I initially thought of posting my progress every single day…but that proves to be so difficult; especially when I carry an equally heavy load at the office. I will be updating this section every week, Saturday early morning so hopefully, you all will see this and make relevant plans!
Day 1 for me was this Friday, yesterday and well…you know…I had things to do! This is the bad Vaishnavi talking, not the good one! The good Vaishnavi says – oh shut up! You found it easier to snuggle up than lift your heavy bum eye roll
I did start today and I am glad I started. Here’s what I did:
1. Music – I listen to the sounds of the sea/wind/air from a CD collection that my boss gave me; he told me it’s therapeutic. I agree, it helps when I am want to concentrate on myself and effectively blocks the other sounds (read: other people snoring/easy breathing in sleep, the fan’s whirling noise, milk/paper vendor, the beckoning of the bed – trust me this happens when the floor is cold and the bed warm)
Stretches & Exercises This Week
2. Stretch – I did a series of exercises for stretching and here they are:
- Bend your hands down and go all the way up from touching your toes to a bit behind you head. I can’t touch my toes yet, but you will get there in 1-2 weeks. Do this 5 times
- Lift your arms up to your shoulders and drop it down – 10 times
- Lift your arms parallel to your ears, in a straight line. Rotate the arm in clockwise and anti-clockwise – 10 times each
- Spread your feet apart, lift your arms to your shoulder and bend down in opposites. You right arm must touch the left toe. You must look up to see your right hand, do the opposite – 10 times each in alternating sets
- Lie down on the floor, lift your hands in parallel to your ears, come up and ‘try’ to touch your feet, do this in continuous sets of either 3 or 5 0r 7. 10 counts is the best you can do, you will get there in 3 weeks , I use a ball, to help me with the continuous moves.
- Skip – I wanted to skip 100 doubles, I ended up with 25 singles alternating it with 25 doubles and repeat another time. This gives 100 skips with 50 doubles and 50 singles. I use this as an alternative to the treadmill, I have a ligament tear and I can’t use the treadmill/exer-cycle
- Surya-namaskara – we all know how this is done and the benefits, go ahead and start with 10 sets to kick off and build it to 25-30 counts
- Kapal-bharti – now, how many of you know Baba Ram Dev? If you do, you know about kapal-bhaati. If not, google’s God (PS : it’s an action I can’t explain in words). I do this for about 20 at a time. That’s all I can I hope to take this to 50 counts at a time. I do 100 counts now and want to go to 200 counts.
- Cooling down – my ex-gym manager (oh! Yes! That was so looooooooooonggggg ago that I don’t remember how long :D) told me that this is as important as drinking water. So, I lie down after kapal-bhaati and try to cool my thumping heart. It takes a while. And go into shavasana mode until your heart beat has returned to normal and you feel relaxed.
That’s all folks….don’t forget your water intake during the exercise and all the best!
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