(DAY 8) Swimming and thoughts

Swimming Routine

I book my swimming sessions using Fitso. While I started learning swimming in March 2022 - at the age of 33. I have started enjoying it a lot, because:

• It is a new skill that I have picked up after college
• I have struggled to improve but persisted for a year now

50 minute swim slot

I choose before entering the pool either of - 1km, 1.5km or 2km swim for the day. I have found that the act of choosing before helps me to push myself to reach the goal. A 50 minute swim is reasonably long and you can easily do 500+ active calories in the session.

Flow state while swimming

Since the last 6 months, I have been able to attain a flow state while swimming relatively swimming. Some of the benefits which compound over an year:

• You cannot talk or listen to under water
• You cannot check your phone
• You start observing self talk
• You build a routine of talking to yourself

What I currently think about while swimming

I have recently started swimming in the morning at 6 am:

• I remind myself about who I am, where I am. It helps me orient myself in the morning. It goes something like: I am Gaurav Parashar, son of Abhay & Jyoti Parashar, currently in Gurgaon ..
• I remind myself about the day, date & month. This forces me to zoom out time to a monthly scale.
• During one of the guide meditations via YT, I learnt how visualizing your loved ones increases the satisfaction of the day. I think about family, friends, people I have met.
• I keep going back to thinking about work, and every time that happens, I gently guide it out of my thoughts.

Swim, 2 Mar 2023

A unique experience was meditating at Langkawi Sky Bridge - I could feel that the curved cable-stayed bridge vibrates/oscillates ever so slightly.