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You know, like that Beatles song on the White album? Somehow song titles feel awkward in blog titles. Anyway…
How did that happen? I’ve been back from Bali for three weeks! I was in my busy busy life and then all the sudden I was in this magical, lush world drinking fruit juice and extended side angling. Then I spent hours on planes where I watched really silly movies on the tiny screen. After many hours in airports and official people looking at my passport, I was back in Seattle. First, I slept a lot, and usually at all the wrong times (afternoon naps- not so good). Then I went to work and realized I was so far behind I was actually thankful for the exhaustion. Ugh. It took about a week and a half until I started to feel normal again. Really.
This labor day weekend I decided to do a 3 day fast. During my trip to Bali, I had a consultation with an Ayurvedic doctor and she recommended I do a 3 day fast, amongst other things, to restore balance in my body, mind and spirit. I tried to do the fast while in Bali but ended up feeling nauseous and dizzy and didn’t want to spend my last days in paradise in such a state. Home can be a good place to feel like crapola. Doing the fast during work time didn’t seem like a good option since I like to have a clear head for my job, since I never know what might happen! (really, if you only knew, wow). So, the fast at home during a long weekend seemed like the way to go. And I DID IT. Three days. Wow.
Here is what the fast involved:
- Not eating for 3 days
- Drinking a mixture of lemon juice, water, ginger, honey and cayenne pepper
- Drinking water, peppermint tea and hibiscus tea
- If hungry, eating vegetable soup on the 2nd day
- Taking various herbs given by the doctor
- Getting lots of rest
So the reason for doing the fast was to detoxify my body. For a while, I’ve had some issues with retaining water with swollen and creaking joints. I also reported issues with feeling sluggish and tired in the mornings. The doctor said the symptoms are due to a Kapha imbalance and a build-up of ama, or toxins in the body. By spending several days fasting, my body wouldn’t have to work at digesting my daily meals but could instead begin to process all the leftover goo in there (probably all made of those gluten free cookies and whatever they put in the sugar free syrup at Starbucks, where we go for breaks at work). I think it worked out pretty well too.
Since lists are awesome, here’s a list of things I discovered during my 3 day adventure:
- If you ever wondered what could make you feel worse the next day then drinking 3 double vodka tonics in less than an hour, then you should try this detox diet! I felt horribly, horribly awful on the first day. I had a splitting headache from lack of caffeine and then remembered how everyone recommends eliminating caffeine and sugar a few weeks before the full-on fast. Oops. Oh well. Like mom always say, I never do things the easy way!
- After 2 days, I didn’t really feel hungry but I missed eating. I like eating. No, I love eating.
- It is just about impossible to socialize while fasting. Most plans that came up were about breakfast and barbeques. I declined on all of those things, mainly because I was lying on the couch sweating.
- Resting a lot is pretty wonderful. I slept for nearly 12 hours each night of the fast. Divine.
- My husband was very patient and caring the whole time. During all of my complaints, he never once said anything snide about how I was doing it to myself, I could just go eat something, etc. etc.
- Fasting helps you appreciate every kind of food. All the sudden, smoothies are a treat! Carrots are a treat! Soy yogurt is a treat! Yayyyy!
So now that it is all done? Well, my body feels really good. My fingers aren’t swollen and I can easily get my ring on and off, for the first time in months. During today’s asana practice, I felt very light and limber and didn’t feel any popping in my joints, again- for the first time in months. Mentally, I feel quite alert and energetic. Also, there’s a lot of motivation and desire to practice and teach lots and lots of yoga and….meditate…chant…paint…knit…cook,,,.all those lovely things there are to do.
Left knee popping whenever extended and bearing weight (like walking up stairs).
Left side of the body is much weaker than right; the psoas doesn’t seem to do much work over there.
Limited range of motion in both shoulder joints; cannot bear weight on arms without first laterally rotating.
Very short humerus bones, especially in relation to torso.
Tight shoulder muscles (and then some).
Elbow joint does not go to full 180 degrees but is a bit short of that.
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So I’m not perfect and actually far from it. I’m thankful for this knowledge so that I can understand my body. Then I can take the best care of myself possible.
My arms are like your arms, Mr. T-Rex.
Well I’m now training with my teachers again and how quickly the tone of my time here has shifted. Having something to fill up my time creates a whole new feel. And yet saying that yoga “fills my time” doesn’t seem to adequately explain how this practice feeds me, informs me and peaks my curiousity like no other. Still, while in a tropical locale for several weeks, it is helpful to have hours of the day in which I need to be somewhere doing something. The leisure time by the pool becomes more relaxing, the solo dinners offer an opporunity to review anatomy information.
There are 9 other students here, but most of them have been in Bali for 7 weeks now as they are taking the complete teacher training course. I started it in Seattle some time ago and opted to come to Bali for a few weeks to complete the hours (Hey, why not?). The other students are very nice, and one of them I know from Seattle classes. The group, overall, is quite young with some of the students in college undergrad. They have clearly come to know one another well but greeted me with such authentic excitement that I immeditately felt warmly included. My teachers seem to be right at home here in Bali, as they have often said in their studio in Seattle. It is wonderful to be with them in this space overlooking lush fields- it is so different then their Seattle studio right in the University district where they have to warn to be careful when walking to your car at night and the fire station across the street is constantly blaring the fire truck sirens. And yet, their studio in Seattle seems to fits right in the gritty city and just the same, their studio here fits in the calm and serene island of Bali.
The beautiful practice space at Bob & Ki's.
We do yoga asana, meditation and pranayaya from 9-12 and then break until 4, when we then get together again for anatomy lesson for about 1.5 hour. We finish at just before 6 and it becomes dark at just a bit after 6. Thus, it was nearly dark once I walked back to my cottage.
Last night I imagined there were all sorts of things I could do, like go into town to see dancing or go to the movie night at a yoga studio in Ubud. But I barely had the energy to shower and have a quiet dinner next door. I reviewed the anatomy lesson but didn’t have the brain power to do the homework, which I plan to complete during today’s afternoon break. I then came back to my room and fell asleep before 9 pm. I woke up at 10:30 to gusts of rain beating down on the roof. This has happened quite a bit, which is interesting as Bali is supposedly in the dry season right now.
Today I am going to look into staying at a different place because there are many options. The place I’m staying now is quite nice but also rather expensive. One of the other students asked if I’d be interested in staying in her bungalow, which I may check out but I am also really enjoying this feel of living alone for a few weeks. During my walk through the rice fields from yoga, I noticed some beautiful places to stay right in the fields close to the canal that runs along to irrigate the fields. What a peaceful area! And also, I think it would feel more rural and authentic, near Balinese compounds rather than near many other tourist homestays like where I am staying now.
Well it is early and time for me to get ready for today’s yoga adventure.
Ready for adventure! Well, ready for calm, quiet adventure anyway.
Om shanti!
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I was so used to sitting in airplanes that a part of me was a bit sad when my last flight ended. I know that is weird, but it was a bit nice- looking at clouds out the window, watching movies on the little screen and periodically, a nice lady plopping a tray of food or a cup of juice onto the tray. It felt nice to be pampered on international flights for a while. Of course, once I ventured off the plane and walked again, I was quite happy and not missing the dry, cramped air travel one bit.
I am staying in Ubud, north of the capitol of Denpasar. A driver came to fetch me and we drove through truly terrifying traffic for about 1.5 hour until arriving in this peaceful, green place. Really, you could not convince me to drive in this place unless it was really quite serious. First of all, people drive on the left side of the road. Although I’ve traveled a lot, this is the first time in a left-side-driving land. I looked quite the idiot when I tried to hop in the driver’s seat and the nice driver said “This is my side!” Besides cars and minivans driving, there are many, many people on motorbikes driving as though they have bubbles on invincibility protecting them. They weave in and out of lines of cars, zig zag to the sides of the roads and stop when they are about 1 cm away from something. Last, there is a lot of trust in the break. Even if there are clearly many autmobiles stopped ahead, it is best, it seems to just trust that the break will take care of us once we are directly upon the stopped traffic. Other than that, We Go Fast!
To say it is beautiful here is like saying my cat Bob is cute. It just doesn’t explain it well enough. No hyperbole can really quite capture not just the physical beauty, but also the feel of being here. It feels so unrushed and serene and even though I only arrived last night, I already feel incredibly relaxed. I settled into my lovely room at the cottages, where my window overlooks a ricefield. I then cleaned up after 24 hours PLUS of air travel, so this was quite needed and I emerged a new, clean and happy person. I had a quiet dinner in the restaurant here, plus the local lawnmower beer, and if my calculations are correct, I believe I paid 2 dollar for this? I had a dish similar to Swimming Rama for those of you who heart the Thai food- cold peanut sauce over tofu and spinach. But this has lots of other thing too: tempeh, tofu, spinach, fresh tomatoes, eggs, lettuce and those yummy rice-puff chips. Sounds weird but it was incredibly tasty. Then I put away all of my things and went to sleep. There are many sounds here, like my Seattle home. But instead of hearing people yelling, cars honking and dog barking I heard crickets, geckos and frogs. A nice nighttime song to lully you to sleep.
Yes, sleep! I slept the whole night and woke at 7 am, here’s hoping that the jet lag will perhaps pass me by? Even though I’n 15 hours ahead of Pacific west coast time here? I’ve learned a lot about melatonin at my job, a natural medicine given to folks who can’t sleep and a nice alternative to heavier drugs given for sleep (like those ones where people drive around and go shopping while asleep? I am not interested in taking that, especially here where the driving is scary!). The medicine mimics the body’s natural production of melatonin, the hormone in the body that says “Oh the sun is down. Sleepy time!”. So I did what our psychiatrist has done at work for the kids who have trouble sleeping: take a dose to become sleepy and go to sleep. Then if you wake up in the middle of the night, take another to go back to sleep, you can do this anytime up until 5 am or so. I woke up at 2 am, wide awake listening to the rain falling on the roof. So I took another dose, went back to sleep and slept like a wee babe until the sun rose. By wee babe, I guess I mean completely grown woman sleeping diagonally in a giant princess bed. On a side note- Yes, I do miss my husband greatly and can hardly let myself think how much he’d also love it here.
So now that I’m well rested and unpacked, I have a couple of days to explore as my yoga studies start Monday morning. My goal of today is to see the temple in town, eat some fruit, get a seriously long massage and also buy a hairbrush since I appear to have forgotten mine.
By the way, I am supposed to have WiFi here but it appears not to be working. I’m using qumana, a program where I can update my blog off line. I’ll be trying to sort out internet stuff today and maybe just checking it in town. That is, unless the massage takes too long!
Until next time, Om shanti shanti!
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