Hi everyone! I’m still going strong on this “Ayurveda thing” as most of the people in my life are now calling it. I had another follow up visit with Mary-Alice on Friday, and learned some more practices.
Since I’ve last updated this blog, things have been pretty much status quo. I’ve been taking my herbs pretty diligently, both before eating and once before bed. In general, I feel better; have more energy, and better digestion, which means better, prolonged deeper sleep and better rest over all. The tongue scraper every morning has been a revelation. (If you don’t believe me, just pick up one, they’re very inexpensive ($5-$10) and see for yourself after just one day!)
It was a good thing that my follow-up meeting was last Friday, because I had it in my calendar for the following week. I’d had a pretty difficult and emotional time earlier this week, and having to go another week without the therapeutic benefits of sitting in Mary-Alice’s office, I would’ve back slid a lot further than normal.
I may have shared in an earlier post my ‘food phases’ that I go through. I usually want a certain treat (usually something sweet) every day for several weeks and then I won’t have that item again for months or even years. Some of my food phases have been shrimp, cinnamon rolls (the kind you bake at home!) Oreo cakesters (if you don’t know about this phenomenon, get thee to your local Ralph’s pronto!), apple pie and ice cream, chips and salsa, etc. The current food phase is cinnamon rolls and canned peaches. I’m not pregnant, I swear.
Anyways, my food phases are absolutely dictated by my emotions. If I’m having a great day, that’s a wonderful reason for a batch of cinnamon rolls. If I’ve had an awful, tiring or stressful day, bring on the canned peaches! Drinking that syrup is like a shot in the arm! My roommate had to go and bring home some of that lemonade iced tea from Trader Joe’s as a strong, strong temptation for me. Mary-Alice calls it crack juice. I think she’s right.
So as I was about to spiral backwards after a particularly rough day, I emailed Mary-Alice some random question and she wrote back that we’d speak in detail about it the next morning. What luck! I’d completely gotten the week wrong, and now I would get some positive reinforcements immediately! When I went in for my consultation Mary-Alice let me know that I’d be taking the Agni Churna for the next six months at least. Apparently it takes more than just 2 months on an herb to regulate your digestion and metabolism.
Now I’d like to say a brief word here about the cost of Ayurveda and holistic medicine in general, over traditional Western medicine. I could be paying $100/month for health insurance that is so crappy it doesn’t cover the few things that I’d normally seek medical treatment for such as a prolonged cold or an ob-gyn appt. And it doesn’t cover those big things like needing an ambulance ride or something. So at this point, without shelling out more money, traditional health insurance policies do not serve me. They also don’t serve most of my contemporaries. We can’t afford mega bucks policies and being young and in general good health we just plain don’t need to be at the doctor too often other than routine check ups. So it seems silly to throw the money away on services we barely use. (I wouldn’t make this same argument if I were 35, married with kids, I promise.) So I’ve decided to make an investment in perfect health rather than an investment in potential illness.
New practices: I’m going to start concentrating on having my noontime meal be the largest meal of the day. I’m also focusing on having the serving of food be one offering to myself (remember holding your two hands together, palms up?) and I’m focusing on meditation 5-10 minutes at least once a day. Meditation is something that I naturally started to become interested in when I began practicing yoga earlier this year. I haven’t been able to afford going to the classes regularly, but I bought some DVDs and every now and then I supplement my practice with private instruction once or twice a year. Mary-Alice’s description of meditation, however, was different and more helpful than what I’d heard or experienced before. She said “the goal of meditation is nothing! Nothing at all! Don’t try to see the clouds part and transcend lifetimes in the space of five minutes. The goal of meditation is to quiet the mind. Even trying to force oneself to ‘think of nothing’ is a thought process in and of itself. Instead, focus on your breathing, the slow in and out through the nose, deep breathing will allow your mind to naturally quiet. Thoughts will pop up over and over again. Allow it, and then gently guide your mind back. Before you know it, the time has passed. With practice you will discover how easy it is to get centered and you’ll find yourself needing and wanting to do it several times throughout the day.
Instead of trying to become a master at it though, just try for 10 minutes before bed, every night for a week. That’s some time everyone can carve into their schedule. I find that meditating and sitting quietly for a few minutes before I drive, before I get out of the car to walk into work, before I eat and before I go to bed, has had startling benefits. I’m slower to anger (those of you who know me know what a challenge that can be sometimes!) and I’ve got more patience—I’m more understanding, and that brings more peace BACK to me.
The food addictions are much harder for me to get a handle on right now, than adopting these different Ayurvedic principles, but I am already so many light years away from where I was when I first heard Mary-Alice speak back in October. I’m looking forward to learning and experiencing more of the “Side Benefits” that Mary-Alice introduced me to a couple of weeks ago.
In Western medicine we call something that you feel or experience as a result of medication or behavior, a “side effect” as though it’s something we hope doesn’t happen. You know, like those commercials for medicine we’ve been seeing so heavily for the past five years or so? “Side effects may include upset stomach, heart burn, diarrhea, heart palpitations, stroke, dizziness or headache? Women who are nursing, pregnant or may become pregnant should not…” OY! Who wants to deal with all that when all they’re trying to do is stop a tremor in their leg? Ayurveda doesn’t have any of these “side effects.” But what they do have are SIDE BENEFITS. When I experience something as a result of the herbs, it’s positive, even if on the outside it might seem negative. The nausea I experienced was a sign my herbs were working, and it was eliminated immediately, as I continued the practice. Some other side benefits have been completely positive, like clearer skin, better vision and memory, more successful rest and sleep—and I haven’t had one prescription to achieve any of that. I’ve achieved that with changing my diet and behaviors.
We’ll see where we are in the New Year—I don’t see Mary-Alice again until the 2nd week of January, so we’ll see how I get through all those holiday cookies and New Year’s drinkin’ on my own! Happy Holidays to all of you and thanks for reading this blog and supporting me!
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Branching Out
What a week and a half its been since I updated this blog. Lots of new things to report.
The Set Back
Well it had to happen sooner or later, right? That ego inside of me had to finally say “enough already with this Ayurveda, let’s eat!” That happened about a week ago. I had worked late the previous evening, and then my coworkers were late the next morning, by two HOURS, which put me off on the wrong foot for the rest of the day.
Let me back up and say that before this happened, I had a minor set back with the herbs my Ayurvedic specialist had prescribed for me. I was feeling nauseated whenever I would sit down to eat. At first I thought that it was just WHAT I was eating, but when it happened over a bowl of chicken soup, I finally connected it to the herbs. After writing my concern to Mary-Alice, she let me know that the herbs were doing their job! The toxins in my body from years of horrible eating were being melted away by the hot water I’ve been drinking, and were coming up on my tongue—and the herbs were aggravating it. (Sorry if that was too much information folks, but we’re all friends, right?)
Anyway, Mary-Alice suggested drinking ginger tea while eating and it totally helped. But I used the nauseous feeling as an excuse to go off the herbs for more than a week. I hadn’t even realized that they were suppressing my appetite until I stopped and it came roaring back! For two days the snack and juice cravings were back in full force, and I’m sorry to say I obeyed them whole heartedly!
SO back to my miserable day that put me off on the wrong foot. I got to work at my 2nd job and had to stay later because I’d been so late in the first place. Then I had to go home to an empty house and I was not looking forward to cooking in my exhausted state. I rebelled my friends—BIG TIME. I bought Doritos and cinnamon rolls and went crazy.
I thought for sure that my stomach would rebel against ME and that I’d be sick that evening. I wasn’t. I slept like a baby! All was right with my world again. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and it just didn’t. I thought I’d gotten away unscathed from that eating binge. So day two rolled around and an opportunity to have “Dinner with Friends” presented itself. So the alcohol was flowing (we made these sugary delicious lemon margaritas that were like manna from heaven!) and we ordered Thai food with is the least of the evils of fast food, and had lots of wine.
Even though I had a hangover, I did not fall into a food coma or experience any of the nastiness that usually comes with overeating. BUT I felt like I had failed after spending so much time investing in getting it right. But the next day was my scheduled follow-up consultation with Mary-Alice and I can’t tell you how much the regularly scheduled support meetings are.
It’s not as though after 2 or 3 meetings you know all you need to know and just need to be disciplined enough to follow the rules. If that were the case then my entire journey (and this blog!) would’ve been over 2 weeks ago!
I thought pretty seriously about lying to Mary-Alice about just how much progress I hadn’t made. After all, a week off the herbs I was supposed to be taking three times a day, binge eating—what would she think of me? I was convinced she would think I’d waster her time as well as my own, and that she would think I was completely incapable of change.
But when I got there and sat down across from her and she asked me “How are you doing, dear?” I just let the truth spill forth—it took too much energy to think of a lie and try to remember it 2 hours later when we’d still be talking. Surprisingly, Mary-Alice was kind and understanding and revealed her own personal struggles with beginning Ayurveda and sticking to it. She reminded me that one of the major causes of stress I’d told her about weeks earlier was putting so much pressure on myself to be perfect and to never fail. It was a relief to know she still had faith in me, and that I should expect to fail again and again and always.
I told her how I was feeling otherwise, and then she gave me some new practices to add to what I’m already doing. So including drinking hot water with meals, my herbs before eating, eating in a quiet environment in a positive I now had two new practices—using a tongue scraper and drinking a new herb called Organic Triphala. I’ll let you guys google it yourselves for the million and one benefits that one gets from drinking this herb. I take ½ a tsp in hot water 30 minutes before I go to bed at night. And this, the single most prescribed herb in all of Ayurveda, I will be drinking every night before bed, pretty much forever.
I used to think that taking a pill or doing something “for the rest of my life” was such a chore. But won’t we all be making our beds and working out and getting up early and brushing our teeth in the morning for the rest of our lives? What’s one more thing? So far I feel pretty good on this additional herb.
Now the tongue scraper—I won’t go into the gory details, but I’ll share the fascinating part—Ayurveda uses the tongue as a map for all the other systems of the body. When there are discolorations or abnormalities on the tongue, it’s a reflection of imbalance in the body. Using the tongue scraper each morning helps to rid my body of the toxins that came up over night, as well as several other benefits.
Well that’s all for now folks—I went off track for a while, but I came back, and that is what I’m learning is the most important thing. Plus the people around me that I interact with most often are starting to rethink their lives, eating habits and associations with food and by doing so they are encouraging me and supporting me in my new practices. Thanks to all of those that are still reading with me and supporting me on this journey, and welcome to any newbies out there. Questions and comments are welcome!
The Set Back
Well it had to happen sooner or later, right? That ego inside of me had to finally say “enough already with this Ayurveda, let’s eat!” That happened about a week ago. I had worked late the previous evening, and then my coworkers were late the next morning, by two HOURS, which put me off on the wrong foot for the rest of the day.
Let me back up and say that before this happened, I had a minor set back with the herbs my Ayurvedic specialist had prescribed for me. I was feeling nauseated whenever I would sit down to eat. At first I thought that it was just WHAT I was eating, but when it happened over a bowl of chicken soup, I finally connected it to the herbs. After writing my concern to Mary-Alice, she let me know that the herbs were doing their job! The toxins in my body from years of horrible eating were being melted away by the hot water I’ve been drinking, and were coming up on my tongue—and the herbs were aggravating it. (Sorry if that was too much information folks, but we’re all friends, right?)
Anyway, Mary-Alice suggested drinking ginger tea while eating and it totally helped. But I used the nauseous feeling as an excuse to go off the herbs for more than a week. I hadn’t even realized that they were suppressing my appetite until I stopped and it came roaring back! For two days the snack and juice cravings were back in full force, and I’m sorry to say I obeyed them whole heartedly!
SO back to my miserable day that put me off on the wrong foot. I got to work at my 2nd job and had to stay later because I’d been so late in the first place. Then I had to go home to an empty house and I was not looking forward to cooking in my exhausted state. I rebelled my friends—BIG TIME. I bought Doritos and cinnamon rolls and went crazy.
I thought for sure that my stomach would rebel against ME and that I’d be sick that evening. I wasn’t. I slept like a baby! All was right with my world again. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and it just didn’t. I thought I’d gotten away unscathed from that eating binge. So day two rolled around and an opportunity to have “Dinner with Friends” presented itself. So the alcohol was flowing (we made these sugary delicious lemon margaritas that were like manna from heaven!) and we ordered Thai food with is the least of the evils of fast food, and had lots of wine.
Even though I had a hangover, I did not fall into a food coma or experience any of the nastiness that usually comes with overeating. BUT I felt like I had failed after spending so much time investing in getting it right. But the next day was my scheduled follow-up consultation with Mary-Alice and I can’t tell you how much the regularly scheduled support meetings are.
It’s not as though after 2 or 3 meetings you know all you need to know and just need to be disciplined enough to follow the rules. If that were the case then my entire journey (and this blog!) would’ve been over 2 weeks ago!
I thought pretty seriously about lying to Mary-Alice about just how much progress I hadn’t made. After all, a week off the herbs I was supposed to be taking three times a day, binge eating—what would she think of me? I was convinced she would think I’d waster her time as well as my own, and that she would think I was completely incapable of change.
But when I got there and sat down across from her and she asked me “How are you doing, dear?” I just let the truth spill forth—it took too much energy to think of a lie and try to remember it 2 hours later when we’d still be talking. Surprisingly, Mary-Alice was kind and understanding and revealed her own personal struggles with beginning Ayurveda and sticking to it. She reminded me that one of the major causes of stress I’d told her about weeks earlier was putting so much pressure on myself to be perfect and to never fail. It was a relief to know she still had faith in me, and that I should expect to fail again and again and always.
I told her how I was feeling otherwise, and then she gave me some new practices to add to what I’m already doing. So including drinking hot water with meals, my herbs before eating, eating in a quiet environment in a positive I now had two new practices—using a tongue scraper and drinking a new herb called Organic Triphala. I’ll let you guys google it yourselves for the million and one benefits that one gets from drinking this herb. I take ½ a tsp in hot water 30 minutes before I go to bed at night. And this, the single most prescribed herb in all of Ayurveda, I will be drinking every night before bed, pretty much forever.
I used to think that taking a pill or doing something “for the rest of my life” was such a chore. But won’t we all be making our beds and working out and getting up early and brushing our teeth in the morning for the rest of our lives? What’s one more thing? So far I feel pretty good on this additional herb.
Now the tongue scraper—I won’t go into the gory details, but I’ll share the fascinating part—Ayurveda uses the tongue as a map for all the other systems of the body. When there are discolorations or abnormalities on the tongue, it’s a reflection of imbalance in the body. Using the tongue scraper each morning helps to rid my body of the toxins that came up over night, as well as several other benefits.
Well that’s all for now folks—I went off track for a while, but I came back, and that is what I’m learning is the most important thing. Plus the people around me that I interact with most often are starting to rethink their lives, eating habits and associations with food and by doing so they are encouraging me and supporting me in my new practices. Thanks to all of those that are still reading with me and supporting me on this journey, and welcome to any newbies out there. Questions and comments are welcome!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)