I wasn’t sure about writing a detox blog this year because it seemed predictable, but something clicked inside of me and I wanted to write about how we can learn to listen more about our body and know when it is time to reboot or reset the button.

 

There are many reasons why people have the need to clean out the cobwebs. Here the main reasons:
overindulgence
chronic-stress
   fatigue
sluggishness
digestive problems (bloating,skin problems)

 

Results:
Gain more energy
increase vitality
refined senses
clear mind and focus
positivity
inspired and motivate

 

Realigning with our internal guidance system is the reason why I detox.  I love the way my food-mind -body comes into balance. We need to learn how to listen to our body’s and know when it is time.

 

Here is a really simple plan.

 

1 big glass of warm water with Lemon or Apple cider vinegar upon rising.
1/2 an hour later 1 smoothie

 

    Ginger/Mint/Mango Smoothie

 

2 cups firmly packed Greens: spinach, kale, collard, purslane,
1/2 cup mint
1/2 lemon with rind for bioflavanoids
1/2 avocado
1 mango fresh or frozen
2 cups water
1 Tbs. spirulina, hemp powder, maca, optional

 

Blend in a high speed blender until smooth

 

Drink lots of water during the day

   Coriander, Spinach Sweet Potato Soup

 

2 cups Spinach or Kale
1/2 cup coriander
1/2 avocado
1-2 Tbs. Coconut oil
1/2 sweet potato cubed
1 small nob tumeric fresh
2 cups water

 

Blend in a high speed blender and consume around 4 pm

 

Daily skin brushing – The skin is our biggest organ, by invigorating the whole body we allow the toxins to come out.  It’s a  really simple process to get the skin smooth and glowing, and also great for those stubborn cellulite areas too!

 

Sauna – infra-red saunas are the best, but any sauna will steam-clean you from the inside out. Make this a weekly habit for a month and just feel the difference.

 

Exercise – this means walking, yoga, swimming – get out and about as much as you can.

 

Meditation – Find a nice tranquil place and make this your special meditation spot. Just 15 minutes a day with the intention of being still and quiet will do wonders for you.

 

By making small changes to your routine you can experience great benefits. It doesn’t mean you have to go-hard or go-home, it doesn’t mean you need to restrict yourself and push yourself to the edge every time. Just a few simple additions to your daily life will bring a spring back to your step, and you never know perhaps they will become a regular part of your  life.

 

Be happy, love life and shine!

 

 

The breeze on your face is good for you.  That air conditioning (or heating) just dries you out.

 

The ground beneath your feet–be it grass or dirt or sand is good for you.  Wooden floors are nice, don’t get me wrong, but they are inside!!

 

When you practice outside beneath an open blue sky you look up and feel almost as though you are a part of it. It’s breath-taking.

When you open your eyes from savasana to behold a starry night you can’t help but feel at peace.

 

It’s awe inspiring.

 

When you start your pre-dawn practice and watch the sun rise, you feel the sun’s rays shimmering on your skin.

 

It’s radiant.

 

When you practice in nature you are continually amazed by the beauty of the world around you.

 

No matter what wallpaper is pasted, what music is played, or what statues are placed, I will never find a better place to practice than the great outdoors.

 

On days when I feel exhausted, I always feel better if I just open a window or door.

 

On days when I think I can’t practice, I simply step outside and find myself drawn to move or sit quietly and meditate.

 

It might be freezing, it might be boiling. It might be windy, it might be raining.

 

I simply pop my head outside and figure out what I need to wear and where I can be as sheltered as necessary without ‘succumbing’ to the elements.

 

It can be hard. Sometimes you need to be creative. But it is always worth it.

 

One of the main elements on our retreats is to get connected to mother nature. To be inspired and supported by the simple things in life.

 

Why don’t you try for yourself?  Expose yourself to the outdoors and feel yourself embraced by nature.

 

 

 

www.yogacafecanberra.blogpost.com
www.artofliferetreats.com

This time of year calls for a gazillion articles about how to live a better life and be a better person and avoid overindulging etc etc.

In this spirit I have decided to share some pieces of wisdom from my father, who has a lot of sensible things to say in general.  This does not include any nutritional advice about what to eat, more an approach to how you eat and live.

Number 1 Way To Beat Overindulgence: Take All You Can Eat But Eat All You Take.  Back in the day when there were all you can eat buffets at places like Sizzler (not sure they exist anymore), Dad would take us there as a treat. Emphasising the fact it was a treat, and allowing general parenting food rules to fly by the wayside, he didn’t mind if we decided our dinner was going to be at the dessert buffet.  Our ventures to buffets were always tempered with this piece of advice:
“Take all you can eat but eat all you take.”

 

At first glance, this might seem like a sure-fire way to obesity. The sort of instruction that tells you to eat everything on your plate and don’t even think about leaving the dinner table until you have!

 

However, it was not.
Dad was very mindful of waste.  He grew up in a time where you were lucky to have a pair of shoes to walk to school in and, despite limited travel opportunities, knew enough about the world to understand there were plenty of people who were lucky to get one meal a day, let alone three.

 

So Dad’s advice was about being mindful and appreciative of what you had.  He would always tell us we could go back for more if we were really hungry but perhaps put only the amount of food on your plate that you are sure you can eat.  At the same time he would remind us that sometimes your eyes can be bigger than your stomach so perhaps take a little and then wait and see if you need more.

 

Having lived in countries like Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka I have seen for myself how some families throw out more food after one meal than other families get to eat in a day and I always think of my Dad’s advice when I see food bins overflowing with ‘scraps’.

 

This piece of Dad advice is very much in line with common sense ideas about listening to what your body really needs, which many of us who have always enjoyed plenty, can easily forget.

 

Number 2 Way To Beat Overindulgence: Or When it is Ok to have Mars Bars for Breakfast Dad also gave us Mars Bars for breakfast on weekends before our athletics meets.  To this I think most kids would go hooray and most parents would probably raise their eyebrows. But Dad was always about activity.  His approach to eating was very much about balancing input with output.  He knew that after eating that Mars Bar we would spend 3 hours out in the sun running around competing in 1500m runs, sprints, long jumps, shot puts, and all of the handstand competitions that went on in between events.

 

You might think Dad was all about junk but that is not true.  He was thinking about nutrients based on the information he had at the time, combined with how much energy we would need and giving us something to eat that would not make us feel full and sluggish.

 

Dad was not just handing us rubbish.  You see, Dad also made our sandwiches with multi-grain and wholemeal bread back before they were popularised telling us that eating white bread was like eating fresh air (i.e., basically nutrient poor). Anyway, his approach to food was that you needed to balance intake with output, consider whether what you ate would give you the energy you needed to do what you wanted.

 

On days where we weren’t doing much you can bet we were not being offered chocolates, although this was a rare day indeed as Dad would always have us engaged in something fun and active.
Actually, Dad was unknowingly following the only diet ever known to actually work in the long-term, which is to balance what you eat with what you do.

 

So, this piece of Dad advice is extremely important: “Eat to live don’t live to eat.”

 

While those are not Dad’s words, they are what he modeled and still models to this day.  If you don’t do very much, then don’t eat very much.  If you are doing a lot, then eat so you can do the things you need to do. In this regard, our Christmas Day with Dad always started with a family bike ride so that we might feel hungry enough for Christmas lunch rather than eat the food because it was there.

 

Number 3 Way To Beat Overindulgence: Don’t Pop Your Buckle This last piece of advice is actually what Dad’s Dad used to say.  Or, at least Dad always quotes Grandfather when he says it.

 

“Always leave the dinner table feeling that you could eat a little more.”

 

This is excellent advice and stops you feeling like a python when you get up from the Christmas dinner table.
This is related to both the first and second pieces of advice.  It is about eating what you need, and about ensuring whatever you eat does not prevent you from doing the things you want to or need to do.

 

The idea of eating so much that you could not go out and play with the kids or fix the car or tinker around in the shed was/is abhorrent to Dad who, to this day, will make sure he gets up to ‘unblob’ himself (as he puts it) if he has had a big lunch that is putting him to sleep.

 

In Sum Dad’s advice comes from a person who was physically active, and who appreciated that your body needs to work and move well so you can participate in a variety of daily activities. Dad was a runner and did not practice physical yoga.  He does not have much idea of yoga beyond the knowledge that it is something I go and teach and do and which seems to be associated with me spontaneously doing handstands in the driveway or hanging from the beams of his verandah.  However, to me his advice is very much in tune with ideas about respecting the interrelationship between body and mind and community that I have read in yogic texts and have learned from my teachers.  Thanks Dad!

 

Merry Christmas to all.  Happy and safe practicing.

 

www.artofliferetreats.com
www.yogacafecanberra.blogspot.com