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.

The Saga of a Householder Yogi

Sunday morning is normally a safe time to practice, second series was on the menu. But even though I got up at 6am and made coffee, my oldest daughter woke up at 6:15 followed in short order by my son. I plowed ahead anyway with Kino's DVD, plagued by a knee that has regressed since a seemingly deep opening on tuesday night. But by the time I got to 2 feet behind the head pose, which is a bit of a joke if you're not yet putting one foot behind the head, I was fixing broken lego firetrucks and begging my son to quiet down so that I could hear Kino counting.

Sigh.

By then the girls were down and it was time to make breakfast and get ready for church. As I showered I began to experience the disappointment of a practice that hadn't gone as planned, an important practice for the week at that, and then I remembered despite my knee issues, one foot came a little closer to moving behind my head, and pincha mayurasana, which I have been working on for years (before doing ashtanga even), is finally at a point where I can hold it for five short breaths. I'm working on elongating the breath in this pose. I'm not religious, but it reminds me that "the lord giveth, and the lord taketh away." I've lost lotus (temporarily I hope!) but discovered balance in Pinca. It is enough.

Tomorrow I start a fall detox with Yoga Journal. I'm a little worried since they seem to expect one to give up coffee and eat kitchari 3 times a day. It's supposed to be a gentle ayurvedic cleanse, so here's hoping for the best.