2020 June Review & July Goals

The first half of 2020 has been tough for all of us. Under pressure, you either break or have a breakthrough. If you continue to look at yourself and the world around you the same way as you always did, you might just break. Coming out of your comfort zone and looking at everything else including yourself as an outsider might give you a breakthrough. The one thing which helped me survive this half year was my perspective to look at things as an outsider. Will you give it a try?
 

Review of June

 
1.Physical Health
 
In June, I wanted to increase the number of Surya Namaskaras I do daily. But only after starting it, I realised that the quality matters more than the quantity. Initially I started off with 5 rounds daily, doing them for the heck of it but that didn’t feel right over the time. I slowed down and did just one round a day. But I made sure that I was breathing right and stayed for a longer time in each pose. That made me feel satisfied.
 
2.Mental Health
 
Even though I had been pracitising Kapalbhathi seriously from March, I was not able to do it for more than 3 minutes. This month, just by increasing it by one everyday, I made it to 18 minutes. But later when I read about how it generates a lot of heat in the body, I limited it to 15 a day. My breathing has never been so deeper and clearer.
 
Another task, I planned for the month was to forgive and thank people. Forgiving the past mistakes when times are good didn’t really make a huge difference for me. Thanking people for no occasion also felt weird. I dropped these two exercises in the first 10 days. May be I will pick them up later when the time is right.
 
3.Books
 
I was busy with my academic research proposal and could not find time to read the other books much. I finished Visualization for weight loss and Emotion code. Currently reading yoga nidra, Psycho Cybernetics and Intention Experiment.
 
4.Courses
 
I have been heavily investing my time in picking up python coding skills from various courses on Coursera. Challenging yourself beyond your comfort zone makes you feel accomplished.
 

Plans for July

 
1.Physical health
 
I have started a 30 days split challenge. Each day, I do a set of exercises which help in opening up the hip flexors. With the amount of time spent in the chair looking at the screen, working on splits helps in relieving the lower back pain. Technically, achieving splits in 30 days is an overachievement. Realistically, I will keep trying for 90 days to see the outcome.
 
2.Mental Health
 
a) Anulom Vilom
 
After practising Kapalbhati and enjoying the fruits of it, I want to extend it to Anulom Vilom to make it a complete package.
 
b) Reading Gita
 
One of my friends mentioned that reading Bhagavad gita was a life changing experience for him. I may not be able to finish it this month, but I am going to put it on my desk and read a verse now and then during the breaks I take from office work.
 
How was your June? What are your plans for July?
 
Happy July!