DAY 8: EAT ORGANIC and I peed on my socks...

DAY 8:

One of the best days that changed my life.. 

The whole idea of yoga (key words a prof says that makes me madly type, underline, and draw insane arrows) is to actively balance both sides of the brain in the different postures through breath. Balance is the key to teaching yoga; every posture has to utilize the different sides of the body in the same way so that the difference between the right and left sides of the body decreases over time. For me, my left side of my body is a lot more balanced and strong. Whenever I do asanas on my left side, I can always hold it for longer than on my right side. Also, when I lay my finger horizontally under my nose,   I almost always breathe solely from my left nostril. If you didn’t know this already, we only breathe from one nostril at a time -- usually switching nostrils every hour and 50 minutes. Now, let me tell you the SIGNIFICANCE of breathing out of the LEFT nostril. The left nostril connects us with our parasympathetic side of our central nervous system; the relaxed state of the body. It also is connected with femininity, the night, the moon, the mind, and being passive and relaxed. The RIGHT nostril is connected to the sympathetic system: rapid heart beat and breathing -- fight or flight. Breathing out of your RIGHT nostril means that you have are more inclined towards the sun, the heat, masculinity, the day, and energy/activeness. If you primarily use your left nostril to breathe, like I’ve discovered over several days and lots of nose exploration, then you are controlled by the RIGHT hemisphere of the brain (the R and L sides of the brain control the opposite sides of the body -- like that makes sense). Now, the RIGHT hemisphere of the brain is the creative side, while the LEFT side is the logistical side. I thought it was really interesting how these things were all connected and that it totally made sense within my body. I’ve always been more creative than logical (hence this past summer) and I’ve always been stronger on my left side. However, I guess the point of this exercise was to find out which side is weaker and work on developing the balance between the sides so that you are both logical and creative equally. 

LIFESTYLE OF THE LEAN AND LIMBRE

Shat Karma: ‘shat’ - six, ‘karma’ - action --  the 6 steps to cleaning the body

In our society, being fit entails being nice and beautiful on the outside. Nice legs, perfect tits, no mistakes. 

In yoga, it is all about the inside condition of the body; what do your internal organs look like? Shat Karma is a series of actions that some yogis do to cleanse the physical and energetic body. The purpose is to cleanse the internal space so that energy can flow through easily.

Right now, your body produces three forms of UNNATURAL WASTE (poo being natural -- pee isn’t a waste). 

1. Gas --> bloating
2. Fat --> no one can tell you how much you need to weigh, but are you comfortable with your body or not? 
3. Mucus --> ALLERGIES

Allergies are a result of toxins in the body from your lifestyle (what you eat, how much you exercise, whether or not you take the time to relax). To have an allergy means that your body is out of balance. Allergies are not natural. Let me repeat this: DON’T GET USED TO HAVING AN ALLERGY-- ALLERGIES ARE NOT NATURAL. We have become allergic to nature (weeds, grass, flowers, dust, animals). What does it mean when we’ve come from nature, and now we’re allergic to it? What is next, oxygen? water? Allergies give an indication that your body is overreacting to a specific substance. You shouldn’t have to live with allergies; chronic pain in life isn’t something that we should have to get used to. Allergies usually come from medications and over-consuming dairy products. If you think about, thousands of years ago, humans did not keep consuming dairy after childhood, after breastfeeding. This is because our bodies are not designed to keep consuming dairy products and so the body reacts with allergic conditions. Also, dairy products have tons of hormones and antibiotics that 

To alleviate allergies, reduce toxins in the body, and start living a healthy lifestyle, try to eat all organic foods. There are so many chemicals in the food we eat from the grocery stores that are killing us. 

• If you eat dairy, eat goat dairy products. 
• ORGANIC FRUITS ARE ESSENTIAL
• vitamins are often too hard on the kidneys: consume oils! 

Vitamins in nature never came in a purple pill form. Take things that look similar to their natural state. When we cleanse the body internally, the excesses of these three wastes are removed and perfect health can be maintained. 

TOILETS ARE BAD

Starting in 1775, the development of the modern toilet began. Shakti said that we should go back to squatting on the toilet when we poo and pee. The natural way is to squat when you go to the bathroom. When you sit on the toilet, your bum is closed and there is no massage of the intestines. When you squat on the toilet, ie feet on the seat and squatting over the hole, your knees are up, massaging the intestines, and your anus is pointing directly towards the toilet. When you sit, your anus goes in an arch so you have to push harder to get the poo out of your ass. This is great! I love talking about poos and bums. Let’s travel to India, or better yet, to a place I’ve actually been, Morocco. In rural Morocco, about 4 hours outside of the Saharan Desert, we stopped at a restaurant to eat lunch. During our meal, I went to use the ladies room, and there was no toilet just a hole in the ground! Of course, I was flabbergasted and annoyed at the fact that I had to squat over this dirty hole. But, if you think about it, squatting requires the use of basically all your leg muscles. If you squatted (squatted, if its a word) everyday, 5 times a day, imagine how balanced and strong your leg muscles would be! There would be no need for wheelchairs or walkers. In fact, I never saw someone in a wheelchair when we were in that country, or any third-world country that I’ve been too. Squatting everyday would be so healthy for your digestive system! So anyway, after today, I really want to try and squat most of the time when I use the bathroom. Why not? What have I got to lose? I may break a few toilets but I’ll never need to use a walker when I’m older. I may pee on a few pairs of socks (I don’t say things that haven’t happened -- thanks for the line roomie!) but who says sitting on the toilet ever did anybody any good?