Yoga and Raw Inspiration

I had to giggle when I read about Raw Rob on the Funky Raw website via Steve Charter’s advert for his forthcoming permaculture course because it chimed so accurately with how I feel about the numerous raw blogs that are less about experience than sales figures ...

‘Funky Raw Rob did his 2 week raw permaculture course Ecoforest in September 2002 – it was where he first experienced the raw life, and look what’s happened to him since then! He’s taken on Funky Raw from Ecoforest co-founder Tish, creating a much loved network that presents a different face of the raw/mainly raw movement, not catered for by the commercial ‘glammed up’ world of rampant raw egos ... I know they all mean well and are lovely people really ;)’.

Apart from the ever-amazing raw recipe blog that is Golubka and the pictorial blasts of raw energy via Kate Magic Wood, I don’t really follow any other raw (or raw-ish) blogs regularly. The lovely Neeta, Suki, Poppy and Shel would appear to have given up the blogging ghost, or post almost as often as I do ;), and I love them for living their lives away from the computer screen, but I’d yet (until now) stumbled across any replacements which truly resonated with me and the way I live my life (as simply and quietly as possible). The same can be said of the majority of yoga blogs ...

Thankfully, this past summer, just when I needed a direct hit of inspiration, a slew (well, three or four) websites and blogs were discovered which hit the spot marked ‘inspiration’. I can’t believe I didn’t know about Theresa’s (of Kitchen Buddy) blog until now, which reminds me in spirit of Momo’s lovely blog, another of my favourites, just a straightforwardly simple (but beautifully so) account of daily activities, with a healthy, organic and eco emphasis. Jules Febre’s blog is about so much more than yoga, as is the closer-to-home website of Jane Kersel who writes vividly about what yoga means to her (and who has inspired me to check out the work of Hal and Sidra Stone). Add to this merry crew, the thoughtful and reflective blog by Elizabeth Rossa, the director of Shriyoga (pictured), see for example, this entry. I love the ethos and simplicity of Rossa’s NYC yoga studio run out of two home lofts (owned by students who didn’t want to give up their yoga when Shriyoga vacated their previous studio in the neighbourhood). You just show up and put your money in the box – no sales drive, no yoga hype – just practicing in a beautiful space. I think that’s what I seek (and have found) in these new-to-me blogs. As Theresa has written ‘vegan living takes time, education and practice’ and to read and connect with other people’s experiences is an inspiring part of that ever-evolving process of ‘showing up’ and leading as mindful and healthy a life as possible ...

Studio photograph © Shriyoga in New York City.

Liquid Feasting - Day 1

It’s time for a liquid feast. I have been chiefly inspired by the wild greens – particularly nettles and dandelions – that are everywhere at the moment. Nature's lights are very much 'on'.

I am following no programme, apart from my own intuition. However, I have been re-reading old issues of Funky Raw and feeling particularly inspired by articles which I probably only glossed over on initial reading. Ditto Elaine Bruce’s Living Foods for Radiant Health.

My intuition is guiding me towards a hemp milk feast. I have also been very struck by comments made by Norman Walker (in Become Younger) who recommends for longer fasts (admittedly fasts not feasts) a programme of liquids for 6 days and then light raw foods for 3 days ad infinitum (or for as long as you choose).

I have just emerged from a month-and-a-half of a ‘no sweetener or fruit’ campaign. It went surprisingly smoothly with few cravings, but my biggest insights were with the ‘supplementary’ or addendum measures I added:
1) To retrain myself to sleep on my side rather than my stomach.
2) To write down my dreams and try and make some sense of them each morning as soon as I wake up.
3) To stop drinking fluids with food.

My addendums this time (inspired by Elaine Bruce) are:
1) Body brush daily.
2) Try and get to bed earlier by following the TCM daily rhythm of bodily processes.
3) Conduct a daily eye bath using diluted wheatgrass juice.

I will write more about hemp, my insights from both my previous and current supplementary measures, and of course the feasting itself over the coming days.

A very important point is that I am not feasting without support. The very lovely Neeta is juicing with me, following her own intuitive pattern of juicing.

Day One went something like this:

Not the greatest start in the world. Woke up late. Period started. No time to juice. Ran out of the house on a spoonful of organic cold-pressed evening primrose oil. This tiny does of liquid sunshine seemed to work its magic and my mood improved.

Back home by 1.30pm. Lucky enough to live where nudging the back gate open reveals fields and trees: nettles and dandelions galore. Five minutes of picking and I’m ready to turn on the juicer: soaked organic hemp seeds, nettles and dandelions, organic English apples and celery.

Meant to dry brush – didn’t.
Meant to exercise – didn’t.
Meant to use a diluted wheatgrass eyewash. Got as far as locating some wheatgrass in the back of a cupboard.
Meant to go to bed earlier – this is do-able!

Whilst I’m trying to be intuitive with this feast, I am going to try to follow the dictum to imbibe approximately six pints of plant liquids daily. I am not looking to fast, I want to keep my metabolism strong and healthy, I am looking to feast! Managed only three pints today though ...

Web Messages

I am feeling wholly inspired by several web posts - both old and new. Kerri Smith’s fabulous Venn Diagram of the 06/03/09 on the comfort zone vs things that make life worthwhile and interesting, Jenne’s brilliant post on Wendell Berry and the handmade, and finally, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on the importance of supporting fairtrade ...

On the raw front, I have shifted from morning juice to something more substantial, what I call my ‘brain feast’ brekkie – loosely based on Raw Rob’s various concoctions. The difference in stabilizing my day has been incredible ...

Synchronicity #2

The synchronicity doesn't stop at #1. I was going to post on my love of compact raw booklets, starting with the recipe booklet by the Funky Raw gang (I'm guessing from viewing their website that the booklet has been newly republished with a colour cover). I have 'key moments' in my raw journey and the booklet's 'Real Risotto' (with cauliflower being the chief ingredient) was one of them. As I child, I was never a fan of this particular cruciferous veggie, and I insisted on a heavy cheese sauce to disguise the taste. Reading the recipe for 'Real Risotto' I just thought 'no thanks' and carried on turning the pages, but the word 'cauliflower' kept popping up in my brain. Finally, I succumbed. It's now one of my favourite autumn meals. Lo and behold, when thinking about posting re. this, a picture of a very similar dish 'Curried Cauliflower with Currants and Pine Nuts' (albeit cooked and using florets rather than reducing the cauliflower to rice-size particles) appeared in the aforementioned Great Chefs Cook Vegan in a series of recipes devised by Cat Cora ...

The booklet's introduction quotes one of the Funky Raw contributors, Steve Charter, 'Just like normal eating, most people tend to rely on a relatively small number of standard meals that they rotate and vary. So if you get a good set of basic raw food meals then you are more than half way there'. It sounds so simple and obvious but as we all know sometimes things are easy to read but harder to put into practice. Charter's advice is so worth it though. Keep experimenting until you have about a fortnight's worth of recipes that you adore. Raw became infinitely easier when I worked this out for myself! The booklet itself might be small, but it's crammed with tried and tested recipes for daily use. The cover states that this is Volume I, so I hope Volume II appears soon ...