now that ones off the list

I hope my dear friend is happy now. He had been pushing me to finish my project 108 Soorya Namaskaars. Finally, I did that today.

A friend wanted to celebrate Makara Sankranti with 108 sun salutations. As always, I was skeptical about joining in. And then I realized... I am approaching this as if this is a task I need to strike off from my bucket list. I trashed that concept & took it as an opportunity to catch up with her.

Well... that simple realignment not only took me to her door steps early on a sunday morning, but..... I COMPLETED 108 SOORYA NAMASKAARS!!!!

My dear friend... now you have 1 thing less to pester me with... Thihahahahahahahahahaha....

Picture Courtesy : www.astrogle.com

Week 11

This week has been a week of inner doubts. I am seriously thinking about dropping the idea of reaching the count of 108. I mean, if I want, I can reach this 108 today and finish it off with it. I might be tired for the rest of the day. Even tired for the next day. But 108 is no longer a probable task.

But... am I loosing my focus because I have this target to reach? Shouldn't I be aiding my body build it's strength & flexibility? Shouldn't I be making lifestyle changes & allot time to my general well being than reaching this target? Moreover, I do not want to loose weight any further.

June 10	June 11	June 12	June 13	June 14	June 15	June 16
0	0	30	35	0	35	10

I noticed that 30 sets is what I am comfortable at. These days, I take a 2min break after every 10sets. And when I am done with 30sets, I will be sweating all over my body :) The cool down relaxation has started becoming an awesome experience. I could go into that deep meditation even if its for a few mins ... yipppeeeeee ... :)

Picture Courtesy : www.astrogle.com

Weeks 8, 9 & 10

I was at my native place during the weeks 8 & 9. The food & travel put me into such a slow pace that I still haven't completely recovered from the after effects O:-)

May 20	May 21	May 22	May 23	May 24	May 25	May 26
0	33	30	0	35	0	0

May 27	May 28	May 29	May 30	May 31	June 1	June 2
0	0	0	0	0	0	0

June 3	June 4	June 5	June 6	June 7	June 8	June 9
0	16	0	20	23	30	15

This time, restarting after the break seemed like a real tough task. It felt like I was starting all over again from the very beginning :)

Picture Courtesy : www.astrogle.com

Week 7

What I learned this week was .... No matter what amount of Yoga or Aerobics or Workout you do, unless you are not into active sports, you cannot call yourself physically fit.

This week I got a chance to play squash. As per my standards, I did move around really well to play this sport. The end result, I learned that my back is made up off muscles & not just bones & skin. The entire body was screaming out in pain. One needs to get into stuffs like this, only then will one get an opportunity to respect ones own body.

May 6th	May 7th	May 8th	May 9th	May 10th	May 11th	May 12th
bunk	20 sets	30  sets	0	5 sets	0	30 sets

So, now I have a new action item, introduce some sport activity into my life ... yea ... rite!

Picture Courtesy : www.astrogle.com

Week 6

I am not sure if the millimeter reduction on my arms are because of the Soorya Namaskaar or the general weight loss I am going through. Whatever be the reason, looks good in the mirror ;) It would have been beneficial if my arms & shoulders would have grown stronger ..... O:-)

May 6th	May 7th	May 8th	May 9th	May 10th	May 11th	May 12th
bunk	22 sets	23  sets	25 sets	25 sets	25 sets	bunk

I observed one thing about myself this week, I did not try for an 'exceeded expectations' after knowing that I had 'met the expectations' for the week ... Might not sound great to you, but I feel perfectly happy knowing that .... :)

Picture Courtesy : www.astrogle.com

Week 5

Nothing interesting happened this week. Even after a month, my hamstrings are still complaining. But of course, not as much as they used to when I started. Towards the end of the week, I started take short 2min breaks after every 5 sets.

April 29th	April 30th	May 1st	May 2nd	May 3rd	May 4th	May 5th
bunk	16 sets	16 sets	8 sets	20 sets	20 sets	bunk

Picture Courtesy : www.astrogle.com

Week 4

After the health issues of Week3, I made an interesting discovery about my own body. 1 week of inactivity doesn't do much to the body. All it does, is to the mind .... restricting us from reaching our full potential.

April 22nd	April 23rd	April 24th	April 25th	April 26th	April 27th	April 28st
bunk	6 sets	10 sets	12 sets	14 sets	15 sets	bunk

Picture Courtesy : www.astrogle.com

Week 3

I think, the Week3 of practice is jinxed. The friend who introduced me to this concept fell ill during his week3. Now, I fell ill. Week3 looks blank ... :D But I haven't decided to let this die off ....

April 15th	April 16th	April 17th	April 18th	April 19th	April 20th	April 21st
12 sets	14 sets	5 sets	bunk	bunk	bunk	bunk

Picture Courtesy : www.astrogle.com

Week 2

Still on this plan ... Yes ... I have surprised myself beyond words ... :)

April 8th	April 9th	April 10th	April 11th	April 12th	April 13th	April 14th
7 sets	9 sets	9 sets	10 sets	10 sets	bunk	12 sets

Mi shoulder blades todavia no tengo recovered (I am trying say that my shoulder blades haven't recovered yet ;))

Picture Courtesy : www.astrogle.com

Week 1

Its been a week since I made the promise. So far, I haven't broken my promise. I did not follow any chart. I just listened to my body & made a new chart. This is how it looked during the first week of my attempt ... :)

April 1st	April 2nd	April 3rd	April 4th	April 5th	April 6th	April 7th
3 sets	5 sets	5 sets	7 sets	7 sets	7 sets	rest

But what I enjoyed the most was the relaxation time after the namaskaars ... Bliss!!! But as the day progresses, I could really feel those lesser used muscles crying out loud. To add to it, my arms have started protesting. I have always sensed that my arms are weak. The postures 5, 6 & 7 put together resembles a push-up. So, imagine a person with weak arms & a very heavy body attempting 14 push-ups!!!!

All I am hoping for now is that my arms will become stronger & I will be able to progress from 7sets .....

Picture Courtesy : www.astrogle.com

To try or attempt?

According to a friend, TRY is the word one uses when one is quite positive that the outcome is going to be negative. How many times have we heard someone say, 'I will try to come', never to see them on the promised date & location? I am not sure what else to call this new project of mine.

A close friend of mine who is an Art of Living activist wanted me to take part in the program - Yogathon - conducted by them. The target - 54sets of soorya namaskaar. In layman's term it translates to 108 soorya namaskaar. He shared me their 4 week training chart as well. He believes that I am active enough to achieve this feat in the speculated time. Well... I take one look at the training chart & I knew my body needs more time to reach that target, if it is to ever reach that target.

But more than reaching the target of 108 namaskaars, what excited me was the idea of doing something for yourself everyday. So, here I am ... promising myself that for the next three months .... I will keep working on my stamina, at a stable pace that my body can accommodate & keep increasing that count of soorya namaskaars. I am not stressed about the count 108. All I am asking myself is some commitment & dedication towards my promise.

Lets just watch this space to see how I am faring ... :)

Picture Courtesy : www.hindudevotionalblog.com