5 Day All Raw Juice Cleanse - Day 1

Day 1  A few brave souls and I (and by brave I mean crazy) decided to take on a 5 day all raw juice challenge. Starting today, for five days (end of day Friday), the four of us are going to be consuming a variety of juice and juice-type beverages to help us kick-start our health. It’s supposed to be a cleanse and give me tons of energy. Oh and did I mention everyone who has gone on this cleanse has lost about 10 pounds. Truth be told, I will magically have a ton of energy if I lose 10 pounds! So we decided to give it a go and I will chronicle the roller coaster ride that this journey will bring.

Today has been tough but doable. I am super tired (since we have to cut caffeine) and I do miss the taste of say toast and eggs but nothing crazy if I don’t think about the food too much. Lunch time was tough as I could smell the delicious aroma of various lunches wafting through the air and finding its way to my nostrils. From chicken and fries to ginger beef and green curry, my stomach growled and my mouth salivated. But all I could do was reach for my Cashew and Vanilla Mylk and chug a swig of chalky, white liquid.

No really, it hasn’t been that bad. Apparently day 2 and day 3 are supposed to be the worst. I will tell you first hand if that is the case.

Ashtanga Yoga - The real deal

Ashtanga Yoga – Low Heat

I’ve taken this class for 3 weeks now and I am slightly addicted to it. It’s a low heat class which I prefer over the intensity of the real hot yoga class and it is an hour and 15 minutes which makes me feel like each workout is worth it.

Since I’m a checklist kind of girl there are a few good and bad things on my Journey to Yoga checklist:

Good :

Increased vocabulary (chaturanga, vinyassa, drishti) which makes me feel not as alien when the instructor starts talking

Always break out in a sweat

Light is dim (makes me more willing to try poses without inciting too much laughter)

I haven’t passed out yet

Noticed improvement in my abilities from first class to now, which is encouraging.

Bad:

I can’t do ANY of the intermediate or advanced moves. I’m as basic as they allow it to be, probably to the point of embarrassment

My right wrist hurts…probably one too many chaturangas (notice how I aptly put that into my writing)

After one of these classes I can’t exercise for the next 48 hours as I’m sore and not very mobile

In conclusion, I still suck but I really enjoy it. Is that even possible?

 

 

 

The 5 things to not do before a hot yoga class

The 5 things to NOT do for a successful Yoga workout.

I had a terrible session at Yoga last night. A 2 out of 10 at best. Only because I promised myself that I’d be honest I will confess all of the idiotic things I did and confirm that they are tried and tested measures to not take to ensure you have a successful workout. Here is what NOT to do:

1.

Don't eat a fat slice of chocolate cake at 2p.m. prior to your workout…Someone dropped off a piece of rich and decadent chocolate cake on my desk as it was his last day. I gladly accepted and it satiated my craving. You can imagine how I felt in the hot yoga class.

2.

If you want low heat yoga, find out prior to signing up for the class.  I didn’t. This class was in fact a super-hot yoga class which made my nauseous feeling even more pronounced

3.

Upon arrival at hot yoga class, do not go in earlier than necessary and wait for the class to start. When I got to the class and realised it was not low heat, I thought that since I got there 15 minutes early that I should go into the class and do my Sivasana for an extra long time whereby allowing my body to acclimatize to the temperature. Bad Idea! It made my 1 hour hot class 1hr and 15 minutes and I just about passed out a few times.

4.

Don’t wear a t-shirt or in my case a ¾ length sport top. Tank tops are the best in this situation

5.

Don’t have a vodka-soda in between work and the yoga studio if you’ve got 30 minutes to spare. I don’t actually know what you could do, but having a drink with a co-worker is probably not the best way to spend that block of time.

There. I wrote it. On the internet forever. But at least I went. So if you are hesitating to go to a workout because you have done one or some of the above, go anyways, because in a worst-case scenario, you will survive it J

The Yoga Challenge

I just signed up for a 3 month membership at a Hot Yoga Studio near my house.

I am still trying to make an honest go of the GLENJAV daily routine. Remember GLENJAV from my last entry? Goal Setting, Learning, EXERCISE, Nutrition, Journaling, Affirming, Visualizing.

So, at an attempt to have Exercise show up more frequently, I took this on to help get myself in gear.

One of the great things about Yoga, much like most forms of exercise, but particularly in Yoga, is that it serves as triple duty.  Not just as physical exercise but as mental and spiritual exercise as well. I’m by no means expecting to attain nirvana with any of these classes. I am a realist. But I’ve only been to a couple of classes so far and already I’m scanning the weekly schedule and trying to see how soon I can go back. And, this studio offers a variety of classes, which makes it easier to try out different types of yoga to see which fits best. There’s Hatha Yoga and Yoga Pilates. There’s Ashtanga and Vinyassa. No clue what all these different classes are but u can rest assured that I will try them all out and report back!

It’s 1 to 1.5 hours of physically pushing yourself, being very conscious about your breathing and being in a very quiet and peaceful environment without saying a word. I’m finding it very therapeutic. Very unlike my gym sessions with music blaring, 5 tv stations on 10 suspended tv’s, and fitness instructors with fat jugs of vegetable juice touting the benefits of spirulina and kale.

So join me as I embark on yet another journey. My journey into the world of breathing through your nose, heated rooms, downward dogs and a new vocabulary of words that remind of the my grandmother in Calcutta re-telling the stories of the Bhagvad Gita, Mahabaharatha and  The Ramayan.

Selling 'Cool'.

Apples, Blackberries and Cups, Oh my!

 

 

I stumbled across something new this week. I was talking with my husband about how Quizno’s has filed for Bankruptcy protection, right after we drove across a Second Cup at a plaza. Raj mentioned that Second Cup was supposedly going through this big re-structure to change their image and try to become somewhat profitable. This conversation made me come to the conclusion after time and time of seeing examples surface that it’s more important to have a simple idea that can be executed with perfection rather than a fantastic idea with poor execution… If you want to be successful.

Look at Apple vs. Blackberry. Not the fruit (ha ha). If you really dissect Blackberry, the company’s ideas in and of themselves are very sophisticated and really put together by smart minds. A lot of their intel and technological advancements are top of the line. I’m not a tech person and I won’t pretend to be one but I’ve spoken to quite a few of them who all agree that Blackberry is far superior to any of its competitors. The problem is their execution. They weren’t able to translate their greatness to the masses and they were cocky about having to do this.

The brilliance of Apple however is that it took similar technology which is not as good as Blackberry’s (I’m sure all the tech giants will argue that they came up with all the ideas first…it’s irrelevant for this purpose) and it just dumbed it down so the masses could enjoy it. The execution of their products (even though the machines are supposedly not as ‘intelligent’ as others) made it so intuitive that anybody including my 15 month old son can use it!

Even I was loyal to my Blackberry for many years. I even got the Playbook and bought stocks in RIM. I tethered my phone to my Playbook and thought I was set. Then the silly Playbook would act up and not respond properly to the touch screen among other problems. I just got annoyed with it and gave it away. Then I got the IPad 4 Christmases ago. It was simple and easy to carry around. It hasn’t broken down even once. It does what you want it to do. We have taken it to over 5 countries in 3 different continents and it is still rock solid.

At the end of the day, Starbucks and Apple are cool. Second Cup and Blackberry are not. Making your idea or product cool is all about execution.

So let’s take this little tidbit of info and apply it to ourselves. Let’s not worry about coming up with the next big grandiose idea/fad/diet/trend.

Let’s focus on simple ideas and execute them flawlessly.

4 out of 7 ain't bad.

A Slice of Life from Robin Sharma

 

 

It’s 11:17 p.m. and I lose an hour tonight as we ‘spring forward’ for daylight savings. I really should be sleeping but instead I’m trying to stay up and ‘digest’ my dinner which I ate too late and feel guilty about sleeping so soon after eating. Also, I haven’t written on this blog since December and even though I’m the only regular on this blog I feel like I must do this as often as possible because I always feel better after having written something. Anything.

I just finished reading a book. The latest Robin Sharma book. It was a good read and a lot of good tips, some of which I’ve read in his previous books and many tips I’ve held onto. In this particular one, towards the end he describes 7 fundamentals for personal leadership. I can’t possibly do all 7 every day. I’d go nuts. But I figure if I do at least 3-4 each day then I’m heading in the right direction. Strive for a 4/7. Not as easy as you’d think. Let me explain.

The 7 Fundamentals I’ve made into a nonsensical acronym: GLENJAV so I can remind myself daily of what to do when I have a bit of time to myself and don’t want to waste it. Say it with me, GLENJAV. Some are self-explanatory and others need little explanation.

Goal Setting: offers you a North Star in times of adversity

Learning: Read biographies/stories that inspire and teach. Listen to books in the car/train

Exercise:

Nutrition:

Journaling: Good to keep a record of your life. Gratitude. Diary.

Affirmation: Use words of affirmation and encouragement on yourself. Reset your mind.

Visualization: Picture realising your goals and playing at your best.

The first step is to remind yourself every day what GLENJAV stands for. Then think about which ones you can fit in. You must fit in 3-4. The catch however is that if you do something negative towards one of the fundamentals, that’s a -1. For example, today I exercised (1), did some visualization (1),and did some reading (1). But then I ate really poorly (-1). So if do some writing/journaling (this blog for example), I’m back to 3 points and although not the ideal 4/7, it’s better than a 2.

The beauty is that these fundamentals fit perfectly with my values from the last entry and in fact if I do 4/7 of these each day I’m acting in tandem with my values and that makes me even happier.

We all deserve happier.

Try an exercise with me for 2014

Looking ahead to 2014…let's do it together!

And just like that, Christmas is over and we wait for New Year’s Eve and what we all hope to be an excellent year next year.(fingers and toes crossed)

I could try to re-cap 2013, the ups and downs and in between’s, but I’d rather just look ahead. 

One way that works for me is to re-think about my top 5 values. A few books I've read (Smart Couples Finish Rich/ The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) discuss this and I think it is the perfect way to start every year, because I find if we make our decisions that are in-sync with our values, we will never be unhappy or empty or have that terrible feeling in the pit of your stomach when something doesn't feel right.

Figuring out your top 5 values is not easy, but imperative. And you don’t have to have 5. Could be 3, could be 4. This task is not easy to do and sometimes they change year over year. I do and re-vamp my value circle every year. They don’t change too much but certain things start melding together, and other things become more or less of a priority as your family composition changes and different things take up more of your attention. So I gave this part a lot of thought and have come up with my five most important values:

Health

Family/Marriage

Freedom/Career

Happiness

Personal Growth

I force Raj to do the same as well because it’s important that one partner knows what the other deems important. It helps when you want support for something and also tells you where you can offer support to your partner when they need it.

I urge you to do this yourself. You will be surprised how much stronger your conviction will be in making certain decisions once you have hammered out your 4-5 values. Saying ‘no’ to the extra slice of cheesecake (health) to reading the same princess story for the fifth time to your toddler (family) won’t be difficult because your values is what makes you and if you want to be focused on you, doing certain things will become quite automatic....most of the times...well more often than if you didn't explicitly state to yourself what they are.

Now, if you’re struggling with what is a value…then I can suggest another exercise. This one comes directly from the 7 Habits book. Picture yourself at your own funeral. You can see and hear everything going on but clearly no one can see/hear you. Now picture your loved ones going to the front and saying a few words about you. What would you want them to say? Distill the stories/lessons into one or two words and this is what your values are. Odds are they aren't words like ‘money’ or ‘rich’ or ‘a hot body’ but more along the lines of, ‘self-made person’, ‘sent flowers every mother’s day’, ‘drove me to every 6 a.m. Saturday practice’, ‘could make anyone laugh’. These things can then be translated into values. Security. Family. Marriage. Freedom. Creativity. Personal Growth. Fun. Adventure.

The list is exhaustive and then picking 5 becomes even tougher. So let’s get to it. Then we can figure out how we get our action plan together to make sure we work towards our values each and every day.