It’s day 6 of the mung beans & rice cleanse (see previous post) and I am still on it – that’s the good news. And I’m loving the hot sauce!!
Yesterday my husband had pasta and all I could smell was the cheese melting on it, and THEN he had some rocky road given by a neighbour! So I was forced to give him a big kiss to soak up some of that indirectly – and he has a big beard where there could be some leftovers lurking.
Honestly, it’s been OK, there have been no tears and only a bit of tetchiness – because I know it’s my choice to do this, and that I am feeling the benefits of eating food that actually nourishes me rather than destroys me.
But there has been a sense of emptiness that the food has not been able to fill and that is when I have had the opportunity to feel and deal with the feelings that are coming up e.g. the fear of not being liked by someone, the feeling I’ve done something wrong, or just feeling bored. These things that I can not shove down with a few biscuits or chocolate.
So what has helped so far to process this stuff?
1. Long Deep Breathing – a no brainer, but do I use it for this normally?! Here’s the how in the video below. This can be done anywhere, anytime, for anything.
2. Nourishing myself (and my inner child) in other ways – for example I was bored on Sunday so I suggested playing charades with my husband and I was in fits of laughter! So what is it that brings you joy? Makes you laugh? Brings out the inner child in you? Makes you feel alive? How else can you nourish yourself? Go and do it!
3. “A meditation to eliminate thoughts you dislike” which is great meditation that Yogi Bhajan gave for eliminating persistant negative thoughts, which then allows the positive ones to come through.
How to Do It
A) Sit straight in easy pose. Make a cup with the hands by putting the right hand over the left. The fingers will cross each other. Put this open cup at the level of the heart centre.
B) The eyes look only into this cup (but don’t tilt the head down)
C) Begin the pranayam by inhaling deeply through the nose. Exhale through the puckered mouth. The exhale is as if you spit the air into the palms; but it is a dry, long spitting motion of the air. Meditate on the particular thought that you have and which you do not like. Spit out the thought with the breath. Inhale the thought you don’t like and exhale it in the breath.
Continue for 11 minutes, then inhale deeply, exhale, and with the eyes closed, begin to concentrate on the spine. Slowly draw your concentration down the spine all the way to the bottom. Feel the 26th vertebrae. Feel you have a spine. Feel the spine as if you are feeling a stick in your hand. The more you can feel the entire spine to the base, the more the energy flow and relief will occur.
You might have the same thought, or lots of different ones, or a string of swearing 😉 or something else – it’s all good. Let the breathing process it for you.
Try it now!
Natalie X