Day 9 - Big Day

Well, it has been a HUGE day, going from 7 in the morning until 8 at night. Some things got done, some didn't.

Aerobic exercise - done (consisting of a walk and lots of cycling).

Egoscue 1/2 Done

Lymphacizing - Not Done

Breathing -Done

Connecting Heart and mine - Done. This is something that I have not concentrated on - the idea of just quietly being still and focussing on my breath, centring myself. The best part of this is that you can do this at any time. I have concentrated on the physical, but not so much on the emotional and spiritual.

The highlight was that I managed to keep to the dietary guidelines, simply by taking all of my food with me.

In all honesty, one needs to really plan one's time as well if you want to do all of the exercises. The fact that I am only occasionally missing out, whilst experiencing a heavy workload shows that noone is too busy if they really want to do the 10 day challenge.

ONE MORE DAY - but who knows - I might continue on this path...

Halfway there.

After 2 days of early starts and late nights, today I got to sleep in. It felt great to get 8 hours sleep. My body seems to need a lot of recovery time at the moment. I can't wait for the energy to "kick in" again. Weighed myself, and found that I'd lost 2.6kg.

Managed to do all of my Egoscue and some lymphasizing. Aerobics took the form of a bike ride with the family. Did the breathing exercises too. Needed a sleep in the afternoon, so energy still not how I would like it to be.

Things went badly south in the afternoon. I needed to do some technology stuff for my daughter and my wife, got frustrated, and completely lost my temper. I had to apologise later to the pair of them. At this stage I am very thin-skinned, and need to realise that I should keep away from difficult frustrating situations, or at least admit that I am not up to them.

Had to work tonight, and for the first time for a good while didn't have shoulder pain whilst playing the trombone. Also enjoyed having better acuity through not drinking. Had to bring my own food, so it was cold curried beans for dinner. Didn't seem to matter to me - just wanted to stay on the path.

Tomorrow I am taking the wife for a night out out - interesting to see how I face that challenge! Once again, planning will be the key.

day 3

Ok - I'm completely exhausted, but thought that I would check in.

1. Planning works - I have stuck to the eating plan by having food ready to go in the fridge.

2. The Egoscue program seems to have had a positive effect - it may just be that my body can heal better, but there is noticeable improvement.

3. This afternoon I was at my most irritable so far - managed to recognise this, and only get grumpy with my wife once. Partly caused by really feeling hunger leading up to mealtimes.

Should report more tomorrow - might have time on my hands - no aerobic activity today, but planning tomorrow.

Day 2 of The Challenge -Still Challenging

Today has followed an almost identical path to yesterday with regards to exercise, diet, and breathing. I have felt marginally better than yesterday (only needed one nap), especially my right shoulder. Still feeling lethargic - running felt like I was trudging through dry sand, rather than on short grass.

One of the "gifts" in the 10 day challenge is the gift of structural alignment. Robbins suggests that you get a personalised program from Peter Egoscue (you can google this), so I sent them photos of myself, and have been sent back a series of exercises (all for free - I hope). I am hoping that these exercises help relieve my shoulder issue.

A lot of this evening has actually been spent preparing for tomorrow - I am having one of those days when one would normally just grab take away. Instead, I have prepared Breakfast and Lunch, so that I can continue on the path. It doesn't take long, but the mental energy required made things harder, when all I wanted to do was collapse on the couch! At any rate, I came home exhausted, but found that a slice of cantaloupe got my energy back almost magically. Added 15 minutes on the tramp, and I am weary, but able to do things.

So, off to do my structural alignment exercises and breathing - then bed