Yogi Tea #1: green tea blueberry slim life

Okay folks! I have my first tea to blog about! Wahoo. I am so excited! So, the first Yogi Tea I will be blogging about the Green Tea Blueberry Slim Life.

Alright, so this tea serves as a dietary supplement to energize and support a diet program. It is supposed to aid in maintaining an active lifestyle. It is supposed to help with stamina and just overall give you a boost so that you don’t feel tired from your diet.

 

The ingredients for this tea include:

• Green Tea: green tea is essentially the unfermented version of black tea; it’s packed with a ton of antioxidants (and antioxidants fight the free radicals in your body)
• Bilberry Leaf aka Huckleberry: fights those free radicals baby
• Hibiscus Flower: again, hibiscus is packed with antioxidants, but after I did a little research I found out that this plant has been used in different regions of the world for thousands of years to serve different purposes including maintaing a normal body temperature and fluid balance, supporting heart and upper respiratory health, and regulating bowel movement and urination.
• Green Tea Leaf Extract: see Green Tea
• Ginseng and Eleuthero Root Extract: promotes long term stamina
• Amla Fruit aka Indian Gooseberry: amla is a superfruit in Ayurveda; it’s packed with Vitamin C and antioxidants. Not only that, but amlas are great for your skin and hair (one of the reasons I regularly put amla juice in my hair when I was in India). It also helps with digestive function…literally a superfruit
• Belleric Myrobalan Fruit (Bibhitaki): another superfruit in Ayurveda folks! Bibhitaki is known to support digestion, water balance, and the urinary and respiratory tracts
• Chebulic Myrobalan Fruit (Haritaki): haritaki is great for detox as it cleanses your GI tract. It supports digestion and elimination, and is referred to as “the king of herbs” in Tibetan medicine.
• Garcinia Cambogia Fruit: great for stamina
• Stevia Leaf: used as a natural sweetener for this tea

So, all of the herbs that are used for stamina are going to be the energy providers. The herbs that support digestion and elimination and cleansing are also key. A good digestive tract is key no matter who you are. It keeps you going, and will help you from feeling sluggish. Am I personally on a serious diet? No, not really. I am tracking my caloric intake on the “Myfitnesspal” app on my phone. But, generally I’m just trying to have a healthier diet all together (guys, today I turned down the invitation to go to Taco Bell for lunch. that never happens).

As far as feeling the effects of energy and stamina, to be completely honest, I forgot some days to really observe how I’m feeling during and after drinking the tea. But, the days I do remember, I remember feeling a burst of energy a little while after finishing my cup. The other issue comes in, is that usually I drink my tea in the morning, and I am naturally a morning person. And finally, the box suggests you drink the tea throughout the day, but I really only had one cup a day. Either way, I definitely did feel the effects of the energy and felt more alive, for lack of better words.

For taste, I give it a 10 out of 10 with a little honey added to it, and without the honey, I give it a 7.5 out of 10.

Definitely go out and grab a box of this. See if it helps supplement your diet program, or if you just want a tasty tea, this one is great.
Up next: Berry DeTox

 

References:
www.yogiproducts.com, www.banyanbotanicals.com, www.gaiaherbs.com, www.care2.com

shouldering burdens

I made it back to one of my favorite teacher’s yoga class yesterday (my work schedule is so ridiculous, that this is like the best thing that’s happened to me…getting off on a Saturday morning!). I was already pretty sore from my yoga session Friday, but I wanted to go, because Amy really incorporates the spiritual aspect of yoga into her vinyasa flows and I absolutely love it.

Friday, we did a ton of shoulder/upper arm asanas, and focused more on that. To my somewhat displeasure, we again, did a lot of shoulder/upper arm asanas today as well. It seriously was really difficult to get through. But, somehow or another, I did. And it was awesome.

But, this isn’t the point of this post. We started off class just standing in mountain pose and practicing some intentional breathing. The instructor started talking about intention, and what brought us to class that day. She continued to talk about a book she is reading about how mental symptoms manifest into physical symptoms. She was focusing in on the shoulders and how we carry all of our burdens in our shoulders. You can almost tell when someone is overwhelmed by their burdens, or whose ever burdens he/she is carrying, by how their shoulders are at a resting state–they are almost always rolled forward. This unintentionally brings a slouch to your back.

I never really thought of this before. I began to think about it as she was talking about shoulders rolled forward, and I realized that mine were definitely rolled forward. Go ahead and see for yourself. Are your shoulders rolled forward? If they are, roll them back. See what happens. I immediately rolled them back, which automatically opened my chest up and lifted my chin. Amazing. Something as simple as that brought a little bit more physical confidence in my appearance. Incredible.

The book that she was reading is called You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay. In the book, the author has different mantras that you say for different physical symptoms. Amy began to read the mantra for shoulders as we were huffing and puffing practicing our intentional breathing and ujayi breathing. She began to tell us that in the book that when people have rolled shoulders it means they feel like they are carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. I thought, there are definitely times when I feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders. I consistently want to please everyone around me, I willingly bring that pressure upon myself. Does this happen to you guys ever?

Louise Hay’s mantra for the shoulders was kind of long, but I found this one line excerpt from it. “I choose to allow all of my experiences to be joyous and loving.” I think this is a very powerful affirmation to tell yourself on a regular basis. I don’t think we realize that when we don’t take even 2 minutes to focus on our own mental and physical health, how it begins to show physically. I choose to allow all of my experiences to be joyous and loving. There is no one out there in this world, in my life, that is telling me, “Nishita, you must be miserable and stressed and overwhelmed all the time.” No one. I’ve created this reality in my head that tells me I should be in a constant state of frenzy. I choose to allow all of my experiences to be joyous and loving. 

It’s hard to admit to yourself that the way you feel isn’t because of anyone else except yourself. But, I think once we realize this we can begin make our lives a little bit less miserable, and a lot more exciting and joyous.

This week, I’m going to think about my intention in every thing I do, the same way Amy makes me think about my intention every time I walk into her class. What’s your intention going to be this week? I am choosing to allow all of my experiences to be joyous and loving!

ps. This book is definitely on my list of books to read now. Have any of you read it?

my 6am yoga class

Y’all, I finally did it. I made it to the 6am yoga class I’d been telling myself I’d go to since I’ve been back from India. I set my alarm for 5am, and as soon as it beeped, I turned it off. I argued with myself (yes, this actually happens), saying that I’ll just go and workout after I get off work. I wake up 10 minutes later, look at the time on my phone, and grudgingly get out of bed.

I realized I had been telling myself excuses out of sheer laziness. How pathetic?! So, I sucked it up, changed out of my pjs (okay, all I really changed were my pants…into my yoga pants), and hopped in my car to the gym. I even got there 20 minutes before class was going to start. Awesome.

Seriously though, I realized that I have been missing out. Getting up that early and starting my day with a good vinyasa flow has made all the difference in today. I was a huge ball of energy the rest of the day. Also, I’ve noticed that when I start my days with something like yoga or meditation (or both!), I’m more aware of what’s going on during the rest of the day. I also make healthier choices and am more cognizant of what’s going on, my options, etc. For example, when I came home, I decided to make a fruit and veggie packed smoothie for breakfast (which was so delicious, I’ll post the recipe!) instead of skipping out on breakfast all together.

The way you start your day really does make a huge difference as to how the rest of your day is going to be, and I finally experienced that today. Waking up early, will also help me go to bed earlier too, so I’m not staying up, or waking up in the middle of the night. It’s all about regulating our internal clocks and stuff folks!

I’ve been reading a lot about how a morning ritual that involves a slow, every-day routine is really good for you in general. Instead of immediately hopping out of bed in a frantic, thinking about everything that needs to get done, you should wake up and be aware of the present. Focus on yourself. When I say the word ritual, I don’t mean something mundane where you wake up, shower, make coffee, eat, and leave. I mean, make it something meaningful. Journal the minute you wake up, meditate for 20 minutes before you leave the house, sit in a room filled with candles and do 10 minutes of intentional breathing, read an inspirational quote to start your day. The options are endless! By the time you leave the house, you’ll be refreshed and ready to take on the day.

Mornings are usually when I’m the most tired (except for at night around 11pm). But, I am going to make the effort to start having amazing, intentional mornings. I’m telling you. One experience, and your whole life is changed. Try it out!

one month report

woah hey folks. it’s been a week since my last post! what’s up with that?! sorry, I’m losing track of time here like it’s my job. My mom got in yesterday, which officially marks one month of being here. I have a lot of posts I’m going to be publishing/posting in the next few days, so hope you guys are still enjoying reading about my experiences of my life in India. But, in the meantime, I wanted to do an update post on how I am faring as far as my goals go. (In case you missed my first post about why I’m here and what I want to accomplish, check it here!)

So, goal numero uno: to become a yoga fean. man, let me tell you guys, I am having so much fun learning about yoga and the different asanas and everything. I can definitely see growth here. I used to make fun of my my mom when she would sit in the house and do pranayama, but now here I am, spending 20ish minutes each morning practicing it. I am beginning to appreciate my body more and more. I’m realizing that I do need to take care of it, physically, emotionally, and mentally. There is a whole new meaning for me that “your body is a temple”. There is so much truth to that, and I need to start literally treating it like a temple. By taking care of it, not putting toxins in my body, etc. I’m really learning this from my daily yoga practice. And, it’s awesome!

Goal numero dos: an understanding of sanskrit. My classes have become a mix of philosophy and Sanskrit and it’s amazing. I’m learning so much about the complexities of life and what our ancestors and how they wanted us to live our lives. I think everyone should take the time to study their roots. It’s filling a void in my life, and you begin to appreciate who you are a lot more.

Three: traveling. Though, I haven’t traveled outside of Ahmedebad yet, I’ve been doing a lot of sight seeing within the city, and am learning a lot about the history and culture of this city. I can’t wait until we travel outside of the city.

So overall, things are going great, and I’m proud of myself for having the guts to decide to come here and really work on my personal growth. I can’t wait to see what the next 2 months bring. 🙂

Mosquito Bite Count: 1 I think | Serious Craving: Apparently it’s Free Taco day at Taco Bell on Tuesday.

 

Here’s a heads up on my upcoming posts: my trip to Gandhi Ashram (Mahatma Gandhi’s Ashram in Ahmedebad), Sharad Purnima and our relation with nature, and much more!