Meditation is a mental exercise practiced through concentration, observation, and awareness. By concentrating on an object (internal or external), paying attention to the present moment and whatever is happening, and trying to get rid of the distractions that come to mind, one is able to calm the mind and provide solid moments of introspection. While mediation is often associated with stillness there are walking and moving meditations as well, and the ultimate goal is to bring mindfulness into most of our everyday lives.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity and add moderate- to high-intensity muscle-strengthening activity (such as resistance or weights) on at least 2 days per week.
During this 30-day period, every day I will try spend 30 minutes in some type of meditation and at least 30 minutes doing a form of exercise that gets my heart up, thus setting aside an hour each day for self care.
Day 1:
Today, as it was the first day, and I was volunteering at the yoga studio anyway, I started off by conducting my exercise in the form of Hot Yoga, a form of yoga I had been training to teach in the last month and is done in 106 degree room with 60% humidity. I pushed myself not to take any breaks or skip out on any of the sequence, with the goal of bringing that fight-through-it energy into the rest of the week. It was tough, and getting towards the end I thought I may pass out.
My original plan was to spend 15 to 30 minutes, right afterwards, meditating (the thought being that yoga is preparation for mediation), but I got so busy with cleaning everything that this wasn't able to happen. After getting the studio cleaned, I went to visit some friends I hadn't seen in a long time. These were the people that I spent 3 months last year doing my 200 hour yoga teacher training with, and it was a perfect element in the set up for this challenge.
When I got home, I went upstairs and did my 30 minute meditation. This was the longest meditation that I've ever done, and I did it by going through my Mala beads, one at a time, taking a long breath in and out. By the time I finished breathing into each bead, there was only a few minutes left, and I sat and simply concentrated on breathing regularly. When I stood up, my foot felt a shocking amount of pain and was so numb I could barely standup. I waited for a few minutes in the afterglow of the meditation until I felt stable again.
Day 2:
My husband and I decided to make the haul biking to Boulder from Denver today. This isn't something that we've done before, and if we were to do it again, we probably would park closer to the trail, bring some food with us for the journey, leave earlier, and choose a day that wasn't so hot (99 degrees).
This 30-plus mile trip left us shaky and extremely tired (at several times we had to stop and just walk because it felt like we were riding uphill through an oven), but we made it.
I did another 30 minutes of meditation tonight. There were constant temptations in my body (itching, pain, cold, annoying noises outside my door), and this is probably because of how much my body was tired. So many thoughts kept coming to my mind about work, and life, even random thoughts like a fluffy dog head or what could be my next meditation. I moved my feet a few times to avoid the pain from yesterday, but my foot still fell asleep. I think I may need to bring soles of feet to touch and try sitting like that tomorrow. I looked up the correct way to hold my mala (over the middle finger and using the pressure of the thumb), and the meditation went by so quickly. I made a dedicated effort to not to look at the clock this time, but my alarm spooked me out of my deep relaxation and I felt totally dazed. I definitely need to think of a new way or song to bring me back. I’d like to try a mantra tomorrow.
Day 3:
In order to not feel so burdened and exhausted when I got home, today I split the meditation into two 15-minute segments. I really needed it after having a student come in late from lunch and then tell me, "what you're doing is a sin in the Bible." I don't know why this got to me so much, but it really upset the peace in my heart. I was able to sit comfortably outside, away from all of the craziness and just feel peace. I switched the tone of my alarm to a soft minuet when the time is up, so I wasn't shocked out of meditation when it went off. I also tried a mantra to Hanuman, the monkey king today. It was quite simple (Om Hanumanate Namaha). During both the afternoon and evening meditation I felt dizzy, and I almost fell asleep in the open daylight during the afternoon. It was quite strange.
This challenge forced me to make time to work out when I normally I wouldn’t do anything. I was feeling rushed to go home from work, take a quiz, and get to school, but I did come home and do a 30 minute workout segment from something that I've downloaded offline. It was quick and easy. I set my music to something upbeat, got my timer ready, then did 4 minutes of jogging in place (and maybe a little dancing), 2 minutes of jumping jacks, and 1 minutes of arm circles in each direction to warm up. I then did 4 sets of each of the following: slow pushups (10,10, 8, 6), squats (50), and plank (1 minute). By resting for 40 seconds between the sets, this easily brought me to the 30 minutes I had as a goal.
Day 4:
Today I got completly lost in the hubble bubble of life.
Day 5:
Back on track. Yoga at home with video, frustrating because fast and without proper names. Idk how I used to do this. Barely got it done before class. Meditated during lunch with Mantra and almost fell asleep again, but tried at home and almost fell asleep without mantra too. Wasn’t able to complete 2nd half because of it. Made it 12 minutes instead of 15.
Day 6:
Easy Cheddar Brat and Goat Cheese Veggie Medley with Savory Corn Rice
Ingredients
Savory Rice:
1 15 oz can of corn
1 13 oz can of chicken stock
1 1/2 cups of white rice
1/2 Tbs of butter
Easy Cheddar Brat and Goat Cheese Veggie Medley:
2 Tbs olive oil
8-10 cheddar brats or sausages
4 oz block of goat cheese (cut into small pieces)
1 orange bell pepper sliced into strips
32 oz frozen broccoli cuts (or head of broccoli cut into tiny pieces)
How to cook it up:
1. In a small pot (or rice cooker), begin to boil chicken stock on medium heat. Once the chicken stock has a slow boil, add corn, butter, and white rice. Lower heat and cook while stirring regularly. If using a rice cooker, add all ingredients to pot at beginning and cook.
2. In a large skillet, heat the oil on Medium heat. When ready, place the sausages into skillet and cook. Once the sausages have started cooking in the oil, add a few tablespoons of water.
3. While sausages are cooking, place broccoli into a separate pot with 1/2 a cup of water. Cook on medium heat until broccoli is fully cooked, then drain. Leave broccoli in pot.
4. Once sausages are fully cooked, remove them and slice into bite sized pieces.
5. In same skillet as you cooked the sausages, begin to saute peppers. When they brighten a bit, add them to broccoli with sausages.
6. Add goat cheese and stir until fully mixed.
Serve with the rice on the side and munch!