Knee tucks from hanging 10

Wow! I'm struggling at the moment. This is really good!

 

[Elastigirl]

How's it going?