Healthy Twists

Missed Part 1 of my recap of my two-day stay at Kripalu Center?

Forgot I even went there at all since it’s been forever? Grr…I’m not going to apologize for my sporadic blogging, since it’s my blog and I do what I want, but still. When they come up with that 30-hour day, I’ll be there.)

Moving on…

After lunch on day 2 at Kirpalu, Mitch and I went back to the room and relaxed for a bit. He watched Lost on his computer and I played on Twitter and read blogs on my iPod touch, since clearly we can’t be disconnected for even two days (well, I know I for sure cannot). After our food settled, we headed to the little fitness center to lift some weights. The gym was small, but perfectly adequate. I liked how the cardio machines were facing a large set of windows with a view of the grounds’ lush greenery, but it didn’t face a walking path. I hate working out and having people stare at you as they go.

After the gym, Mitch left to go for a massage. Now, I knew he’d be a little…shall we say…bored at a place like Kripalu, so I decided to treat him to a massage so he’d have something to do while I was taking part in the Center’s activities. Mitch said it was the best massage he had ever received, which made me happy.

While Mitch was in massage heaven, I…went to yoga! At a yoga retreat, imagine that. Kripalu offers three levels of yoga instruction, three times a day, in addition to special classes and workshops. I took the “Moderate” class, which is listed as “For practitioners with 3 to 9 months of experience. Practice includes a variety of foundational asanas (standing, seated, and on the floor), longer holding, and pranayama. Provides a good workout and deep restoration.”

The class was 90 minutes long, with an optional 30 minutes of meditation after that. I skipped the meditation, but now I kinda wish I had taken that opportunity. I’ll go into more of my thoughts on the yoga in my “overall reflections” below.

After yoga, I went back to the room, feeling quite blissful. After a shower and a change of clothes, it was time for dinner! That night they served pasta (BTW, I’m recalling this from memory at this point…that’s how much of an impression it left on me) and salad and some other items. Unfortunately, both pasta dishes had some sort of cheese, so I wasn’t a big fan. Instead, I think I had some more steamed vegetables and some other random goodies from the macrobiotics station. I’m fairly sure there was sweet potato involved.

I skipped the evening program, which was about natural cooking. Now, maybe I’m full of myself, but I thought I could probably teach a class in how to cook with seasonal, fresh ingredients, so I didn’t think I would learn much new from watching a demo on how to cook quinoa, or something (again, in hindsight, I should have gone, oh well). Instead, Mitch and I hung out in our room some more, packed up our things, and watched a DVD (him) and read (me) until bedtime.

And then it was time to leave! Over so fast. At breakfast, again, I had an amazing bowl of oats, and I also “stole” a vegan banana bran muffin that was amazing (I had it the next day actually) and totally healthy (they had all the ingredients posted and it was all good stuff). I have been scouring the internet for recipes to recreate that muffin ever since. Expect a baking post soon!

After breakfast, I didn’t feel like working out formally, so instead I took a long walk around the grounds, snapping some photos and drinking in the experience, one that I knew I’d probably never experience again. Then, we had lunch (I don’t remember what it was, but I’m sure I was still in heaven) and we were on our merry way to Boston for the next round of our trip!

Overall Reflections:

• Food-wise, obviously I was in my element. I felt so healthy and clean. As I mentioned, I felt a little sick during the Boston part of the trip, due to the less-than-stellar eats and drinks. I really do want to get back to eating primarily whole and unprocessed foods. I know this will be even harder to keep up once I start school, so I need to work up a game plan.
• I loved how quiet and relaxed I felt while I was there. Partly because it was all-inclusive, I didn’t have to wonder where I was going to eat or where I was going to do. I just did what I pleased. I didn’t even carry my purse most of the time, and for some reason that was freeing too.
• I would love to go back to Kripalu or another place like it, although I can’t imagine being able to do so anytime soon. I am thankful that I won this contest sponsored by Oikos, because this is not an inexpensive retreat. I also think this would be an amazing trip to take with some girlfriends…but of course, I kinda like that Mitch kid, so I’m glad he was there.
• Now, the yoga. I think I have officially shifted my opinion about yoga. I used to be all about Vinyasa, Bikram, and basically any other yoga where I was getting a “workout” and sweating my tail off. But this class at Kripalu wasn’t like that. Sure, some of the poses were challenging; my heart rate was elevated at times and I knew my core was getting a workout, but it was SO much more than that. I had space and time to be quiet, to reflect, to wash away anything that was troubling me, and just really focus on being present in that moment in my life. And I really need that. I can run and lift and stair climb to exercise my body; I think I’m ready to accept yoga for what it does for my spirit first and my body second. As I mentioned, I’ve started taking Hatha yoga classes once a week, and it’s the same thing. Stretching, core work, arm strengthening, sure, but I’m going to de-stress and balance myself. And for me, that’s NOT always easy. So I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes.

So, my question for you is:

What are your thoughts on yoga? Would you ever go to a yoga retreat? I’ll fully admit that I’m a bit of a hippie, so all this was right up my alley. I can definitely see that it’s not for everyone, though.

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