Results of interval fasting, low carb diet and meditation

 I find that I am less interested in infotainment, screentime, laying about. 

Meditation deepens my energy sensations and slowly calms my mind generally, though not in one session but over time.

In tai chi calves must be stretched thoroughly along with achilles tendons to go into lower positions with stability. I took lots of time pausing during my practice today to really stretch those.

In yoga the thighs and all the tendons below the knees need stretching by splits and middle splits. Also the feet get cramps that must be worked out. I hope that the calf stretching of tai chi will make splits easier, more effective. Front and back body stretches and neck and throat open the chakras front and back. Side stretches make for an interesting energy circuit in a circle through the core of the body but along the side just stretched. Twists get energy going in a spiral. Handstands held longer are good for strong arms and allow getting feet furthrr down towards heads, flexibilizing spine. Pushing up legs  from prone belly position strengthens belly like sit-ups( no I can't get the legs thrown up to head). Standing balancing position(one leg on thigh, then knee folded tight under so toe points up) can be used to fall onto the knee in question while still balancing on foot with hands pointed upwards. Standing back bend is a good balancing exercise if you can manage it just by holding calves and not falling onto floor. When trying to get foot to back of head while in splits, don' t force or pull foot to head but slowly stretch legs to maximum, then bend back towards foot as you slowly bring foot to meet back of head. 

In general slower stretches with more breathing makes one less irritable, excited afterwards during the day at work as a forced splits, etc is anaerobic and painful whereas a slow stretch is calming, effective.

I suppose in the sports area I will plateau, it will get easier to attain maximal positions in shorter time and after putting in lots of work that I will get bored again and find more interest in infotainment books, etc. Truth is I have made no serious progress in flexibility at the pure physical level since about 20 years so I am really very pleased. I know that spiritual and physical progress go hand in hand. Stagnation in one area leads to same in the other. I have I guess annually attempted meditation for several days but had great problems due to excessive energy flow or psychologically. This is a hard subject like nutrition, sexual habits.When it doesn't work you can't really do anything about it. Generally progress comes by trying something entirely different or waiting for some emotional, energetic or other blockages to disappear. Perhaps nutrition changes and interval fasting have optimized my body's energy levels. Maybe I wasted energy digesting the wrong things, not getting proper nutrients and doing this at bad times of day and my blood sugar was too high, creating a constant distraction. Now my mind is well fed, quieted through my new program so I can focus on meditation and this quiets me again towards improving my stretches and leaving infotainment distraction loop. All in all a positive feedback loop.

I find that relationships are energetic and I can't expect them to deepen, improve if I do not work on deepening my own energy by meditation, stretching, etc. Basically I have deepened my energy without improving my stretches or doing meditation over these years by increased interpersonal contact( Pranayama is initial catalyst for kundalini growth actually). As I have 'felt' others' energies this has increased myown and one gets to a dead end and has to keep switching around to feeling other peoples' energies, growing one's circle as it were, then doing yoga, tai chi, aerobics, work and sleeping to process this energy, get it into all chakras and then going back again to a deeper energy exchange with others and then going back and processing this energy internally. Before I could feel large amounts of energy casually such exchange was only physically possible, in the traditional manner in the marriage bed, hugging. 

At any rate emotional, spiritual, nutritional, physical( sports), sexual development are intertwined and all go hand in hand. None can be neglected. If I had not spent loads of time looking at articles, youtube videos recently I should have missed out on the various techniques I have recently learned which have accelerated my general progress. So intellect, vacation, change of routine are all necessary to find different routes to get aghead when one is stuck in a rut. One seeks happiness but does not know where to find it and how to go about it. Suddenly, perhaps it lies in our stars( a transit or retrograde) or a guardian angel or similar and we get into another groove and out of being burnt out. I had a desk job fifteen years and got bored. At my labouring job I have lost income but improved emotionally, physically, spiritually and mentally so even bad luck can turn out well. Don't get sour when plans go wrong. Your plans might not be what is intended for you. Silver lining in every cloud and all that jazz.