Legend: BLUE-open, RED-closed, GREEN-by donation
Click here to view the accidental yogist's map of los angeles yoga studios in a full-size page

Monday, March 10, 2014

day 10 - just your typical day at the office

i'm convinced that lack of sleep causes weight gain.

i hopped on the scale this morning and found, to my horror, that i had GAINED half a pound! how that happened -- considering how i hardly ate the day before -- i have no clue, but i'm sure it has something to do with water retention or something.

WHATEVER.

anyway, i was back to the usual cleanse schedule with the detox drink, the tonics, the supplements, the meals. nothing too out of the ordinary, which is why all i'm going to do is post the photo i took before the late night yoga class i took with dan ward at power yoga west. (i was so busy trying to get dan in the frame that i didn't notice the yogini setting up her mat in the foreground. my apologies.)



the class was so scrumptious that i fell asleep right after i had dinner, totally forgetting to take my end-of-the-day colon tonic. i somehow woke up many hours later, took the missing dose, then went back to sleep.

ho-hum.

* * * * * * * *

today's yoga class: a power yoga class with dan ward at power yoga west

click here for yesterday's post

Sunday, March 09, 2014

day 9 - one crazy weekend, part 2

as if saturday's schedule wasn't the most conducive to a set feeding/tonifying/detoxing schedule, sunday's was even less so.

it started at midnight, right after i left jai uttal's kirtan at bhakti yoga shala, a room that was so packed that i had to stand during his entire performance. while chanting and clapping along. and in some cases, dancing when i had room to move. so much for my plan to catch some rest before pulling an all-nighter.

i biked a short block to the metro 4 bus (aka the long slow crawl up santa monica blvd), put my bike on the rack, and found a seat up front. it was late at night, so i figured it would be nice and quiet and i'd be able to catch a quick nap before reaching my destination an hour later. but it wasn't to be; it seemed like every worker from every store and restaurant was taking that same bus to get home. we stopped at every bus stop. and each time, the interior lights would turn on full blast, rousing me from the seconds of sleep i happened to fall into. then there was the crazy guy who boarded the bus across the aisle from me and kept yammering on about jesus and god and who knows what. sigh.

i reached silverlake at 1am, quickly found a friend who had arrived shortly after i did, and next thing we knew, it was 3am, thanks to our iphone clocks springing forward for daylight saving time. i was tempted to run to the mickey D's across the street for an iced coffee to rouse me from my stupor, but alas, caffeine is a no-no while i was on my cleanse. i settled for the last two date cakes i had brought along with me, just in case something like this happened.

more friends showed up, and by 4am, we were raring to take off on the wild and crazy bike ride known as the marathon crash race, rechristened the marathon crash ride (that's me on the left in the photo with the beverly hills sign), thanks to a last-minute kibosh by the city officials. someone shouted out "rolling!" and we were off.

i was sailing along quite nicely along a downhill stretch of santa monica blvd in century city, trying to catch up with one of my hardcore biker friends, and right when i shifted to a higher gear, my chain decided to slip off one of the cogs on the back wheel. luckily, i was riding with experienced cyclists; they spotted my predicament and moved aside so i could pull over.

other friends rode by, asking if i was ok, and i said i was, or at least i thought i was.

as it turned out, my chain got all twisted-up on itself, bending some of the links in the process. in other words, it popped off every time i tried to turn the crank. just then, another cyclist stopped to save the damsel in distress -- namely, me. he straightened out the links as best he could, then offered to follow me just in case it didn't work. but it did. and by the time we reached the end of the ride, he was nowhere to be found. and i didn't even get a chance to get his name nor thank him properly :(

he definitely earned himself some karma points in bicycle heaven. and loads of gratitude from me.

6am. it was pitch dark, my bike was squeaking up a storm, i was hungry and tired. now what? the sane person would've gone home and called it a day. or a night. but noooo, i still had more fun and games planned. i rode my crippled bike a mile and a half to the hotel where my running group had established its headquarters on marathon day, where i found my first meal of the day: an orange and a banana. i also found a row of chairs to snooze on, but before i could find myself in restful REM sleep, a fellow runner tapped me on the shoulder. sorry to wake you up so soon, she said, but it's time to go. we'd planned to walk to one of our aid stations along the marathon route so that we could both run with people we knew to the finish line.

it was a 4-mile walk to our destination in brentwood. i was quickly losing steam from lack of sleep and hunger. just then, nykki, my reset self cleanse coach, sent a text message, asking how i was holding up (she knew about my insane plan for the day). i told her i was beyond hungry and needed to find something quickly. she told me to get a juice somewhere, and in a strange "you must be reading my mind" coincidence, i just happened to be walking right past the pressed juicery store. voila!


speeding up the story, we got to the aid station but i didn't end up running with my friend because i was way past zombiefied. i had a friend drive me back to the hotel where i'd left my bike. before leaving, i treated myself to a massage from one of the skilled therapists, headed straight for the bike shop to get my chain fixed, then home for my first real meal of the day and a much-delayed snooze. then dinner. then lights out for the night.

by the way, the detox drink and liver/colon tonics for the cleanse were eventually taken sometime after i got home. hopefully i took them in the right order because i was half-asleep when i did.

* * * * * * * *

today's yoga class: savasana at home. twice.

click here for yesterday's post

Saturday, March 08, 2014

day 8 - one crazy weekend, part 1

unlike weekdays, where i know exactly where i'll be and what i'll be doing and at what time, my weekends are usually pretty spontaneous. which makes it really hard to follow a cleanse with a set feeding schedule, and even harder to bring along bottles of tonics and bags of powders that have to be mixed into drinks and consumed an hour before those meals that are hard to plan for.

such was this weekend, where i barely made it to yogaglo in time for tara judelle's 10am yoga class, then had to dash to norwalk for the holi festival of colors at 1pm, then made a pit stop at home to catch some rest before heading out to bhakti yoga shala for kirtan with jai uttal at 9pm. i'd just have to wing the what/when/where of my meals for the day and hope that i'd be able to eat/drink everything i was supposed to and none of what i wasn't.

i knew that the food at the holi festival was going to be vegetarian, at a minimum, so i planned on lunching on some veggies and rice, and maybe even some dal. but nooo... the line at the krishna's kitchen booth was way too long (and i was way past hungry), so i chose to go to the govinda's booth instead. with my only choices being pizza or a vegan enchilada and beans plate, i had to go with the latter, even if i had a feeling that something in it was probably something i shouldn't have eaten. like the tortilla used to make the enchilada, for example. but i was starving, dammit, and i just had to eat SOMETHING. at least it was closer to what i needed to eat than a cupcake from the cupcake truck (which had a much shorter line, i should add).

i spent the rest of my time at the festival either behind the stage, schmoozing with the musicians, on the stage, taking photos of the bands and the crowd, or roaming the grounds, checking out the vendor booths for good deals on merch. the music was high-spirited and the audience was loving it all, especially when it came time to throw the colored powder up in the air! i managed to catch lokah bhakti dance, larisa stow & shakti tribe, DJ drez, and the kirtaniyas perform; i was a bit bummed that i had to leave before the headliner, MC yogi, took the stage.


on my way out, the line at krishna's kitchen had shortened considerably, so i ordered a plate with veg curry, rice, and a samosa and took it home for dinner.

and no, i didn't eat the fried dough covering the samosa. i ate just the peas and potato filling, which was just as well because i was stuffed by the time i was done.

once i was fed, showered (to wash off all the colored powder), and rested, i hopped on my bike and headed  to the kirtan with jai uttal. which should've ended my night, but no, there was more to come...

* * * * * * * *

today's yoga class: a level 2/3 backbend practice with tara judelle at yogaglo

click here for yesterday's post

Friday, March 07, 2014

day 7 - a test of self control

if you ever plan to go on a cleanse, make sure you check your calendar to see what's coming up before you do.

when i'd planned mine, i thought i'd picked the perfect time frame. the start date, march 1st was a new moon, "a magical time of beginnings, when you can recharge goals or set new ones." and the end date, march 17th is st. paddy's day, and we know what that's all about. not that i'm a big boozer, but it seemed a festive way to mark the end of a cleanse.

perfect, right?

not quite, because i'd forgotten that the natural products expo west was scheduled right smack in the middle of my two-week cleanse.

try showing up at a the largest food sample expo in town while you're on a meat-free, dairy-free, wheat-free, sugar-free diet. but then again, with the current food manufacturers trying to win attention from those on vegan, gluten-free, low-fat, paleo, and diabetic diets, i was hoping that i'd be able to get my fill of tastings, somehow.

but what i found was that most food items had at least one item i needed to avoid, whether it was soy, flour, eggs, cane sugar, tea, coffee, or chocolate. (i later found out that i was supposed to avoid honey and agave, too. which i didn't. eek.)

i did manage to convince some vendors to give me full-sized packages of the food they were sampling -- especially the chocolate! -- so i could try them once my cleanse was over. and many of them were nice enough to oblige. so i now have a large tote bag full of chips and crackers and chocolate that will be hidden away until after st. paddy's day. at least these snacks are of the supposedly healthy variety :)


while at the expo, i was on a quest to find guests for next week's yoga chat show. my criteria: vendors who sold food that i could eat while on my cleanse and who had an inspirational story to tell -- whether it was about how their company came to be or how they were being socially and/or environmentally conscious in the way they ran their business. since i was at the expo for only three hours (i totally blame its distance from my home plus another event i had to get to later that evening), i concentrated my attention on the booths at the NEXT pavilion that featured emerging brands. i found three, with one runner-up. i've reached out to them and will reveal the show guests next week.

after the expo, i dashed back to downtown LA and attended a classical music performance at the disney concert hall (the iconic building that seems to show up in every ad filmed in LA). we barely had time for a quick dinner before the show; i had to pass on the entrees, soups, sandwiches, and prepared salads and settle for a simple salad from the salad bar.

we then moved on to urth caffe in the arts district for a late-night herbal tea. to my dismay, there wasn't a single item on the dessert menu that worked with my restrictive diet, which drove me nuts. speaking of nuts, i raided my friend's cupboard later that evening and polished off the last of his cashews... just in time, i should add, because i was starting to get cranky from having to skip dessert. when i later found myself nibbling on a package of dates, i decided to quit while i was ahead and went home before date night turned into "honey, i ate all your dates" night!

* * * * * * * *

today's yoga class: just saying 'no' as many times as i did today should easily be considered a practice of mindfulness :)

click here for yesterday's post

Thursday, March 06, 2014

day 6 - needing to remember not to forget

according to my cleanse schedule, this was the day detoxification was to start in earnest. i was supposed to start my daily am detox drink regimen when i woke up this morning -- but i didn't because i forgot. i only realized my omission when i got to work and checked the packet paperwork that nikki gave me at the start of the cleanse. oops. needless to say, all the powders and measuring spoons are now nicely laid out on my kitchen counter, ready for tomorrow's dose...

as for today, for breakfast, i had the bottle of suja juice i'd bought two days earlier at whole foods (cold-pressed apple, celery, cucumber, spinach, collard greens, kale, lemon, and ginger juices). and because i wanted to chew on something, too, i ate one of the date bars (made from dates, shredded coconut, and almonds) i'd picked up at the farmers market this past saturday. i started out with 18 date bars and have been slowly whittling them down to just 3. and now, minus the one i ate this morning leaves me with two. they've been my go-to whenever i've had a munchie craving; i'm beginning to worry that i'll eat the last one before i get back to the market to buy more!


for lunch, tired of packing the same salad from home, i ventured into the fast food salad world and popped by subway to get their chopped salad. i've had it a few times before, but each of those times i'd ordered it with a veggie patty and cheese. this time, because soy and dairy are on the "AVOID" list, i asked the server to load it up with every vegetable they had, easy lettuce, extra spinach, please. it was palatable, plus i had some left over for later.

for dinner, i picked up a freshly-made vegetable sushi roll at yen sushi. it was a straightforward affair with nori, rice, carrot, avocado, cucumber, and wakame (i asked for gobo -- burdock -- but somehow got the seaweed instead). there was a sesame oil dressing that came with it, but since i wasn't exactly sure what its ingredients were, i drizzled just a bit of it on the roll to give it some flavor. that and my leftover salad were perfect for filling my belly before taking a late night yoga class. no need to panic; it was a gentle restorative class in a slightly heated room at corepower yoga in brentwood. no inversions, no crazy twists, no crazy binds. my stomach was safe.

tomorrow is friday, the start of my weekend. i'll be up and about, flitting about between anaheim (the natural products expo) and downtown (a show at the disney concert hall). i have no idea how i'll be fitting in all the tonics, drinks, supplements, and meals on my list for that day; all i know is that i'll have to carry them around with me until the right time presents itself. maybe i should set an alarm so i don't forget? brilliant idea!

* * * * * * * *

today's yoga class: a corerestore class with alex artymiak at corepower yoga wilshire

click here for yesterday's post