Aum Aparajitaya Nama

  "How strong is strong enough?" is the question I keep asking myself (and Google).  The answers I find are varied but the general consensus seems to be that the more fit a person is the more a person will enjoy the climb. Those who are not well conditioned will suffer utter misery and become deadweight for the entire team.  These are both good motivation for me. I am no masochist who wishes to painfully trudge and fall tragically short of the goal... or fall tragically a long long way down from said goal..  But I also refuse to be the deadweight on that line! A team is tethered and can only move as fast as its slowest person.  I need to hold my own and not hinder the rest.  I'll forgive myself if I do end up being the slowest on the rope but I will do so in knowing that I am demonstrating my most valiant effort.

The 3 areas of conditioning most referenced are:
1. Endurance. 8 to 12 hours at a time of climbing at altitude
2. Strength. The pack will weigh 35-45lbs.
3. Mental. To push on forward in the face of pain & fatigue.

People have much to say about the first 2. Whether it be Google or suggestions made in conversation, people have lots of ideas on how to achieve these fitness goals. (For the record, I welcome all helpful points of view and suggestions on this subject!)  While most all people acknowledge the 3rd, few have practical suggestions on how to achieve the mental discipline. I've heard "You just have to want it bad enough" or "just force yourself to keep pushing forward even through exhaustion and pain." Or as Dori would put it "Just keep swimming. Just keep Swimming." 

Each day I get my cardio. Each day I build my strength. But how does one "condition" the mind?  I began meditating with some regularity almost a year ago. Last summer, as I returned to the grid from my Vision Quest, the 1st voicemail to come through was an invite from the Sri Chinmoy Meditation Center in Ravenna.  Through their Center I learned many helpful techniques on how to bring myself center.  A major theme at Sri Chinmoy is Self-Transcendence, to raise oneself to its greatest potential. This theme is put into practice by a focus on athletic pursuits for the sole purpose of reaching one's personal best yet without any ego; to move beyond our own limits which is all the reward one needs.  It was under their influence that I began to give running a chance. Running and meditating became welcomed activities whereas I once considered both quite boring. (Disclaimer: Sri Chinmoy has rules by which followers must live their lives which wasn't for me in the long-term, though helpful short-term, but this lifestyle makes joining not for most)

One of the most helpful techniques they taught were mantras which are one-line songs that are repeated over and over. I find meditation mantras to have a vibratory effect on my body. There is one mantra that has served me very well. "Aum Aparajitaya Nama" which in Sanskrit means "God, I bow to the One who never accepts defeat." (I sang this a lot through my divorce process.) This mantra has held me in my own power. It burns a fire of fury and love to fight for victory over hardship with all possible determination. When I honor the One inside me who refuses to resign to defeat, I feel almost indignant that I ever considered quitting. No matter what, I am hell bent on surviving and coming out stronger by my own determination, whatever life throws me.

When I exercise, I visualize myself at the top of the mountain. I WANT it and I'll be damned if I'm the One who stops me from doing it. I can and will push on. I will not accept defeat. Aum Aparajitaya Nama will help lyft me to that summit.

Please consider making a donation at Sally's Camp Korey Fundraiser Page to support sending kids with life-altering medical conditions to summer camp. Give the gift of empowerment and fun.

Introductions

This is my first adventure into the blogosphere! My primary objective with this blog is to invite you to cheerlead me, your local underdog, to the top of Mt. Rainier this August 2014 to fundraise for Camp Korey, a local non-profit summer camp that provides free services for kids (3,500 annually) that help empower them and allows them to just enjoying being kids. My fundraising goal is $5000 Click here to make a donation but the fundraising is only half the challenge. A summit attempt of Mt. Rainier takes an enormous amount of strength and stamina, the likes I have never known.  This blog will help chronicle my total body transformation, already in progress. Any and all encouragement along the way is dearly appreciated for this climb will be a labor of love.

My 2013 New Years resolution was to take my health back and not only did I achieve that goal but I haven't stopped. 2 years ago I learned that the better part of a decade ago, a run-in with some ticks resulted in exposure to Lyme Disease. I witnessed the slow decline of my health and felt 60+ when I was hardly 30 with a wide array of physical and mental symptoms that began to impair my life. With the help of an amazing and compassionate doctor I am now virtually symptom free and ready to live a life not limited. I have clocked countless hours at the gym and working with a trainer to re-build my strength and lose weight. To date I have lost 45 lbs, 12% of my body fat, and 8 dress sizes. I run at least a mile almost every day and this is the 1st time in my life since I was in P.E. class that I can do 12 pushups in a single set. This may not seem like a huge feat to some, but when I think back to the painful numbing neuropathy I used to experience in my arms, it's a heroic improvement. When I think about the strength I will need to build to summit Mt. Rainier, my inner-warrior woman knows that I can power-on.

I am now training harder for this summit than I ever have for anything in my life. My endurance work-outs are near daily and often scenic, whether climbing the Galer stairs from Westlake to Queen Anne, trail running urban trails, or hiking lower elevation local mountains. My little dog, PeeWee, accompanies me on most of these adventures. Other days I get my sweat on at the gym Lyfting weights to build the strong back, shoulders, and core necessary to carry a 40+lb pack up a mountain. Below:  4/13/14 Rattlesnake Ledge with 10lb pack. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy.

 Please consider dropping a word of encouragement or possibly consider making a donation to Camp Korey

Mission Statement: Camp Korey
Camp Korey’s mission is to honor the courage, strength, and determination of children living with serious and life-altering medical conditions and their families; and to provide them with a safe, friendly, medically sound environment in which to simply have fun and be kids.

Video of a Day in the Life of a Camp Korey Camper