Alpha Alfalfa

I am, once again, in a juice-fast, detox fog so I apologize in advance for my inarticulateness :) The second week is off to a running start. I played hooky for the weekend and took a little trip to Santa Monica to be with my grandfather for his 92nd birthday. I was careful to stick as closely to the detox diet as I could but restaurants in the outside world (unless you're in Berkeley) don't tend to cater to such needs. But I'm back in the routine now and after crashing at 8pm on Sunday night after an event-filled weekend, I woke up Monday morning ready to rock. On Monday of week one, I practically licked my plate clean but this Monday I grazed more than ate, munching on the celery sticks and zucchini rounds and sprouts. Lots of sprouts. They are emphatic about growing your own sprouts and eating as many as possible because they are rich in enzymes and so so so so good for your body, especially the digestive system. Alfalfa, mung bean, fenugreek and lentil sprouts abound and if, when I return, you wonder why I suddenly smell like maple syrup the answer is in the fenugreek. Tuesday of last week the juice fast started and I was content with my 300 calories a day (the juice is full of nutrients but it's all vegetables so has very few calories) and never felt hungry. This Tuesday, I am drinking the juice and helping myself to a few solid items as well. I'm not sure what happened but my appetite is back in full swing.

I recently realized that I am the sort of person who needs to know why things work the way they do in order to make good choices. For example, I smoked a pack a day for ten years and then, upon reading a book that explained the mechanics of nicotine I was able to quit easily, and it's been three-and-a-half years without so much as a puff. As another example, last February I quit drinking coffee and soda. Once or twice a week I allowed myself a cup of decaf just to get that taste, but then I read a whole thing about coffee and the mechanics of it and why it is harmful to our bodies, even decaf, and I haven't had a cup since. That's precisely what OHI is providing. Classes on food combining and the digestive system allow me to understand, anatomically, how to make good food choices and WHY. All of the classes are in-depth explanations of the way things work and the reasons why I need to make certain changes and choices and it's empowering. I can't wait for next week because it's more about how to implement these changes once back in the real world and that, for me, is where the real challenge is. For now, though, I'd just like to share a funny little story from back in the days of detox fog week one.

My first night out in the Starbucks parking lot, just after I'd posted "Silence Opens The Door To Infinity," a delivery truck pulled up right next to me and blocked the WiFi signal, completely disabling the internet. So I revved up the old engine, switched on the lights and found myself a new spot on the other side of the truck. I turned off the engine and was catching up with email and the like when all of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the stereo (which wasn't on at the time) start blinking spastically. I did not take this as a good sign. I turned the key in the ignition to see if it would start and it sounded like a donkey with a hair ball stuck in its throat. I sat back and smiled, shaking my head. I totally manifested this....

There's a state of being known as Alpha (also referred to as meditation, daydreaming, or relaxation) in which you are calm, open to imagination, have enhanced learning, and heightened suggestibility (we are in Alpha while we watch TV which is why companies will pay millions of dollars for a 30-second spot during the Superbowl). It is this state which allows us to access our subconscious mind. We were instructed to reach this state several times a day for 5 to 20 minutes each time, the purpose of which is to essentially erase negative habits or patterns or health opportunities and replace them with positive ones, ones that will serve us instead of hinder us. When a thought comes in that is negative or doesn't support us in some way, we are supposed to cancel-cancel it (like a computer that needs to be told twice to delete - are you SURE you want to delete it?) so that our brain does not move forward with that plan. It is in this state that I imagine my appointment with the speech pathologist on August 3rd after an entire month of silence. I imagine sitting in the chair while she preps the camera for action, then I see her put the contraption in my mouth as I attempt an "eeeeee" sound and I envision the monitor on which my vocal chords appear. I see them flap together without interference and as the "eeeeee" stops and the chords come apart, I see the healthy V shape with chords as smooth as a baby's bum and I jump out of my chair and hug the speech pathologist right there on the spot. She laughs and says, "Would you like to start with some speech therapy to keep your voice healthy?" And I say, "I thought you'd never ask!" Well, that is where Alpha has taken me lately but back at the beginning I was not so well versed in the art of meditation.

I believe I mentioned that I live in my brain and my thoughts are often very difficult to silence. Well, last Wednesday (the night in question) was, for all intents and purposes, my first attempt at Alpha. I put my yoga mat on the floor and laid with my head atop a few books (something my voice teacher told me to do to take pressure off my back - it's Alexander Technique, I think). My mind was racing and I tried to focus on my breath and relax my body but there was no getting away from the rapid fire of thoughts. After several minutes I was able to imagine my healthy self but it was mostly in snippets, with other thoughts thundering like mack trucks through my future. One of those thoughts was that this would be a good night to go into town and post a new blog. Another of those thoughts was that my car wouldn't start and this cascaded into a full-blown (albeit short) movie in my head about trying to get to Starbucks and my car not starting. Finally, I turned my attention back to the task at hand but I didn't cancel-cancel, I just moved on. I didn't think about the car-not-starting movie again until I got ready to leave campus. I put the key in with baited breath and, of course, it started. I was mildly relieved and thought "Tch, silly goose of course it started, why wouldn't it start?!" Little did I know that movie would play out on the other side.

So there I was, the only human being in an 11,000-spot parking lot (the delivery truck had come and gone) and my car wouldn't start. It was after 11pm and I was no less than 1/2 a mile away from my cozy little room. I pictured myself walking back to campus and dealing with it in the morning and, though it was a terrible idea, in my detox fog it seemed to be the only option. Unfortunately, when I moved my car around that (damn) truck I thought I was only going to be a few minutes so I didn't even attempt to park well. I was a little more than half-way in to the spot with Johnny Five's butt (Johnny Five is the name of my car, by the way) hanging out in what would be the middle of the roadway come morning. So I put him in neutral and pushed him forward, only there was a small incline and Johnny slid farther into the road so I ducked in and pulled up the emergency break, took a deep Xena Warrior Princess breath and tried again, knowing this time that I'd have to put some muscle into it. Nobody was trapped under there, but by god I got that car farther into that spot than ever imaginable. I was taking up a parking spot and-a-half but at least I was out of the road. Oy ve. Exhausted, I sat back down in the driver's seat and, shortly thereafter, the detox fog burned off momentarily and I remembered that I have roadside assistance through my insurance company. Hurrah! But you can't exactly text message roadside assistance so I took a deep breath and decided that desperate times called for speaking measures. I said as few words as possible and 30 minutes later a couple of dudes rolled up in a tow truck (I think one of them was in training), jumped Johnny in a matter of seconds, and I was back in business. I left the car running while I sent off a couple emails and headed back to campus. I have to admit I enjoyed this little scenario. No one was hurt, all was well, and I got to experience the power of manifestation. Even if it was in a relatively "negative" form, it had a positive outcome and taught me quite a lesson. May I never again forget to cancel-cancel such (seemingly harmless) thoughts, and may such manifestations work on all the positive, important movies in my head.