midday two

So... detox takes time. I had planned to get up at 6:45am to do yoga at the studio, but was sleeping so deeply and still felt sick, so thought it was better to rest and recover. Grateful for that choice and for good, healthy, deep drug-free sleep.

I got up an hour before work and started the "oil pulling." It's an exercise of swishing a tablespoon of sesame oil around in your mouth for 10-15 minutes. It's supposed to purify your mouth, clear tartar, and remove mucus. I am sure the experience may be somewhat pleasant if you can taste it (sesame is yummy) but my congestion didn't allow that yet, so it was just the sensation of rolling oil around. I did my best not to gag. Got to the kitchen and realized I should have left more time. Things I had to prep and drink:

- raw vitamin C mixture
- special fiber blend
- chia seed mixture (water, chia seeds soaked over night and lemon)
- hot lemon water
- berry smoothie (with a leaky blender)
- skin detox tea (something I am adding in for myself)

Then eat my cereal. That's a lot of beverages! I had to take the smoothie and detox with me in the car and just make the lemon water at work. Plus I am trying desperately to clear my head so I attempted to steam my face over boiling garlic water while preparing a netti pot. I ran out the door at the last minute, then remembered the road in front of our restaurant is under construction with a detour, so I was late anyway. Rushed in the back door, face unwashed, no makeup, sleeping gunk still in my eye, carrying my two drinks and coughing up salt water.

Not how I imagined a detox.
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This deeper desire to meditation grew in India. It's so chaotic there, so many people, so much noise and pollution and stimulus, I think it makes you want to pull away and into yourself. At least it did that for me. And making these decisions to meditate, to try a detox, to do more yoga- were born of a realization: I kept thinking- if I ever go back to India, it'll be for a retreat; I'll do one of those 28 day Aruveydic cleanses then go to an ashram; I will leave more balanced and have great clarity in my life.

But why not just do it now?

In the midst of the hustle and bustle, inconvenient construction and a leaky blender, sit down. Or at least just tune in. It is, of course, not the same as large expanses of free-time, others making your food and giving you massages, being exposed to regular spiritual lessons and being surrounded by people in the same mindset- but it's good practice. It's the real stuff. I can't tune out much here; work doesn't allow for it and my social world doesn't much either. But that is what makes this raw and applicable. I do hope my following mornings are less rushed and messy, but it's okay if they are not. I will just continue to do my best to grow the calm center amidst the my own chaos and take whatever lessons and clarity it brings.