21 days challenge week 1
Objectives for the week: Re-connect with ourselves, bring awareness to some aspect of our daily life.
Morning protocol
Intermittent Fasting 16/8 protocol
The 16/8 protocol is consisting of a 16 hours period of fasting and a window of 8 hours of eating.
The IF protocol will help you with:
- providing rest to your digestive system
- engaging the fat burning process by the body in the morning, (long term wise it helps build lean muscle)
- providing more energy and lightness (especially in the morning)
- supporting better focus
Your eating window is between 12 pm and 8 pm.
To ensure a fasting period of 16 hours minimum, your first food intake of the day can be done from 12 pm onward and the last food intake must be done by 8 pm. Basically, this 16/8 IF protocol is simply about skipping breakfast.
If you feel hungry in the morning, you can easily break the hunger with the following ideas, which are not eating because they don't start the digestive process.
- warm water
- hot tea
- warm lemon water (only lemon juice, no pulp because it would start the digestion process)
- warm water with (Himalayan salt recommended) salt
- warm water with a 1 or 2 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
I am sure you will have noticed that I didn't include coffee in this list, simply because it is a formidable opportunity to stop coffee intake in the morning, I promise you that you will feel much more energy and focus during your day without. Another unwanted side effect of coffee intake is a numbing of your feelings especially your gut's feelings. Give it a try, don't take my words for it.
I'd like to emphasize as well that the 16 hours of fasting are not a reason to eat more than usual during the period of 8 hours. Don't worry, chill, your body will adapt quickly. And what you are feeling is not actual hunger but an automated response from your body responding to your eating schedule. Real hunger is really something else.
Enjoy a good lunch and a light diner if possible.
I am a good man
Solo practice every morning:
Find a mirror, and stare at your own reflection. Feel the intensity of your gaze. Drop the smile, stop trying to avoid your own gaze, and just relax. When you are ready, speak the following statement: “, I am a good man”.
Say it again. And again. Say it until you truly believe it. No shortcuts.
If you do not truly believe you are good man, you may feel inadequate or discomfort doing this exercise. If that is the case, I would encourage you to reframe ay doubt or shame that shows up and celebrate your brave attempt at the exercise, because it is a hell of a challenge. Don't be hard on yourself, and try again the day after.
Stretching & mobility
Our body reflects our mind and our mind reflects our body. Both are intrinsically intertwined. We need to establish a better connection between both as most of the men are living up in their head. A stiff body mirrors a closed mind, whereas a soft and mobile body will support an open mind. There are few ways to grow a deeper connection between body and mind. One of them is stretching, opening up our body, muscles and basically our cells.
I prepared a simple mobility video here to be done in the morning. It will open up the upper back and chest, the hips, the shoulders and gently warm you up for the day. It is a good idea to practice this just before any meditation or breathwork practice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5w9TpYCMSw
Breathwork
Another way to establish and re-inforce the connection between body and mind is breathwork. Breathing is this untouchable energetic aspect of us that create a bridge between our body and mind. Notice how your mind calm down if you calm down your breathe. And vice versa, notice your breath go crazy when you go angry or frustrated. Body, mind and breathe are intrinsically linked and related to each other.
Breathing is an essential part of our life. It feels obvious to write this but the truth is that most people take their breathing for granted, ending up with very shallow breathing that does not take in enough oxygen for their brain and their body. Most people feel tired simply because they don't breathe deeply enough. By simply re-calibrating their breath depts we can regain more energy for our daily life. The Wim Hof breathing technique that we will work with is quite well known in the world of men's work and men's groups for a decade; It is a simplified version of ancient Yoga Pranayama that help us not only to deepen our breath but also to reconnect with our body.
You can follow along this Wim Hoff breathing video for beginner.
If you are already an intermediate WH practitioner go ahead with your current practice.
Note: breathwork is recommended as part of your morning routine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tybOi4hjZFQ
Evening protocol
Journaling
Every evening for the next 7 days, find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed, and treat this time as a sacred ritual reflective time with yourself.
During this first week, we will look at when and where we avoid life itself, our Truth in the present moment, simply what is.
We will take 5 to 15 minutes to reflect on our day by writing down the answers to the following prompts:
- Today, what I avoided is...
- Today, what I hided is...
- Today, what I hided from is...
- Today, what I was afraid of is...
When did you avoid a conversation, when did you hide the truth by telling a half-truth, when did you avoid authenticity, vulnerability and self-expression, when were you scared?
Or it could be along the line:
What emotions or feelings did you avoid during the day? Or even right now when you are writing down, what are you avoiding or scared to write down?
If you are in a relationship, these prompts are very useful to catch yourself at the times you are avoiding something with your partner.
Note that these prompts are not designed to be self-devaluating; they bring forth more awareness of habitual conditioned patterns and behaviours.
These prompts are a real warrior practice calling forth ruthless honesty with yourself without shaming yourselves. This is what we can call Being in Integrity.
