Happy New Year, 2017.
I tell you, I have been writing blog entries on my phone and then just not updating them. But instead of placing that information on now, I prefer to just start fresh again.

Fresh Start.

Like this new this new year. New day. New moment.
To be honest, a few moments ago I was overwhelmed with grief, as the news of a shooting in a club happened last night in the City that I am living in. When things happen close to home, you feel impacted by them… however, I won’t lie and say that I also don’t feel great amount of sadness when I hear about attacks happening in other places of the world.

This is why I have been making a choice not to be so involved with watching the news…however, this morning I realized, that I need to more active in my role as a light warrior. Instead of just staying positive by not knowing about negative, not seeing negative… but instead, know the negative, perhaps see the negative… and then consciously generate positive. Send love to the people hurt and to the people hurting.  I am not saying send respect- but send love to them, so they have the opportunity to change and they won’t feel the need to hurt anyone else. If everyone sent love to the people that we firstly feel hate towards- I wonder if we could begin to change the world. Of course- you can not feel love, when you hear about something bad- but you can feel compassion, knowing that the person who committed the crime- once was a sweet, innocent baby… once was a playful toddler… once was the beauty and joy in this world…and probably, bad things happened to them and in their life circumstances that led them to their acts of violence. Well- bottom line, we always need more love in this world. And many people don’t believe that you can win a war with love, but I believe if we never turned to violence to resolve issues and we relied on love, compassion, understanding, communication, oneness… we wouldn’t be in the state we are in.

AND WITH THAT SAID:
Time for some self love and self-challenge. My first personal challenge of 2017.
It will be 21 days of self Reiki, 2 Mantras and living in accordance to my Ayurvedic routine.
After each week I want to be honest on how my week went, as well as decide if I am able to add another element, focus, restriction, kriya or practice into my lifestyle.

This week I will be studying, teaching Yoga and also receiving a friend to stay with me from out of town- so I will normally be flexible and alter my daily routine, however- this time I want to stick to my routine, while having a guest and balancing my other life duties.

Over the past two months I was on my school break and kind of on a Vacation. I moved back to Mexico after being in Canada for 3 months. When I got back I was giving a few massages and was dog sitting for some nice people but never really had a routine- I was staying with a friend who worked until 10pm or 11pm so we would stay up later after talking and hanging out… then I would sleep in until 9 or so and felt very tired for the rest of the day. I wasn’t in the mood for cooking, so ate very simple foods and easy to prepare foods like quesadillas with vegetables. I was feeling kind of sluggish and restless. I made myself begin getting up every morning before 8am- usually early, began doing Yoga practice in the morning as well as a few of my other Kriyas and instantly started feeling lighter and more like myself. For sure I am suppose to rise before or with the sun. There is no doubt about it.

I just spent 1 month living in a house with (depending on the week) between 7 and 11 people. I shared a room with family members, lived next to a few babies and ended up sleeping out in the back veranda… I had no privacy, I had no meal plan, no job, no school, no routine and I was around all my family- for the first time in YEEAARRS… So…instead of just regressing to perhaps what I would have done when I was in my early 20’s and drink to become more relaxed and easy going… I woke up in the morning and did my Yoga… and I also lead yoga classes for some of my family members who benefited from this morning connection time. I offered Reiki to my family and received the benefits of Reiki as well.
I also started doing just a few things, that allowed me to regress into my daily routine.
I had forgotten my tongue cleaner, but my sister gave me hers (THIS IS HUGE FOR ME), I started drinking my glass of lemon water in the morning and I also did my grateful meditation while still in bed. I left my family vacation after not worrying about what I was eating or requesting anything special to eat, drinking carby beverages – healthy and happy. I went traveling for a few days over my birthday and I realized my symptoms of having my VATA vitiated, so for the past days I have been trying to stay closer to home, build a routine again and choose Vata pacifying foods and activities.

Getting to my challenge:
My challenge is a 21 day challenge where each day I need to follow my routine as close as possible as well as being mindful of the Ayurvedic eating and cooking rules. And not just mindful like I have been- but really beginning to make some honest effort to change the things that no longer serve me and do the things that help me feel healthier and happier.

Week 1 guidelines I am choosing to follow:
1) Wake up and have a glass of warm lemon or lime water
2) Scrape Tongue (Organ massage/Cleans Ama or toxins.)
3) Apply small amount of oil to joints.
4) Jala Netti (Kriya for cleansing and calming)
5) Yoga Asana Practice for at least 1 hour (Including Pranayama, Meditation/Shavasana)
6) Have only liquid, fruit drink before 10am
7) Have largest meal at Noon (Between 1-3)
8) Eat only until 3 quarters full/ Pray before meal/ Be mindful while eating/ Avoid talking about disturbing things/ Avoid ice in drinks/ Avoid drink with meal (unless very dry)/ Avoid having more than 2 alcoholic drinks in one sitting/ Avoid eating processed/Stale or Tamasic food.
9) Not eat anything after sun set (eat easily digestible meal between 6 and 8pm.)
10) Give self Abhyanga (For Vata/Pitta: Sesame oil/Coconut oil Blend)
12) No screen time at least 1 hour before bed. (Television, computer, cellphone chats)
11)  Go to bed before 11pm
12)  Wake up between 5am-8am
13) Write down dream
14) Do grateful meditation (3-10 minutes)

Daily goals:
– Work (Between 1-5 hours)
– Study Ayurveda (Between 1-7 hours)
– Spend time in Nature (Between 1-4 hours)
– Study Herb of the Week (15 minutes-1 hour)
– Study Spanish (Between 30 minutes- 2 hours)
– Quality Family time (1 hour-3 hours)
– Quality Friend time ( 1 hour-4 hours)
– Karma Yoga (Between .5-2 hours)
– House responsibilities (Between 1-3 hours)

My Goals for this week since I have a friend coming is I will obviously be putting friend time as a higher percentage of importance this week and then next week- starting Wednesday I will need to bring up my average of other things and focus more on the other life goals to bring balance.

So this would be an ideal schedule for this week: I will be updating to see how it goes.

Lets say I wake up at 5:30 am (Write down about dreams/ practice meditation.)
6-6:30am is (Tongue cleanse, Jala Netti, Lemon tea)
6:30-7:00am (Wash face, eliminate bowels, get dressed)
7:00am-8:00am (Yoga Practice Personal OR Giving Class)
8:00-9:00am (Get dressed, make juice/breakfast)
10:00-12:00- Activity/Work/Study
12:30-1:30pm Lunch/Digest
2:00pm-5:30pm: Study/Work/Activity/Update Blog.
6:00pm-7:00pm: Light supper
9:00pm- 10:00pm: Abhyanga, Meditation/Yoga/ Tongue cleanse
Asleep by 11pm.

Note: If teaching yoga class in Puerto Aventuras at 7am I will need wake up at 4:30 am and go to bed by 9pm.

So tomorrow I need to help my Dad do some things in the morning around 7- so I will now go to bed at 9:00pm so that tomorrow I can get up at 4:30am to begin trying my routine for this week. I’m excited!!