calisthenics’s training results…
week 6 – end of course reflections
- What did you learn?
- Control of the breath, the impact it has on the parasympathetic system. I always thought it was the other way around, I learned this is a bilateral phenomenon and we can used it to reduce stress and it works well and fast.
- What stayed with you?
- again, the breathing practices, I liked that you teach so many: diaphragmatic, victorious, expansive, 4-7-8 and coherent, we can choose the one we like most and adapt to our daily routine.
- different kinds of meditation: mindfulness, wheel of awareness, 5 senses, compassion.
- What are your goals going forward?
- keep on going improving my well being, now that i have this breath control super power skill I just have to apply it.
- How will you stay connected to a community?
- I will find a studio and try to practice yoga.
- My next trip to east Asia will be soon, I’m already searching for courses or retreats to deepen my yoga path.
week 6 – course goal assessment
Do you feel like to have achieved your goal? Why or why not?
Yes, very much. My goal was to improve my well being, and through the breathing practices that I learned in the MOOC I feel I greatly improved, I now know what i have to do when I feel I am entering a spiral of stress: take a step back, do a mini check in, body scan if possible, and take 5 breaths, or take 5 minutes doing 4-7-8 breath, my favorite. It’s like I have a new skill, a super power, that I can use whenever I want.
Do you think this goal setting practice could be used in other areas of your life?
Of course. I do the breathing practices whenever I feel that I need to calm down. At home, at the hospital, when I am stuck in traffic, etc…
What is the one thing about the goal process you think worked best for you? What is the one thing about the goal process you would change?
The breathing. The impact it had on my parasympathetic system. It really takes me back to who I am, a much lighter free spirit instead of a stuck one.
What I would change… when I wrote “monitoring my goal” I was very demanding of myself when I wrote “mini class 3x a week”. Sometimes I have time for much more, sometimes I don’t. And I shouldn’t feel bad about it.
Week 6 – Observation of Interpersonal Interactions
I don’t think I have evolved this much yet. I think I am a good listener, a bit impatient sometimes but I listen. I can allow time and be comfortable with moments of silent pause. My impatience seems to be greater if the interaction is with someone that is closer to me, or to whom I have more intimacy, maybe because I allow my true self but I should try to work on this as this may compromise “really seeing them”.
week 5 – visual artifact
My yoga map.
week 5 – share my goal progress
I’ve been journaling my goal progress in my other past reflections because I’ve felt progress since the very first week of the yogaMOOC. It might sound like it’s BS but it is the truth. At that time I knew nothing about yoga, I had tried meditation before but not with such success. This is weird even to me as i am bit skeptical even though i considered myself openminded, i did not expect such success so rapidly. There have been significant improvement in my sleep since I took that first yoga class. The 5 breath pause that I use all the time, really helps me calm down and see the world more clear. But every week keeps amazing me more and more. This week 5 it was with the 4-7-8 breath. It really is an upgrade of the 5 breath pause. I use HeartWatch on iwatch and with the app Health i discovered the following: after breathing 5 minutes the 4-7-8 breath, not only i feel great and lighter, my heart rate variability increases very very much. Sometimes it quadruples. It’s incredible the immediate impact and control we can have on the vagus nerve and on the parasympathetic system just by controlling our breathing. I am in awe and I feel like everyone should know this. Thank you so much Stacy!
week 4 – practicing mindfulness with my goal
paying attention to the present moment, with openness and non-judgment plays into attaining my goal because it helps me see more clearly issues that i struggle with and helps me resolve them. my goal is learn yoga, improve meditation so that i can improve my well being and mindfulness has played an important role so far. the 5 breaths pause that i now use all the time, the off-switch that i started doing weeks ago and didn’t even now that it had a name. and of course the postures… i think i’m synchronizing my breathing with the postures more correctly. but overall i am calmer and i’m sleeping better.
week 4 – exploring common humanity
My three limiting beliefs:
- could i be a better medical doctor?
this was more of an issue a few years ago. but still sometimes when things don’t go well i feel more like i let myself down. it’s not embarrassment or shame, maybe i feel a little angry with myself or sad. but i think it’s a human reaction to “failure”. you want to do the best for your patient. if you fail you feel bad.
new way of being: i am confident that i’m very good at what i do, i am a great anesthesiologist. - could i be a better person?
i know i could. there is always room to improve. be kind to the environment, help animals in need, do volunteering work. but life is so insane sometimes, always in a hurry i end up doing nothing or very few of what i would like. or maybe it’s hard to leave my comfort zone. well, i’ve helped 4 cats…
new way of being: i am confident that i do the best that i can to help change the world for the better “be the change you want to see in the world” - would i have courage to leave medicine and dedicate my life to nature, animals and environment? i don’t know if that’s what i really want… i really like being an anesthesiologist. i really like physiology and pharmacology, to know how the human body functions and help people. what i dislike is the insanity around it, pressures coming from everywhere in a country that has been through an economical crises, there’s no money and people expect you to make omelets without eggs… the national health service is falling apart, you have to work extra hours and i’m not even going to talk about salaries in Portugal. this is very good reason to leave all that behind and start a new life. so why don’t i do it? do i feel fear? i guess so. i might find out that life isn’t perfect for anyone… but if i don’t try i will never know
new way of being: well, i still don’t see it, but i am going to meditate on it 🙂
#yogaMOOC 