[The Shogun]

"Oh, man... I miss the forums. I wonder how my monks are doing. Kishi, Phoenix, the Giant, Snuffles, Glarockly... I forget their names. 

I'll join the new challenge. I guess I'll have time before the year begins to start a new chall-

WTF, they already started?"

 

I guess I already know what my fist goal will be... setting up this challenge. 

 

Hi, everyone. It's good to be back! 

[sarakingdom]

MONK TARGET ACQUIRED

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Well howdy.

[Kishi]

Good to see you again.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

On 1/2/2023 at 11:14 AM, The Shogun said:

I guess I already know what my fist goal will be... setting up this challenge. 

[The Shogun]

okaaaaay, let's do this!

 

A quick previously on my life. 

 

Spoiler

I escaped The Southlands (a little ring of power reference there) almost a year ago after years of struggling with paperwork, visa, life getting in the way, etc. I'm now living happily alone in a small apartment in Santiago de Chile with my blind cat who thinks he's Daredevil (seriously, I swear they have the same superpowers) and while my anxiety and panic attacks gave me a break when I moved out of the country, I started a LDR  with a girl I met a few months ago before I left, so  that's been triggering my anxiety lately. I still work from home, and while it's a dream come true, turns out that living like a hermit in a country where I know NO ONE eventually pounds on your stupid mental health, apparently.

I found a little Wing Chun school here, but they were recovering from the pandemic so it was just the sihing and me, and to be honest, while I love the style... I needed something more, established, if you know what I mean. I left that dojo and focused on staying active and being in a calorie deficit with a diet plan my nutritionist. I had to stay active as well as a way to cope with my mental health and my therapist was also pushing me to do it. Turns out having professional experts on your side do helps... a lot. So I lost almost 30 pounds and got the longest streak of workout and diet in my life, and didn't care about it because I was struggling with my mental health so much that I didn't have time to obssess about workout and diet... it was just something I did and went thru the motions.  I know I should be proud of my progress, but really, I didn't see it as a huge thing to be proud, it was just... routine. I guess habits do feel like that once they click in? Dunno.

Finally, as one of my main assignments from my therapist, I had to get back to martial arts, since she noticed it was a big part of how I define myself, and a dojo would give me the physical human interaction that my mental health needed so bad. So I started looking for a dojo, any dojo, any martial art, that would fit my schedule. Long story short, I found a kyudo dojo! (Japanese archery) something I always wanted to do and used to think it was impossible because my first sensei told me that the only kyudo dojos available were in Japan.  The sensei is legit, we had back up from the international federation and a Japanese sensei who regularly visit us (he's visiting in a couple of weeks) and pleeenty of senpais and opportunities to make new friends. So, that's what I'm currently doing, calorie deficit without a specific diet, staying active with bodyweight workouts and C25K, therapy, and kyudo twice a week. I took a short pause for the holidays, so my goals are mostly focused on continuing on the path rather than starting new things. 

 

Kyudo:
 
Keep perfect attendance, 2x a week. (wed & sat)
Arrive at least 15 mins earlier to help set up the dojo (unwrap and string bows, etc)

Stay at least 15 mins later to help wrap up everything.

 

Staying Active
Work out for at least 30 mins 4x a week

tue & thu C25K

mon & fri Down Dog Workout (i've been using the down yoga series of workout apps, I love them, I just hit play and work out)

sun: rest

 

Calorie Deficit

Stay on a calorie deficit and stick to my diet plan for at least 5 days x week. 

Meal prep on Sun
 

Budget

I started YNAB this year, just in a effort to put my finances in order. I'm not in debt neither struggling financially, (fortunately) but I usually don't have an idea where my money is going and I want to finance a few goals in the future, so I want to get my sh*t together, financially.

 

Track expenses daily

Update budget at least once a week (fri)

 

 

 

Sorry I took the whole first week to figure this all out. I have to get used to sitting down at the end of my day and write my uupdates, usually when I stop working I slam shut my laptop until the next day, but I'll try to give a brief update after I finish working.

 

Thanks, guys! Really excited to be back in the monastery. 

[Kishi]

Wow! Looks like you've come a long way. No wonder you've been gone!

 

17 minutes ago, The Shogun said:

Kyudo:
 
Keep perfect attendance, 2x a week. (wed & sat)
Arrive at least 15 mins earlier to help set up the dojo (unwrap and string bows, etc)

Stay at least 15 mins later to help wrap up everything.

 

I'm sure this will be very appreciated. I find that everyone wants to play but nobody wants to do the work that makes the play possible; up here, it's always "last one out has to clean the mats!" That's really good of you to do.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Glad you escaped the southland. Can you still get arepas? 

[The Shogun]

On 1/7/2023 at 7:07 PM, Kishi said:

Wow! Looks like you've come a long way. No wonder you've been gone!

 

 

I'm sure this will be very appreciated. I find that everyone wants to play but nobody wants to do the work that makes the play possible; up here, it's always "last one out has to clean the mats!" That's really good of you to do.

 

Yes! The sensei already has taken notice of my attendance and how I'm always the first one at the dojo (even before him) and it's been helpful for me, too, because it expands that sense of oasis that the dojo provides, and since I help setting up everything, I've learned how to string bows before other more advanced students. Last class, I was internally smiling seeing senpais with over a year struggling to string the bows while I can do it in one or two tries. My therapist also recommended it, as a way you know, to interact, make friends, and extend that feeling of keeping the world at a distance. 

 

On 1/7/2023 at 7:33 PM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Glad you escaped the southland. Can you still get arepas? 

I can still get them and I know how to make them!! There's a big population of Venezuelan people here.

 

 

Kyudo:
 
No training today, but I practiced last saturday, it was an interesting class because the sensei wasn't there, only the senpais. I think that many students were discouraged and I was one of two beginners in the dojo, only 5 students total, so I got a lot of practice with the bow. We are like 13-14 students, but only 5 bows. And I usually get the heaviest bow, which affects my technique.

 

Staying Active
worked out today, I switched the app to focus mostly on core and legs, while I did my kyudo exercises with a resistance band to focus on back, shoulders, and chest. We do them in horse stance so it's a full-body workout? 

 

Calorie Deficit

Stayed on a calorie deficit and stick to my diet plan today, which was easier than I expected.

 

Budget

Tracked my expenses and budget up to date. I am really loving YNAB, but I still got a lot of articles to catch up. to learn how to budget properly, it helps that I'm working with a personal finance website in my job so I get to learn a bit from there as well. 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

12 minutes ago, The Shogun said:

We do them in horse stance so it's a full-body workout? 

 

I'll sign off on that. I am one for whom horse stance happens to other people. 

[sarakingdom]

59 minutes ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

I'll sign off on that. I am one for whom horse stance happens to other people. 

 

I'm not, though, and I have resistance bands, so tell me of your ways. I've been longing for a nice practical, or at least martial, feeling strength workout lately.

 

I crave visible progress on Stupid Human Tricks and other badassery, but I'm far off that, given current fitness and body shape. So I need way to fake that.

[Kishi]

Hey, just here hoping that kyudo eventually gives you the ability to do this:

 

[The Shogun]

On 1/9/2023 at 9:54 PM, sarakingdom said:

 

I'm not, though, and I have resistance bands, so tell me of your ways. I've been longing for a nice practical, or at least martial, feeling strength workout lately.

 

I crave visible progress on Stupid Human Tricks and other badassery, but I'm far off that, given current fitness and body shape. So I need way to fake that.

We mostly do stretches, we hold one end of the resistance band near the Hara, and hold the other end with our palm stretched out, like we would hold the string of the bow, and then raise the hand to our eye level and then torque? or turn our arm/hand to our side, keeping the horizontal line... sort of like opening the door, the idea is to focus on the articulation, rather than the force of the muscle.

Then we do the same but with both hands in front of our faces, pulling to both sides,  Then the same but 45 degrees above our heads, and then 90 degrees above our heads. All while in horse stance. I'll see if I can find a Youtube video, it doesn't sound like much, but synced with breathing exercises... it's a great warm up. 

2 hours ago, Kishi said:

Hey, just here hoping that kyudo eventually gives you the ability to do this:

 

 

UFFFF I Wish... I did ended up destroying my glasses during my first shooting with an actual arrow. I was shooting scared, opened too wide and the string caught my nose and glasses when I released and the glasses flew across the dojo. Now I need new glasses.

 

But during my second arrow I hit the target! Way off... but it was exciting! My third arrow was so much closer to the center of the target. But you know... I'm not supposed to focus on that but rather keep my ego humble and focus on what the target is teaching me about my state of mind and my posture.

 

We trained the whole ceremony with 5 archers, and guys... i'm telling you, it's hard. I've trained two martial arts before...but this feels different. this a team exercise of rythm and breathing and synchronicity... it feels more like ballet than martial arts... not that I have done any ballet before, but it's a whole other level of mindfulness.. 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Que pasa hermano? Dónde estás?