Judo, “The Gentle Way”

Before I post how I did today at the Dragon’s Challenge Judo tournament in Delray Beach, I’d like to explain a bit about Judo, a martial art called the “gentle way.” It is a beautiful way to train your body in balance, timing, and power. Some principles of Judo are:

• Seiryoku zenryo: strive for maximum effect with minimum effort
• Jitta kyoe: strive for mutual welfare and benefit
• Jika no kansei: strive for perfection as a whole person

These principles are a testament to why I love practicing Judo – not only to kick butt, but for the philosophy of self-improvement.

To start off my day, I went up to the tournament with Phillipe and the rest of the Baragua Judo Kai, one of the best Judo clubs in Miami. Not only do they have solid Judo and many high-ranking belts, they love helping you improve. I will be sad to leave from such a welcoming yet competitive atmosphere that has been so stimulating to my growth in Judo.

[Warning: Boring Judo Competition Excerpt below if you don't know Judo]

Anyways, today I weighed in at 60 kg and actually didn’t eat anything except a small pear and a pack of 6 Captain’s Wafers until after the tournament. I had seven fights – two against a 55 kg judoka and four against three different 66 kg judokas. My first three fights ended without too much effort for a win so I was able to conserve my energy. My next fight I was ahead by a wazari and yuko but after the tournament was put on hold for a few minutes, my opponent was able to capitalize on the distraction with a morote-gari for ippon. He played smart and since he was down, the morote-gari was one of the best choices he could’ve made. I fought against another guy for second place and I beat him. Then I fought the guy who beat me again for first place. I was ahead like last time and then got thrown with the same move. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

Conclusion: 60 kg Gold medal, 66 kg Silver medal. My personal success of the night is when I threw ippon seoinage on one of the guys since it was a favorite throw that I was never able to really make effective until recently.

I love Judo.

My Learning Process: Waves

Learning is very important to me and I enjoy doing it. Though I tend to learn better by doing, learning from books are a large part of my life especially during my college years. Now I have a confession. For the majority of college students including myself, book learning has often boiled down to waiting a few days before the test to study the information and forgetting it as we leave the testing site. I used to beat myself over forgetting information that I only used a few times but I now believe it’s a process that makes learning more efficient. We were meant to learn, forget, and relearn again as the next time is always easier. Besides, if we really need the information, our exposure to it will result in being able to remember it longer.

Since I have come to terms with that, a problem I’ve had is when I try to fit the large variety of my diverse interests (from Judo to cooking to photography) all into my schedule at the same time. This method mirrors time periods in high school where we had a subject an hour. While this structured type of learning gets more done, I find that I personally learn better in waves as once I’m on a roll learning about a subject, I don’t like to stop. Each wave puts me in a zone where I just soak up everything I read or watch about that subject for about a week or so. This depends on how many other interests I’m looking into at that time. I limit what I study to only a few per week to prevent myself from being bored and to keep the rate at which I absorb, understand, and process information high. Like everyone else, my efficiency drops as my motivation cools. In a few weeks, I will usually be as excited to learn about that particular subject as ever. For example, a couple weeks past, I had a home improvement obsession which I satisfied by taking notes on marathon viewings of HGTV every night. After a week, I didn’t have the same curious drive to learn about home improvement. Now I’m on my real estate phase with an occasional viewing of HGTV sprinkled in.

Though the possibilities are endless with so much to learn, my point is that instead of trying to change how I learn, I believe that it’s better to take advantage of how I learn best. In my case, I’m good at digesting a lot of information on the same subject for about a week until I burn out. Then I come back to the topic when I’m feel excited about that topic again, which usually takes a few weeks at most. This ongoing process is what works for me. What works for you?

Weber’s Partial List of Interesting Subjects

• traveling
• home improvement (landscaping, interior design, etc.)
• personal finance
• stock market
• real estate
• cooking & nutrition
• productivity
• judo
• relationships
• massage

Everyman Sleep Schedule: Day 2 & Break…again

Today was as terrible as yesterday was great in terms of how I felt sticking to my schedule. I felt constantly tired and the naps helped some but I felt more tired after taking them. The ease with following the sleep schedule yesterday was probably since my sleep deprivation hadn’t caught up to me. Now that it has. I realize that adapting to this sleep schedule might take a week. I have no doubt I can do it but several things have come to my attention.

First, I have the Dragon’s Challenge Judo tournament in Delray Beach on Saturday, 8/16 and I won’t be able to take naps when I have to drive up in the morning. In addition, I don’t want to be sleep-deprived on the day of competition since I want to perform my best.

This is embarrassing especially after the last post and though it seems like the tournament is an excuse, judo is important to me. I will redeem myself by bringing back polyphasic sleep in 2 weeks when school starts and I have a set schedule. To prepare for polyphasic sleep during school, I’ll have to scout for areas near my classes to take naps in. I already have ear plugs. Anyways for now, I will be doing free-running sleep and letting my body decide when I’m tired.

Everyman Sleep Schedule: Day 1

Before I begin my update on my sleep schedule, I wanted to say that polyphasic sleep is something that, barring health issues, anyone can do if they really want it. All you need is the desire and a cheap blackberry from Ebay if you’re forgetful and undisciplined like me. Anyways, let’s get started.

Though I felt extremely tired after only 3 hours of core sleep, it wasn’t so bad after 10-15 minutes. I was able to stay disciplined and kept to my nap times except for the last one at 9:20 pm since I was on the phone with a friend I hadn’t talked to in awhile. Per my rules, I skipped it. Having a blackberry to remind me to take my naps definitely helps keep me on schedule. I’m also surprised that I’m not tired tonight especially after a grueling Judo practice and a change in my sleeping patterns.

One observation during my sleep schedule is that when I take my 20 minute naps, I end up feeling more tired if I decide to go back to sleep for even an extra 2 minutes. Getting up right away is the best option. A possible change I might eventually make in my Everyman sleep schedule is shortening my nap to a period of less than 20 minutes. This might make me less tired since I remember whenever I would take a short 5 minute to 15 minute nap and be woken up by someone, I felt refreshed and alert. For now, I will keep it to 20 minutes. I will have to see how my body feels in the next few days but my first day was great.

Onward to Everyman (Polyphasic) Sleep

Looking back at my biphasic sleep schedule, it really didn’t meet my goal of having more time to pursue my interests. As a result, now that my time isn’t dictated by the hours I work at the gas station, I will pursue the Everyman sleep schedule starting at 2 am today.

• Previously: 6 hours of core sleep with a 20 minute nap in the middle of the day and one more 20 minute nap if I had Judo. TOTAL: 6.33-6.67 HOURS OF SLEEP

• Now with the Everyman sleep schedule: 3 hours of core sleep with four 20 minute naps spaced about every 4 hours. TOTAL: 4.33 HOURS OF SLEEP

To make this transition successful:

• Since I have a Blackberry (albeit the ancient Blackberry 7290 I bought cheap on eBay), I will set reminders and alarms to take a nap every 4 hours.

• Blogger Puredoxyk made a post more than a year ago about her success with the Everyman sleep schedule. Just to summarize a couple tips she has: 1) being sick means sleeping as much as your body wants to though you should still try to keep to your sleep schedule and 2) missing a nap means just skipping it and waiting until your next nap to avoid messing up your schedule. Her blog is here.

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Tentative outline of my Everyman Sleep Schedule:

2-5 am core sleep

9:00-9:20 am nap

1:10-1:30 pm nap

5:20-5:40 pm nap

9:30-9:50 pm nap

and it starts all over again

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Freedom at last!

After working a grueling 23 hour shift that ended at 1:30 pm today, I never have to work at the gas station again. It has been officially sold to new owners. Though I am happy that I will have more time at my disposal, I know that it is never going to be enough and that I need to learn to live more in the present.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been listening to The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle on my mp3 whenever there was time. About a week ago, I finished it and I started on it again to see what more I could get out of it. Though I first believed that it was like every other spiritual enlightenment bull that was out there, I realized that it was more than that when I gave it a chance. The ideas of being in the “now” are explained in a beautiful way that progresses with your understanding of his ideas.

His words have made me realize that I have difficulty finding the balance between living in the now and achieving my goals. Previously, I used my goals as indicators of future happiness and there is no such thing. Not only should goals not be seen as indicators of anything, but there is no such thing as future happiness. Happiness only occurs in the present and life is about making the most out of life in the present. It isn’t about getting away from everything and going on spontaneous road trips (though that would may help). It’s about realizing and being thankful for the potential that life holds for us.

In massage school, we always talked about “being present” for the client – a very important aspect of giving a massage and now I realize, also for my life, in general. While I believe that I have not gotten everything I could from Eckhard Tolle’s message in The Power of Now, I do know that his words have helped change how I view life. I will continue to create my “to do lists” and strive for my goals but I will also be more mindful of the moment.

Being Batman, the Dark Knight

Working at the gas station has enlightened me to a different version of Miami, the world where petty theft, armed robberies, and shootings are not only things seen on TV. Though my experience mostly consists of petty theft and the occasional threat from someone with a knife, I had a thought that with the cops so busy and the economy so bad, it would probably keep getting worse and there needs to be a solution.

My solution: Batman.

Sure. He’s not real but he could be. Though he is a superhero, his superpowers are very human as they include his martial arts ability, his intelligence, his determination, and his sense of justice. Any very rich man with money, training, an alter ego, and a secluded mansion with a batcave has the potential to become Batman. A blog post from the Martial Development blog about becoming Batman (that includes an article by the Scientific American of a Q&A session with movement researcher E. Paul Zehr as well as a slide show by Forbes magazine showcasing the amount of money that would be needed to become Batman) agrees with me. Though it is not likely, research shows that becoming Batman is humanly possible!

At this point, every man is probably thinking, “That could’ve been me if I’d known that it was possible ten years ago.” However, this post isn’t about becoming Batman – it’s about being Batman now. What do I mean? To be honest, I know I don’t have the time, money, or physically intimidating bulk to become Batman, but I can take what Batman represents to how I live my life.

For example, we all know that Batman is much more than a crime fighter. He is a protector of the weak. He is a hope to those who have none. He is a man you know you could depend on to do what is right. At the same time, he is a just a guy with skills who is not afraid to stand up for justice and morality. Sure, superheroes are created from our imagination but the values they stand for are not. Consequently, I’d like to challenge everyone including myself to be Batman and stand up for what is right and speak up against what is wrong.

DISCOVERY OF A SOLAR LIFETIME

Solar energy has been around for a while as an alternative energy source but it has never been viable since the process of storing the energy has been too expensive and inefficient. However, Daniel Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy at MIT, along with Matthew Kanan, a postdoctoral fellow in Nocera’s lab, have discovered an easy way that will store the sun’s energy through a water splitting reaction that occurs during photosynthesis. The best part is that their process works at room temperature and in neutral pH water. Potentially, within a decade, homeowners could have solar-powered houses and cars. For the explanation of how it all works, go here.