My favorite is Nothing, just Focusing on my outward breath, necessary daily in the AM and PM. (For how to’s I recommend Pema Chodron and Jon Kabat-Zinn)
I also do a Druid Prayer Bead meditation 3 times a week.
And when my mind is too busy for even that, I put on my Meditation Podcasts on my Ipod and lay down.
That is just what works for me.
So I am really feeling the neglected scar tissue break down this week, most likely from the new stretches and increased exercise. So I decided to finally read up a bit on the grey area that was my first ten years of living with the big C. I was a much changed woman, but not yet really taking full responsibility for my own health. Not that I would have done anything different, the doctors I trusted were obviously trustworthy as I am writing this without the use of a medium. It is just that I allowed myself to be as ignorant as possible, and used denial instead of self-empowerment to get through that decade. Anyway here is a link to how I got my breasts back (bi-lateral with radiation) and helps me understand some of my current challenges with swimming.
http://www.breastreconstruction.ca/living_latflap.htm
This dovetails on last nights entry because of the fact that this son who is swimming and supporting my training knows well what it is like to come back from a life altering health crisis. He walks that 5K and swims, etc on a leg whose lower portion is supported on steel.
I am also including this note to remind myself I do need to work harder to get where I want to go, and yup, pain is part of the process. A clear picture of the obstacles is not an excuse to quit making the journey, it is just a map of the best way around for my travels.
My day started right with meditation. I forget sometimes how much of a difference that makes in my day. Still, even after meditation, I was a bit bluish.
It really is about doing the work, not just talking the dream, believing the dream, and visualizing the dream; it is about getting your hands dirty, taking the risks and doing the work. It’s about being embarrassed and plowing through anyway.
Good night star catchers!
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And just like in any good book just when you think there is hope on the horizon, it gets worse. (Which, coincidentally, is exactly what happened to our heroes right after the Tummeler quote I used last time) And this is the part where our heroine loses her hope (but not her determination)
So here is our new homework assignment
2 Lap Kick Board warm up, focus on breathing and consistently moving.
4 Laps free style with no, or minimal (30 seconds or less) break
1 Lap Kickboard
3 Laps free style
1 Lap Kickboard
2 Laps free style
1 lap Kickboard
1 Lap free style
Cool down
2 laps with kickboard focusing on breathing. It will be little extra hard here because you will be tired. Thats ok, try to push through it.
This more advanced homework, I suppose, is because now we have two new people in the class who already actually swim, one of whom is training for the same triathlon I am, only she isn’t new to it. So now the new girls set an even higher bar than my Daughter-in-law did and I totally wear the dunce cap.
Tonight completion was impossible in the time I had available. It was taking me 45 minutes to an hour to do the old homework and was very winded and exhausted when I was done.