Your first kettlebell work-out---great! AND yoga! And a brisk walk. Very nice. I'm so glad too that you are enjoying more positive exercise. You are really taking care of yourself. I admire your consistency with goals and process...also your positive attitude.

Enjoy!

Do you listen to music? I know you mentioned Indian music. What other king of music do you listen to?

Thank you, Elakti! ;}

It's a little funny, your comment about consistency, because that was a MAJOR issue with me prior to my "camp" foray!!!

Felt a little sore this morning, so at first thought of taking the day to rest - but that thought didn't last long! My body wanted to move, so then I thought of maybe just doing some Tai-Chi. Ha!!! Ended up in rapture after a nice long hour of yoga, doing about three different kriyas (sets); tomorrow I'll do them again but include my beloved Basic Spinal Energy series as well, which should bring me up to 90 mins - so excited about that! Must go walking later to ease out some residual soreness in my thighs...finish up a few things downstairs,tidy up my room a bit and finish my laundry & ironing. Still thoroughly enjoying my juicing...

Music...I'm very eclectic. World music, mostly, especailly traditional, and especially Indian, Asian, Arabic, African...and good fusions of them, too. Some Opera, Classical, I LOVE Jazz (especially ol' skool), Blues, Big Band, Gospel, some Rock and some R&B...I might be missin' a few but that covers the essentials, I think!!! What about you?

hello hello hello

hey, we're dynamos!

I love music, but don't listen to it. Why? I need a sound system. I love classical, first music love. Piano. Liszt, Chopin, Brahms. I think Brahms 2nd piano concerto is perfect. If I had 3 wishes I would have to use one to be able to play that piece myself.

Also, country music! Love love love Willie Nelson, something about his voice and the sincerity or fun of it. I used to like jazz a lot, too, especially Live when the audience becomes another instrument. I like just about every music except for rap or chaotic heavy rock.

gotta go, much to do, and dance about. Oh, if I had music to listen to....I LOVE to put on music and dance about the house, my "mock" ballet (better than mock chicken).

Love to you!

Am thinking about sundancer and hoping she is having good time. Looking forward to hearing from her, miss her. Miss you Sundancer!!! ))

Have a great day

Did a little dancing around in my room yesterday - was blasting the funky stuff while doing a spot of reorganising. Am about to engage in round two of that in a minute...I have a little boob box in my room and an Ipod shuffle that I got as a gift a couple years back - SO grateful for that little thing! Right now it's full of Jazz, World and New-Age music... oh! and some classical guitar, which makes my body hummmnnnn...

Totally enjoyed my 90 minute youga session this morning - wished it were longer!!! I'm starting to feel very protective about my time in the mornings, and will make sure that this time is held sacred even if it means that I have to get up WAY earlier than I already do to fit it all in (that means maybe 5:30 am or so)! I have a hot date with my kettlebell tomorrow, and I probably will do some yoga afterwards as well to stretch me out... I am seeing some improvement in my sleep; I'm actually ABLE to sleep deeply for a few hours, now, which is very promising (I've had bad insomnia for years)! Will keep tabs on that...

Going for a nice long walk again soon, and odds 'n' ends to do around the house...

Will post some more insights soon when I can carve out a decent amount of time, and can fit written words to what I've been feeling & learning! It would be so much easier if I could just speak telepathically sometimes - spitting the language out is challenging at times, to say the least!

You "spit out the language" very beautifully, you have such a lovely way of expressing yourself.

Good for you for wanting to get up early in order to do these things for yourself! You are so disciplined, it seems to me. Isn't it interesting combining the good eating with exercize?

This is definitely something I want to continue. The yoga is great. I may fast for a few days, in which case the yoga will have to be on hold. We'll see, remember I was talking about fasting previously this month?

Enjoy your food and your workouts and your good self! Am looking forward to your insights that you mentioned!

Elakti, interesting is not the word! *Cracks up* My body is has been on a cleansing cycle, it seems, for the past few days and I am becoming extremely well acquainted with the interior of the bathrooms here...oh boy!

Got up just after 5am (gasp!), got myself situated and pressed play at 5:30 ish: did my @ 40 minute kettlebell workout plus a 50-ish minute yoga session directly afterwards. I do that because it feels good to stretch out and consolidate all the results from the lifting, swinging, dead lifts, lunges, SQUATS...you work every part of your body, man! And I was so stunned today at the vast difference in strength and endurance from Friday's workout to this one!!!

I was literally jumping around throwing my arms around like a madman because I was so psyched up after the KB wkout...the first time, Friday, I got maybe halfway through most of the drills - I was very careful to pace myself since this was something new! - and there were a couple of them that I passed on because for one, I was too tired and winded to move for a couple minutes, and the co-ordination on the second one was very difficult for me to get a handle on...

TODAY, however, not only did I complete every drill, I was also able to keep up with the DVD instructors! I felt a good, say, 80 - 90% improvement in my breath, strength and endurance, and even easily completed the drill that was so hard for me to co-ordinate the first time. And the kicker??? At the end of the DVD is an extra drill - a challenge - for three minutes, performing a move that I've NEVER done before. For a beginner, especially, it could be a bit tricky, as you could really hurt yourself as you're swinging & snatching a lot of weight around...

I did it! Perfectly! Didn't hurt myself!!! And I've found my new favouritest exercise!!! ;} ;} ;} I AM SO EXCITED - I AM SO HOOKED!!! I LOVE this stuff...so grateful I found out about ketlebells and this great series of DVD workouts...heaven!!!!!

Some time afterwards took a dog walk...well, someone's gotta do it, and I love to walk! Plus it helps keep that lactic acid from building up in my legs, which is why I'm guessing I'm not getting as sore as I thought I would...

I can't express how freakin' happy joyful grateful blessed amazed blissed calm peaceful loved I feel right now... words are sorely inadequate...

Yes you sound totally psyched! Super! Am so glad you are so enthusiastic and so superlatively satisfied and impressed with the KB workouts! I looked it up again this a.m. briefly...can see the attraction, but I don't think it would be for me. I better stay with Bikram yoga, it is enough for me to handle right now! And, because of structural weaknesses I wouldn't be wise to do the KB thing. I believe the yoga is helping my structural issues.

Will check in tomorrow....enjoy your early morning workouts...wow, how disciplined! Enthusiasm!

Food Morning to you! How are you? ))))

I'm on 3rd day of fast, feeling pretty good! (surprisingly well, actually)
Another calm day of rest and reading. I may vacuum and do a few things. Yesterday took a long walk with doggie, with my good energy. Hope to hear from you today!

Love with figs and velvet apricots on top,

I am feeling fantastic, thank you; happy to know you are doing so well - way to go! You were right on target, then, about needing to fast for a while...

Ummnnn...long doggie (or alone!) walks are delicious, aren't they? Must go on one later, it's such a gorgeous day out...

>Love with figs and velvet apricots on top,

*grins broadly* Thanks! Got a bunch of Black Velvets downstairs ripening right now!

Yeah, yoga has adjusted / is adjusting some structural issues I've had as well. It's amazing how much stronger on a deeper level yoga makes you; one of the many reasons I love this stuff. My chiropracter at the time was the one who pushed me into it because of all the neck & back issues I had; she knew it would help immensely with adjusting and strengthening the bone and muscular structures (I also have mild scoliosis, and had two pinched nerves at the time). I'm naturally strong / gravitate towards working with weights but I think - scartch that - I know I'm doing so well with the KBs at this time BECAUSE of my yoga practice...

Took a day of rest exercisewise yesterday but did yoga again this morning. I think that in another week or so I'll up the KB work to 3 times week, I'm enjoying it so much...but not more than that! The muscles need some time to rest and recover; that's one of the reasons for the yoga on alternate days...

I'm also feeling pretty "indrawn" (thanks for the descrip., Elakti!) myself still...doing a lot of reading and contemplating... and feeling really good about myself and the course that I'm taking now. Being filled with gratitude and awareness. It's good to be alive...

Been feeling very contained and emotional lately, more than usual, especially in the evenings as the day winds down a bit. Couldn't put my finger on a specific thing, really. Been contemplating a lot about how and what I think about myself, how I 'talk' to myself - you really have to be mindful of that sort of thing...

But the most ... wondrous thing happened this morning about midway through my yoga session; tears began to well up in my eyes. I've never been one to cry during youga before, but I just rode the emotion and let it come without trying to analyze it to death... after I was finished I just sat quietly in a big armchair for a while and gently probed...

I have felt the yoga practice shifting and dislodging blocks in my physical and emotional (etc) bodies, and knew that a major shift was rumbling in other arenas as well...

For the past couple of days especially I could feel old baggage, issues with people, 'ties /connections' between myself and them literally breaking off and disappating, and my attitudes regarding situations where I gave my power over to others have been altering in a most radical manner. It's like... missing fragments of a puzzle being connected back again. It's quite a surreal feeling. And this morning...wave after wave of the most sublime love and COMPASSION for MYSELF just kept washig over me: I had to sit for a while and let the full realization of it hit me, it was so powerful and NEW. I've never felt compassion - or anything like what I did, for that matter - towards myself before. There are few times where I have ever experienced anything quite so exquisite and transcendant... I'm still in the process of absorbing and allowing, but I wanted to, in some small way, share this with you...I hope I have been clear enough, but words are woefully inadequate right now ;]

Have a blessed night...much love to you (all)...

Hi Soraya, I don't have time except to greet you when you appear...greetings!
Yes, the yoga tears! I know them well. It does seem to excavate all kinds of emotions.
Hope you're doing fine, and I'll post later too. )))))'s to ya!
I think we're both having a emotion-rich week end! I'm mono eating grapes today (oh, except I did eat the papaya that I stuck in refrigerator yesterday that has been ripening during my fasting days ---with the plea, "please wait for me"! It was good!

Hello dear!

Hello there yourself

Just finished polishing off a huge glass of green-carrot / V7 juice (you'd like this one, Elakti!) consisting of carrots-celery-tomato-cucumber-green/red bell pepper-greens(kale today)-parsley, and a big romaine-avo-fresh & sundried tomatoes-alfalfa sprout-black olive salad...YUMMNNN!!!

Hope you’re doing well, Sundancer!

Still very much internal-oriented but at least now I think I can speak / write in a fairly comprehendible manner now...at least for the time being!

Long story short...I've realized that I need to approach things from a soft, 'spirit' view point, rather than from a, competitive, quantitative 'egotistical' viewpoint; from a position of BEING rather than one of DOING. In this society especially the focus is always on doing... measuring accomplishments and the like; even in areas like exercise, for example - take yoga - we can focus so much on what we can or cannot do, and if we're not competing with others we're certainly doing so with our own expectations of what a pose should look like, instead of just meeting & accepting the movement from & at the point where we are at...Missing the forest for the trees, we are ;}...not seeing the beauty of the work being carried out in the process... ( I swear my insight into this this morning was laid out somewhat better than I'm presenting it now!) I've taken several steps back and am re-evaluating the motivations & whys of everything that I am doing, now, because of this realization. Funny thing is...now I'm beginning to feel truly free for the first time in my life...

Trying some new foods, too; latest trial being okra, and MAN is that stuff good in salads! I grew up on cooked okra, but never had it raw until now. Must grab a good set of the stuff tomorrow...

Tried to edit this part into the above, but it didn't work! ;(

...So much of our feeling of self-worth tends to come from what we have done / are able to do - comparing ourselves to others, held expectations & milestones - and not from positive feelings of who we intrinsically ARE; from externals rather than from the internal...

Oooo, this just hit me: I have been looking at a sad imitation of "who I am" - basically my mask, or collection of masks - and have mistakenly taken that on as my true identity; now I can see that that's the furthest thing from the truth!!!

You hit the nail on the head. Beautiful. And that is exactly what I am going through today, so much so that I can't even talk right now. It is so good to read what you wrote, it is so valuable.

Great insights, Soraya (once again)!!! See the other post for what I'm up to. Take care.

Been super busy and also coping with a lot of wild emotions and crazy, ungrounded energy these last few days, so haven't been online much...

I am very thankful for the whole process, however, and am truly a changed woman from what I had been 90-ish days ago!

Looking forward to seeing what the next 90 days has in store!

hello hello
I just saw your "too pure" thread. I think there is so much to go through on this rawfood path, and I think there is the aspect of such increased sensitivities. I don't have much time right now, but just wanted to say hi and it is an interesting---and undoubtedly frustrating---challenge. I wish you could get a copy of Matt Moarch's Raw Success and he is very much concerned (even obsessed) with this subject. He says, yes, there can be too much 'purity' of body ---especially for living in a place like N.Y. He says he had to move away from N.Y. and find a cleaner environment (somewhere on coast of CA, like Ojai or Santa Barbara, I can't recall). I don't know if I agree with everything he says, but he does have lots of good points, interesting questions (I'm not sure about all his answers). It is not expensive and he has a very quick mailing. Or, if you want to PM your address I will even send you my copy. In fact, I'd send you 2 or 3 books, if you like. I liked his first book as well, lots of interesting points. Much about colon cleansing and why a rawfooder needs to keep cleaning colon, even moreso than a non rawfooder. I agree with this (my main difference of belief from Natural Hygiene, which I normally go with). I'd like you to read these books and see what you gleam from them. Perhaps colon cleansing would even help you clear up some of this alergen/sensitivity business, I don't know. Maybe make you more sensitive, but I think it would be more positive and strengthening.....these are issues that get presented with this pathway and we all have to deal with them personally and find out what is best for us. Anyway, I thought your post was definitely a valuable inquiry. You could read these books, take time, and if you want, you could mail them back. How about it?

-moi--- and I'm quitting smoking today. I think, really and truly, that my rawfood path has created this high index of feeling the effects of smoking on my system.

Elakti Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> hello hello
> I just saw your "too pure" thread. I think there
> is so much to go through on this rawfood path, and
> I think there is the aspect of such increased
> sensitivities......these are
> issues that get presented with this pathway and we
> all have to deal with them personally and find out
> what is best for us. Anyway, I thought your post
> was definitely a valuable inquiry.

Thanks, Elakti; knew that you at least would understand what I was trying to go for with that thread. I think the issue should be talked about way more than it seems to be, and is, I think, a large part of the reason that a lot of individuals struggle with, and (may) leave raw to begin with...I just wanted to hit it from maybe another perspective, and raise the awareness that there are those of us out there who may have a lot more to deal with in this area than others. I'm glad now that I did put that out there, as I did get some interesting comments. I love to learn and to think - even if there's a viewpoint I may not swing with, I can still glean something worthwhile from the discourse...

I WILL take you up on your offer, dear; how sweet, thank you!!! ;} I'll PM you my snail mail addy in a minute...colon cleansing does make me more sensitive, actually! HA! But truth be told I'll take it anyday over how dyinglysicklyaweful I felt for the vast majority of my life. I just have my days, that's all, and yesterday was somewhat of a doozy...;} ;} ;}

***How funny, though; I actually got certified as a colon (cleansing) therapist years ago, but only as a means of learning in depth about the process, etc, and as a means of getting my own discount on all the poducts through a particular company, since being in school at the time, I had to really watch my finances...***

I also had Matt in the back of my head when I did that; I haven't read him but I do remember seeing something about his 'too clean' comments somewhere in the board's archives...

I think it only makes sense to think about issues like this, especially about the possibility of ending up in a hospital or being involved in some sort of emergency situation / natural disaster - what then, you know???

When I ended up in ICU a few years back I wasn't raw, but I wasn't going to eat that garbage they fed to CRITICAL people either!!! I got the kitchen to make me fresh salads every day, made anyone coming to see me bring in raw nuts, and devored the HUMONGOUS fruit basket that my church sent to me. My nurses all said that I ate better than they did! They also took me seriously when I told them about my chemical reactions, and only allowed the floors to be mopped with hot water only, for instance - I was so fortunate in that regard.


> -moi--- and I'm quitting smoking today. I
> think, really and truly, that my rawfood path has
> created this high index of feeling the effects of
> smoking on my system.

***Dances around***

***Sings*** You go, girl! You go, girl!

Look at me, calling you "girl", when you are older than I am!!! You have such a youthful spirit, though...

And SUNDANCER - I think of you always and wish you strngth and grace as you deal with the stress of your job and ESPECIALLY the stress of coping with the ill health of your Mom and Grandma...kisses, hugs and best wishes to you and yours...

Which book by N. Walker do you have? Do you have (and have you read?) Arnold Ehret's "Mucousless Diet System"? I have an extra copy. I ALWAYS go back to Ehret books! I am more and more amazed by him. When I really need to be redirected, refreshed---I reread Ehret. I appreciate them more and more as time goes by.

Have a great day.

Vegetarian Guide to Diet and Salad - just had to get up and run down two flights of stairs to find that out! ;-) And, no, I haven't read anything by Ehret...never heard of him before you mentioned him! *Bows head in quiet shame*

Yoo Hooooo-oooooo, Sorayaaaaaaaaaaa

HI!

I mailed the package/books today...will take about 7 days. I couldn't afford the quick mail, so it had to go "media", sorry. I would've sent priority if I'd been working. Went to People's to talk to the one dept mgr...yep, she hired already...had a good choice of people with experience. Damnola.

I should be freaked out high anxiety. I have almost a month's rent and about 18.00 on hand and some food. That's it.

Ok. Today is day 5 of no smoking. Today is day off from yoga. Maybe I will do a little at home.

JUst had lunch, salad and a little something else.

Take care.

Doing well, feeling great. Decided sometime ago that it was time to cut wayyyy down on my online time and put some of that energy and focus into continued manifestation in the "real" world

The time has come to finally put this blog to rest; it's definitely helped me to accomplish certain goals, including finding some fellow supporters along the way -especially Elakti and Sundancer, most recently. But I hate seeing when blogs just simply go "poof", so I wanted to officially take a last bow of sorts...

I'm at high raw now...sometimes I have all raw, sometimes I don't, and that's fine with me. I don't stress over it, I just try to be mindful about eating the best that I can. And I make these huge, supersized green & veggie juices, which help tremendously in keeping me satiated, awash in nutrients and on track, baby!!! ;}

Life is good now that I've reached a certain level of awareness that I believe to be a direct result of this diet, and I'm so grateful. I am so grateful for this site, this board, and all you wonderful people here!!!

All the best to you all; I wish you every success in all your endevors...

Much Love, Peace and Happiness!!!

Hey Soraya --Pop in once in a while, OK?