Henu the Great said:
No problem. I will read your post later, then. I am glad you have newfound love with yoga.
I think you have half of your life, if not more left so I would not be so pessimistic. I would not be optimistic either, but realistically there are many years left for developing yourself, your community through you and so on. So just make the best of it!
The programme as we agreed:
1. 12-hour shift:
minimum AC/AP/VM, once a day.
2. 8-hour shifts:
minimum AC/AP/VM, twice a day. And possibly once FRTR. But if I do FRTR, then AC/AP/VM is not enough. I need additional exercises before and after FRTR - see point 3.
Note: 8 hour shifts are rare.
3. Day off: I modified here. I don't think I should do Hatha yoga and Sat kriya twice in one day.
One program would be AC/AP/VM, and for example alternate nose breathing and full yoga breathing.
And
the other program would be the FRTR. Before that, 5 rounds of alternate nasal breathing, 8 full yoga breaths, the full Hatha yoga pdf, 3 minutes of Sat Kriya. And maybe 666 vibrations (that's 3x6 vibrations), and one session of Satanas vibrations.
After these preparatory exercises, FRTR.
After FRTR, AC/AP/VM and affirmations.
----------------
It doesn't seem like much, and for example, the day before yesterday I did Hatha yoga pdf, Sat Kriya, pranayama even after my 12 hour shift.
But I can see that I will have time for less programs. New bosses have joined the company, and I work 12 hours three or four times a week (but sometimes only twice). In the meantime, I'm looking for a new job. I'm starting a 6-week strength training programme that I'm looking forward to and feel will be a breakthrough in my training. Afterwards, when I'm fit, maybe I'll try the traditional Hungarian martial art, Baranta. I don't want to write too much. The point is that I have to fit a lot of things into a week. For example, the 6-week training program I mentioned involves 4 bodyweight workouts a week and jogging/walking the other 3 days. (These are not long training sessions, but they are commonplace.)
And Hatha yoga and pranayama will also take more time in the future, because I've been doing it superficially. Right now I am learning the basics of the practices from two books (Swami Satyananda Saraswati: Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha; B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health).
---------------------
I don't really know how accurate my meditation/yoga/FRTR program will be. The two weak points are
the day off before the workday, and
any day off. I'm an owl type of person, it's a genetic birth trait that can't and shouldn't be changed. I work 12-hour shifts on relatively many days, getting up around 04.45 in the morning, which is abnormal for me. So I try to sleep in on my days off to make up for the 04.45. This means that, in keeping with my nature, I stay up late at night and then sleep until 11am. So on a day off, it's hard to manage two meditation programmes, as I sleep through the morning... I know that this is not ideal, but that's why I think that one meditation session on day off is optimal instead of two.
And the difficulty with the day off before the working day is that it's short and busy... I get up at 11 am, but I have to go to bed early in the evening because I get up at 04.45 am the next day. Short day, getting ready for work the next day, not easy to fit in a long meditation/yoga/FRTR program. Especially if there is strength training on the side. But I'll try to manage somehow. The best thing would be to get hired for the new job and work the same hours Monday through Friday.
--------------------
Finally, on FRTR. I don't know why I'm doing it so slowly. I'm doing it on the interactive site linked in your signature. I listen to the audio recording for the letter, then say the letter 9 times. Maybe I say the 9 sequences slowly, or I pay too much attention to pronunciation (I'm OCD to some degree, I tend to do things too slowly and precisely).
(I will post some thoughts on pessimism and such in the
"Spiritual Support Thread - Never Give Up!" topic.)