My Last Post to Make You Smile :)

HARD YOGA EXERCISE DONE BY AN INDIAN YOGA MASTER



SAME EXERCISE DONE BY A RUSSIAN PERSON

I am taking this Peace of Mind with me to NYC

Last Evening at the Ashram...

So, my crusade is almost over... It's my last night at the Shivananda Ashram... I am really happy I went through this experience! I am really grateful for being able to fast for the full 5 days and eating raw for 6 days, I feel great! Also I am grateful for this Ashram experience. It's not a typical yoga retreat with luxury accommodations and super-friendly customer service, It's a "surviver" (half of the people leave in tents, we have to share bathroom and we don't always have hot water...) style retreat. So, it made us appreciate all we have and at the same time proves that you can be so happy without all that material stuff. I am really grateful for meeting so many wonderful like-minded people and making friends. I met Vera, Russian girl I met long time ago in Brooklyn, after so many years we met here, in the Ashram. I met one lady from East Village (my neighbor), she is a raw-vegan, so finally I'll have a company for vegan lunches and brunches :)
It's so great, I can sit outside under the palm tree, see the ocean, and write this blog :)
By the way, one of our yoga instructors is super-hot! I'll definitely come back!!! ;)

Our Detox Guru Manu

Manu is so knowledgeable in Nutrition and Healthy life style, I was pleasantly surprised ! Manu Dawson is a nutritional consultant of the Integral Yoga Natural Apothecary in New York. He is a dynamic teacher of yogic diet and nutrition and a workshop leader on topics of cleansing, fasting, and detoxification. For the last few years he has successfully and safely guided many guests of the Yoga Retreat through this program of detoxification.

Our Detox Guru Manu

Manu is so knowledgeable in Nutrition and Healthy life style, I was pleasantly surprised ! Manu Dawson is a nutritional consultant of the Integral Yoga Natural Apothecary in New York. He is a dynamic teacher of yogic diet and nutrition and a workshop leader on topics of cleansing, fasting, and detoxification. For the last few years he has successfully and safely guided many guests of the Yoga Retreat through this program of detoxification.

Our Lunch

Breaking the Fast

This is my Breakfast (by the way, word Breakfast comes from 2 words Break and Fast, so it's recommended to have only natural products in the morning) : Chlorella, green tea, apple sauce, and soaked almonds.




This morning we broke the Fast with a delicious cinnamon apple sauce and soaked almonds... Mmmmm... Delicious.... :)

Aurvedic Astrology

I went today to see the Priest for an Aurvedic Astrology reading! I've got a lot of goooooooooood information, but I am so happy, he said by the age of 32 I'm gonna be a Doc!!! :)

Alen, BIG BIG Thank YOU!!! :)

Alen, I need a ride... please :)

Alen thanks for reading my blog, and if u could pick me up from JFK it would be great!!!
Miss u!!!
ps we need to go for a nice dinner this weekend, i miss food :)

Sauna Day :)

Today we went to the luxury hotel next to our Ashram to a beautiful Spa :) All our group went there :) Oh, it was tough, cause food smell was all over .... But the Sauna was amazing!!!

6-th Day of my Reatreat

Weather is unbelievable! I enjoy the beach and clear-blue ocean :)
The third day of fast is going great, of course I feel low-energy, but since I dont have to do anything, I m fine!

Half way done!!!

Yey!!! Half way done!!!! Only 5 days left!!!

Evening Concert

In the Evening we had an Amazing concert in our Temple! The singer has an Angel's voice...Karnamitra Dasi

Karnamrita Dasi is an amazingly talented musician and singer who has delighted audiences around the world. She received training in Indian classical vocals in Vrindavan and has been singing bhajans and kirtan since childhood. She is now traveling around the USA sharing from her album Dasi: Prayers for Women.
www.karnamrita.com

Our Food...

He he, I was expecting at least some diluted juice for the dinner, but we got some disgusting chlorella, green tea, and a veg. broth (it tasted so delicious tonight.... yami :)

Message for Shvet!!!

Dear Shvet, I LIKE IT HERE! ha ha

Detox and Fast!!!

First day of fast!!!
I am feeling great, experiencing some fatigue this afternoon, by the evening feeling much better again.
We are drinking some crazy mixtures... First off, all the juices are diluted 50/50 with water, the juices are following:
-carrot/ginger (I can't stand taste of ginger :(
-beets/kale
-apple/ginger
- and madatory mixture of chlorella (which is at least tasteless, not as bad as spirulina)

So, today I tried my last attempt to take a 4 pm class, but could not manage it, so I left and did my practice on my own.
Most of the time I spend either walking or sleeping on the beach, so I've got some color now :)

Last Supper ...

I took a 4 pm yoga class, which was ridiculously slow, we had abot 7 postures during the 2-hour class!!! I think Im gonna do my practice on my own to stay in shape and connected with my body.
Today at 6 pm we had our last supper... Last salad and plenty of carrot juice and green tea. I eat a loooooooooooot, enough for the next 5 days of fasting :) Actually , I am feeling pretty energized this afternoon and ready to fast!!!
Days are going fast, a lot of different activities around here. Of course beach is my favorite one!!!

Yoga Teacher Training

These guys are up at 5;30 am, doing their meditation at 6 am at the Temple (Thank God not under my window :) Then they have a class and wake me up every morning at 7:45 with Om. Every time i go by, they are studying.... I am so lucky I had my Yoga teacher training stretched for 4 month, because it looks hard to do all that studying in 3 weeks. Their Teacher looks so boring also... He speaks so monotonous... I would fall asleep right there...

More about day 3

My friend Vera from NJ

I went for a walk by the beach...

Ha ha, by the ashram we have to wear a very low-profile cloth, closed shoulders and knees... But if go by the nearest hotel, you can find some exposureeeeee

My Third Day

OK, I woke up at 7:45 by sound Ommmmmmmmmm
I did not go for my Yoga class, I went to the beach instead... I did not feel like chanting or something like that, so I grabbed my iPod with blasting hard-core house music and went for jogging :)
On the way back I went for a swim, on the way back I met my strict Yoga teacher of course... She was like: "What happened , I missed you in my class"... Yeah, sure!
By the way, I met here one girl from NJ Lena, I knew her from long ago, so it's kinda nice to have buddy to hang out. :)

At the class

Ok, I am sitting at my class and writing this blog...
So, After the beach yesterday I attend a 4 pm yoga class, which was the same weird-Shivananda style, but it was right on the beach, which was the advantage of it.
At 6 pm we had our salad-dinner. Then I was trying to write my blog, but we had no Internet again.
At 7:30-- Satasang (meditation + mantras singing) -- but I did not go, I fell asleep :)))

So, I am at the class right now, this is our teacher Manu, he is from NYc and he is our Detox Master.

My second Day

OK, I'm being a bad student...
On our schedule we have a Sastsang at 6 am, but sorry, I did not even try to wake up!
Sound of Om woke me up at 7;45, Yoga Teacher Training is right behind my window, so they work as an alarm for me. I made it to a 8-10 yoga class... I must say this is horrible! Shivananda has its own style of yoga... You start in Savasana, then you do some breathing for about 20 min and go back to Savasana... Then you do one posture and go back to SAVASANA!!!!! Mama Mia, out of 2 hr- Yoga class we spend 1 hr in Savasana!!!! They are also very religious and sing a lot of Mantras and some other stuff....
So, after the class at 10 am we had our breakfast... Diluted juice and a green salad (no nuts anymore!!! :( I am kinda in a low-energy state already, cuz thiese salads are no more than 100 calories each and detox kikked in already, so my body is using all the prana (life energy) to detoxify.
at 11 am everybody has to attend a Karma Yoga class (You voluntarily have to do some chores for the Ashram), but lucky us, we attend a Health and Detox class, which is very interesting.
BEACH TIme-- Yay!!!!!!! I am an ADDICT... to the beach, I could not get enough.... Bahamas are amazing, nothing to compare to... Water is so clear blue... You can see your toes :)
OK , its 11 am, I gotta run to my detox class, then I ll continue!!!!!!!!!!

Love ya all!!!
xoxoxox

Around the Ashram