Elimination diet!

Recently a dear friend of mine, Jesse, came to visit Oahu for his birthday.  Among the many things that I love about him (his wit, adventurous & fun nature, taste in music, good food, beer & coffee, his love of all things orange, keen sense of style, the fact that he regularly sends me postcards) is that every year Jesse takes a 30-day cleanse.  He forgoes alcohol and caffeine (among other things) and dedicates the time to the pursuit of all things healthy.  For the past two years, Jesse's 30-day cleanse has culminated with Rachel & my President's Day yoga retreat at Aldermarsh.  This year, as sadly there is no Aldermarsh retreat, Jesse wanted to try something different.  So he scoped out Banyan Botanicals Ayurvedic Cleanse Kit and asked me to take a look at the package.  Ayurveda is a science that takes the individual person with their personal Doshas, in their current state quite seriously.  So while sure, the Ayurvedic Cleanse Kit is okay.... (honestly, fundamentally I have a problem with the one fits all idea Kit given the premise of Ayurveda), Jesse and I spoke and I put together a combination of herbs for him to order and mix; specific to Jesse's doshas.  I gave him a basic kitcheri recipe to follow as part of a 10-day Elimination diet.  He and I will be in touch over the course of his experimentation with Neti pots, herbs and kitcheri (oh my!!!).  

 I am a big fan of reduction (Elimination) diets and a big fan of food.  Most people (through the Ayurvedic lense) should not go on crazy fasts with no food.   In fact, the only Dosha equipped to handle no food is a purely Kapha person.  For the rest, the majority of us, fasting does more harm than good.  I appreciate the Elimination Diet because it slowly eases you in and out of the process of letting go of extras like caffeine, it minimizing cravings and adverse reactions, like headaches, and allows you to eat the entire way.  

 Personally, I try to do the Elimination Diet at the juncture of every season, however, it simply depends on what is going on in my life and if it will do more harm than help.  So, although the Winter season change happened in December, due to finals, holiday travel, etc., I'll be doing my winter Elimination Diet starting tomorrow.  Wish me luck!  If you'd like to join us on an Elimination Diet and need some advice or would like Ayurvedic consultation or follow up, don't hesitate to get in touch.  We can talk in person or via Skype!  Until next week, be happy, be healthy, be you!

Sadhana (practice) - Just do it!!!

There is a lot of controversy in the yoga world about practice.  How much should you practice? Daily?  If so, for how long?  How much is too much?  These are all good questions that I will get to after I take a trip down memory lane.

My first yoga class was in a community center in Illinois during my senior year in High School.  My memory of the experience is rather foggy but I think it was a Hatha class.  During college I took more classes in a variety of styles at different studios around Madison.  It was during this time that I began a home practice.  I did not have a mentor or a teacher or anyone telling me this was a good thing to do, it just made sense.  It wasn't so much that I was a broke college student, having the support of my parents and year round job, it was more that my schedule didn't always line up with classes. 

          
You may not know it, but I am something of an introvert.  My husband likes to call me the most extroverted introvert that he knows (he definitely being TRULY an introvert!!!).  But it is true!  I have always been shy and sensitive.  I have never felt comfortable with big groups of people I don't know.  So, when I had the choice to just practice at home by myself or enter a studio, often I chose to be at home.  Some people really struggle with creating and maintaining a home practice.  I cannot say I relate to this.  It usually takes less than a week away from my home practice when I start to see my life deteriorate in quality all around me.  I have a shorter fuse.  I am not as productive.  I commit prajnaparadha (crimes against wisdom) you know, bad choices, choices that will not make me feel happy and healthy in the short or long term.  This is when you willfully ignore your own inner wisdom or that little voice in your head.  
 
So how often should you practice?  My advice is that you practice every day!  While listening to an interview with Dr. Baxter Bell on Yoga for Healthy Ageing, I heard an interesting quote from Judith Lasater on practice.  When asked how often you should practice, she responded, "Only on the days that you want to feel good."  I agree!  This does not mean you need to practice 2 hours every day. Or if you miss a few days you should beat yourself up over it.  But, making a commitment to practice and sticking with it will have what is called the 'glacier effect'.  The weight of the practice, like a glacier, reaches a critical mass and it slips.  The practice and way of life takes hold of you and will just move you along (Sutra IV.26).  You'll feel so good from your practice that you will keep doing it, you will want to do your practice because you will see the benefits.

How much should you practice?  For me, it was helpful to set a minimum daily requirement (MDR).  It is not much either!  My MDR is ten minutes of asana, five minutes of pranayama and ten minutes of meditation.  That's 25 minutes.  Also, if I am feeling very tired those ten minutes of asana might just be restorative yoga with a bolster, blanket and eye pillow, savasana anyone???  This leads me to my next point; daily practice should make you feel better, not worse.  So if you are tired, let your asana practice be mellow, if you have some steam to work off or need to do some strengthening work, pump up the volume (dance, dance) on your practice and get moving!  Your MDR may be more or less or include different things.  If you don't have a pranayama or meditation practice, no worries (although I would highly recommend them!).  To sum it up, daily sadhana is worth it!  Just do it!

See you next year at LAX!

Ahhhhh, nothing like holiday traveling to bring out the best behavior that humanity has to offer.  Ironically, in the midst of collective societal New Years resolutions I found myself at LAX trying to navigate my way from the American Airlines terminal to the United terminal. 

I have been at airports all over the world, I have traveled places where I cannot speak the language and I must say, navigating LAX was harder than most of the places I have been.  Within 2 minutes at LAX I felt bewildered.  There were no maps to explain the layout of the airport and few airline personnel to be found.  Finally, I found someone to point me in the right direction, a fifteen-minute walk to another terminal where I would have to go through security again.  

While standing in the security line, which seemed pointless as I had gone through security to get on my first flight, I stood behind a man screaming at his wife on a cell phone.  His energy was so negative that I found myself cringing and energetically closing off while physically moving away.  Everyone in the vicinity grew quite.  As I observed the scene unfolding, the man went from screaming at his wife to yelling at the security personnel, and something shifted in my mind.  I noticed my frustration, tiredness, and discomfort with the situation.  I stopped (nirodhah) my inner dialogue, judgment and feelings.  I took a moment in the security line to breath in light and breath out darkness, and I kept breathing until clarity and well being filled my mind. 

In a matter of a minute, one man's rage turned my personal agitation and suffering (duhkha) into presence and compassion.  As it turned out, the man had lost his wife somewhere in the airport and had all her carry on luggage.  Two carry on bags are the limit, so security wouldn't let him through to his flight and to meet his wife who had somehow found her way to the gate. Granted his reaction wasn't fantastic but hey, how would you feel?

One of my teacher's Jo Leffingwell says to use everything as a reminder to come back to the practice.  So if you are sitting in meditation and you hear a practitioner obnoxiously clearing their throat you should thank them in your mind for reminding you to be present.  The things that bother you are invitations to get a little closer to all the uncomfortable parts of yourself that you try so hard to push away.  This allows you to integrate the shadow side of yourself with the one that you put out on display for the world to see. 

Coincidentally, a similar situation unfolded a few days earlier while I was practicing asana in the garage (aka my yoga studio) in my parents' home in Florida.  My adorable 2-year-old niece Shea came in to play in my yoga studio ;)  Her mother Megan looked at me and playfully chimed, "I hope you weren't trying to meditate!" Sincerely, it was no problem and Shea's presence was completely welcome.  She played and I practiced.  Sure, it's a lot more enjoyable to have a little girl’s chatter or the sound of crashing waves to remind you to be present with your self but we cannot always control our environments.  Nor should we!  We can plan for the best, but life always throws you curve balls.  Sometimes those uninvited guests are exactly what you need to face yourself honestly and to grow.

Pema Chödrön explains this concept perfectly.  She writes, " I saw a cartoon that describes this.  A head of iceberg lettuce is sitting in a garden saying, 'Oh no, how did I get in this vegetable garden again?  I wanted to be a wildflower!'  The caption reads, Oscar is born again as a head of iceberg lettuce in order to overcome his fear of being eaten."  Ha ha ha. 

As I am continually working on making friends with my fears and my humanness I have come to the following conclusion...

Traveling around the holidays will always provide a plethora of experiences that will allow me to see all of my dirt and situations that force me to pull out all of my tools in the hopes that I will handle the stress a bit more gracefully. 

All that being said, I am very much looking forward to next year's holiday travel time!  See you at LAX!