Summer Detox Flow Class by Julie Wilkins

This Saturday, July 21, I am offering a special summer yoga detox flow class at Space 301at 10:30 AM.  This will be the fourth time I have taught this sequence, which I typically save for special occasions such as the day after Thanksgiving or the New Year.  In my opinion, there is never a bad time to "detox" and it's always helpful to get rid of what is old, unused, or stuck in order to make space for what is fresh and new.

My very first introduction to this practice was in 2006 when I dragged my newlywed husband to Estes Park, Colorado to attend the Yoga Journal Conference.  Only six months into my own practice I ever-so-confidently marched myself into Seane Corn's Detox Flow Yoga workshop.  Needless to say, the practice itself was intense, particularly at 8000 feet of elevation, but it was one of my first introductions to the power of the practice to transcend the asana.  Seane is an amazing, articulate, and gifted teacher not to mention a real beauty.  She eloquently weaved the physical practice with information on using asana to stimulate and clear the organ systems, improve digestion, release stagnant emotional patterns, and made us think carefully about that which we are taking in ... body, mind, and spirit.  Seane says, " we detoxify so that we can show up more fully in the world and reach our highest potential."  I'm sold on this yoga stuff !

 
Three years later I began teaching my own version of a detox flow yoga sequence, and through the years this practice continues to evolve as my own yogic understanding and teaching methods grow.   You can expect specific poses and sequences that will facilitate the organ systems (particularly the digestive tract) to tone and cleanse, along with gently warming the body and stimulating the lymphatic system to "flush."  It's a great practice !

Seane initially opened my mind six years ago to begin taking a hard look at what I was putting in my system, both physically and energetically.  How much of my food was  processed and full of chemicals?  What kinds of toxins was I exposing myself to?   Were there people or situations going on around me that were "toxic ?"  Most of all I wanted to prepare my body to conceive a healthy baby. That I think I did very well :)  Sorry I couldn't help myself not to throw in a kid pic !

I will admit that making changes is tough and can be overwhelming at times.  What worked for me is to make slow, gradual changes as much of the time as possible with heightened awareness and all in perspective.  Yep, that is the yoga.  Do I live a perfectly pure lifestyle ?  Of course not !  We have had our share of illnesses, I eat animal products, I love Windex, and my kid eats McDonalds more than I would like him to.  I don't beat myself up but instead set daily intentions to make conscious lifestyle choices that benefit mine and my family's health and wellness.  That being said, here are some of my favorite detoxifying recommendations:

• Wean out the processed food, and replace with wholesome, pure, natural food sources.  Shop local.  Buy organic.  When possible.  Read labels ... if there are more than 5 or 6 ingredients and you cannot understand what those ingredients are then ask yourself "do I really want to put this in my body ?"  These days I'm digging Pure Vegan food service, Mae Grace Farm,  Publix Greenwise Market, Fairhope Health Food Store, and Virginia's.  Check out Natural Awakenings magazine for more resources on buying local.
• Limit toxic cleaning products around the house.  I'm loving all the great uses of white vinegar !  Mix with warm water, pour in a spray bottle, drop in a little essential oil and go to town.  
• No more air fresheners !  I used to Febreze my house like a madwoman.  Now I'm all about essential oils.  I love the idea that the plant based oils have amazing healing powers and neutralize toxins and fumes in the air.  We have been diffusing a lot of Breathe Easy these days in my home.  People love the smell of my home.  
• Kangen water.  I'm exploring more and more the balance of the body between acidic and alkaline and realizing how acidic our everyday diets make our systems.  A highly acidic system is inflammatory, weakened, unbalanced, and overall sluggish.  Watch the coffee, alcohol ( I know, I know), sodas, and processed white foods.  Add in the leafy green veggies and more alkalizing food choices and watch your health and digestive system improve.  
• Yoga asana, pranayama, meditation, restorative practices.  Break a sweat.  Everyday.  
• Nurture your space.  I love a clean, organized, balanced living space and feel it is the best way to bring a sense of order and peace in my entire energy system.  I love the art of Feng Shui and it just makes sense.  Remove from your home what is not serving you and bring in that which represents what you want to attract.  Live plants in a home are a necessity these days and will improve your air quality.

Deepen the conversation Saturday July 21 and join me at Space 301 for a 90 minute Detox Yoga Flow class beginning at 10:30 AM.  Class will be accompanied by Ashelea Penquite playing live music.   Looking forward ...  Julie Wilkins

                                                                  *pay what you can *

Laying It All Bare: My Experience with Loss

The first time my best friend died, I was sixteen.

Clay Clark was actually best friend to many, but he happened to be my only friend left at the high school I attended. He died at school, literally dropped dead due to an enlarged heart. I knew several people that saw him die. I saw him later at the hospital, when his body had been lifeless for a few hours, and then I saw him a few days later at the funeral. This is the first and only time that death has felt real to me.

I experienced Clay's death as part of a group. Clay and I belonged to the same church, and the youth group stayed together for about a week, migrating from house to house and sometimes sleeping at the church. We held each other and cried together, we told stories, we skipped school together, and we helped each other learn how to live and breath again.

I changed schools the next year. I couldn't bear to face my previous school alone, to walk the halls that Clay and I had walked together. I had to start over, and starting over was less scary and less difficult than continuing the same path alone. I became a new person because it was easier. But now, looking back at my sixteen-year-old self, everything seemed easier then.

My grandmother died about five years ago. She had been in a nursing home for several years, slowly fading away to dementia. When she died, it was time, but we had also already lost her. It wasn't so harsh because it happened a little bit every day instead of all at once. Everyone was ready. Her death ended her own suffering and the quiet, desperate plight of those around her. My family could finally begin again.

My best friend died again on May 26, 2012. I was twenty-seven years old. Besides pets, this is the sum total of death I have experienced in my life.

I haven't talked about Dana much since she passed, not like everyone else has. I still exist in disbelief.

I am a huge Harry Potter fan. In the fifth book, Harry's godfather falls through The Veil, the barrier between the living and the dead. He didn't die; he simply ceased to exist among the living. He was trapped in an abyss, in a limbo-type situation. I was so far removed from the event that it feels like Dana fell through The Veil.

"He had the strangest feeling that there was someone standing right behind the veil on the other side of the archway. Gripping his wand very tightly, he edged around the dais, but there was nobody there; all that could be seen was the other side of the tattered black veil."

—Harry Potter encountering the Veil.

The last time I saw Dana, she was alive and well in Mobile preparing for a trip to Las Vegas. And then she didn't come back. Everyone was removed from the event. No one saw her body, no one saw the accident. Everyone involved is thousands of miles away.

Kula Yoga Community is much larger than any youth group and, at its heart, much more cohesive. I've never had more emotional support or more shoulders to cry on in my life, but I've never felt so alone (which is my own fault). I feel deeply obligated to be strong as the only director Kula has now, and in doing so, I've isolated myself. I've left the processing to the quiet and lonely times--lying in bed before falling asleep, sitting alone in the park by her house, shopping alone, watching a movie in a dark theater. I cry at awkward times in crowded places, and only sometimes my husband is there to catch me in his arms. I'm crying now, as I write this, in the coffee shop a few blocks from my house where Dana and I used to meet to work on payroll or discuss marketing.

I can't start over. I feel like Kula can and has begun fresh, but I've had to continue a job two people did, but now as only one person. There are so many people working with me, and I know I could not truly do this by myself. It is a community effort because it was designed to be, and given the same scenario, I wouldn't do anything differently. But how I feel is how I feel.

I'll never have a friend like Dana again. Remembering her now, she feels like a super hero, larger than life. She took care of me when I was sick, helped me pick out clothes, was always honest with me, but always accepted me for who I was. She helped me train my dogs, she was the only person I could come to when I had an argument with my husband, and she was a good business partner, mentor, and teacher. I'm sure she had her shortcomings, and I probably knew them better than most people, but I can't remember them. Now I feel like I have to run Gotham City without Batman. I'm pretty sure the Commissioner would throw in the towel.

People still ask me what they can do, and my only answer is still "attend classes," because I don't know how to stop this self-destructive pattern of isolation. I guess this--laying it all bare--is the first step.

There is one more thing you can do: Donate to the Dana Goudie Memorial Scholarship fund at KulaYogaCommunity.org.