One Spirit Medicine – Day 7 (yesterday) ONE WEEK!

We did it!  We made it one entire week without eating sugar, grains, dairy, caffeine… what else?  I can’t remember.  I  am entertained enough by what I can eat that the list of what I can’t eat isn’t what first comes to mind.

What can I say?  I feel good.  I lost 20 lbs (yes, in a week.  But listen, I am 80-100 lbs overweight depending on who you ask.  And the more you weigh, the easier it is to lose at the beginning.  A LOT of that weight was inflammation from the pre-binge that led up to this adventure.  And, again, this isn’t about weight loss.  So please please please please PLEASE do not try doing this expecting that you will lose 20 lbs–or any significant amount–in a week.  It won’t work, and you’ll be miserable.  If you don’t feel called to do it for a larger purpose… you’re not going to get the results you want.  And you’re not going to have fun doing it).  My mind is clear.  My heart is open (and that hurts sometimes).  My sleep is solid.  My energy level is high.  My creativity is flowing.  I am finally shitting daily (hallelujah).  And this morning I had a killer orgasm (thank you, JH).

SUCCESS.

meyer lemons, ponderosa lemons, unnamed lemons, oh my!
meyer lemons, ponderosa lemons, unnamed lemons…    oh my!

Yesterday JH and I went to a produce exchange in our neighborhood and brought home a huge bag full of lemons and greens (FREE!) in exchange for the broccoli leaves and arugula we brought from our backyard garden.  I made homemade almond milk (have you done this?  it is SO yum.  SO much better than store bought).  We went to a baby shower where we ate salad (we made) with egg salad (we brought) and nuts (we brought).  And then we went to a “float.”

Have you heard of this?  It’s a sensory deprivation experience where in this case you float in 11 inches of warm saline (salinity courtesy of epsom salts) in an enclosed cabin (it’s tall enough to stand up in) that blocks out all light, sounds, and smells.  It’s supposed to be life altering.

And perhaps you can tell from that foreshadowing that for me it was not.

It was interesting, for sure.  And I’m glad I did it.  But I can’t say I’ll do it again.  Shortly after we arrived we were taken back to our rooms (each float cabin is attached to a private dressing room and shower) for a quick how-to.  I noticed the back of the woman’s shirt who was walking us read “EXPECT NOTHING.”  HA!  I thought, yeah right.

I was surprised by the wave of hot, sticky air that hit my face when the door opened.  And then even more surprised to be standing in a small room that looked like a dressing room and shower with no float cabin in sight.  Then I saw a smallish, squarish door in the wall of the shower and my heart started to race.  For some reason I thought we were going to see the float cabin from the outside?  I wasn’t expecting it to be built into the wall.  I had been bouncing off my expectations left and right by this point.

She opened the door and encouraged us to peek inside the float cabin.  Eep!  I couldn’t tell how deep the water was (even thought I knew from the intro video that it was less than a foot), and the whole thing reminded me of Flight of the Navigator (which many of you love but I happen to think is the scariest movie of ALL time.  Besides Leprechaun.  And The Neverending Story).  Then she smiled and told us to have a great float.  ACK!

I kissed JH and walked next door into my identical room and began the essential process of talking myself into believing that I wasn’t going to be visited by a strange alien pilot inside the float cabin and go hurtling through outer space.  THEN I realized that I was hoping that would happen and that was actually why I had come and it all got better.  I showered and got in.  It wasn’t as creepy on the inside as it had been from looking in from out.  I bobbed around.  Found a comfortable position.  Pressed the button that turned off the lights and my float had begun.

I floated.  I breathed.  I noticed that I didn’t put enough petroleum jelly on my scratched arm and it stung like a mother-f-er.  I felt very disoriented.  I relaxed into that hoping that it would come with transcendence, but instead I kind of figured out where I was and which way was up and down (damn analytical mind).  So I just lied there.  I thought a lot of random thoughts (as I usually do when meditating).  I may have started to fall asleep at some point because I jolted awake.  I noticed that I thought I had my eyes closed, but nope, it really was just THAT dark.  Only once did I wonder if the tank was going to suddenly start filling with water and I was going to drown inside it (the door opens from the inside too, just in case anyone is worried).

About 45 minutes in (I’m estimating) I realized I had a headache and I was starting to burp a lot which made my headache and burping worse.  WTH?  I was motion sick.  OHHH, damn.  Yeah, that’s a big thing for me.  So I turned the lights back on and sat up until it passed.  I floated for another 10 minutes or so before the lights suddenly went out (ack!) and started coming back up slowly with music this time (that was the signal it was the end).

And that was it.  It was interesting.  It was painless minus the stinging.  I didn’t achieve enlightenment.  I didn’t meet up with any alien beings.  I didn’t learn the meaning of life.  It just was.

And that’s okay too.

—–

What I ate yesterday – day 7 (got a little more creative being at home and having weekend time to play!):

  1. Green drink: Kale, cucumber, celery, green apple
  2. Quinoa porridge with homemade almond milk, cinnamon, pecans, and thinly sliced green apple
  3. Green salad with egg salad
  4. Walnuts, pecans, cashews
  5. 1 cacao nib (not a fan)
  6. Cauliflower crust pizza (it tastes NOTHING like pizza, fyi) with parsley pesto, and goat cheddar

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *