Healthy Twists

Post subtitle: vacation recap #1

Once again, if you’re new to these parts, last week I took a trip to Boston, starting with a two-day (1.5 days, really) stay at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, located in the Berkshires region of western Massachusetts. My (and Mitch’s) flight, transportation to and from the retreat, and stay at Kripalu was paid for by the best organic Greek yogurt maker there is (true story), Stonyfield. Since I won their Na-Moo-Ste blogger contest by random drawing, I was under no obligation to write about my experience. But really, what’s the fun in that?

Our flight got into Logan airport in Boston around 10 PM (side note: Real Housewives of New Jersey marathons make air travel a breeze; thanks Jet Blue!), where we were picked up by our driver and taken to Kripalu. I liked how Stonyfield had requested the driver use the most energy-efficient vehicle he had. I love me some Prius.

(I don’t love that the only place to stop on the Mass Pike after 11 PM for food is apparently nasty McDonalds, and one with a limited menu at that. I had a small fry, a tiny yogurt parfait, and stomach pains for the next hour. But whatevs.)

When we arrived around 1:15 AM, we made our way to our room in the new, sustainably-designed Annex of Kripalu. Most of the rooms (I think) at Kripalu are dorm-style, but Kripalu sprung for the private room with private bath for Mitch and me. The room was nice, although probably a little Spartan for my taste. I can be down with no TV, but I would have liked a rug on the floor or something.

(photo provided by Kripalu, but that’s exactly what it looked like.)

Funny story. We had no hand soap or shampoo provided, and I thought that was part of the gig, that you were supposed to provide your own. I basically used public restrooms the whole time I was there! Come to find out, the lack of soap was an error and I should have asked at the desk for some. Lesson learned.

After going to bed super-late after a day of travel, I didn’t make it up in time for early morning yoga but we did get up in time for breakfast. It was a little drizzle and chilly when we were there, so it was cool having a walkway to take from the Annex to the main building where the classes, cafeteria, fitness center, etc., was located.

Oh man. The food. Let me tell you…I knew from the second I walking into the dining room that I would be a happy camper (yoga-er?) for the next day and a half. Close your eyes and picture something healthy to eat. They had it. Everything (or, most things at least) was organic or local or made onsite, from the local organic dairy and honey to the house-baked whole-wheat sourdough raisin bread. And that’s not the half of it.

Both days at breakfast, I had oatmeal with raisins, honey, peanut butter, and milk (rice milk one day, moo milk the next). My breakfasts were larger than I normally would have at home, but kept me going until lunch…imagine that.

They also had a “tea bar” with about 10 different choices of hot tea, plus iced green and herbal teas as well. See, I told you I could live there and be happy? You had to pay for it if you wanted coffee, and Mitch said it wasn’t that tasty. Meh, give me some chai or Earl Grey and I’m good.

After breakfast on the first day we took a nap (post-breakfast naps always feel so indulgent and I LOVE it) and then I went to a workshop called “Yoga off the Mat” that was basically about how you can use principles of yoga to serve you in the 23 hours of the day you aren’t practicing. It was a really good reminder that you can’t control other people or other situations, you can only control how you react and let them affect your reality. If you want, I’ll write a more in-depth post of this at a later time. I took notes. I’m that girl.

And then if was time for lunch. I was going to try to eat all vegetarian at Kripalu but that didn’t last as soon as I saw “pulled BBQ chicken” and it’s basically healthy? Come on. I also had some lentil dahl that reminded me how much I love Indian food and need to make dahl again at home very soon. I also had, if memory serves, some brown rice and some steamed vegetables. I think I had a little piece of bread with PB and jam for dessert. Not needed, but it wasn’t like it was a brownie, right?

They had dulse with crushed pumpkin seeds as a condiment (along with Himalayan sea salt, Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, Cholula…ah, lurve), and I sprinkled that on the rice. It was delicious, but I couldn’t tell if it was the dulse or the pumpkin seeds that I liked.

Jeez this is way longer than I anticipated, looks like it’ll have to be Part 1 of 2. Seeing as how I don’t do recaps like this too often, please let me know if you think I’m rambling and should condense it for part 2, or if you found this a good read. I’m here to serve!

Photo note: Being that I’m a Goody Two-Shoes rule follower, I didn’t take any photos of the dining room or my food or anything. The PR folks at Kripalu said that was a no-no but instead gave me two CDs of images, and right now I can only find one hence no food photos. second and third photos in this post are from Kripalu. The first photo is one of mine, which I mention just because I think it’s a good one

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