Ganesh, Remover of Obstacles

Here's to Ganesh, the remover of obstacles, on the 2nd day of my fall detox. The kitchari turns out to be delicious and not so different from when my eating habits in healthy mode- rice, beans and vegetables, a little fat in the form of ghee. The tea actually helps with hunger, amazing. But last night dinner was late and hunger struck. When I get hungry, my mood sinks quickly. If meals are not regular, things can be downright unpleasant. Dinner wasn't ready until 7PM and it was a real struggle. I should have just had an apple, why didn't I just have an apple? Because, when hungry, rational thought is difficult to come by and it's either eat everything in sight or nothing at all. I'm working on that.

So this is good, I feel good, and practice was gentle this morning since first series at NeYoga with my favorite Ashtanga teacher Sue P is on the menu. One thing that is wonderful is not worrying about what to eat every day. Amazing how nice that is. So much energy is tied up in just deciding what to eat.

All this in an effort to get my silly butt off the floor in a jump through. Of course improved health and energy are desired also, but that jump through would be soooooo nice.

Ideas, resources and anecdotes on Ayurveda would be most welcome in the comment section.

Fall Detox

Above: Meyer and a view of the Squannacook River this morning from my morning walk.

Practice this morning was easy, meaning that I took it easy, which is difficult. I skipped vinyasa between seated poses, I skipped anything that made my recalcitrant knee unhappy. In short, I did not push, I simply went through the majority of first series with relative ease. I much prefer to push hard and struggle.

Today begins a 7 day fall detox that Yoga Journal is leading this month. So I made kitchari this morning, which is really rice and beans with Indian spices. It was surprisingly good and transported me back to a silent meal at Kripalu, a meal in which every bite was pure nourishing joy. I might make it through this week after all. At the moment I am making a tea with fennel seeds and cumin seeds. It also calls for coriander seeds but I bought the powdered coriander seeds by accident and wasn't sure about substituting that. I'm also making ghee, which I'm made before.

And cutting down on coffee, but I'm still at 12 ounces. Hateful as it is, it's good for me to do from time to time as I'm addicted and it gives me insomnia, especially when consumption creeps up. I'm very interested to see what effect, if any, this gentle fall cleanse has on practice.

Join me if you dare! I'd love to see your comments.