Halfway There - Challenge Update

Now that we're halfway through the 30 day challenge, it's a good time to check in. With each other and with ourselves. How's your practice coming along? What are some obstacles you've encountered and what are you doing about them? Feeling any different? Are you doing it alone or with support? Are you enjoying it? If you're not having any fun - you may be too serious. Now lighten up and do something silly. Sometimes a buddy and some partnered balance poses are all you need to associate yoga with giggle fits.

My home practice right now is:
I'm doing the detox this week so its very small. The practices YJ provides are like 30 minutes long, which is a huge drop back from my usual 2-3 hour thing. I think it's good for me though. As someone with a dominant vata dosha I tend to be on overdrive as much as possible. I need to sometimes focus on doing less and doing it slower. This week is definitely accomplishing that. I'm still doing my hour long morning session, but to have such calm afternoons is sweet.

My favorite part may be the self-abhyanga that I've been doing daily as part of my slow-down detox. It truly makes me feel luxurious and clean and pampered. What is abhyanga you ask? It's a self-massage with warm organic sesame oil that is done pre-shower. I coat myself in warm oil literally from head to toe - then I sit and meditate to let it soak in. Then I shower. Try it! Quality instructions here.

Other things I've been doing as part of my practice and detox week: Reading books all day long, going to bed earlier, getting up earlier (like when it's still dark), and abstaining from killing things. This sounds like a no-brainer, but I didn't realize how hard it is to NOT kill spiders and flies. I accidentally killed a mosquito Tuesday night.

On the Popularity of Kitchari

I've always heard good things about kitchari. Always. Good Things. Everyone always sounds so enthusiastic. I was optimistically curious about it for this 7 day detox. Made some yesterday: I did my best - it's fairly simple and I've made much more complicated foods.

I didn't care for it. Neither did Adam. It came out just tasting like cumin rice. Tried adding the cilantro chutney they recommended for flavor - and I didn't have faith to begin with because I hate cilantro so I only used a tiny amount. Anyway, it was something I would have to choke down plain. It was just gross with chutney. Instead I went to IHOP... man I suck at that. The strawberry pancakes were good though. Good thing I wasn't really intending to do the whole detox plan and eat kitchari for three meals a day. Then I'd really be a failure. I don't need detox guilt.

The dog however, was very excited about the kitchari. He loved the smell of it while it was cooking and he did tricks without being asked to for a tiny chihuahua sized taste of it... and he gobbled it up. Loved it. Well... the dog is better at detoxing than I am.  Ha! Maybe I just suck at making kitchari. I'll definitely be trying again in the future.

I did accidentally make mung bean sprouts though.

7-Day Detox with Yoga Journal

Yoga Journal is having a 7-day fall detox program created by Ayurvedic consultant Scott Blossom. Anyone can join and I signed up, but I'm not really going to do the whole program. It's not one of those detox programs where you fast or live off juice for weeks. Instead it's one week of cleansing kitchari (a rice, beans, veggie mix), hot tea, lots of self care, yoga, and meditation.

However, I'm not really a detoxer. I don't do that kind of thing... but I do intend to slow down my days, follow the self care techniques such as abhyanga (daily self massage with oil), yoga classes, and meditations. I'm even going to try kitchari which is a cleansing but nourishing dish. I'm turning off my cell phone for the week and I'm essentially going to treat this week as a retreat at home.

The detox program has officially started today with daily emails going out to guide you through it with guided meditation and yoga sequences with awesome teachers like Sianna Sherman. It's all pretty spelled out for you, so it would be good for those that have never done a detox of any kind before. They even provide a shopping list (for recipe ingredients and the like) which is pretty helpful. However, the list is incomplete, so be careful with that.

Go Here for a basic breakdown of the plan and HERE to sign up. You can join at anytime, but if you want to slow down with me - start today!