Back to Basics – 30 Day Challenge: Days 8, 9 and 10

Blimey. There must have been something going on energetically as this last few days has been a roller coaster. It would seem as though I’m back with a cane again and that my flirtation with life without one was just that, a brief six day affair. A fleeting moment in time of physical strength and balance.

I kept up with my workout even though a big part of me wanted to give up the whole thing. Ultimately though, I realized that self-compassion is the key, and as often happens, I stumbled upon this beautiful reminder on one of my favorite websites: Mystic Mamma.

Here’s a summary of the last few days:

Day 8: got through the workout, albeit grumpily.

Day 9: felt sorry for myself and fatigued so gave myself a day off.

Day 10: after a rocky morning where I admit I was thinking way too much about MS, life with MS, how crap it is, etc. etc., I got pulled out of my funk by a series of fabulous events: good conversation with my honey, followed by tea with an amazing long-time friend; the matinee of TRAINWRECK – how I loved that Amy featured a character with MS; and finished with a short yoga session where I practiced mainly floor poses but also focused on Tree pose (Vrksasana) to help my balance (I did it with one hand resting against the wall to aid my balance); workout and the cherry-on-the-cake, a 10 minute relaxation with legs up the wall and an Esther and Jerry Hicks meditation.

Here are my stats:

(assisted)                  (half)                     (assisted)
Squats                   Push-Ups             Sit-Ups

Day 10:   60                 30 (ring dips)   23 (unassisted)

Day 9:                        DAY OFF….

Day 8:      60                 40                    35

Day 7:      62                 33                     41

Day 6:      60                 31                     41

Day 5:      58                 27                     35

Day 4:      60                 25                     33

Day 3:      51                 21                      28

Day 2:     40                  18                      22

Day 1:     42                  23                      23

Back to Basics – 30 Day Challenge: Day 7

JANE – One week in! Woot woot!

Am feeling very excited that I’ve pushed myself to do this simple workout everyday for the last week. There have definitely been days where its been easier to get motivated than others, but today was happily an easy one! I slept well and when I woke up, my drop foot had got a fair bit better. I decided to do a sweet yoga session as my warm-up, ending with 5 minutes of Legs Up The Wall (Viparita Karani).

Viparita Karani is, according to my teacher, Master Multiple Sclerosis Yogi, Eric Small, the ultimate pose for people living with MS. This is because of the fact that it is an inversion (legs inverted above the heart) which means fresh blood washes the brain and spine, bringing healing and energy to the MS plaques or lesions. I did it for about 5 minutes today, and Eric recommends doing it anywhere from 2-3 minutes when you first start to 10-15 minutes daily when you’ve been practicing it for a long time.

After yoga, I was in a good head-space to do the workout. My results are below and are creeping up 🙂

(assisted)             (half)               (assisted)
Squats            Push-Ups        Sit-Ups

Day 7:       62                  33                    41

Day 6:       60                  31                     41

Day 5:       58                  27                     35

Day 4:       60                  25                     63

Day 3:      51                   21                     28

Day 2:      40                  18                      22

Day 1:      42                  23                      23