My Current Exercise Plan

May 23rd, 11 / 0 Comments

Note: I am not a doctor or physical trainer, and have no fitness or health training of any kind. This is not medical advice, just me detailing what I’m doing for myself. I can’t take responsibility for the accuracy or lack thereof of this information should anyone else decide to use it, and you should always consult a medical or fitness professional before beginning any exercise routine.

With that out of the way, I’ve decided I need to do something to get in better shape. Getting a better body has never really been a goal of mine, as I’m more or less happy as I am. However, health is important to me, and it’s obvious that I’m not in the shape I used to be in. I can’t even finish a mile nonstop anymore, when I used to be able to do 1.5 back in middle school. So, I’ve decided to start running again. Nothing complicated, because I don’t have the patience for complicated programs or buying equipment. Just running got me in shape in middle school, so I imagine it should have similar (though possibly slower) results now.

At first, I decided I was just going to run the approximately two mile block around where I live. Run as much as I can, then walk until I can run again, rinse and repeat. You can probably guess what happened. I jogged for 6 minutes (about seven tenths of a mile), then promptly burned out. I spent the majority of the rest of the “run” walking, with a couple more short bursts of running. That’s not really going to cut it if I want to get better.

So I went back to a site I’d heard about before called Couch to 5k and took another look at their running program that is supposed to get one from a couch potato to running about 5 km (4.8 really, 3 miles), by running for time or distance. It starts out with short jogs followed by slightly longer walks, and looks like it’s meant to get you to build up endurance sustainably by keeping you at a relatively continuous pace despite the breaks. Takes about the same amount of time to finish a run, and I don’t feel so achy at the end. I’d call this a win. Also gets progressively harder as you go, as expected, until you’re running continuously for 30 minutes or 3 miles at the end. I’m actually not sure if I’ll stick with it the whole way or try to branch of later on, but it looks solid and for now I plan to try and just stick with it. Nine weeks seems like a really short time to get up to a 3 mile run, as that would be way more fit than I’ve ever been, in terms of endurance running.

I’ve also looked at proper breathing a bit, because let’s face it, I’ve always been a huffing and puffing machine when I run, even when I was in relatively good shape. It always felt like a matter of willpower and pushing through the discomfort to keep going with the way I was breathing. I’ve always found it hard to breathe properly while running, but I plan to give it another try. Here’s the military fitness article I’m using for now to judge if I’m about right on breathing. Looks similar to most advice I’ve read about it, so I’ll go with that for now. I’m also going to try breathing more like this during the day, so it becomes more natural to me for when I’m exercising.

I’ve decided I’m not going to worry about changing my diet for now. I eat relatively healthy lunches and dinners (though probably a touch on the salty side, I love my salt), mediocre breakfasts, and some less healthy snacks through the day. I might look at diet later, but for now, the lack of exercise is the big thing that needs fixing, so I plan to go with that first.

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Health

Some Random Thoughts On Magic

May 11th, 11 / 0 Comments

Magic isn’t about changing the world around you, it’s about changing yourself. That’s not to say you won’t see amazing things stem from your practice if you keep with it, but the focus isn’t on the outside world: it’s on you. Now, that’s not to say you should become self absorbed in your practice. Far from it. However, the influence of your power starts with you. You are what you can control, and any other change you want to make starts with you and what you do about it.

Magic is best performed in a style that works for you. If you copy someone else’s style of magic, you might get results, even good ones that you’re happy with. But it won’t fit into your life as well as it could, and magic is a way of life more than just individual spells you may cast. That’s not to say you shouldn’t use ideas from other people at all, just that when you do, it should fit comfortably into the way that you practice. Make it natural to you.

Magic can be done anywhere, at any time. You may have to adapt it to suit the circumstances, but there’s almost never a bad time for a little magic to ease things your way a bit. On the way into work, out of work, during a quick restroom break, at home, stopped at a stoplight, there’s plenty of times you can do something. Of course, there’s certainly time to consider, as well as who’s around in considering what might be socially acceptable and what won’t be. But a quick mental chant, or just raising some energy and sending it on it’s task is simple enough.

When you’re looking for something to incorporate into a spell, or just more generally into your practice, charts of correspondences are wonderful sources of many ideas quickly and in a small space. Just don’t get carried away and try to use everything. Instead, find the one or two things that pop out and make you think about how much you’d love to include in your practice, and use those, then add more gradually as they pop out and make sense to you.

Do what works. No one knows what actually works, so if it works for you, roll with it. Don’t worry about what your neighbor is doing (aside from sharing and learning of course). If it works for you, great, if not, find something that does.

Learn from wherever and whoever you can, but also be wary of charlatans. Knowledge is abundant and can be found almost anywhere. On the other hand, there are those who are all too willing to take advantage of those who are too trusting, and many people who practice or want to believe  are easily tricked by these people. The old adage is true: if something sounds to good to be true, it probably is. Don’t let your belief in magic cloud your judgement, and let go of the idea that “anything is possible” if  you find it’s too easy to find yourself blindsided.

If you have friends interested in magic, learn from them, debate with them, and challenge each other. Working with someone else is a great way to grow in any pursuit, and this is no exception.

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Magic, Psychic Abilities