[Kishi]

Well, howdy there, folks! Good to see you again, or for the first time. I'm Kishi, a monk prone to itineracy and general quietude. I hope you are well.

 

I had a challenge last time and I disappeared.

 

Unfortunately, I can't say it's because I was really doing my challenge, but fortunately I can say it wasn't for any dramatic reasons. Life just got busy, and instead of developing my meditation like I told myself to, I found myself falling back on a lot of other challenge habits like my cleaning and my writing. I'm pleased to say those are all doing better, and my own drilling/shadowboxing/chess and such are doing better too as I've been prioritizing mat time and responding to the input I get from people.

 

Also, the reward I chose for myself came to make less sense, and I just didn't feel driven to press the reset button. I guess to continue the game metaphor, I got lost in the side quests, and by the time I cared about my main, the game was over.

 

But you may notice I have a meditation tag again, along with some others, and I reckon that deserves some explanation. My reasons for meditation, beyond the mental health benefits, are also physiological: I have heart issues to worry about at the ripe old age of 36, and meditation is a useful practice for heart health. Fortunately, there's good science to say I need less of it than I've been trying for to get the benefits I want. Which is good news. More is not always better; sometimes it's just more, and in order for more to be better, sometimes it has to be less. Because less is more.

 

Huh. Right. Cool.

 

There's some other stuff going on too. I've finally returned to striking sparring, and it's proving to be a real shock to the system. The caliber of striking here is relatively high compared to what I've seen in a while, and it's Thai-Dutch style boxing, which means high volume striking at close range with the head as a viable target. It's a lot to work with, and this in a hot academy in the opening of an NC summer. It's not going to get colder. So I need to work on my conditioning; going back to the GST folk, the two recommendations they have are running and skipping rope. Running would take a lot of time and wouldn't come with the coordination benefits or the raw lightness of foot that comes from constant bouncing, so skipping rope it is.

 

Another thing I need to work on is my recovery. I've been using glucosamine to help out with joint pain, and while I did find an effective brand, it's also pricey, and I'm getting real sick of having as little money on hand as I do at the end of the month. (especially since my job is just being icky with pay right now). So I'm looking into recovery methods and found the work of a Shaolin monk named Shi Yan Lei, which I'm finding fascinating on account of his pedagogical preferences. He has a book on qigong for longevity, which I'm willing to gamble would help with recovery, so I'mma do it. My goal with this is to deal with and prevent joint pain over time without having to go the supplement route. Between this and the mobility training in GST, I'm hopeful.

 

The goals are as follows:

 

Goal 1: Training

The qigong routine calls for 3-4 times per week, but before I even get into that, I need to learn to breathe. Shi Yan Lei calls for a kind of "reverse breathing" in his method, which is a kind of chest breathing for energy. I need to practice that first before I even get into adding extra movement. Also, the skipping rope is going to be done 1-2 times per week to start with, per the recommendations of the Jump Rope Dudes and Crossrope. These will be very small practices: 5 breaths, and skipping for 1 minute, because what I need is consistency right now and something to build on. These are being lumped onto/into my general training as it stands, so this is really about making the logs simple.

 

Goal 2: Meditation

Meditate 10 minutes a day after whatever nightly stretching I'm doing. I've fallen into the evening routine of coming home from mat time, showering off, and stretching while warm. This is a really freaking nice way to end the day. Meditation afterward would suit, I think.

 

Goal 3: Breathe

So, out of left field: the Wim Hof Method, which is fantastic for grappling because it teaches you not to be afraid of time without air. I just grapple better when I'm doing this. I like grappling better. I like the lack of fear, and I'm already taking cold showers these days just as it is. Might as well complete the process.

 

As to my reward? Well, if I get the breathing right, I'll be taking the next challenge to begin work on movement. But Shi Yan Lei isn't just talking about movement. He's also talking about massage, with a possible avenue toward Iron Shirt training. This would be incredibly useful and has been something I've tried to cultivate on my own without any success. The Shaolin method for this training involves the use of very specific brushes to massage the body. The first step would be a bamboo brush. This is used in conjunction with the qigong program anyway, so once I've demonstrated my seriousness to myself, I'll reward myself with the brush.

 

These goals excite me. Can't wait to get started... so. Might as well.

 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

I'm glad you found an exciting reward for yourself, and really glad you are getting mat time. 

[sarakingdom]

4 hours ago, Kishi said:

I've fallen into the evening routine of coming home from mat time, showering off, and stretching while warm. This is a really freaking nice way to end the day. Meditation afterward would suit, I think.

 

*sniffle* I want relaxing evening mat time!

[Mistr]

Excellent challenge goals! I am glad you devised a new program to integrate your previous habit gains and move you to the next level.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

56 minutes ago, sarakingdom said:

 

*sniffle* I want relaxing evening mat time!

If geography permitted I'd be quite happy to punch you in the face and try my hardest not to let you punch me in the face.

 

Assuming you give me the first shot. My non-monk self would probably be lucky to land a single punch.

[sarakingdom]

1 hour ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

If geography permitted I'd be quite happy to punch you in the face and try my hardest not to let you punch me in the face.

 

Assuming you give me the first shot. My non-monk self would probably be lucky to land a single punch.

 

If geography permitted, I would be right there. And reassure you that I'm not from a striking art, so you might fall on your ass, but won't get punched in the face.

[Kishi]

17 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

 

*sniffle* I want relaxing evening mat time!

 

It's a fight, ngl.

 

*

 

T-minus a few days. So far so good. The biggest problem is that I'm trying to get my training done in the morning, and because I'm rushing, I tend to forget my breathing. That feels portentous. I'm willing to give myself half-points for getting my daily work done, as the goals are basically add-ons to processes presently ongoing, but that would defeat the purpose of building new habits and new practices. So. Something to keep in mind.

 

Meditation has happened. Wim Hof Method has not; that's actually going to be tricky, because the only place I can really think to find/make time is during the day, and that's going to involve being intentional. That'll be a challenge. I've given myself over to work really hard in order to control for the things I don't control; I don't get up and take walk breaks anymore and I get so lost in the grind that it's really easy to lose track of time. Also, it's hot outside. Wet heat in the 90s Fahrenheit. Not great. :(

 

Still, I want to do this. And I don't control the weather, so I'm just going to have to make it work. I do get my quotas done ahead of time, generally; maybe that's the time to do the thing.

 

Something to test out here in the middle of nowhere.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

1 hour ago, Kishi said:

Wet heat in the 90s Fahrenheit.

[Lag a'mhuilin]

What an interesting challenge.., Wim Hof and qigong!

 

Do you have that qigong for longevity book you linked to? I was intrigued, so I looked at the Amazon reviews. People were saying it's a good coffee table book with beautiful pictures, but that the techniques are hard to follow. Do you find the lessons in the book to be complete and helpful?

 

The idea of training yourself not to be afraid to be out of air is pretty badass! Last year I read a book called Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art. Even taken with a grain of salt I believe these breathing techniques could be a real human-attainable super power with the right training! The book emphasizes that getting rid of CO2 is often more important than getting more O2. It discusses optimal meditational breathing cycles and touches on Wim Hof and others. I've heard good things about Hof's summer expeditions in Spain. Maybe someday...

[Scaly Freak]

Here for the meditation!

[Kishi]

On 6/14/2022 at 2:13 PM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

 

You step outside and it's like wrapping yourself in a comforter just out of hot wash.

 

On 6/17/2022 at 1:39 AM, Lag a'mhuilin said:

Do you have that qigong for longevity book you linked to? I was intrigued, so I looked at the Amazon reviews. People were saying it's a good coffee table book with beautiful pictures, but that the techniques are hard to follow. Do you find the lessons in the book to be complete and helpful?

 

I do! And I think that critique is fair. Shi Yan Lei basically sells both a book and a DVD program together, but, ah, let's just say there are creative ways to get access to both without really having to pay money. It just takes a little patience and gumption. :'D

 

Although in seriousness, I can say from his book that he does list off the names of his techniques, and you can look up videos on YouTube to get an idea of what he's driving at.

 

Also, it's worth pointing out that I'm going to have a much simpler time, because he's basically offering qigong for people who are starting from no practice of any kind at all, and he's cool with people doing qigong as a cooldown for a program in place already, so I actually get to skip a lot of his warm ups and stretching based on what I've got in play already.

 

On 6/17/2022 at 1:39 AM, Lag a'mhuilin said:

The idea of training yourself not to be afraid to be out of air is pretty badass! Last year I read a book called Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art. Even taken with a grain of salt I believe these breathing techniques could be a real human-attainable super power with the right training! The book emphasizes that getting rid of CO2 is often more important than getting more O2. It discusses optimal meditational breathing cycles and touches on Wim Hof and others. I've heard good things about Hof's summer expeditions in Spain. Maybe someday...

 

Hell yeah! Understanding that I can only speak from my experience, I can say that there are some pretty scary places for me when I roll. I roll with one dude who has pressure that makes me feel like a sinner in the hands of an angry God, and even when I'm not dealing with him there are other places and situations where I have white belts who get me in a pin of some kind and just start squeezing for dear life when my head and my vision in particular are blocked off. So sitting in the dark like that with that sense of pressure is just really scary. It's true, I can tap out, and they'll respect it, but I don't like the idea of being driven by my fear. I'd rather learn how to take it and make it a strength of some kind, and when I've done this before, I've had the capacity to relax until they freak out and loosen up, and I just explode out from a place of relaxation and rest.

 

On 6/17/2022 at 10:42 PM, Scaly Freak said:

Here for the meditation!

 

 

*

 

Goal 1: 1/1

 

Goal 2: 1/1

 

Goal 3: 0/1

 

Ah, and we're off to the races now.

 

So most of last week was spent observing where opportunities are and where I'm going to have to work for them and how to balance that against the job. Some of these are easy - training and meditation are actually pretty easy. WHM is going to be hard, just because the practice itself takes a substantial amount of time and time practicing on the job is time spent not doing the job which has consequences for mat time and overall job stuff. I had thought that I'd be able to make opportunities daily just by getting my quotas done early, like I said, but that's actually proven to be kind of difficult. Or at least it was last week.

 

Of course, if it was easy, it wouldn't be a challenge, right?

[Lag a'mhuilin]

2 hours ago, Kishi said:

I've had the capacity to relax until they freak out and loosen up, and I just explode out from a place of relaxation and rest

You also mentioned Iron Shirt training. I was trying to find out what that was. There are some You Tube videos, and from what I can understand it looks almost exactly like something my Tai Chi instructors call "Health Stance," and I find it very difficult to do for any real length of time, though I am getting better. If that's what Iron Shirt is, I find it almost impossible not to stay in the present. There's just too much to keep track of in your body, and every application of force contradicts some other force or itself. What's the brush for?

[Kishi]

10 hours ago, Lag a'mhuilin said:

You also mentioned Iron Shirt training. I was trying to find out what that was. There are some You Tube videos, and from what I can understand it looks almost exactly like something my Tai Chi instructors call "Health Stance," and I find it very difficult to do for any real length of time, though I am getting better. If that's what Iron Shirt is, I find it almost impossible not to stay in the present. There's just too much to keep track of in your body, and every application of force contradicts some other force or itself. What's the brush for?

 

Well, it's a long term goal. First goal is to get breathing right. Iron shirt is way far in a distant possible future.

 

Anyway, there's no one Iron Shirt technique; there's apparently a bunch of different kinds, and Wudang quan arts like Taiji apparently have different methods for achieving the same result.

 

It really just boils down to bodily conditioning to take blows. Any striking art that has you taking hard shots is going to have some kind of toughening component to it. This just happens to be the (allegedly) Shaolin version, and I'm drawn to it because it seems to be doable by a single person and that's the kind of programming flexibility I need right now. The bamboo brush, for its part, is a kind of beating/massage tool; the bamboo is for health, but a steel brush is used for Iron Shirt.

 

This is an example of how they would be used:

 

 

Even if I don't get to that point, the bamboo brush is allegedly still useful as an overall health tool via massage and skin stimulation. I have no idea if it's true, but worst case, I'm only out a one time purchase of $40 or so.

 

*

 

Goal 1: 2/2

 

Goal 2: 2/2

 

Goal 3: 1/2

 

Quick report. Things went well today overall. Trained in the morning, got to the office late, got my work done early, got some mat time but only striking since I needed to get back home to do some laundry.

 

Meditation and WHM both happened, albeit later in the day than I would have liked. Ah well. I'll take the wins as I find them.

 

Tuesday's going to be a challenge. Gonna have to do some cooking for friends and I'm going to have to balance goals against that and job. Job'll have to take priority, and training has a neat fit-in, so it's the sit and breathe stuff that's going to be tricky.

 

Ah, but isn't it always.

[Kishi]

Goal 1: 3/3

 

Goal 2: 2/3

 

Goal 3: 1/3

 

Welp! That didn't carry off the way I wanted it to.

 

It was another day of being out of step with what has to happen. Was late to the job but got it done early, got home and futzed about too much instead of hopping right into training, so I wound up being late to dinner with friends. Fortunately, I only had to bring veggies, and one of my friends cooked butter chicken for the meal, which he does exceedingly well.

 

Tonight, I should be able to spend a full night out on the mats, but that's going to depend on how quickly I get my job stuff done. Prior successes do not predict or guarantee future results.

[Kishi]

Goal 1: 4/4

 

Goal 2: 3/4

 

Goal 3: 1.5/4

 

A little bit better yesterday. So you remember how I said the plan was for mat time but also that you couldn't predict how the day would go?

 

Yeah, that wound up happening. Wound up needing to get work done and working overtime, such that I lost all mat time.

 

Psh. The added money is nice, but I didn't need it that much.

 

Anyway, I did my training such as I could. Managed some meditation and a cold shower, which I'm taking a half point for.

 

Today, we'll see. I'm hoping to get some mat time, although I wasn't able to get my morning training done, so instead of trying to sneak into extended time tonight, I'll just try to make my one class and go do gymnastic stuff after. At least, that's the plan. ATM, looks like it'll carry off, but the day, ah. It is not yet done.

[Kishi]

Goal 1: 5/5

 

Goal 2: 4/5

 

Goal 3: 2.5/5

 

Did it.

 

Plan carried off. Was able to get everything done at the last minute and made it out to the mats. Primary focus was on snap down to turtle from the chin strap position. Translated to English: pulling someone down to all fours from a front headlock position. A lot of the initial tie up has common elements with grappling that I've done before and had recently watched video of, so it came out pretty easy for me. Also, rolled well afterward.

 

Did gymnastic core work afterward. I've figured out that the Russian Twists, which are part of the program, are a little rough on my back, but I've also found that the hurting parts respond very well to stretching and laying on a LAX ball. I've also found that at least for this instance, it works better to apply the ball directly to the hurt place as opposed to rolling all the surrounding areas as they normally say to do.

 

Showered, meditated, practiced breathing. I'm pleased to report that I'm already able to go more than 2 minutes without breath, which is exciting. Makes me brave.

 

Anyway. Plan tonight is to get out and spar. Apparently there's a regular open mat Friday nights after, so I'm gonna see about hitting that up as well. I don't really know if I'm going to have the energy to do any kind of gymnastic work after that, but then again it's just handstand stuff and that's comparatively light work, and it's not like I have to be up early tomorrow.

[Jupiter]

Sounds like you got a lot done. Great job.  

[Kishi]

Goal 1: 6/6

 

Goal 2: 4/6

 

Goal 3: 2.5/6

 

So, Friday did not carry off according to plan. I didn't make it it out to the mats because I didn't hit my quotas, so I wound up working overtime on my Friday night instead. I hit up my personal training, and I'm pleased to say that my handstand work is doing better - I'm not kicking up into my headstand so much as I'm getting better at lifting legs from the ground via strength and control - but I worked late enough and it took me long enough to chill afterward that I didn't get this done until late, and I chose to prioritize sleep and cooking good food over meditation and breath training.

 

I have to admit, I don't like the way that I'm managing the job now. It would be a pretty long explanation to give you all the details, but the short version is that I'm sharing a caseload with some people and I'm outworking them to a ridiculous degree. My job is to get these cases closed, and I didn't close enough to be satisfied this past week. But I can't close those cases without the others doing their work on the load, and so my past response - to just work more cases - isn't useful now, because working more cases is just going to put me further ahead of the others without actually getting more closures.

 

There's a possibility here where I could lean into overtime and weekend work to preserve my overall volume while reducing my workload on a daily basis, which would let me get out on the mats more for one and for another would also let me make more money for the same amount of work. Which I think I'm going to do until the budget says we lose overtime, because there's no reason for me not to make more money.  And even if that overtime was just for added vacation - as it can be when the budget craps out - that still wouldn't necessarily be bad. Of course, the flipside of that is that in this new way of doing things, I'd be working 6 days a week, and that my result in its own work-life troubles.

 

But life is troublesome, and if I can pick better troubles, then why not?

[Kishi]

Goal 1: 7/7

 

Goal 2: 5/7

 

Goal 3: 3.5/7

 

Well! Not much to report about yesterday. Open mat at my friend's place didn't happen - she hit a bunch of classes this week and her shoulders are bothering her, so we let it slide. I did my training but really I spent more time just chilling out and being easy on myself. And thinking about how to manage my work-life balance, hence the ruminations above.

 

Honestly, the weekends are hard for sit-and-breathe stuff, so the fact that I got that done at all is a major win for me.

 

Anyway, not much to say about today. The training is already done; I've got some stuff to get out of the way before I go to visit my folks and then after that I'll probably come home and then do the sit and breathe stuff. Cool. Let's get it!

[KB Girl]

21 hours ago, Kishi said:

There's a possibility here where I could lean into overtime and weekend work to preserve my overall volume while reducing my workload on a daily basis, which would let me get out on the mats more for one and for another would also let me make more money for the same amount of work. Which I think I'm going to do until the budget says we lose overtime, because there's no reason for me not to make more money.  And even if that overtime was just for added vacation - as it can be when the budget craps out - that still wouldn't necessarily be bad. Of course, the flipside of that is that in this new way of doing things, I'd be working 6 days a week, and that my result in its own work-life troubles.

 

That sounds like a pretty good plan if it will help you get more mat time! But i don't think it'd help any with your co-workers share of the workload? 

[Kishi]

8 hours ago, KB Girl said:

That sounds like a pretty good plan if it will help you get more mat time! But i don't think it'd help any with your co-workers share of the workload? 

 

Correct! I actually benefit from being this far ahead since I get a steady stream of cases to close, so now it's time to figure out how to take my foot off the gas and coast since working harder isn't going to get me what I want.

[Kishi]

Goal 1: 8/8

 

Goal 2: 5/8

 

Goal 3: 3.5/8

 

Whoops. Got my training done on Sunday, but not the other stuff. I slept in really late, and got up in time to train before chatting with friends. Then spent the afternoon on chores before getting out to see the folks. Then got back home and it was late, and I was more focused on getting ready for today than I was on sitting and breathing. No particular reason beyond an ongoing sense that I Don't Have Time For This, which I'm hoping to resolve somewhat this week by reducing my work output. Might be able to find time during my workday to do some of this sit and breathe stuff again, which is a fond hope. The WHM stuff in particular is pretty time-intensive, and I'd rather get that done earlier in the day than later when I'm trying to get down to bed. (maybe that'll interfere with the job. Alas! It is a price I'm willing to pay).

 

Anyway, things are on track so far, and I'm pretty confident they'll stay that way, although it does remain to be seen.

[Mistr]

On 6/25/2022 at 5:49 PM, Kishi said:

I have to admit, I don't like the way that I'm managing the job now. It would be a pretty long explanation to give you all the details, but the short version is that I'm sharing a caseload with some people and I'm outworking them to a ridiculous degree. My job is to get these cases closed, and I didn't close enough to be satisfied this past week. But I can't close those cases without the others doing their work on the load, and so my past response - to just work more cases - isn't useful now, because working more cases is just going to put me further ahead of the others without actually getting more closures.

 

There's a possibility here where I could lean into overtime and weekend work to preserve my overall volume while reducing my workload on a daily basis, which would let me get out on the mats more for one and for another would also let me make more money for the same amount of work. Which I think I'm going to do until the budget says we lose overtime, because there's no reason for me not to make more money.  And even if that overtime was just for added vacation - as it can be when the budget craps out - that still wouldn't necessarily be bad. Of course, the flipside of that is that in this new way of doing things, I'd be working 6 days a week, and that my result in its own work-life troubles.

 

I hear you on struggling with work/life balance. You need to get certain things done at work but you don't have control over when you can do those things.

 

Your plan to work overtime and weekends makes sense. The extra money is nice and it should let you keep to your set hours during the week. Considering how often you have had to work late and skip mat time, having a consistent schedule could let you train more, even though you give up some weekend time.

[Kishi]

18 hours ago, Mistr said:

 

I hear you on struggling with work/life balance. You need to get certain things done at work but you don't have control over when you can do those things.

 

Your plan to work overtime and weekends makes sense. The extra money is nice and it should let you keep to your set hours during the week. Considering how often you have had to work late and skip mat time, having a consistent schedule could let you train more, even though you give up some weekend time.

 

Yup! That's the idea. I may have to pay my price, but there's no reason for me to pay it alone.

 

*

 

Goal 1: 9/9

 

Goal 2: 6/9

 

Goal 3: 3.5/9

 

Yesterday was a fun day. Work was done faster and with a lot less stress on my part. It was also done early enough for me to leave and get out on the mats.

 

Striking was an hour of kicks and a finisher at the end. Coach was really wanting us to focus on technique; he had us set up on the walls with the planting leg in place, and if the leg moves, we all do burpees. Fortunately, we hate burpees, so nobody moved.  Kicks were teep, front thrust, and roundhouse. For my part, I dunno if I was getting a lot of power or if my partner was just really strongly based. Also hard to say since I tend to prefer thrust side kick as my forward. Doesn't matter much I guess since there's always something to work on.

 

BJJ afterward was a stealth judo class, and I was all like :D. Got to play around with blending the current Judo throws with some old school leg and ankle picks, which apparently used to be a thing in Judo before the IOC decided to kill them. (it's a whole can of worms, and it disgusts me to this day, even though I'm not a proper judoka). So we played with that and I did it okay; afterward, we rolled and even at the end of 2 hours of long grind with all my effort not amounting to much, I was still able to hold off my fellow white belts and even end the night on a couple submissions.

 

Did handstand work after. Would have been better to focus on stretching, but it's been hard to get up early enough to train in the mornings, and I guess I thought that handstand work was more important? Took too damn long, though; if I'd just showered, stretched, and breathed, I would have recovered better and got down earlier.

 

Although, I have to admit! This latest rolling session was my first real one since I started up on WHM and it really helped me. So it's good to know that even a low dose is effective. But a low dose is bad for my goals, and a higher dose won't hurt.

 

So, yeah. Had a lot of fun yesterday. So far the plan seems to be working.

[Kishi]

Goal 1: 10

 

Goal 2: 7/10

 

Goal 3: 4.5/10

 

Again, so far so good. Finished way ahead of time, made it out to the mats, and it was a redux of Monday's grappling class. (Tuesdays are ordinarily Sci-Fi nights, but the host moved us to Thursday this week for Reasons that I'm sure I'll hear about tomorrow). Grappling was good; I was hoping to end on a relatively high note but I got paired with a wrestler who's bigger, stronger, and more explosive, so I got mauled pretty bad. He was friendly as hell, though, so it's hard to feel too bad about it.

 

I did hit up WHM-style breathing at work. Had to do it out in the car, and I found that I lost like 30 seconds off my average times. For comparison, when I've got it done before, it's been after showering and stretching and meditating and being really relaxed, and so my averages were crawling into the low 2:00s, but yesterday I struggled to hit 1:42 for my top time. Which doesn't concern me. I'm quite cool about being open and receptive to what my body can give me on a given day, and I accept that different circumstances result in different performance. I just never thought it'd be that significant.

 

Anyway, I've finished early again. So far, the load of work I've left for other people has remained stable. It's refreshing to have to devote so little bandwidth to burying other people.  The plan, presently, is to get some writing done before I get out of the office and to get some more mat time tonight.

 

Also, the quarter officially ended last week, so now they're tallying and running stats. Fingers crossed. I think I made it, but I've gotten extra case assignments from regional QA which might force me out of meeting expectations, and even if that's okay, I might have some processing speed issues due to our recent focus on old cases. But, if I made it, I'll be cleared to return home.

 

Probably won't hear for a while, so I'm not going to obsess over it, but thar be the state of play.