As many of you know, I am heading to Costa Rica to help teach yoga to teachers and then guest teach at my first yoga retreat. The time leading up to this huge journey has been filled with reflection and creating intention.
Summer finding the Zen in the city...
On Christmas Eve day, while most people were with family, I opted to go see Sri Dharma Mittra give a talk on purification and intention. Picture a 72 year old yogi, with the brightest shining face you have ever seen speaking with a thick Brazillian accent about relieving suffering. There he was, seated with all of his disciples, teaching the most simple things. I was inspired by what he said, ” Purification of the mind begins with purification of the body.”
So the day after Christmas, I started my 4 day raw juice fast. Thankfully, I called a professional, Donna from Gravity East, and she instructed me to drink plenty of green juices (2-3 per day) and maybe one carrot/beet/ginger juice. She said to stay away from fats like coconut milk (which happens to be my favorite). Today is day 4 of my fast, and I feel really really good.
Everybody’s experience is different, but I found that waking up with a glass of water, then a red or green juice was totally fine. I didn’t miss breakfast at all. Later closer to lunch, I would run off to a juice place and find some sort of green monster (usually spinach, cucumber, parsley, ginger, kale, etc.). Then another 2 juices throughout the day. I only had a pure coconut water from Organic Avenue once during my fast, but found it to be very hydrating. I found that Organic Avenue has various cleanses that they will even deliver to your house. Blueprint is another popular cleanse here in the city.
Taking a break from solid food was actually really refreshing. I was surprised by how much I didn’t actually miss it. Not to mention, my skin got a little clearer, my belly got a lot thinner and I had consistent energy throughout my days. I recommend talking to a specialist before embarking on your own cleanse, or at least doing some research. But I can now speak from experience that a juice cleanse feels really good when you do it right!