Days 6 - 14 Yoga Challenge

I have come to the mat every day. I promised myself I would and so I have. Most of the past week, however, I have done little more than a few sun salutations.

Maybe my feeling hormonal and physically drained inspired this lull. Perhaps it was lack of motivation due to being unemployed and bored. Regardless, this week has been less than shining in the yoga category.

Tonight, at 10:30PM, I decided this aimless moping was enough. No more watching reruns and movies. No more overeating nut date cookies (well... maybe just not quite so many).

I lit a candle, dimmed the lights, and went to the mat. As I was still respecting my cycle and it was late at night, my practice did not contain any strenuous or inverted poses. It was beautiful. Once again I was floored by the strength in Mountain pose. Despite my less than herculean efforts in the past week, I am more centered and flexible than I was before. There is a core of peace and power growing in side me. I am looking forward to seeing where it goes.

Chocolate Banana Maca Smoothie

I felt like a pick-me-up today, so I threw cacao, bananas, hemp seeds, coconut butter, a couple dates and maca into my vitamix. My delightful drink is topped with chopped pecans and goji berries.

Bronwyn's Zucchini Mushroom Soup

Right before we filmed our second Vibrant Maine video this evening, we had a lovely raw vegan potluck at Bronwyn's apartment. The star of the meal was undeniably this beautiful and delicious Zucchini Mushroom Soup that Bronwyn made. Isn't it gorgeous? It was even yummier than it looked. :-)

Day 5 Yoga Challenge

Today I spent an hour doing the Sparrowe/Walden Sequence for Premenstrual Syndrome, for hopefully obvious reasons. I was a little skeptical going into it, as the poses all seem too easy. I feared boredom and feeling like I was wasting my time, but I could not have been more wrong. This may have been the most transformational practice I have done yet.

“Heart of the Rainforest” played again and I felt the urge to light a couple candles sprinkled with lavender essential oil. Three sun salutations began my practice and then I launched into the sequence. Most of the poses included some form of supportive bolster while lying relaxed on the mat. Though there were only ten poses, you are meant to remain in each for several minutes.

There was something incredibly moving about respecting PMS in this way. My entire menstruating life I have been told over and over again how annoying women are during this time – how we overreact, sulk, lose our tempers and are quick to cry. This time of our cycle is treated with less respect even than menstruation itself, which I suspect only serves to perpetuate the imbalances that promote all “annoying” PMS symptoms. Christiane Northrup writes in her book, “Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom” that the time just preceding menstruation is a time of reflective introspection. It is a time to respect our “shadow side”, confront difficult questions, and treat our bodies, minds and souls with loving care. How would our cycles be different if we truly respected the different states we enter as our hormone levels change?

For me, the week before my period can have both negative and positive effects on me – but it is always intense. The darkest moments are coupled with the most transcendent and loving revelations. There is nothing neutral about this time. How could I channel this intensity if I consistently respected it in all areas of my life? What if I gave myself the space and time to be still? What if I allowed the darker thoughts and emotions to emerge? I have spent so much time trying to immediately dismiss the negative energies alive in me that I don’t give them the chance to be heard. Perhaps the turmoil associated with this part of the menstrual cycle is there to inspire us to listen to what the darkness has to say, so we can let go of old patterns and go with open eyes into whatever direction is healthiest for us.

Day 4 Yoga Challenge

I seem to have felt particularly independent and rambunctious today – I chose to rebel against the prescribed sequences and do my own thing. My practice today was only 30 minutes, but it was a good 30 minutes. Most of it consisted of variations upon the sun salutation, done slowly, loving every second, every feeling, every place of resistance.

I practiced to a nature-sounding album called “Heart of the Rainforest” by Primal Instinct. I have had this CD since I was a kid. My memories of listening to it are all very positive; I would put it on whenever I felt really motivated and inspired. It was playing during many late night organizational rampages, when I would decide to turn over a new leaf and start by moving all my furniture around. It also accompanied me during numerous journal entries and peaceful baths with candles. I have so many calming and uplifting memories associated with this particular combination of birds chirping, wooden flutes, drums and chanting that hearing it now automatically transports me to peace.

I felt a little resistance to starting my practice today. In the past, most of my extravagant goals have lasted three days. The fourth day is when I historically meet resistance. I am proud to say I went to the mat anyway, and was grateful as soon as I took my first breath in Mountain Pose.

Ginger Almond Vegetable Sushi

My lunch today:

untoasted Nori

carrots, beets, spinach

Ani Phyo's Ginger Almond Pate recipe

nama shoyu - sprinkled with sesame seeds

I have made Ani Phyo's ginger almond pate recipe several times now. It is simply heavenly. Almonds, ginger, garlic, lemon juice and salt.

Usually I would put some sprouts and avocado in the sushi as well, but I am out today. Even so... mmmmmm!

Day 3 Yoga Challenge

Silence again today. Just me and my mat. A beautiful seagull kept flying close to my window – its wings had lovely colored patterns underneath. It seemed to be saying hello… though perhaps it was simply intrigued by the street construction below.

Today I returned to the Woman’s Essential Sequence from Day 1, but this time I did twenty out of the twenty-six poses instead of just eleven. Like yesterday, I warmed up with three sun salutations. The whole practice session took about an hour.

Plough Pose was difficult again today, but this time it was more the physical stress than the imposing presence of femininity. Child’s Pose was once again a time of healing – my hips releasing more of whatever stagnant mess has been hanging out inside, while the folded nature of the pose caused me to stay with myself in the moment.

Let me take this moment to express my sublime love for Downward Facing Dog. I remember a time when it seemed difficult to me, hard on my wrists and my neck. Now I know there is simply nothing better than relaxing into Down Dog after Warrior, Triangle, or back-bend poses. Everything just hangs in floating bliss – and one of these days my ankles will be able to touch the floor.

Tip for Downward Facing Dog: imagine that you are pushing the floor away with your hands. This takes the weight off of your wrists and assists in promoting a healthy pose.

Sea Vegetables

Sea vegetables are all good. Just keep in mind is that several companies heat them too hot while drying them, so read the packages carefully. Actually sundried is a good way to go. Sea veggies are good sources of iron, calcium, iodine, sodium, lignans (cancer-fighting), fucans (inflammation-reducing), potassium, riboflavin, folic acid, magnesium, and pantothenic acid. I have been putting them in anything that could use a little salt. Can’t get enough…

DAY 2 Yoga Challenge

Yesterday I wanted silence. My first yoga session had no aural distractions. Today I yearned for some lovely music to collaborate with my movement. Nawang Khechog’s album “Music As Medicine” crooned from my iPod as I warmed up with three sun salutations and then did seventeen of the twenty-four poses in Sparrowe/Walden’s “Woman’s Energizing Sequence”. The whole practice took about an hour, during the course of which I noticed the following:

1) I am lopsided. My left shoulder is far more tense than my right while my right leg is far more tense than my left. Strangely, the tense right leg is also much stronger than my chill left leg.

2) My hips are tense like WOAH. They also seem to be holding some rage-filled emotional baggage. As a result, Child’s Pose was rather transformative. I remained folded over for longer than I typically would; my hips seemed to be letting go of something.

3) Plough Pose: Back of head on the mat, chest comes up to meet chin, buttocks reach toward the ceiling as straight legs fall toward the floor, forming an awkward-looking triangle. Once I finally got my body to get into this pose, I was struck by how intensely Plough Pose caused me to acknowledge my femininity. My nose next to my upside-down breasts and my eyes staring at my uterus and crotch, it was impossible not to feel confronted with my sex. Though I consider myself at peace with and proud of being female, I was forced to admit that intimacy with my womanhood at that level made me a bit uncomfortable. I plan to examine this further during my 100-day yoga immersion. Clearly there is something I need to face.

I left practice today with both increased calm and a sense of something being not quite right. Surely uncovering buried tensions in body and mind is the reason yoga has such a tremendous spiritual power – so I am excited to be experiencing these mixed emotions so early in my practice.

Namaste! More to come.

Green Goji Smoothie

My breakfast!

Smoothie Ingredients:

banana

peaches

strawberries

cacao

hemp seeds

sea vegetables (dulse, wakame, kelp)

kale

water

Sprinkled with cacao, help seeds and goji berries

Very yummy. Very very yummy.

Yoga Challenge

I love my diet. It works well for me and has greatly, greatly improved the quality of my life. As readers will surely find out over time, I am always trying to learn more, listen to my body and tweak my diet as necessary.

However…

As focused as I am on the quality of the food that I put into my body, I have been equally unfocused on being physically active. I don’t think I can call myself a healthy person if I spend most of every day sitting down inside, complaining of achy muscles and weakness – even if I eat lots of raw greens, sprouts, fermented goodies, and other magnificent foods. At this point, I am a very lopsided health nut.

Thus, my new challenge: 100 days of yoga practice.

Perhaps this is asking too much of my very out of shape self. I don’t care. I sense very strongly that it is time to allot a large part of my attention to conscious movement. My diet is largely habit now. I can channel any energy I once had to spend figuring out how to eat only living plant foods into learning how to have a daily yoga practice.

Where I stand now: constantly achy shoulders and neck. Frequently achy legs. Tightness associated with breathing. Almost always an underlying anxiety – difficult to cure because I don’t know what is causing it. Lack of strength in arms and legs.

Out of respect for my light wallet, these practices are likely to be mostly if not entirely at home, with no one but books, movies, internet, and the memories of past yoga instructors to guide me. I have one wonderful book by Linda Sparrowe and Patricia Walden called The Woman’s Book of Yoga and Health. By the end of these 100 days, I intend to be able to comfortably get through any sequence of the book (with the exception of those specifically for pregnancy and menopause – I’ll wait a few years for those). If I feel the urge to do Qigong or Tai chi sometimes instead of yoga that will be fine.

I know that I will not be able to do a two hour session every day, in fact, probably only rarely. My hope is that most days will be somewhere between 30 minutes and 1.5 hours. Some days will likely only be 15-20 minutes. My goal is simply to show up at the mat every day for 100 days.

DAY 1: The Woman’s Essential Sequence

This sequence officially has twenty-six poses. I did eleven. It took me about 35 minutes.

I noticed several things. Firstly, I am very out of shape and far less flexible than I once was. Secondly, my floor needs to be swept.

Thirdly, it felt so entirely incredible. On one level, it simply felt good to move my body after so long of embracing lethargy. More surprising and interesting, though, was how much gratitude I felt from my body for showing it the respect to pay attention to its needs. I was standing in Mountain Pose and almost started to cry. Even Mountain Pose was transformative: standing balanced and grounded with feet together, spine lengthening upwards, shoulders dropping away from ears as hands face hips with fingers touching.

I really do need this. I will plan to record my progress here with complete honesty. Already I am looking forward to tomorrow’s practice…

Hello and Welcome

I have created this blog in order to have a space to discuss my various efforts at achieving higher levels of complete health. Much of it will likely contain information and speculation about the living plant food diet, as I have been exploring it exclusively for over two years. I am, however, completely aware that true health must include many other elements, such as exercise, passionate intellectual and creative pursuits, loving relationships with self and others, spirituality, regular sleep habits, etc. Though I have dabbled in many of these other important pillars of health, I have admittedly neglected them in comparison to my dietary efforts. One of my major goals for 2010 is to make a conscious effort to respect all aspects of health. I plan to record my progress here. My hope is that doing so will keep me on track, create a space for a dialogue with other health-pursuing people, and perhaps give others some ideas for their health journey.

I am looking forward to seeing where this goes!