14 Jan2016
Pure Raw vegan chef certification and detox training Bali – day 2
In November 2015 I participated on a 10-day Raw Food chef certification and detox training in Bali. Here is more about our 2 nd day.
Yoga
After our first Pure Raw training day, I woke up super tired. I was up until 1 am without being able to sleep after the breath work and had to wake up at 6 am. But I did make it to the yoga class as I promised myself.
Meditation and singing
We sat in a circle and did a meditation together lead by Amy. I love meditating with more people as I can really feel more energy and connection.
We also learned an important technique BOS – breathe, observe, surrender; which helps us to go through resistance, less stress, and accept everything as it is.
Amy showed us an exercise with a phone in the middle of our circle. First, we gave labels to it, then applied BOS and it was just not bothering us any more, no judgments.
The only thing I can control is myself and I am not even trying to do that too much.
Are we our emotions?? No.
Emotions are just something we experience but if we are aware of them, we are not our emotions.
It’s great to find out we are not our bad emotions and meditation helps us to surrender.
We focused on our emotions today at the meditation so they don’t limit us doing things (I am not good at that, I cannot do that etc.)
In my opinion, Amy Rachelle is an awesome singer so she incorporated morning singing into our training to help us be heard and be seen.
If you want something, you have to give and share it.
It’s all in our belly and we tend to be afraid of this area. So Amy tried to teach us how to sing and speak more from our belly instead of just the throat.
If I love myself, I don’t need to prove anything to anyone. Then I naturally give myself to others.
1. Question. Is it enough for me to love myself and put myself first?
Sharing circle
We talked about the breath work from last night and those who couldn’t sleep shared what was on our mind.
Maybe a new channel opened up even though we feel tired which shows us that we need to save energy.
We tend to stuff problems away, hide them or to stuff them with over-eating. But the best is to just observe and accept the problems.
This retreat activities were opening our mind to new possibilities and ideas.
Some ladies at the training usually put others first so for them being without their families and taking care of themselves was a huge personal step. As I don’t have kids nor husband, I usually do put myself first to follow my dreams so to see their behaviour was a bit rare to me. I was super happy to see their change over the next few days.
We were also given a chance to test our stool for parasites but it’s just 30% accurate. So we had to get it between 8.30am and 10.30am ad it cannot get more than 2 hours before they test it. It costs 69,000 Indonesian Rupiah to test it (approx. 5 euros when I was there.)
Science
Finding your own voice and way in raw food and detox
Amy suggested us to just explore many different ways of doing raw vegan and just show us her way without forcing us to think it’s the best.
We need to experiment with our own body to create our own way.
It’s important for us to have our own experience as we are all unique beings.
We have hundreds of receptors of little brains that are communicating with the nervous system sending the information to our brain. That’s why being connected to my belly is so important.
“Listen to your body and hear your soul. They are clever.” was one of the main learnings of the course.
If I know the difference between what my body says and what my mind says, there’s no more confusion. The body is right but the head can confuse me.
If you are just reading books and online information, you don’t know what it would do to your body so keep testing different foods on yourself to know what is the best for you.
1. Question What is my voice? What does my voice say for MY health?
I repeat that our best friend is BOS – breathe, observe and surrender. So when I am not sure about my voice, I just stop for a while and listen.
2. Question What does it mean to stay connected to my own self? What does it mean to stay attuned to my autonomy?
a) Tune into my heart and gut. What does it say?
- use BOS
- keep quiet
- receive something higher
b) Self-trust is a result of listening, it helps me to find my own way. I need to trust myself more and allow myself to go through my transformations. I am aware of the fact that it can cause a conflict of values with dear people around me.
3. Question What are my values and the values of my voice? How does honoring my values support me to find my own way?
Remember, than other people don’t want to get convinced that what I am doing (my diet and way of living) is the best for them, too. The best is to just show them what works for me and share my own experience, which might influence them in a way.
I am suggested not to take it personally when others do not like what I am doing.
Breaking raw food identities
”How raw are you?” is not a good question.
”How can I connect with you on a heart level?” is a better question.
I DO NOT NEED CHOCOLATE TO PROTECT ME, TO FEEL SAFER. I AM SAFE AND PROTECTED IN MY BODY AND ANY OTHER ENVIRONMENT.
When you need loads of sugar and sweet in your life, you should include more greens but very slowly.
I don’t want to judge myself and beat myself up for doing something I think I should not or not doing what I think I should do.
Cooking class
We continued learning from Jillian Love, the raw vegan chef from New York.
Blending and juicing
The easiest way to alkalize my body is with green veggie juices. The body gets all the nutrients very quickly without doing much work and without loosing much energy to digest it. That way it can use the energy for other things.
Be careful with fruit juices as you get a lot of sugar, too.
Blending is with fiber which helps to push everything out. You are still getting all the nutrients but with some digestive work, which is still less work than chewing.
Two more things I learned at the cooking class:
- Fennel removes gas and bloating. Fennel seeds tea is great for digestion.
- Never put dressings with lemon on the greens until the very last minute before eating it as it breaks down the cells.
We learned how to prepare green soup, Moroccan carrot salad, creamed cauliflower mash, marinara mushroom fillets, onion bread, sundried tomato marinara and cardamom coconut mousse. All the meals were so delicious!
How to make 6 servings of cardamom coconut mousse:
ingredients:
- 2 cup of fresh coconut meat
- 1 cup macadamia nuts soaked for 1 hour
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 4 drops of stevia to taste
- 1 vanilla bean
- 1/2 spoon cardamom
- dash salt
- we can add 1/2 coconut water or pure water
- Blend all ingredients except coconut oil till smooth.
- Add coconut oil with blender running on low.
- Pour into ice cream pop molds to freeze or refrigerate.
After the cooking class
Then some of us who wanted to, could visit the Five Elements which is a 5* eco-hotel, spa and restaurant. There we finally had some free time to hang out by the pool, chat more and find out about other retreat participants.
Check out more photos from the Pure Raw vegan training in my album. And here’s all about our third day of the raw vegan training.
For more information about Pure Raw vegan courses, please check Amy Rachelle website. I am eternally grateful for being part of the training which made me a better person.
