My Friend Liz

I have been meaning to write this post for... Oh say... Four months now? If I don''t knuckle down to do this NOW, life will just run away from me and I will never tell the world about this special lady.

Let me just clarify that I have never met her in real life, we've only ever been in touch through emails and er... various "social media". In fact, we met through the Cybershala. If we were living in the same town, I have the feeling that we would probably get along like a house on fire.

Anyways.

My friend Liz makes awesome bags. Bolsa Bonita bags. Like seriously... she HAND-MAKES them from scratch and sells them on her own website. Last year, I ordered a Mr. T handbag from her, and it still makes me giggle. Where his mowhawk is, is a little tuft of "touch me please" fuzzy softness.




She makes other bags of a similar style but with fuzzy patches of softness elsewhere too... Like Burt Reynold's moustache... And Tom Selleck's moustache... And Chuck Norris' moustache... And if you can't handle Macho Men Moustaches, she has softer fuzzy subjects like bunny tails and squirrel tails. She makes them as pillow cushions too!




Her stuff is so cute and awesome. And so well made. My Mr. T bag came with a little fortune cookie type fortune sewn on the back:

"A wonderful adventure awaits you, fool."

:) :) :)

And because I'm a little special, I got a matching purse with another fortune on the inside that says: "No time for jibber jabber." HA! That's what my old yoga teacher in Singapore used to say when people faffed on their mats or asked too many questions before attempting a pose. Mr. T and Yoga. Who'd have thunk?


To top it all off, when I returned from Mysore and was going through a bit of post-Mysore blues, guess what I found waiting for me in the mail one day?! ...Liz had decided to screenprint the picture of me and my Cosmic-Connection Swamiji from the cave on a new wallet design she's testing out!!

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!

I can't begin to tell you how awesome it is. It's so awesome I can't bear to use it. In fact, I think I'm gonna keep it until my next trip to Mysore... Where I'll bring it along to show it off to Swamiji himself. :)




I loved that she wrote "C.C. From Austin to Amsterdam" on the back of my package. :)


There ain't nothing like this one of a kind! She's planning on offering these on her site soon (I think?) so go on and ask her all about her stuff.

PS. She has no idea I've dedicated a post to her and I might get into trouble for it, so this is really a plug for a product/ person-with-mad-crafting-skills I believe in!

The Human Flowering Tea Experience

I've been absofrigginglutely FLAT OUT this side. Of course you know about the heavy personal stuff I've recently gone through. And then on the work front it's also been GOGOGO! So... Sorry for the radio silence on this end.

I'm back in Amsterdam now. We came back for the weekend, but only until today. Yes, that's right folks. We are going back to London AGAIN tomorrow for another week of edits. On the same job. (So you can imagine why my work-week was intense last week. We're supposed to be done already!)

Anyways, when I got back to Amsterdam on Saturday I decided it was time to treat myself - I went for a facial. Hehe. Halfway through it, I completely nodded off and suspect I was even snoring! (Only coz I think I woke myself up with one of my loud snores. HAHAHA!) The facialist (what do you call them again?) remarked "Wow, you're very tired today."

So on my way home, I walked past the floating spa and thought "Screw it, I deserve a relaxing day. I'm gonna try this out too."

In case you didn't know, a floating spa is just that - they put you in a salt water chamber (I think it's Epsom salts), close the door on you, and you just float in a tank - in complete darkness and silence. Of course, you can also opt to turn a light on inside the tank, or listen to piped-in underwater music.

(Picture credit here)

The floating spa, Koan Float, was part of the hotel I stayed at when I first got to Amsterdam, but I didn't think much about checking it out then. But then Grimmly mentioned it recently and I read the link from one of the comments and got even more intrigued what this was all about.

Good thing the place had just one more availability for me when I walked in - a very good sign. :)

So I got a massage first, then had to shower off all the massage oil before jumping into the flotation tank.

(Yeah, I actually took a picture of the shower before I got in. HAHAHA!)

I almost wanted to bring my camera in the tank with me too but then thought "it's salt water. Are you CRAZY?! What if I drop it?" So... you'll have to do with just an explanation of what the inside's like.


On the right hand side, there are buttons to control the interior light, air vent (if you get too hot and claustrophobic and need some ventilation) and also an intercom. On the left hand side, there are buttons to turn on/ off music and volume control too. The very nice lady explained that just before my time in the tank was up, the interior light would blink a few times, and then she would intercom me to let me know it's time to get out.

Oh, she also gave me earplugs... And after reading Grimm's commenter's experience, I figured I'd better just plug up my ears. I ALWAYS get water in my ears, even in a regular bath. And this time, I didn't wanna risk getting salt water in them. Yuck!

So with all procedures out the way, she left me to jump in. And so I did, butt naked and all. The first thing I thought of was "GROOOOOOOSS. I'm doing this at the end of the day. How many other people have been in here before me already?!" Hehe. I'm a clean freak.

After closing the lid, the second thing I thought of was "Where's the music?"

The moment I tried to sit down in the water, my legs immediately floated up. I imagine that's what the Dead Sea must be like. After a bit of kerfuffle trying to settle myself in the water, I lay down in it and Hey Presto! Like magic, my whole body was immediately floating in the water; it was effortless. Also, the music was already playing, UNDERWATER! (you couldn't hear it unless you were under the water)

Since it was my first time, I figured I'd leave the light and music on. But within a few minutes, they were quite a distraction so I turned them off.

And then it felt like I dropped off into the abyss. Complete pitch black darkness and silence.

The next thought I had was "My boobs are poking out of the water". HAHAHAHAHAHA! And then I thought... "If God were looking down now, he'd be pissing his pants laughing at this ridiculous situation." I mean... people pay good money for this?!? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

It's like laying in a very big bathtub, but the best part is you're not touching the sides or the floor of the tub. You're just floating the whole time. Dunno about you, but whenever I'm in a regular bath, I keep inhaling while underwater and trying to get myself to float just like that. With this experience, it's all there already.

I lay there thinking "Think of savasana"... but then I got distracted by whether I should face my palms up or palms down. The palms were up at first, but then I remembered Mel's post about Noah's thing about palms down in Savasana (and the other theory about how he was given it coz he was going through a divorce then, and that's kinda sorta what I'm going through now right)... So then of course my mental chatter brought me to thinking "OK, maybe I should go palms down too"... But after a while I started to get pins and needles in my hands (!) So then I settled for a midway point... palms facing into my body. Kinda like how they are if you're standing straight with your arms beside you.

The more I lay there, the more I started to feel my body relax. I could feel where I was holding tension coz when I brought my awareness to those parts, they just released. I felt like one of those flowering teas - y'know... you pour hot water onto this dried lump and it starts to unfurl and flower into a beautiful chrysanthemum or jasmine? Like this video:


That was me, the human flowering tea.

And then almost spontaneously, I started Ujjayi breathing, and then I went into Brahmari (Bumblebee) Pranayama... where you Ujjayi inhale, but you hum on the exhale "Hmmmmmmmm". I'd always found Brahamari very soothing, and while you're underwater, the humming takes on a different aural dimension - I found it even more ultra soothing. (Can you imagine if the lady was listening in on the intercom? HAHAHAHA!)

And the Brahmari helped me drop further into the abyss inside of myself. You know the deepest, most blissful Savasana you can get? It usually happens after 10 minutes in Savasana, for me at least... You drop off into the most quiet place inside where everything's at a standstill but you're so aware of this peace and tranquility enveloping your being. It felt like that, but even more relaxing coz there's no floor beneath you to stop the sinking feeling. You drop off, but then you keep dropping off coz you're floating and then it feels like you're becoming one with the water and then everything just melts into ONE.

At some point of being in this melted soup of Oneness, I felt lots of energy shooting out through my hands... In fact, my hands were actually quivering... I was shaking a bit, almost on the verge of tears. But good tears because I had a huge surge of feeling really good. Granted, I may be at an "emotionally tender" point in life right now, but it's pretty fantastic to be able to pick up on such little sensitivities.

By the time the light started blinking, signaling my time was up, I was ready to get out (my right earplug was starting to slip out and I kept having to adjust it!)

I left the spa feeling really serene and blissed out. Quite extraordinary, as I didn't really know what to expect. Being out of the water kinda made me connect to my body again in a different way - In a "Oh, there's gravity again" heavy, kind of way.

I was also glad to see the tank controls outside - the electronic signal read "Cleaning tank" in my room. PHEW!!! So they DO go through some kind of cleaning process between floating sessions. I snuck this shot while the lady wasn't looking. There, it says "Cleaning Tank" in the green strip. :)


Would I recommend this experience? HELL YEAH!

In fact, I know I'm definitely going back for more and will probably sign up for a package. If you're the claustrophobic type, they say you can leave the tank door wide open too... So it's definitely worth checking out, just for that feeling of weightlessness.

Can't wait till the next session. :)

"The Only Way Out is In"

I'm getting my practice groove back, YAY!

This evening I had a solid, full Primary practice. Felt nice and strong... still had a snotty nose in forward bends, but I wasn't so out of breath and knackered like I was on Sunday. I got the hand-bind and the feet-bind in Supta Kurmasana, and also had 3 pretty amazing dropbacks (I was inspired by the picture of Susan's hangback in the Kino workshop photos on Facebook. Thanks for tweeting it, Mel!)

What's helped me focus is also thinking about keeping the energy focused internally. Part of this is coz I've been reading an interesting book by Anthony Carlisi, who also goes by the name of Prem... The Only Way Out Is In: A Modern Day Yogi's Commentary on the Synergy of Ashtanga Yoga, Ayurveda, and Tantra. He's been certified by Guruji, and he talks about the relationship between Ashtanga Yoga, Ayurveda and Tantra through his own life experiences. I'm halfway through the book only, but I've got to say it's a really fascinating read.



Granted, the picture on the cover is not the most inviting since it conjures up Hindu symbolism. I dunno, what is it?! I wouldn't have given it a second look if not for the good reviews it has, including recommendations by many established Ashtanga teachers in the intro.

The many typos and spelling errors in the book are slightly distracting (I spot these things and get annoyed by them)... and he has a habit of cracking silly little jokes along the way (again, something a good Editor could have fixed)... but I guess he's writing it like he's telling it to you in conversation. You just have to get past all the typos and wisecracks and see the content for what it is. It's definitely worth a read if you're looking for another take on Ashtanga yoga, beyond just the asana part of it.

His section on Ayurveda has made me interested in delving a little deeper into this... and I'm now researching other books on Ayurveda by Vasant Lad and Robert Svoboda. I am especially interested in the area of food and nutrition and how the types of food you eat affect your Vata/ Pitta/ Kapha make-up.

But... I have digressed. My whole point in the first place was that in reading Prem's section on Ashtanga Yoga, I was reminded today of how the bandhas keep your energy locked internally within you while you practice. Kinda like Diana Christinson's "Pull Through" video I posted a while ago, where she talks about a similar thing of drawing your energy inwards and keeping it compact. Today I made a conscious effort to apply this not just in jumpbacks, but throughout the practice... and I find this really makes a difference to how I feel during, and after the practice too.

Focusing especially on engaging Mula and Uddiyana Bandhas today also automatically made me go within my breath... everything else got tuned out. I wasn't thinking or fussing about anything else.

Today, I had a good practice. :)

Space Invaded

I got 'em! Remember when I ordered the Space Invaders leggings impulsively?

They came in the mail yesterday, and the guys at Black Milk were ever so awesome... giving me updates of when they were headed to the printers to get them printed up, then sewn up (oooh! Makes it sound even better, when you know they only make them up when they're ordered...) And just as well they're also based here in Oz. Ultra quick delivery.

And behold! My limited edition geeky Space Invaders leggings! :)


First things first. They are LYCRA.

Seriously, I never, ever, ever, ever thought I'd EVER own a pair of LYCRA tights. But here I am, proud owner and WEARER OF LYCRA. The shiny sheen doesn't come across in the photos, but er... lycra is SHINY, and so are these leggings. But they're so far-out you kinda forgive them for being shiny.

And while I love that they're printed to order, the little detail like how the cloth is originally white underneath kinda shows through on the seams. Which isn't a big deal unless you're OCD like me. When the leggings are BLACK, and you see a WHITE line running down the seam (especially when the material gets stretched when they're worn). Well... that's a pretty big oversight.

I'm just turning the seams as far back as I can so I don't see them when I look down. HAHAHA.


But other than that... WELL DONE, BLACK MILK! I LOVE THEM!

PS. Someone asked if I'd be wearing them to yoga. Er... NO! (besides, lycra doesn't breathe and I don't wanna feel uncomfy like Superman). I am really gonna be wearing these leggings out - OUT. As in: IN PUBLIC! Hehe.

Of Twilight and Krounchasana...

I finally watched Twilight: New Moon last Friday. And I have been avoiding writing a new post until I could get over my irritation with it or all you would've read would've been expletives. Sorry Twilight fans, you'd better go away and stop reading now.

Twilight irritates the shit outta me. Seriously. From the bad acting to the bad special effects to the horrible story arc (Sorry, what story arc...?) I mean, it seems like in 2 minutes someone can fall head over heels in love with another person to the point where she's willing to give up her life for him? And all this from only having shared ONE kiss? ...And then you realize she's only like what, SEVENTEEN?! Oh, and don't get me started on the "intensity" they share between each other coz it just looks like they're constipated throughout the entire film.

Don't get me wrong, I've watched Part 1 and went through the same dry-retching agony to the point where I just wanted to slap every single one of those stupid "tortured soul" actors. But I am compelled to keep watching, so I am every bit as MASOCHISTIC as that damned Bella Swan character coz I'm also irritated with myself for going back for more.

Yes, my irritation of this series extends to my irritation with MYSELF for this unbecoming, masochistic behaviour. Don't get me wrong. I love a good rom-com (ahem. That's "romantic comedy"). And I'm secretly happy whenever Kelly is away or is working weekends coz that means I can steal out to the movies and watch a silly chick flick that he would never want to watch.

But Twilight is different. It's definitely a chick flick, but it's no rom-com (HAHA, actually... maybe it COULD be defined as a rom-com since I was laughing quite a bit throughout the movie, even though it wasn't supposed to be funny of course).

Even after all of this complaining, I am still intrigued by the bloody cliffhanger at the end of Part 2 and I'm itching to find out what happens in Part 3. ARGHHHHHHHH!!! (Shoot me now, please!)

WHY do I do this to myself? ...I have no idea!!

It started off coz Edward Cullen aka RPatz is downright HAWT.

(Photo Credit here.) (There's a blog for "Hot Men's Hairstyles"?!)

Oh, and that werewolf boy looks much better with a haircut. And yes, of course he had to be topless for most of the film. Conan the Barbarian had a similar body and he too was topless throughout that movie.

(Photo Credit here) (I couldn't find him on the "Hot Men's Hairstyles" website, unfortunately)

AHA! So it's most probably just the eye-candy that keeps me going back for more. Even though I keep rolling my eyeballs at the screen every 5 minutes.

My main irritation actually lies with Bella - she just needs to grow a bloody spine and stop revolving her life around men. I mean... BOYS. I have never read the books so I've no idea if she was actually written to be more than a one-dimensional character which doesn't come through in the films.

As far as I'm concerned, The Oatmeal got it right when they christened her "PANTS" for being every bit as insipid as... a pair of pants, of course!



I reckon Bella just needs some yoga in her life. She needs to reconnect with her authentic Self and stop with her destructive behaviour (like falling for all the wrong types... y'know... Like vampires and werewolves). I suggest she does more Navasana and lots of other core strengthers to help her massive third chakra issues. Regain your power, chick!

OK, I'm stopping my rant here as I didn't even want to get into this in the first place!!

By the way, I got Krounchasana yesterday and I LOVE it! It's just that I never realized how far back your head needs to tilt on the inhale, before you exhale and bring your chin to shin on the extended leg. I seem to always have this problem where I think I'm looking UP high enough, but realize how much farther back my head needs to tilt only when I've been corrected. Hmm.

It's a much better problem to have than Bella's third chakra issue, I think. :)

(Photo credit here)

Post-Urban Remedy Detox Cleanse

Ahhhhhhhh... Back to food. :) :) :)

The guys at Urban Remedy recommend eating only fruit the day after the cleanse, to help ease your digestive system back onto food, then the 2nd day after, raw salads and dairy, then 3 days after fish/ seafood, then 4 days after you can get back onto meat.

So on Saturday morning, first day after the detox, I headed to the kitchen highly anticipating breakfast which I had specially hand-picked from the supermarket the day before. ...A MANGO. HAHAHA. I never thought I'd ever be so excited to eat a mango.

Funny thing is, when I picked it up and held it in my hand, it was the size of my fist. I remember reading somewhere that any regular meal you eat should be about the size of your fist (No, SERIOUSLY). So then I paused and thought "uh-oh, I haven't had anything in my belly for 3 days. I think anything the size of a regular meal (ie. fist-size... ie. that mango) would probably be too much to handle!


So I put down the mango and picked up a handful of cherries instead. Hey, I'm practising mindful eating, y'all! Oddly enough, I was AFRAID to eat the cherries... y'know, to tarnish all the good that I'd been doing so far. I had a split-second thought of "maybe I should've done the 5-day cleanse to continue getting rid of all these toxins!" I wasn't quite ready to give up the detox yet (I was also secretly afraid I would lose my Supta Kurmasana bind. Hehe.)


But of course, soon enough I was surfing the interwebs, catching up on blogs, the usual Saturday morning lazing around... then one handful of cherries turned into the entire bowl full of cherries. Gulp. Well... berries are supposed to be easy to digest! (Never mind that cherries aren't berries... they're almost similar. So there.)

I tried munching on some Kellogg's Special K about an hour later (I munch them dry, like eating potato crisps), but within 2 minutes, my belly was in slight spasms, like it didn't know what to do with this alien stuff inside it, so I promptly put it away. I just wanted something to crunch on!!

For the next half of the day, I attended a couple of jewellery-making workshops (will save this for a different post - I think I've found a new hobby!), so I bought a smoothie along the way (Orange, pineapple, spirulina & mint. Pretty healthy and yummy too!)... and didn't have lunch.

I finally had that mango in the late afternoon and all was well... So when we went out for dinner with a couple of friends later that evening, I thought I'd throw caution to the wind and graduate onto a tofu salad and edamame beans. All was still well, no complaints from the digestive department. Yay!

Today, I'm back onto eating what I usually eat now - had some veggie dumplings at lunch and no digestive problems.

Oh... and... if you must know, the moment I started having solid food again, my #2 friend is back in proper action. What goes in must come out, I suppose. Haha.

I'm feeling well, no terrible side-effects from clearing out the toxins - just a mild headache when I stopped coffee. Oh, incidentally, I still haven't had coffee. YET. Come to think of it, in the last 2 days since I've been off the cleanse, I haven't even thought of reaching for the coffee mug. I suspect this will all change once the work week begins. Heh.

So my friends... that pretty much wraps up my super-long review of the Urban Remedy detox drink & delivery service. I would highly, highly recommend it. If you're unsure of a Level 1, 2, 3 or 1, 3 or 5-day cleanse, definitely get in touch with Emma at the company who will be able to recommend the right cleanse for you. If you're not on Twitter, you can also use the contact form on their website for more details.

I've been most impressed with the speed with which they get back to you with answers to silly questions (and you know how chronic I get, with LOTS of silly questions... they humoured every single one of them). It's a system that's been really well-thought out and well-planned. I give it 2 thumbs up!

If there's one thing I would suggest to Urban Remedy, it's to consider starting the 5-day cleanse on Wednesday and deliver drinks for the last 2 days on Friday evening, so people can spend the last 2 days of the cleanse at home. One of the reasons I chickened out from doing the full 5 days was coz they only start it on a Monday... and I wasn't sure if I could handle a full 5-day work week on a complete juice cleanse. (You wanna be kind to yourself and take it a bit easier, y'know? ...it's all psychological too!)

If there's just one thing I would suggest to you if you're doing the cleanse, it's to use flaxseed oil from Day 1 of your cleanse, or even psyllium husk, as mentioned in yesterday's post.

Oh, and the other thing is - recycle your cooler bags! You're not gonna need ALL of them, so be nice and give them back! I wonder if they'll take back their custom-made plastic bottles for recycling too? I'm looking at the mountain of bottles sitting in my recycling bin and thinking "that's A LOT of plastic!"

Anyways, if you decide to get on this cleanse, I would LOVE to hear all about it, we can trade "war stories", so let me know. And Happy Detoxing! (I'm off to eat another mango now. Nomnomnom).

Urban Remedy Detox Review: Day 3

LAST DAY OF MY URBAN REMEDY DETOX!!

I woke up this morning and had an absolutely disgusting fuzzy, white tongue. GROSS! ...but at the same time, that's a good thing too coz that means all those toxins are really coming out. The tongue was slightly white & fuzzy yesterday morning too, but I didn't think much of it, only when it happened again today, in full force AND throughout the day, that I realized "Oh, them toxins are all coming out!"

If you're planning to do this cleanse while you're at work, I'd suggest bringing a toothbrush around with you from Day 2 onwards (to brush the tongue with). I didn't really feel it on Day 2, but today... Oh boy! I was scrubbing that tongue throughout the day coz I had that icky fuzzy feeling. (Dunno if you're supposed to be scrubbing the stuff off but I couldn't help it. Plus, I didn't want to have... BAD BREATH!!) Eww.

I decided to treat myself, today, the last day of the cleanse - I took the day off work to have a ME day! I thought I'd run some errands, do some Christmas shopping, and just generally laze around and be nice to myself.

Can I just say - I actually found it harder doing this while staying at home.

In an office environment, you're at your desk, you're busy with work and the office fridge is but a few metres away for when you're ready for the next drink. Having something to do and keep your focus on (ie., work) keeps your mind off food. Or maybe it's just me... I associate staying at home and watching the telly with... erm... SNACKING.

OK, so scratch that.

I had a few errands to run in town, then realized I had to plan them within the 2-hour window when I didn't need to be downing the drinks. It was either that, or lug the cooler bag around town with me. That's fine if it's at the end of the day when there are hardly any drinks left, but at the start of the day, you're talking about approximately 3 litres (ie., 3 kilos) extra weight!!

Mid-way through the day, Emma from Urban Remedy emailed and asked if I would be up for trying out a new "Special" #5 drink concoction they were experimenting with... carrot, celery, radish, grapefruit, orange and green tea. Good for weight loss and boosting metabolism. This would replace the original #5 drink.

So I said "Sure! Bring it on!"


To be completely honest, I didn't really like the flavour of this drink. This is the very first drink of theirs whose flavour I was so-so about. It's quite bitter (from the grapefruit), and almost has a herbal-y flavour to it. It reminds me of when my grandma used to take me to the Chinese medical halls and the old men would pull funky herbs out of shelves behind them and mix up stuff for her to boil... and the resulting smell of all of that stuff boiling in the pot kinda reminded me of the flavour of the Special #5 drink. Very unexpected, considering how yummy all the ingredients sound. Anyways, I glugged it down really quickly thinking "this is good for me this is good for me this is good for me".

The one thing that really started to concern me at the end of yesterday's Day 2 that I hadn't mentioned earlier coz I was probably (a) too embarrased to, (b) too tired to mention it when I was writing that last post... was that er... I STILL hadn't done a #2 at the end of day 2 (and I'm not talking about the #2 Detox Drink y'all. Get with the program).

Knowing what I know of detoxes, I know a large number of toxins are dumped in the large intestine. So I was starting to FREAK OUT that I still hadn't gone... coz then... y'know... they'd all be reabsorbed back into my body, then what's the point?! Also, I'm pretty "regular" (EWWWW!) and I'm vegan, so I get A LOT of veggies and fibre in my regular diet. It's not like there'd be a reason for anything to not come out.

The email from Urban Remedy I received on Day 1 mentioned this might happen since I'm not getting much roughage on the cleanse, and if so, just add some flaxseed oil to one of the detox drinks to help move things along.

OKAAAAAAY. So at the end of Day 2, I had a flaxseed oil gel cap with my detox drink #6. On hindsight, I should've snipped it and poured just the oil into the drink like they suggested. Coz I had the hardest time falling asleep coz I could feel the gel cap, like a stone in my stomach. Duh. My stomach's not been digesting!

Anyways, the next morning, I emailed Emma from Urban Remedy to ask if I could drink some psyllium husk with water, and she said to try more flaxseed oil first. Lo and behold, right after that email, I had to run to the loo! Problem solved.

***DO NOT READ THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU CAN'T STOMACH ICKY-POO STORIES***



It's not that bad, I'm not gonna go into detail, but some people are sensitive, y'know. On a detox, it's not like your #2's are your regular ones, you might go a few times a day coz there's less "elimination". This is what happened with me.



***OK TO CONTINUE READING NOW*** (I decided to self-censor quite a bit of that. HAHA!)

It still concerns me even though I've gone now... I still feel like I haven't eliminated enough though (which means a lot of toxins could still be there). Just from the previous 7-day fasting cleanse I'd done before and realizing how much can still come out from your gut after 7 days of not eating, this time, in comparison is er... hmm... not as great. (Perhaps it could be coz I was also eating meat and a bunch of other crap back then, not as mindful as I've been before this cleanse?)

I would suggest if you're doing this cleanse, to start with the flaxseed oil much earlier, from Day 1. In fact, I'll suggest to the guys at Urban Remedy to encourage the use of psyllium husk mixed with water as well (or even mixed with the detox drink), since psyllium is non-digestible, and wouldn't get in the way of the cleanse. All it does is provide bulk & fibre. Also, the great thing about psyllium is it acts as a gentle scouring pad, sloughing off yucky bits from the sides of your intestines. Exactly what you need on a cleanse.

If I had the guts to do a DIY home enema or colonics, I'd have ordered a home kit too. It's just the thought of DIY that's just a bit too... icky for me!

What I did instead, was chug down more water and went and sat in the steam room. I figured "OK, if these toxins aren't coming out through my colon, I'm gonna make sure they come out through my skin!" (I'm pretty chronic like that) While in the steam room, I sat in half-lotus and did some meditation with the mantra "Inhale: Purity. Exhale: Toxins." And then I also gave myself a mini massage - upward moving strokes to stimulate the lymph (since I hadn't been dry-brushing. Oops). Thank goodness it was only me in the steam room! HAHAHA! Back home, I gave myself a nice exfoliating scrub-down from head-to-toe... it's just a nice treat when you've got the time to do something simple like that. :)

On the yoga practice front, again I had a nice and strong practice. Can I just say: I think FOOD is getting in the way of my yoga progress in twists and binds! HAHAHAHA!

Only because again today, I was binding higher than my wrists in Mari D (on both sides now), and the Supta Kurmasana bind came extremely easily as well. Oh, and for the first time ever, I was able lengthen so far forward in Baddha Konasana, that my belly was resting on my feet and my forehead touched the floor... ON MY OWN!! It's making me think... Do I really eat THAT much? That it makes such a world of difference with less food in my gut?! I mean, I'm not exactly ultra-skinny, but I'm not chubby either. HAHAHA - obviously, this proves food gives me a BIG GUT.

Oh my... what a long post! At the end of Day 3, I'm now thinking... "That's IT?!" It feels like the detoxing has only just begun to kick in and I'm stopping the cleanse tomorrow. I think I might try the 5-day cleanse at some point, just to get more of its detoxification effects. Especially now that I realize how extremely do-able it is in fitting into the rest of life.

I've really enjoyed this detox process, and it's made me realize that maybe I do eat too much crap (the difference between "before food" and "after food" in some of the yoga poses is quite extreme!) Don't worry, I love food too much to stop eating completely... I guess it's finding that balance and knowing when to STOP eating!

I'll have a post-detox review of the first day back on food again to let you know how it goes. I'm planning a fruit smorgasbord. (I was already salivating when I was picking through cherries at the supermarket earlier today).

Gotta ease back into it, y'know?

Urban Remedy Detox Review: Day 2

I FEEL LIKE SUPER-WOMAN TODAY!

Quite light and energetic. Wait till you hear about this morning's Mysore practice. But first, Detox Day 2.

I'd mentioned that the guys at Urban Remedy were gonna give me a variation for days 2 & 3, but turns out they've given me the regular Level 3 cleanse for 3 days, coz they'd rather I have the full experience. That means the same exact drinks from yesterday's Day 1 review for the next 2 days.


I can see why they're considering mixing things up a bit... coz er... well yeah, it could get a tad repetitive. I don't mind drinks #4 (Lemon, agave nectar & cayenne pepper) and #6 (Raw cashews, coconut milk, cinnamon, agave nectar, and a bunch of other goodies), but #1, #2, #3 and #5 are kind of more or less similar (just either with carrot or not).

Actually, if they marketed and sold Drink #6 as a smoothie on its own, I'd buy it coz it's sooooo delicious!

I'm not gonna do the hour by hour countdown like yesterday, since you pretty much know the drill for the next coupla days. The only thing different I did today was have a few sips of drink #6 after practice. I usually have a banana after practice, so the few sips of #6 really helped make me feel like I was getting some sustenance. I'd sneak a sip or two of #6 as well every time I started the next drink. It's a cheat that's allowed! :)

Doing pretty well on the fasting front... I'm not really hungry, I just can't look at food or be around people who are eating! ;p The worse time for me is around 11am - 1pm, I really start to feel like I need to nibble on something. It's the chewing action I'm missing!

Energetically, I've been feeling great today. It was a busy day at the office but my brain was pretty sharp. I just flew through the day that I crashed on the couch at 8.30pm. I'm going to bed right after this.

On the yoga front, I was extremely hesitant to practice today. Y'know... the whole idea of "No food = No energy". Wasn't sure how my body would handle it, and had already conjured up all kinds of cheats and ways of taking it easy (eg. No vinyasas between sides, or stop at Navasana).

Boy oh boy, did I blast that misconception right out the window. Today, I had the most amazingly STRONG practice I have ever had (I daresay). I was light and floaty, and had SO MUCH ENERGY!

I had a lot of mini breakthroughs today:

1. With jumpbacks, I was no longer shuffling back... I got quite a bit of a lift (like Uthpluthi but from cross-legged position), got the knees together, and that tilt forward seemed to happen a lot easier. My foot's still tapping the mat before I shoot the legs back, but it felt more like a bandha/ core lift rather than brute-arm strength that carried me through.

2. Marichyasana D: I was able to GRAB MY WRIST! But on the left side only (I'm usually binding with fingers & hands) Weird, coz that's usually my tighter side but it felt more open today. (That twist happens on the right side of the body... so maybe my liver is nice and small from the detox, maybe?) ;p

3. Supta Kurmasana: I bound my hands together on my own! Teacher first lifted left leg a bit over the shoulder, and then the right, and from there, my fingers found each other and managed to get a full 5-finger bind! YAY! (See... that's proof that my gut full of food is usually getting in the way.)

4. Dropbacks: Not a breakthrough here, but yesterday's session with the Osteo did bring a bit more awareness to opening my shoulders before dropping back. Pleased to report no issues with that elbow today, but I still have that twanging in the L1 (it's in the right side). So will have to keep thinking of lengthening lengthening lengthening with control, even when I'm dropping into the abyss (coz I tend to free-fall at that point of no return, and then that crunches into the L1) Sigh. Too many things to remember here!

5. Sirsasana: I usually hold til 20 of my counts, today I held till 25.

6. Uthpluthi: I usually hold til 20 of my counts, today I held till 30. And then I saw an orange spot when I looked up. It was weird, dunno if it was a colour aura or maybe there's a scientific explanation, but there was a hazy orange spot in my vision. WEEEEEIRD.

So... there you go, that's proof that even with a strong practice like the Full Primary series, you can still do it on a fasting cleanse and be stronger than ever! (who knows, maybe I'll crash out in tomorrow's practice. Haha).

OK, I'm fading. Off to bed.

Urban Remedy Detox Review: Day 1

This is how I started yesterday's Day 1 of my Urban Remedy cleanse. It's the 3-day, Level 3 cleanse (yes, no food at all, y'all).


8.30am: Hot Water with juice from half a lemon

9.10am: Detox drink #1. Label says: Apple, Lemon, Cos Lettuce, Celery, Silverbeet, Parsley, Cucumber.


It's an unappetizing pond-scum green after shaking it up, but it has a pleasant flavour. I HATE PARSLEY, but even though you can definitely taste the parsley in it, it's not too bad at all. I think the apple and lemon probably help give the flavour a bit of a boost.

I'm such a sucker that I actually re-filled the Juice #1 bottle with water after finishing the juice and drank it too... y'know... to get every single last drop of goodness out of it (besides, I need to drink lots of water during this cleanse too, right?)

While walking to get Juice #2 out the fridge, I notice an after-taste of celery in my mouth.

11.23am: Detox drink #2. Label says: Carrot, Mint, Cucumber, Cos Lettuce, Silverbeet, Celery, Parsley.


This one looks like brown pond-scum after shaking it up (coz of the carrot juice), and tastes more like carrot juice than anything else. Don't think this one was sealed properly coz the cap-seal didn't break when I opened it. And coz this one was filled to the top - I got splotches of it on my work desk!

I'm getting weird looks from the work colleagues now. But people are interested and curious in my drink that looks like a sewer but smells like vegetable soup. :)

I'm drinking the juice but also feeling hungry at the same time. It's probably psychological hunger. I feel like I need to chew something (I'm chewing on nuts usually by this time of day)...

11.59am: I'm feeling a little antsy that I haven't had anything to chew on. Briefly considered chewing gum, but that's just dumb since it'll stimulate the digestive juices which isn't what I want to be doing! Still have an inch left of my #2 detox drink. I'm chewing it as I'm drinking.

1.25pm: Detox drink #3. Label says: Apple, Lemon, Cos Lettuce, Celery, Silverbeet, Spinach, Cucumber, Celery, Parsley.


Hey! This is suspiciously sounding like Drink #1! OK, so it's got additional spinach, and because the ingredients are shuffled around from Drink #1, I'm thinking maybe they've played around with with the ingredient composition. Whatever. I'm hungry.

1.30pm: THE ENTIRE OFFICE SMELLS OF LUNCHTIME!! ie. FOOOOOOOD!

So I had to leave and go sit out in the sun and drink my Incredible Hulk drink. It was either that, or watch people eating toasted ham & cheese and pasta in the office. I don't even eat ham & cheese (go vegan, y'all!) so why did I have food envy? As a little treat, I snuck in a few sips of Drink #6 since the guys at Urban Remedy say it's OK to do this (it's the drink with the most good fat & protein, good for sustenance). Mmm... nice and coconut-y, cinnamon-y... I can't wait to get to it at "dinner time".

It's a psychological game this... coz the more I think about it, the "hungrier" I get. When I've been busy with work and absorbed in it, I forget that I'm actually hungry. So... am I really hungry?

Now I'm glad I stuck to the 3-day cleanse. At one point I was considering going the full 5 days! Yeah right! HA!

2.15pm: At this point, I'm a little forgetful. If I don't write down what I've got to do, I spend 5 minutes trying to remember what I was gonna do next. I had to call a colleague back to ask her about a little detail we had just discussed 2 minutes earlier. I suspect this has got to do with my lack of coffee, rather than the lack of food though.

2.42pm: I have never peed as much as I have today. I'm like an old lady, peeing every half an hour!

3.03pm: IT guy behind me is munching on WASABI PEAS!!! Arghhhhhhh!!

*Keep focus on the end goal*

*My body is a... or will be a temple*

3.40pm: Detox Drink #4. Label says: Lemon, Water, Agave Nectar, Cayenne Pepper.


Woah. I'm late for my next drink. So busy I wasn't even hungry. On the way to the office kitchen, I was even thinking "I'm not hungry or thirsty, do I even need another drink?"

So I was glad to find that this was a nice, light, refreshing lemon juice! (Liz, Lew & Mel: MYSTERY SOLVED!) ;p And er... come to think of it, it sounds like The Master Cleanse! ...Of course this substitutes maple syrup for agave nectar instead. All low-GI, natural goodness.
(Side note to Liz: you can use agave nectar instead of stevia as your sugar substitute too! None of that funky bitter aftertaste)

Mmmmmmm. This is extremely yummy. I don't even taste the pepper... just seems like the lemon has a bit of of a bite. While taking Drink #4 out of the cooler bag, I had a few sips of Drink #6 again, coz I absolutely love the rich, thick flavour (plus, it's sweet and I think that's what this sweet tooth of mine is after). OOOOOOH. The "dinner" drink is gonna be such a nice treat!!

5.29pm: Detox Drink #5. Label reads: Carrot, Mint, Cucumber, Cos Lettuce, Silverbeet, Celery, Parsley.


OK, this is EXACTLY like Drink #2 then. Not bad, tastes like carrot & celery juice (imagine V8 drink minus the tomato?)

I can't believe how many drinks there are by now. I really don't feel hungry or thirsty and don't really want to ingest anything... so I suppose that's a good thing?

I feel a really slight headache creeping up from the back of my head too, but I wonder if this might just be referring from my shoulder knots. I'm off to see the Osteopath in half an hour, so whoopee, I get to sort it out.

Even if it's a side-effect from the cleanse, that's a good sign coz that means my body's kicking into detox mode now. Apparently it takes anywhere from 24 - 36hrs after starting a fast before your body starts cleaning itself up internally. The theory is once your body stops having to digest food and process other kinds of chemicals, it turns its attention to breaking down the toxins and chemicals that are already present within your organs. Pretty clever huh?

6.05: Osteopath appointment. He looks at my elbow (jammed from those dropbacks) and says "Of course it stems from the pelvic rotation". Apparently my left shoulder isn't as open because of the misalignment, which then affects the way I dropback and land. Just have to bring more awareness to opening the shoulders! (Yeah right, sounds so easy).

My L1 vertabra in the middle of my back has also been twanging, and it's probably also because of the dropbacks. What's cool about this Osteo is he says that with any new activity, it takes the muscles some time to learn what to do/ what not to do. "Keep dropping back for another week and see how you go." Then he proceeded to advise me which muscles and where my focus on alignment should be to prevent the L1 twang. Pretty cool when you've got an Osteo who's done yoga and understands not just the body, but how which muscles are working in which pose too!

7pm: Detox Drink #6. Label reads: Raw Cashews, cinnamon, Coconut Milk, Agave Nectar, Vanilla Bean, Water.


It's full of MM-MM YUMMY GOODNESS!!! No wonder I've been stealing sips from it all day, it's like a delicious smoothie!

7.35pm: Visit the Steam Room.

I had half of what was left of Drink #6, then decided to go visit the steam room downstairs (yes lucky us, we have one in the apartment building!)

What I remember from reading previous detox literature is that the 3 major ways the body dumps out these toxins is through the skin (sweating), the large intestines (er, your poo), and through your pee. (which is why the other detox I went on also included the colonic treatments)

I'd been peeing one heckuva lot already, but er... haven't been "eliminating" as they say (weird coz I'm pretty regular. OK... Sorry, TOO MUCH INFORMATION. But you ARE reading about a detox, what did you expect would surface?!) (or in my case, not surface. Yet. HAHA!)

So since the steam room's great for opening up the pores and getting toxins out, I sat in there for about 20 minutes (alternating the steam room with cold showers).

8.05pm: Finish the rest of Drink #6

At the end of Day 1 of this cleanse, I'm feeling absolutely FINE. NORMAL. Not hungry, not grumpy... not even a headache (the little one that was threatening to come on earlier has now disappeared). I'm just tanking up with more water coz I'll need it for practice the next day! (ie. today)

I'll give a report on how today's practice went tomorrow, since that technically belongs to Day 2 of the detox.

At the end of Day 1, I'm going to bed with thoughts of my body slowly starting its detoxification process (it's been more than 24hrs since my last meal now!) ...And I'm giving myself a pat on the back for a Day 1 well-handled. :)