Set Higher Standards by YogiRavi

Wall St.

Originally uploaded by ravisraman.

No bears in sight!

Photo.jpg

Originally uploaded by ravisraman.

World trade center site. They are getting ready to start construction on the new Port Authority building and the Freedom Tower…a new skyscraper. Visited the World Trade Center site. Just standing there was pretty emotional…more than I thought it would be. They are starting to build the foundatin for the new Port Authority center and the new Freedom Tower skyscraper.

Morning yoga

Originally uploaded by ravisraman.

Jivamukti (in union square) is a really awesome studio. Outstanding teachers, and a cafe with lots of fresh organic and raw food!

Ridin in style

Originally uploaded by ravisraman.

The benefits of economies of scale. The good thing about travelling with a small group…is u can do things that on your own just wouldn’t be sensible. Like in this case….getting a stretch limo to our Manhattan hotel from JFK. It was actually cheaper than two cabs! And it was fully stocked

Will be on the move this week. Heading to NYC for a few days and then to Dallas for work. We’re doing some focus groups to make sure that we’ve really nailed the right customer segment target for a new product we are building. Then I head up to Philadelphia to visit some friends from college, and then onward to Harrisburg for a wedding. Will be a busy week!

Kathryn, a very dear friend of mine will be starting an adventure soon. First off to India for a several months, to study yoga at an ashram, and then possibly off to Spain for some language immersion. After some globetrotting, she’ll probably settle down somewhere with great weather, which means Seattle is out of the picture. While I will miss her deeply; I am grateful for the open, honest and fun moments we’ve had in the short time we’ve known each other.

In wishing her the best last night (pics) it really hit home how important friends are in your life. We rarely if ever play-full out with our friendships. Playing full-out means that you go out of your way to make sure that their needs are met. It means that you always give them the benefit of the doubt. It means that you never take action expecting to get something in return. It means that you aren’t afraid to ask the hard questions or push back when you really and truly feel that it is the right thing to do. It is about brutal honesty and uncontrollable laughter.

It’s all these things that make real friendships happen. I’ve been amazed and grateful for the outstanding friends I have in my life, but realize that most of us (me included) are guilty for not playing full-out. We can make whatever excuses we like: too busy, scared, embarrassed, it just slips out minds, we don’t have the nerve….but it doesn’t change the reality that most of us probably never (or very very rarely) feel what true friendship is. We’re too concerned about networking, getting ahead, looking good in from of others or taking care of ourselves to really invest the time and emotion in it.

Friendships are NOT negotiated with set terms in a wood-panelled board room, but we act like they are. If you only feel that you can give when you get something in return; or if friendship is only about pleasing and not about growing, challenging, being brutally honest and laughing ’till your ribs hurt….you are missing out.

I ran into Paul in the locker room today at the gym. He asked how my push up hold progress was coming along. The answer was that for the past month or so, I haven’t been doing these much. At most I’ll just hold it for a few minutes to work the arm and chest muscles out, but will not go to failure.

As soon as I finished talking to Paul, I went down to the gym to try to max out. His question made me really curious. It has been over a month since my last test. I had just trained chest the previous day so I didn’t know what to expect.

• May 29th: 41
• June 6th: 44
• July 9th: 54
• August 16th: 62!!!

Right now I’m focusing on increasing my 1 set max for push ups (full reps). To do this I’ve just been weight training and doing occasional sets of Push Ups (typically 2-3 sets of 25-35). Yoga is also very helpful.I set a goal back in May to hit 75 by the end of September. I’m getting close but progress is slowing down (as expected).

I am running again! I ran for the second time in almost 4 months today after spraining my ankle back in May. I can’t go far, and my ankle is a bit sore, but it definitely feels great to be outdoors again.

Surprisingly, my body feels super light and strong. Having been hardcore about my diet and yoga practice has had a huge impact on my cardio. My lungs have a little ways to go to get back into real running shape, but I am in much better condition than I thought I would be.

I haven’t committed to any races yet though! I’ll see how the ankle holds up after a few more runs before setting any more crazy goals! At any rate…I have about 5 weeks left to the body transformation competition…and right now anything doesn’t align with my goal of building lean muscle is getting cut from my routine. Distance running and building lean muscle don’t go hand in hand.

I’ve started keeping track of all the little times my brain has said “no” to something that deep down I really knew I should say “yes” to.

Most of the time, this tension involves doing something outgoing like approaching a stranger (mostly cute girls!), speaking up in a meeting, writing an e-mail I’ve been procrastinating about, calling someone I’ve put off calling or exercising when I think I’m too tired, too hungry or too busy.

In every single case, without exception, where I have actually made myself say “yes” and take action; I have NEVER regretted taking the action. Never, ever. At least not in the few weeks I’ve been consciously doing this little experiment.

If you are faced with a hard decision between action and inaction, take action no matter what, the odds are in your favor that it is the right thing to do. An whether it is right or not doesn’t matter, at least you’ll feel better for having made the effort.

I’ve gotten some questions (mostly delivered with raised eyebrows and a smirk) essentially asking what the hell I eat as part of my raw-food-diet nonsense.

Here’s a picture of my “snack food” from last Tuesday during the work day. In addition to this stuff, I started off the day with half of a good-sized honeydew mellon. I also had about 20 almonds or so mid-morning. My lunch was a very large plate of spinach, with some broccoli, cucumbers, carrots and seeds sprinkled on top and a side of tofu (about 1 cup of tofu). I also sprinkled a little balsamic vinegar on top (to help digestion). I didn’t use any oil or dressings (I try to get my fats from nuts, seeds, avacados).

You probably notice that there are 6 bananas in the picture. Yes, I ate six bananas during the day. Yesterday, I had 4 peaches and a few carrots and 4 bannanas. Portion control is something that I’ve had to totally reframe since I’ve started this diet. In our American culture, we are use to buying 5 gallon jugs of ice cream, 2lb blocks of cheese, and just a couple bananas. We feel quite at home having 4-5 slices of pizza or a 6-pack of beer, but cringe at the thought of eating more than one apple! How crazy is that!

When I visited my Vegan Bodybuilder friends in Portland last weekend, we went to a Farm Sanctuary. We spent some time with animals that had been mistreated and rescued from cruel owners or factory farms. We took some very large boxes of fresh organic (of course!) veggies to feed them. I was amazed at how they just mowed down carrot after carrot after carrot! These animals were very healthy and very large. The cow in the pic below weighs 2000lbs and its shoulder was taller my head!

These animals (horses, goats, large pigs, cows) were just gobbling up these veggies. I fed this cow about 10 carrots (as did the other dozen people I was there with) and it just kept coming back for more! It finally clicked that we need to reframe our perspective for what it means to eat fresh fruits and veggies.

If you are hungry, there is nothing wrong with eating two or three bananas. This isn’t about overeating, it is about making sure your body is getting enough of the high quality nutrients that it needs. After all, in ancient cultures, when apples were ripe and ready to eat, did people just eat one or two a week? No, they ate a much higher quantity. Seeing these animals made it seem much more logical to me.

For the past week, I’ve increased the quantity of fruits and veggies I eat (by an order of magnitude) and feel much better. I’ve also noticed that I feel better when I eat more fruits (as opposed to veggies) and eat fewer nuts (though I still do eat a handful of almonds every day).

I’ll also add as an addendum to my last post about benefits I am seeing from this diet, that I’ve noticed my taste buds getting much more sensitive. Whatever I eat is much more flavorful than I have imagined. I grew up eating very very spicy food (South Indian stuff) and I am sure I scorched my taste buds by the time I was 10 years old. I use to throw hot sauce on everything (still do on occasion!). This has been an interesting bit of rehab for my tongue!