Final Post- I Am A Niking

What is a niking you ask?  Why it's the combination of a viking and a ninja, or so my friends have led me to believe.  Because of my recent increased strength my friends have been calling me "the viking" a lot more frequently.  I've been called the viking (or "Yeldarb the terrible") since I was a young kid because of my blond hair and I was always taller and stronger than most.  Plus my moms side of the family is all scandinavian and I guess they were there for a long long time, I guess you could say the time of the vikings.  Okay I'll take it, but as far as I'm concerned this guy right here doesn't look like a viking:

Probably more like a viking out of training.

Now after some training I'm closer too it:

Now that's more like it.

Now I'll admit that I still have "room for improvement".  Especially when it comes to trimming my body hair instead of taking a giant chunk of it right off in the first sweep and then having to go from there (I am not looking forward to the re-growth to say the least).  And I guess that the body can still shape shift until it's as close to perfect as possible.  But to be honest I'm satisfied with where I'm at.  Whatever happens to me is up to my body, because what I'm going to focus on is exercising because it makes me feel good.  I want to take the strength that I've obtained and use it toward athletics, which brings me to the next point:

Ninjas

I can't think of anything more awesome then ninjas.  Their stealth ability to complete their mission without being seen or heard is astounding and I look up to their morals to help the common people of society.  With that being said I don't recall talking about them that often.  But others in my life have proven me wrong with my new nickname "the niking" and my sister even felt the need to make me a hoodie a couple of years ago to honor my respect for ninjas:

Although I don't wear the thing outside in the public I think it's pretty funny.

Fine, great, grand, wonderful, I will take the new moniker and walk into the streets of Chicago everyday in my black garments and help the common people to the best of my abilities:

(Note this suit used to fit me perfectly and now the pants are basically falling off)

With that being said it really just shows how I feel with my new stronger body.  But a more realistic accomplishment has been achieved through this.  A more humble approach to this project that I personally think is far more important then a fit body:

Mindful Living

My special activity was mindful living with a picture of me on my meditation cushion.  To be honest my meditation practice hasn't really changed throughout this.  The cushion is right next to my bed and is the first thing I do when I get up.  Simple enough.  I just breath and relax my body and mind to head out towards the day with a better attitude.  The mindful living aspect that I saw was more about the choices I made.  Choices dealing with food and attitude.  Once the wrong food choices came into view I would push them away, and once the negative attitude came up I would just push it away.  Put a smile on my face so to speak.  So to me the mindful living wasn't really about the meditation cushion, it was the daily choices.

But here's the thing.  During the whole process we were being "suggested" on what to do.  So were they really my choices?  I still had a helping hand (so to speak) on what to do, and although I still made the correct choices (most of the time) it wasn't without the help of others.  You've got Patrick who guides us along the way, and chen who is in my mind a ninja that choses our fate.  The experienced veterans that have came before us who nudged us in the right direction the entire time.  And then the teammates (Kim the hong kong hiker that climbed over countless lags to accomplish her goals (that she will achieve), Nathaly who pushed through the project all while focusing on saving the planet, and Ramiro who overcame his extreme a.d.d and sinus infection to finish this project with full force) that have provided support the whole way through.  So when I think of actual "mindful living"  I can now see that during the three month duration of the project it was really only practice for the act of "mindful living".

From the beginning to the end I was aware that after this was done it would be Halloween weekend and I always believed that I would "party my ass off".  The day after the project ended I did absolutely nothing.  Nothing.  My body deserved it, and I was proud to give my body the break.  Once I woke up the next day I knew that we were supposed to hold off on the jumprope for awhile.  But those three months were our time, our time over there and all around.  Now it's my time, my time over here, and if I want to jumprope that's up to me.  I wanted to move around, and I basically need to when I get off of the cushion.  So after I stretched a bit I did the ten minutes of jumping, and that seemed a lot easier then the two nine minute sets.  I could feel that my insides were all prepared for my healthy breakfast (don't judge, I liked my pcp breakfast), and that's kind of how the whole weekend went.  If we were done after two months and it were Halloween I would have probably gone to the parties and been like, "oh hell yeah, give me a shot of that.  Oh it's pure gasoline, sweet, give me a double, that sounds good."  But honestly I just wasn't about it, I just went through a week of supersets and my body needed time to heal, time to rest.

Once the weekend came and I had no one to suggest what I should do, and didn't have any goals in front of me I was actually pretty peaceful.  With no one in control I was in control and I started to just listen to my body.  When it came to the meals I didn't just make my normal PCP meals I had developed.  I listened to my body and what it wanted, and what it wanted was healthy food.  Food that grew from the earth and prepared in a healthy fashion, and to me it was good, damn good.  I started making smoothies for the snack with no concern towards it's weight and if I got close to being full I stopped.  Once sunday came around I felt like working out, so I did my own version of a superset.  I didn't go as far as we did before (I did only 3 or 4 sets around) because I didn't want to push it until I got sick, but it felt good.  I feel awake and alive.  I feel good, body and mind.  And so in conclusion that's what I've defined as "mindful living".

That's great 'n all, but from my perspective the special activity should have been music.  The fact that I can play music all day and not have any hand problems is the greatest reward I've been given from doing this.  So I'm getting a commemorative tattoo in honor of PCP.  On the inside of my right bicep I'm getting: You Broke It, and on the left: You Fix It.  The blue collar approach to healing.  My bands last gig for the year is on wednesday and then we go to the studio.  This time I'm going to join the party, but be more moderate than before.  This is how I'm going to approach the whole thing.  I'm going to indulge from time to time, but since the majority of my daily life and night life will be "Body fit and mindful", I'm pretty sure I'll stay that way.  With the knowledge I've received through doing PCP if I ever feel broken down I'll fix it.  

I wouldn't be writing all this without the practice that I did with PCP.  I am honored and thankful that I went through this project and wouldn't trade it with anything in the world (PX90 or what have you).  I wish the best for those who come next.  Push through it all and get the most out of it.  A special thanks to Patrick/Chen and the veterans before us for their knowledge and support.  And big ups to Fantastic Carrot!  We Did It!