Category: Cleanse

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What kind of cleanse is right for you?

Many people are used to experimenting with ‘cleansing,’ in this day and age. We’re exposed to pesticides, heavy metals and hormones in our daily lives, as well as realizing we put not-so-optimal things in our bodies on a regular basis, and, uderstandably, we want to clean this stuff out every so often. In this workshop, I will discuss cleansing from an Ayurvedic perspective – the main idea being one cleanse is not for all! We will talk about the best kind of ‘cleansing’ for each dosha, after discussing the doshas and elements in detail so you can find your own!

A 2-week seasonal Fall cleanse will follow for those who are interested.

Where: Yoga Vermont

Date: September 2011 TBD

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At Home Panchakarma

*I’ll start with a side note – one of my favorite things about going to work at 8:30 a.m. is that I get in the car at the perfect time to catch Garrison Keillor reading poetry on the Writer’s Almanac.  It reminds me that stories are still important to human beings, they nourish me anyway.  And reminds me that I want to be a writer of stories.*

It’s sort of freaky that this picture precedes my writing about Panchakarma, but hey, I love wacky.

What is panchakarma?

‘Pancha’ means 5 and ‘karma’ means action, so literally panchakarma is the 5 actions.  It is a technique utilized in Ayurveda for healing that rids the body of excess dosha, as well as some excess ama.  The five actions are virechana, vamana, basti, nasya and rakta moksha (purgation, vomiting, enema, releasing substance through the nostrils and blood letting.)  As you can see all of these actions are pretty uncomfortable, and all involve a release out of the body, shodhana therapy.  Not all of the actions are necessary for each patient, the treatments depend on which dosha is involved.

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Fall Cleanse – Kitchari

You know it’s bad when there is not even pasta and sauce left in the cupboard.  And since I have about .13 cents left in my bank account, a trip to City Market is not in the stars.

One of my assignments from Kripalu is to do a three day cleanse. It’s just suggested, though I think most of us will jump on the opportunity. With the help of my spice basket (a blessing from Jamie’s mom) and the most inexpensive ingredients on the planet (rice and mung beans), I can successfully pull Kitchari out of my ass.

This is not a local recipe, sadly, though I did throw in a few carrots from my garden.

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Blessed Herbs, Day 4

Hi, again. I’m doing a lot of work for tripwolf today. My mind feels ok, I can still focus, but I think I am forgetting things more easily. I always have a bit of struggle keeping things in my brain, but they seem to be fleeing faster today….

Sleeping in a lot this week – I suppose I like the excuse, but I also like to wake up, and be tempted to get even more work done by making myself a cup of coffee (it was tea for years, but Costa Rica got me in her grips!) for motivation.

What’s wrong with food for motivation? 🙂 I use my body a lot, for pleasure, and I guess you could call teaching ‘work.’ Food is fuel, of course, and food is art and expression that I get to ingest! Food is coming back into my life very soon 😉

This said, I think I am going to break my fast tomorrow. If I can get through today safely. I am teaching tonight, and twice tomorrow. My circulation is not so good, I’m chilly, and feeling pretty dizzy today. Being ‘aware’ of this situation require me to listen to my body and make changes. Whatever is going on int he toilet is not impressing me so much, so it’s time to end, even though it’s a bit early.

My ‘make it to the top’ stubbornness is pushing me to at least get through today. I am going to take shakes until my juice is gone, and then be done. No reason to potentially hurt myself in this experiment. That is NOT the idea, and I think I am just over it haha.

Well, 4 entire days without wheat, sugar, dairy, caffeine etc etc etc is a nice restart anyway! 🙂 Tomato in the garden – YOU ARE MINE.

Thanks for listening. Have you ever tried anything like this? What do you think?