Two updates to my sidchas and standard operation procedures
I’m updating My sidchas, standard operating procedures, and preferences in two ways.
Cardio days
First, in my 6-Day Exercise/Mindfulness Cycle, I’m changing day 6, which was “Cardio, at least 300 calories rowing or meaningful effort plogging, biking, walking, or climbing stairs.” I did cardiovascular exercises for two reasons:
- To improve my heart and lung health and capacity
- To burn more calories
Since around May, I’ve been experimenting fasting on day 6. That is, instead of burning more calories, taking in fewer. Doing cardio almost inevitably led to me eating more on those days, so exercising more wasn’t in practice leading to getting rid of fat I didn’t want. In practice, fasting is resulting in getting rid of more fat I don’t want.
As for heart and lung health and capacity, I don’t think running or rowing for twenty minutes to an hour even at challenging paces exercises my cardiovascular system as much as a few minutes of intense intervals. I think endurance exercise is more like lifting moderate weights for many many reps. I gain more muscle by lifting as much as I can for a few reps.
Since I do burpees twice daily, amounting to 54 most days (3 sets of 9, morning and evening), I think they’re giving me daily intense intervals. After roughly four months of little endurance cardio work, my official pulse taken at a hospital was 46 beats per minute, which is athlete level, so burpees seem to work.
Sometimes I fast 24 hours, meaning after dinner on day 5 I next eat dinner day 6, which means skipping two meals. Since it’s hard to avoid eating extra the meals before and after the fast, it’s more like skipping one meal. Other days I don’t eat on day 6, meaning after dinner on day 5 I next eat breakfast on day 1 of the next cycle, which typically means fasting for 30 to 36 hours.
Sometimes fasting feels hard, but I’m getting more used to it.
Daily meditation
I meditate 30 minutes every morning. These days I focus on my breath. For a long time I did body scans or focused on a mantra. Except for the past few months I’ve allowed my thoughts to go to thinking, especially thinking about what I’m writing about in my book.
This allowance came from my finding that some of my best writing comes from stepping away from my computer, paper, or any way to write and just to think. I don’t try to think about what I’m writing. On the contrary, I let my mind clear since at first it’s usually trying to focus on what I’m writing. That focus comes at the sacrifice of calm, clarity, and perspective.
[The picture below is a few years old. I haven’t sat in a full lotus since at least when I tore my meniscus. I think that happened at least two years ago. I think I’ve also grown more muscle on my shoulders, arms, and chest.]
I liked that result, so allowed myself while meditating to allow that thinking process to happen, even if it meant not trying to return to my breath. I like the results, but lose the benefits of mental discipline that come from returning to my breath and focusing on things like how I lose focus on my breath.
The change to my standard operating procedure: I’m going to implement a new sidcha. I’m going to add a daily period of just thinking separate from meditation so I can restore my meditation time to meditation.
Most mornings I meditate, then exercise, then shower, then connect to the internet and process and check email, then prepare breakfast and eat. Usually I keep the computer on while preparing breakfast, listening to podcasts or books. I then keep it on while eating, though with the screen off since I avoid screens being on while eating.
The problem: I often linger on email and other online stuff after eating, lacking a clean break from eating and listening to working. I’m going to insert a clean break after eating by sitting and thinking after eating and before working. I’ll start with 15 minutes and with paper and pen on hand. I expect I’ll use that time to prioritize the day’s events, think of what to write, and decompress from whatever I was listening to and whatever emails I read. Responding to email is passive. Sitting and thinking is active.
Hmm… I never noticed that sitting and thinking looks passive or inactive, but is actually active, the opposite of reactive.
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