Maintaining

Ah, it's been a while since my last post, at least a week. One of my closest friends in the world is visiting me here in HK from Vancouver, and she's staying with me in my tiny flat. Actually, it's been going incredibly smoothly! I had no doubt we'd pick up where we left off, friendship-wise, but I was worried about the logistics.

1. My place is literally 100 sq. ft. and my bed is barely a double bed.

2. Hong Kong is a crazy place for a seasoned traveler, let alone to a traveler new to Asia.

3. My work is crazy right now, and so I'm needing to keep up a bit of a regular work schedule.

4. But I want to go out and enjoy HK with her, and we planned a trip to Kuala Lumpur too.

5. I knew we'd be eating out for meals quite often.

6. I also knew that I may not be able to stick to my exercise and yoga schedule as closely as I do normally.

But life can be hard under "steady-state conditions", if I can use that phrase. We know this and are constantly, through our own personal process of checks and balances, aiming to maintain some sort of equilibrium state in our physical bodies, our overall physical health, our mental health, our mental capacity, our relationships, etc. When our equilibrium states are interrupted through either good or bad happenings, we are truly tested in our ability to be resilient. Having a friend visit is a very good interruption, and I'm happy to say that I've been able to maintain a lot of my routine while still truly enjoying our time together and exploring Hong Kong and soon Kuala Lumpur together. Aside from the weekends, I've been doing yoga or fitness every day, and last weekend, we did a bit of light hiking/walking and some silly bicycling. I'm not drinking enough water, I know, but I'm working on it. I'm eating a lot more, but I'm not intentionally eating after 10pm. Although it has happened a few times, I'm ok with it. And, I'm still hammering through most of my responsibilities at work. I can't start any new experiments right now, and so I am just powering through some writing. Finally, Kelly is a very clean and organized person too, and so she's been really great about keeping my flat organized with both of us living there, almost on top of each other! All in all, it's not just about maintaining a schedule or routine but teaching your mind and body to be resilient, allowing other models or schedules to work from time to time. Finally, there has to be some acceptance... that's toughest for me...

Thoughts for the day:

How do you alter your routines under non-steady state conditions?

How do you bounce back or embrace resilience?

What is the difference between acceptance and excuses?

Keeping up...

13Feb11, 9am: Hot yoga with Keiki To

14Feb11, 7am: Hot yoga with Michael Lau

15Feb11, 7:15am: Bodypump with Luis

16Feb11, 7am: Hot yoga with Shirley Wong

17Feb11, 12:30pm: Bodycombat with Anna

18Feb11, 7am: Silent hot yoga with Martina Lee

19Feb11, 1pm: Bodycombat with Kelvin

20Feb11, 11:30am: Power yoga with Michael Lau

21Feb11, 7am: Hot yoga with Cinderella Yau

22Feb11, 7:15am: Bodycombat with Luis

23Feb11, 7am: Hot yoga with Ocean Liang

24Feb11, 7:15am: Bodycombat with Kelvin

25Feb11, 7am: Hot yoga with Michael Lau

26Feb11: walking up to temples and monasteries, bicycling Plover Cove

27Feb11: walking Lantau Island

28Feb11, 7am: Hot yoga with Michael Lau

1March11, 7:15am: Bodypump with Luis

2March11, 7am: Hot yoga with Shirley Wong

Early morning vs. late nights

I've flip-flopped for a few days, I think. Several nights of staying up late and sleeping in last weekend, and now I'm still in that mode for my week... that's ok, though. I also know my body is tired, or at least it was this morning when I tried to get up, well stay up, so that I could hit the gym for a 7am work-out. I got up around 5:35am, ate breakfast and realized I was a bit ahead of schedule, and so I made the fatal mistake of lying down for a few minutes...

I woke up at 7:15am, having missed the start of my work-out, decided to go back to sleep until almost 9am, which is really sleeping in for me. I'm sort of all over the place right now anyway, Sunday night was very emotional for me, saying goodbye to Kim again, the second time in 37 days. Monday, as I mentioned, I got in a killer work-out at 7am. Then the rest of my day was stellar, especially research-wise! I am doing microscopic surgical procedures on transparent fish so that I can image their circulatory system in real-time as well as image each molecule of oxygen released from the hemoglobin protein that carries it through the blood to the working muscles that need it. I've always had it in my mind that I would like to be an excellent micro-surgeon, so to speak. I've heard a mentor of mine refer to another colleague as that, and I remember thinking that I could be that too. I've been told my sutures are better than those of medical doctors (yikes!), but that makes me very proud. Furthermore, I know that I have a precise hand and keen eyes for tiny detail. For my current research, I was having trouble with this one particular surgery for a couple weeks. I just wasn't consistent and found myself very apprehensive, often asking my colleague to take a turn just because I didn't want to mess up. Yesterday, I made up my mind that I was excellent at surgical procedures, just as I had always imagined, and that did it... I totally changed my mind-set and it really worked for me. It was a very successful, but also very long day.

Although I was absolutely beat by the time I got home Monday night, I still found myself getting a second wind, and so I did end up staying up late again. So, it really comes to no surprise that I was tired this morning (Tuesday), and I gave that to myself. I had a pretty productive day today but ended up getting in my fitness at night instead of morning...

7Dec10, 9:30pm: Hot Yoga with Michael Lau

...and now I'm wired and it's 1:30am!

My parivrtta trikonasana, or twisted triangle, this evening was my best ever, I think. Note, the photo on the right is not me, but this is how I felt! Everything else was good, but this particular asana really stood out to me, as it's a tough one, not only from the twisting perspective, as the name implies, but also from a balance perspective, and for once I feel like I really got into this posture.

I think that if I'm going to do a yoga class at night, then I need to make it a relaxing one, like Yoga Therapy or perhaps a meditation class so I can actually come straight home and veg-out before falling asleep. After hot yoga, I must take a shower, as I'm drenched... absolutely drenched. Although, that is one aspect I really, really love about hot yoga. I feel amazing after a really good sweat, but only if that was my initial intention. I don't like the nervous sweat, like when I'm about to defend my thesis or get married... I'm hoping to stave off that response next week in HOT Australia during my job interviews. But anyway, back to the scheduling... I find that if I get in an intense work-out in the morning, I'm set with tons of energy all morning and can get so much done. However, if I have to anticipate it all day, and maybe even cut my evening short to head off to the gym, I'm not as content. Although getting up from a glorious sleep is never easy, I do find that I am happy to do it for a great work-out or yoga class, as I know I will be on a roll to a productive and energetic day!

Sure, just about everything in life is fluid, schedules are fluid, preferences are fluid, but for now, in this environment, with this body and this schedule, in this city, at the risk of sounding cliche, I think I can say that I'd rather be a "morning person." Cliche aside, that reminds me of how so much of the deep thoughts that I long to elaborate upon touch on impermanence, one of the three tenets of existence in Buddhist beliefs. I am reminded of this by a discussion with a friend today, as she is thinking a lot about this particular one of impermanence, or अनिच्चा anicca. I too need to remember this, as the things that are going on for me right now for which I am not happy are, indeed, temporary and my body's way of finding a new set-point to waver around to maintain homeostasis. I will find a new balance with everything... I already am finding balance on some levels... but on other levels, I still feel like everything is very much out of balance... hang in there, self.. you can do this!