Got enough sleep again. I would appreciate it if I actually made it to my bed before falling asleep though.
Pranayama, followed by 3 minutes of neck mobility (did another 3 around noon).
The kb swings turned out to be a challenge. Didn’t even make it to 4 minutes before my lower back started cursing at me. Not the bad pain mind you, but the final warning before the bad pain starts. I went down a weight class and did the last minute, but that didn’t make much of a difference once the limit was reached.
Fortunately the second set in the evening with the lower weight class allowed me to get to 7 minutes, resulting in a total of 220 swings.
Ate little over 1500 calories. I’m starting to believe that the biggest reason people lose weight with intermittent fasting is because they don’t have time to stuff their face. Even with an eating window of 4 hours, by the time my stomach is empty enough for more food the window is already closed. With OMAD (23:1) you get one shot to eat something, I’m betting you’ll make it count. OMAD + ADF? Wowsers!
Did my IQ training. A bit less frustrating this time around. My eyes feel like I forgot to blink for the past 20 minutes though.
Did the “mandatory” deep hamstring stretches and added on some really nasty hip openers. Will have to add some quad work as well, as it takes effort to tilt my hips enough to maintain good posture.
I may have to re-evaluate my exercise regimen. I did not expect swings would be this difficult. But maybe a 4-minute tabata with the 16k instead. Brings me to 8 sets of 10-11 swings instead of 10 sets of 20. Or maybe do the swings once a week and something else on the other exercise days. Like bodyweight pushups, pullups and squats. Those are simple enough to not trigger my resistance-threshold.
Noticing my chronological age here, I used to recover really fast after exercise.
I did discover the ultimate kettlebell though. For the low price of 300+ bucks. At least shipping is free.
That’s actually pretty decent. Shipping costs for heavy items tends to be hefty (pun intended).
I felt the same tiredness coming on in the evening. I don’t know what to think about it. Getting enough sleep is great and I do like lying in bed all snuggled up in my warm blanket. But it requires far more efficient time management than I have presently.
Tiredness won out and I once again fell asleep on the yoga mat. It would be funny if it wasn’t so odd.
I’m deliberately writing “tiredness” instead of “exhaustion” because of the way it feels. I don’t feel like I’m tired, more like I want to roll up into a little ball and doze off with little Z’s above my head.
Today I’m running a bit behind as I find myself incredible productive at work, which automatically shuts my mind off from doing anything not work-related. But I should get the basics done. I do hope I’ll get around to adding in the Qigong session soon.
On to the Q&A section.
What do you mean? Right now it’s the basic Dual N-Back stuff, matching audio and visual cues, 10 rounds per session with the goal being N3 average.
After that, there’s more difficult ones which I haven’t looked at yet. The next level is facial expressions I think.
For focus training there’s a series of images where I have to push a button whenever I see one of males, females, indoors or outdoors, with the higher difficulty being overlapping images. The more I get wrong, the less clear the image becomes.
This last one is where I notice a downside to how my brain is wired. People whose brains are wired for Aspergers or autism often have a disconnect emotionally because they can’t read people as well. So they don’t know if somebody is happy or sad. More extreme cases they don’t even recognize male from female. With a bit of time they can figure it out
For those unfamiliar with Dual N-Back training, it increases the brain’s “working set” meaning the amount of data you are able to hold in your directly accessible foreground memory at any given moment in time. N3 means you can instantly recall where something was 3, 2 and 1 step(s) ago. And when it’s “dual” n-back, that means you have to recall where 2 things were 3,2 and 1 step(s) ago. Extremely frustrating. I’m an N2 average right now.
We regret to inform you that your application for “Disappointment in health and fitness accomplishments in 2021” has been rejected.
In the future, your application will have a much greater chance of success if you refrain from—-quietly and with very little fanfare—-successfully embarking on and completing Superhero-level Dietary Fasts. In all frankness, the prodigious health benefits of that act alone (i.e., autophagy, apoptosis, sustained growth hormone release, and anti-aging, among others) were already enough to have your application summarily dismissed.
The fact that you did not opt to monitor and evaluate the numerous and unavoidable beneficial effects directly through bloodwork and other relevant tests does not, unfortunately, meet our stringent criteria for the absence of impressive health-related accomplishments. It is, in short, quite impossible that you did not amazingly impact your overall health and fitness through acts that you both deliberately chose and carried to fruition.
Your conscientious journaling of the experience had the additional unfortunate (and plausibly unintended) side-effect of inspiring and galvanizing those around you.
As always, your prose was excellently penned and an (unacknowledged) joy for our staff to read. We welcome your further applications should you actually, in the future, attain the status of being unimpressive.
Yours desultorily,
Disappointment Quarterly
(I’ve only skimmed the first post, so far. Will read the next one to see what you have planned for this year.)
Truth is that although I definitely did very well during that period, it was not long after when my home office and bathroom renovations started. Constant arguing with the bathroom contractor, having no sanitation for an entire month, inability to find all the stuff from my home office because it was in moving boxes cluttering up the living room, the continued isolation, uncertainty of still having a job in 2022 and finally a series of high-pressure projects at work gave me a lot of stress. And with stress came bad habits. And those bad habits didn’t want to go away. Before you know it the gains made during the fasts were lost.
It was simply too much, and I wasn’t able to retreat to my meditation spot either because that’s where all those moving boxes (still) are. I had nowhere to escape the stress to.
For the graphically inclined, this is my embarrassing weight chart:
(Each dot is a Saturday)
You can see the two consecutive fasts, followed by a very nasty steady incline. And even though to the casual observer I don’t look “fat”, as a yogi I’m too used to having lots of empty space between my organs. So I can now distinctly feel every twist and bend and the impact on my joints.
This year I want to emphasize muscle building so that even in the eventuality of a repeat it would be much harder to “let myself go”. Although I will very likely still fast in May. By that time I hope the habit of exercising has kicked in and I can keep doing it with lower weights while fasting. If I can also adapt to ADF by then, I might only do the one fast.
I had a great fascination with brain training many years ago.
I still have some program called “HighIQPro”, which I believei s some re-made version of the Dual N-Back concept.
I haven’t been good at keeping track of the science on brain training recently, as I’ve gotten some other priorities.
Neurofeedback, transcranial magnetic brain stimulation, binarual beats (holosync, hemi-sync) – you name it, I’ve tried it.
One thing I’ve found quite interesting recently is this:
It’s currently out of stock, but if it comes back, I might get it.
The transcranial magnetic headset I use is this. It can stimulate any brain activity quite quickly (e.g. Delta for sleep, Theta for visualization, Alpha for relaxed focus):
I still use the magnetic headset from time to time. I was thinking of using it at the Delta program while listening to subs, since Delta offers a bridge to the subconscious mind. But then I recalled @SaintSovereign saying that the subs are designed to put you in whatever state necessary already.
Anyway, if you ever wish to discuss any brain training ideas with me, I’m all ears! It’s a nostalgic passion of mine.
I would like to add to the post I made to Malkuth that I did keep the improved immune system and brain function from the fast. I put the weight back on, yes, but not all which was gained has been lost (or is it the other way around? ).
I also kept a couple of the healthy habits and an increased awareness of the food that I do eat. Even during the stressful period I didn’t eat potato chips or fast food because they tasted disgusting to me. And the bad foods I did eat made me feel profound regret and disappointment afterwards (even some shame). I never really did enjoy them and often really questioned why I bought them in the first place. Except bread, that’s my guilty pleasure. Freshly baked bread with a crispy crust. Probably a leading cause for that weight incline.
What I did:
The Oura ring is getting happier and happier with my sleeping habits. Another 7+ hours.
Pranayama and neck mobility. Neck is locked up and I do notice I’m not able to breathe in as deep as I’m used to. I blame visceral fat getting in the way of my diaphragm.
Vibration plate followed by stretching and a second set of neck mobility exercises. Funny how it always sounds like there’s a bit of sand between the discs when you move your neck.
IQ test rates me at N2.8 today. The focus test almost immediately made me feel tired. Could have been the food sinking in though.
Speaking of, After about 700 calories I didn’t have an appetite at all. I still ate some to get my vegetables in, ended with about 1850 in 5 hours.
Did a few loops of Paragon ZP. The first one was after work, so I was off to a late start there.
Finally, a nice stretching routine. I’m getting my flexibility back and my back and hips are becoming nicer to me when I put them in unusual angles. Feels good.
Also did a yoga session belonging to a course I was doing. I want to finish that course before starting another, so it was in my way to that shamanistic work.
And I made it past midnight without falling asleep!
So off to bed I went with some food for thought…
Had about 6 hours of sleep since I managed to stay up, but I woke up after 5.5 hours naturally and spent the last half hour thinking about things.
Which gave me an idea.
Looking at the way I structure my goals in domains/topics I think I should make a Trello account and put them all there.
I mean, right now it pretty much looks like that on paper anyway.
The free account gives 10 boards. That would allow me to designate 10 domains/topics, each with Do, Doing, Done columns. I might have to consolidate a few to keep it under 10. Or I could do a single board and create a column for each of the domains/topics, but without the Doing and Done.
I could also consider Clockify.
Which is also free and would allow me to actually log how much time I spend taking action on my goals. Might be a confidence booster, knowing I do spend a lot of time working towards a desired present.
I think I should spend some time in the weekend considering the pros and cons.
A little section about COVID coming into my life, read only if you're interested and can behave...
In other news, I contacted my upstairs neighbor yesterday. He’s been helping me with the DIY renovations (long and kind of interesting story behind that).
He told me he tested positive for the “Bullshit COVID”. So I asked him if that was a new variant. Alpha, Delta, Omicron, Bullshit. I might have to learn some Greek to see which letter that represents.
Anyways, apparently he doesn’t believe it exists. Well, I suppose he’s one of those people that just calls it a flu, since his coughing and fever seem like a pretty decent convincer. Which is basically true, the flu and the common cold are both coronaviruses if I recall correctly, the corona-part is more the delivery mechanism.
He asked me if I was too scared to let him come over this weekend. I told him we’ll do some stuff remotely.
Fact is, I’m not scared of COVID. I trust my body and mindset to get me through naturally. But that doesn’t mean I want to tempt fate, I still follow the safety guidelines (which in my objective observation is more than I can say about most vaccinated people in my environment, ironically making them more dangerous than most unvaccinated ones). I wouldn’t invite my neighbor over if it were the flu either.
I always say that COVID and I have a gentleman’s agreement. He has done more good than bad in my life so I respect him. Basically, we’ve agreed that I wish him all the best, stay out of his way and he stays out of my way. So far, either it has worked or he paid me a visit and I was asymptomatic (which is not a stretch, I rarely show symptoms of anything).
Whatever may be, I find it interesting to know that all which separates me from an infected person right now is a wooden floor and a plasterboard ceiling. Puts things in perspective.
And back to the yellow brick road…
I got out of bed, did my pranayama and neck mobility stuff again. My back feels better, so I’ll try again with the heavier weight today. And my next post should be tomorrow.
Got 2 new goals for the fitness department:
Gain the ability to do a freestanding handstand for at least 30 seconds a day.
Gain the ability to do a split and side-split.
It was so easy when I was younger. As adults it’s a measure of flexibility and mobility that few aspire to. And yet both of these are indications of a healthy body in my opinion.
Q&A
Ah, that what you meant. I thought so.
This might be interesting for @James since he’s the one that inspired me to do some IQ work.
I also use that app, but the most recent one.
It almost felt like a scam since they don’t really do any marketing that I know of so you just have to stumble across or hear about it from somebody else. Not to mention they keep changing the name of the apps (used to be i3 & i9 years ago and is now called the gFocus suite I think). It’s legit though.
The apps are simple and a bit odd since they are the only thing I know which uses Adobe Air, but they do the trick. Configuring them according to the instructions for the structured learning plan is a bit frustrating, but I get it now. I guess that’s the first test of logic reasoning, deciphering the instructions.
I find most added value is actually in the documentation and research papers. There’s all kinds of information about intelligence and the different forms and definitions of it. Also related topics.
I also use a local website which has practice exercises like the ones one would find on IQ tests, so I do those as well to get into the logic mindset.
And I did actually schedule an official proctored IQ test on March 26 (if I’m not mistaken) just out of curiosity. Only allowed to take one of those a year so I intend to make it count.
How is that for taking action? Almost makes me ashamed I didn’t add Limitless into my stack. Almost.
The products you linked to are interesting. The past year there have been multiple crowdfunding projects which do what that NeoRhythm does except more and better. It is both intriguing and very scary to see just how easy it is to externally manipulate the brain’s frequency. I would try them but I still consider them a bit pricey.
There’s been some threads about brainwaves though if you’re interested, this being my own:
I also know @R.E.M.P.O uses/used a USB stick which radiates theta waves. Something like that anyway, I’m not entirely up to date.
@RVconsultant was/is a big fan of iAwake’s PMP program. No idea if he still uses it. I like it too (I like most of their stuff) but haven’t gotten into the habit yet.
I recall reading about one of our more prominent users who listens to his stack while meditating, which of course also has effects on brainwaves.
Subs, especially Ultimas, should put you in the right state of mind. And maybe ZP is even better at that. But we are human and some of us do experiment. Just let experimenting be the exception rather than the rule.
And how it is with electronics, when you fail to follow the guidelines your warranty is void. Try getting support from us then.
Looks interesting, thanks.
And thank you for the participation, it makes this journal so much more valuable.
Ha, the more time I spend in this forum, the more I feel I’ve probably met half of you before.
I was quite deeply involved in the iAwake community a few years ago. Pam and John Dupuy, the founders, are very kind people. I find that Eric Thompson, the creator of PMP and the “biofield technology” in their products, makes some drastic claims that I do not agree with or benefit much from. He started his own company since which focuses entirely on this type of biofield technology (which I have tried most of and don’t experience a thing!). I must say I probably like the old PMP version better than 2.0. I’ve used 2.0 on and off for years, alongside the strongest levels of Holosync, and reached the point where I would basically laugh at the thought of ever having a panic attack or being depressed again. Then it all came crashing down as if not a minue of my endless hours of listening ever affected me in the slightest. So I moved on to bigger, better things – and here I am.
Alongside this I also find that the Biocybernaut Institute is extremely fascinating in the type of work and research that they do (although some of it is a bit out-there, such as the notion that garlic is the most toxic substance for the brain you can ingest lol).
Indeed, I am an experimenter by nature and nothing could prevent me from pushing the boundaries. My first introduction to subs was SubliminalGuru by Inspire3, they also make Brain Evolution Program, Zen11 (or whatever it’s called) – it’s astonishing to think how much the technology has developed since. In retrospect I realize Inspire3 is a company with pretty shitty products and 90% marketing skills. The same applies to Centerpointe who make Holosync.
Hmm, this reminds me of a particular biofield creator who sells quite expensive biofield technology that’s put on USB sticks and hard drives and is supposed to be radiated as you wear it throughout the day. I don’t know if maybe this is what he might be using!
I have Awakening Prologue by Holosync but I haven’t been as consistent with it like I was back in 2004 when I first started using it. I definitely need to be though. I can’t run isochronic tones. I have tried. That sound makes it incredibly difficult for me to relax.
@DarkPhilosopher I love how G Code mentions Executive Functioning. As someone with ADHD and on the spectrum this has fascinated me for a long time.
I keep reading how they guarantee an IQ increase of 10 - 20 points in 4 weeks and I can’t stop thinking about how I could become what Jordan Peterson calls " Hyper Intellectual"
I have not been running it for twenty years. I think I ran it for somewhere around six months maybe longer. I had it on CD . A month or so ago I purchased the mp3 download from the Centerpoint website.
I would love to run the entire 12 or whatever levels there are. I have read where the people that do finish the entire program are some of the most chill relaxed folks out there
Get your emotions under control and then things interesting
I own and have used all Holosync levels. But I did not follow the recommended listening schedule, at all. I remember reading in Bill Harris’ book that those who finish the entire program get a waking brainwave pattern similar to the “Awakened Mind Pattern.” Myself, I never experienced any short-term or long-term transformation from any of the Holosync levels, nor any of the “emotional overwhelm” so many users constantly speak of. There’s been times I’ve listened daily for months to levels like Purification 4 and the first few Flowering levels. It’s notable that they used to offer the Flowering levels on cassettes which I heard could not possibly even reproduce the frequencies needed in those levels (placebo at the end of the program?).
I remember reading an old Holosync forum and it was fascinating reading the experiences of people that had just started or where almost done with the Flowering levels.
The biggest reason I haven’t purchased any of the Awakening levels is because I don’t want the subliminal affirmations. If I can opt out of that I will probably pursue the rest of the program
I’m sure it should be possible. I know many who took Holosync without any affirmations, me included. If I could, I would share it with you, but I’m sure that would go against both ethics and the rules of the forum. Holosync is extremely overpriced in terms of what it offers (Bill himself said he made them in his 20s using borrowed equipment from his university ).
That’s what it was called. Thank you.
We start discussing IQ and now I’m watching Jordan Peterson videos on YouTube. I may not agree with him entirely but he does get a person thinking and has some interesting views
So let me know if you ever come to Finland, and I’ll arrange an authentic (drunk as hell) sauna experience for you. I’d prefer middle of winter, so we can go middle of nowhere near Russian border. Roll naked in the snow and then rush back to sauna.
