Yes, the Sheven is a versatile faucet, it rotates, and does these crazy things. My parents actually have one. They're quite nice.

So how does this relate to my cleanse? Besides the fact that they, like the after-effects of a cleanse, are sleek and smooth and they too pour liquid out an opening in the rear of their bodies; a "Sheven" faucet sounds quite similar to "seven" pronounced with a slight speech impediment.

So there you are on that.

"How about the cleanse??? Did you eat today? Did you keep going on the Master? What the heck did you do?!" You ask vehemently.... fine! I'll tell you!! Stop pestering me, you crazy kids!

Geez.

First of all, I started with waking up this morning, and feeling like I could most definitely go with the Master (ie, nothing but water and Cleanse tea) for at least one more day. Then, as I was brushing my teeth, I began to reconsider that. I began to realize that there are a lot of things working against going without food for a longer period of time: I have an ultra-busy week ahead of me, and a very important day tomorrow, and I do want to get back into pushing myself physically in swimming and biking. Moreover, my original intention was to be back into Ease-Out Day 1 today... and my theme of the day today was NURTURE. So why not let the Orange Juice and Ease-In juices nurture me?

So that's what I chose to do. Had about 3 glasses of OJ and lotsa water and tea... and all was well.

I had a moment around lunch I was reading this phenomenal book (which I will get to momentarily), and the author was describing this amazing Indian food he had eaten while in India. I could almost taste it... my tummy started to rumble. And not 2 minutes later - no word of a lie - the person in front of me was served the most delicious-smelling and looking Chicken Curry plate I have EVER experienced. Oh my god. It was like torture. I was sooooo close to throwing in the towel then and there!!! Thank GOD for the physical effects that commitments are having on my body nowadays because, geez, had I not been committed to a cause that was becoming greater than myself... no friggin way would I have made it past those 20 minutes of tortorously delicious smells and sights.

And by the way, I say "greater than myself" ... because I need to reinforce - to you, but mostly to me - that this "Cleanse" is so much MORE than a cleanse for my body. It's a cleanse for my WORLD. My inner world. It's a cleanse as a metaphor for life. For me to think clearer, act stronger, be lighter. To FEEL things more. Do you ever notice how we numb so much out with our food, that we become so stuffed we can't feel a thing?! What a crazy thing!!! It's all well and good to be stuffed... but to do so regularly... and THEN, our bodies begin to show these trapped feelings and unsaid points of view, so we add WEIGHT. what is weight? HEAVINESS. Heaviness on our bodies, and our hearts. Ahhhh... the one thing that we love with... and they go under attack from the heaviness. Interesting.

So then it gets really weird, because we notice these changes in our body, all these trapped judgments.... and we begin to judge it?! So we start pushing our body more, or eating different foods - factory-produced "100-calorie packs" , guzzling Chemical-filled soda - and putting these harsh issues on ourselves, meanwhile we do NOTHING to look at what is so toxic in our lives that we need to stuff ourselves full of toxins?

And hey - I am just as guilty as the rest of you. Lord knows I love a good diet Coke and I've had my fair share of binging on carrots to stay in my point-range on WW.

But honestly, folks... who am I kidding? The moment I finish my binge... I'm back to dealing with the issues I first started with. Because, I'll have to deal with them some way or another... Shoving things in my mouth that taste good has been an excellent buffer and procrastination tactic.

I think all of these issues are on my mind for several reasons: first, because I've finished the FIRE of the master cleanse and am back to the transition phases... much like a recovering addict in rehab, I'm nearing the end of my program and soon will be back in the open. Where things aren't restricted to me because "I'm on a cleanse". Where Meg's Mind likes to make looots of excuses for breaking resolutions that were wimpy in the first place.

Second, because I'm becoming very immersed in this company, Free the Children, a really phenomenal company committed to children freeing other children from child slavery through education. Simple as that. They go into 3rd world communities and do what they can to save these kids whose lives are so vastly different from ours... and the more interested I become in that, the more my own previous issues seem to melt in front of my very eyes.

By the way, that was the book I mentioned earlier. "Free the Children " By Craig Kielburger. I so recommend it.... it's really a well-narrated, fascinating read.

Ok, so I've made my social statements for the evening... check. Blogged about drinking lots of things... check. Made it obscenely long for a busy person to read all the way through... check, check, check.

My work is done here. Happy Sheven-hunting to y'all. I love you from the inside out...!!!!!!


Megster

So, this photo has absolutely nothing to do with the following post. I just thought that maybe a hot man holding some knife-like pec things would do it for you.

Today was a great, great, great, great, GREAT day. One of those days where you are just in gratitude for being alive... ya know? Where the trees look really beautiful as they're changing colour and losing their leaves. Or where you go for a walk around the block and your body just feels eager to be moving. Where the future is this bright, glowing nimbus of goodness, and there ain't nothing or no one that can get in your way.

I was talking to a dear buddy of mine about the first few days of this beautiful cleanse, and he mentioned that it sounded like I was in detox. When I asked him what that meant, he replied that it's when addicts head to rehab and they have their first 72 hours without drugs or alcohol. Where the body is purging itself of not having the substances it's been so used to relying on: where every part of your body aches, and you're irritable, and grumpy, and can barely focus... the list goes on. But it gets to the point where you literally feel like you're dying.

I can't quite say I got to the point where I felt that death was near... but I was definitely up there. It was awful, and exhausting, and all of those things.

But like, its this tunnel that you have to go through I guess. And then you get out of it... and it's like a whole Other World! Most of the time, I feel as if I just do not 'need' things to get by. I'm alert, focussed, open, and still my Old Self. I love it, I love it, I love it... yes, it's true, I am loving life right now - in a genuine, awesome sense.

So today was supposed to be the end of my 3-day Master Cleanse, with tomorrow supposed to be the Ease-In day. But I honestly believe that Body wants a day or 2 more. We'll see how it is tomorrow, but for now... I'm signing off on the Awesomeness that is the Being of Mega.

Love love love
m

Ladies and Gentlemen, Day 5!

To begin with, at this present moment, I feel GREAT - vibrant, fit, *alive*. My body feels it is releasing and my whole energy feels a million times better than last night. I felt motivated to ride my bike, go to work, do a Journey process with the wonderful and amazing Val... but let's back up to this morning, when I did NOT feel great.

So I woke up and hit the 'snooze' button about 10 times... if you calculate a 9-minute 'snooze' time, you'll surely see that's just around 1.5 hours of 'snooze'-ing.

So I woke up, and I was reeeally considering giving up today. I've come really far, my body clearly wasn't happy with me yesterday, maybe this is not the cleanse for me. And I considered eating some food but then I thought, well, let's give it till midday. I'm ok for now.

So just as I'm about to head out the door, I feel this now-normal nausea in my body. I think, "I feel kinda nauseous," ... 2 minutes later, I realize, "I feel really nauseous... yup, I'm gonna throw up "...

so I do.

And I'm like, now what?

Clearly my tummy is angry at me at the present, and I can't even *consider* drinking any more maple syrup. So I ask my body, "Body, what do you need?" And body's like, "BREAD!" and I'm like, "MIND, what are youuu doing here? I didn't ask you here" and mind's all, "sooo-rryyyy" so I turn back to body.

"Body, what do you need?"
"Food."
"What Kiiind of food?"
"BREAD!"
"Miiiind, stop it! I can't eat bread, I'm cleansing the body of cooked food and toxins and what would this mean to my integrity of commitment?"
"Soooorryyyy. Just trying to help."

And body speaks up - quietly now - "How about a banana?"

How about a banana?

I think about it. A banana could be tough. A banana would mean breaking my vow of no solid food. Would that mean I'm breaking these plans?

But then, my body is asking for food, demanding it! Who am I to resist that?

So I choose to eat the banana. Because being nauseous is the pits, and I have a day to go about.

Anyway, the best choice I could've made. From then on, the day was GREAT. There were a couple moments of seeing people eat around me, and wishing that I could be ingesting a whole lotta cheese ... but it feels good to feel strong, too. So today was a day of feeling strong.

So the theme for HIGH FIVE day has been this: you don't have to move quickly and forcefully to be moving. You can be moving slowly, too.

And I love that because patterns in Meg's Life to Date have been around either been sprinting a 100 meter dash or sitting on a couch gorging on chips. Literally. So what if life were a marathon? What if life was a long-distance stretch consisting of sprints and jogs, and perhaps sometimes walks... but always movement?

I was riding my bike home tonight in a redonculous rainstorm. If you live in Vancouver, you know what that was... the drains were clogged with leaves so there were puddles everywhere, and so my feet were literally soaking by the time I arrive home. In fact, they were soaking 30 seconds after departure.

So the setup was pretty rough. Also, if you know 10th Avenue anywhere west of Alma, you'll know that there's a Great Big Mother-Fing Hill. (I like to call her GBMuthaFa). And most days, I feel empowered when I get up that thing ... it's always the very last leg of my trip and I always arrive panting and dripping with sweat when I get home.

However, tonight, I just knew I was too weak to take on the hill.

"Should I bus tonight?" I think to myself. But I consider how I've made that pact in September to bike everywhere that I can. And I knew I had the energy for a bike home tonight. So I sucked it up and left.

But I also knew that I did not have the energy to make it up GBMuthaFa. I tried 1/2 a block, to see if I was fooling myself... but I'm definitely weak and short of stamina. So I head back down the hill to the bus stop... only to see the bus pass me by, splashing water all over my face. Great. Now what?

But ya know... as I look at that bus passing me I think, wow. I really don't want to be on that thing right now. It's hot and non ventilated, it's really full, I'd have to pick my bike up to load it, I'd only go for 2 stops and spend $2.50 on bus fare.

So I think... I could walk!

What a novel idea! Walking, instead of going quicker and biking. Eating 1 banana, instead of pushing through pain. And in neither instances did I choose to 'give up' ... in fact, because I have energy now, I'm more committed than ever.

And that is what I'd like to leave you with. High Five for Day Five.

Love,
Meg

I need to start by just saying... 10 days is a LONG TIME! Whose idea was this?

So today was GRATITUDE day. It's hard to be grateful when you don't have much coming in.

There have been a lot of learnings today. First, that doing the cleanse while taking action is perhaps not the best for me. I've been feeling nauseous at night, and have been noticing myself very sensitive to the people around me. My reaction to people's energies are starting to get weeeeird...

I've also thought about my mind's reaction. So many times today have I considered, "i am messing my system up, maybe I should eat something, I can't do it..." And I wonder, am I thinking these things because of fear? Or because of my mind?

I think, "I'm breaking it, that's it, I feel sick, this isn't supposed to make me feel sick". And then I realize this is a great reminder of when I was in terrible pain after the accident... and how breathing, one breath in, one breath out, it puts you in the moment, and suddenly there you are.

And then I think about how I would feel were I to 'give up', and I think how I would feel about Quitting. And then I also worry, will I be able to make it through tomorrow?

And lastly -- I think, wow, is food the *only* thing that will get me through the day? The whole point of this cleanse is to draw my attention away from food, and to focus on the other lifestyle choices that make me complete. Noticing my thoughts as they stem up is a great, great thing... because these are the thoughts I want to change Post-Cleanse Process. Ya know?

So far, so good. Great yoga class tonight, and i feel great when i'm still. It's when I move that those feelings set in. We will see how I feel by mid-day tomorrow. Tomorrow, by the way, is "BREATH" day. Hmm.

love,
meg

About 2 weeks ago I decided - without realizing that I had decided - to do a cleanse after Thanksgiving. Upon my return to Vancouver, it's been an interesting haul. It's been filled with Fire-Energy.

Just over a year ago, I was in the middle of a very intense Journey process - probably the most intense I've ever had - when this deep fire just shot up through my belly. It was like this grumbling from the earth, and my whole body suddenly became feverish. It was wweeeeird. My body was booming at me... fire.... and all of the sudden, these action steps appeared to me. Go to hot yoga. Harness your inner fire. Do the Master Cleanse. Be in ACTION.

I was floored... flabbergasted. After the process, I needed to remove myself from the group because the feelings were so strong, so intense - so vivid. I could see my highest Self... my future.

Upon returning back to Van, I felt I was totally ready to live in that fire... I pursued my certification as a Journey Practitioner, I met loads of people, I stayed in touch with all the people from the healing and personal development camps and retreats I'd done over the past few months.

And then...

...


...


...


nothing.

Got my Journey certification, went travelling. Had some contract jobs open up that were lovely and wonderful and fun...but my practice did not take off. I still had not moved out. My ankle was in a lot of pain, and I found myself gaining weight. I was so very uninspired, except for those rare moments that I truly treasured.

Anyway, that turned out to be a lot more rambly than I had hoped. The point is... I returned from another summer THIS year... in a COMPLETELY different space. Totally revved, rejuvinated, feeling full of action and self-confidence in ways I've never felt.

I've been not just inspired to... but I've been committing to things. Like waking up at 6am and writing for a few hours before heading to yoga, or work. Coming home and checking things off the list that I've committed to do. Applying for lots of positions. Writing. Playing the keyboard.
Eating well. It's amazing how I feel like a new woman... (although that last Woman inside of me is an integral part of the Woman I am now...)

So one of the things I've committed to is a 9-day cleanse. It was originally supposed to be like a 4- or 5-day cleanse, but I ended up adding some Ease-In and Ease-Out days. In doing so, I chose to really use this time and space to really GO for the change I wanted... how better than to use the act of eating as a metaphor for the rest of life.

I'm going to post about the next week or so as it goes a bit more. But I just needed to share the word that it is a time for ACTION these days, and this is a beautiful thing.

Thank you for your space. Namaste.

Again, India.Arie saves my butt. I sit here, and I listen, and I realize that although the world is going to end... I think... it just might be ok.

can I share my evening with you?

So I screwed up tonight.

How did I do it? Did I get cocky? Perhaps. Was I busy doing other things? Yes. Did I ignore my intuition and go forward with a project that I felt uneasy about? Most definitely.

In short - and the last thing I want to do is recount the story, but I feel I must - I chose to sing a song for a "Staff On Stage" Performance at the summer camp I am working at till August. Well, I was asked to sing it. But I chose to do it. The song was "Defying Gravity", you know, that song that's all about breaking limits and being amazing and all those wonderful things I like to talk about... so when given the chance to sing it... this girl jumps. Right?

So here's the thing. I royally BOMBED. OK, so the majority of the audience loved it - you can't go wrong when you choose a crowd-pleaser song - but I didn't nail it. My voice cracked, I butchered important words like "down" and "ah" and that other word, you know, "gravity".

I didn't nail it.

I didn't nail it.

I disappointed myself and the people I perceive to matter.

FUUUUUUUCK!!!!

Over the past few years, I've been getting lazy with my voice. Yes, lazy is the word. Not practicing. Not singing. Taking time off.

Which has been fine. Because in the past, I've oversung. I've had a lot of fear tied up in my voice. I've had worries of abuse, seen specialists, been on voice rest, paid far too much attention to the technique of speaking, singing, breathing, moving... UGGGH! So I reached a point of... ENOUGH.

And I've been wanting to take a lesson with someone in vocal technique for at least a year. And this morning, I had the BEST lesson... 1.5 hours ... it was so great, I made all these wonderful advances, I remembered so much about pure vowels, and support, and heard everything with fresh ears and made new advances and felt so GOOD! And promised myself that for the song I was singing tonight, I would really practice it, and it would be AMAZING for tonight.

So can you guess what happened? Did I practice? Not a bit. Did I go forward with the song, all the while knowing that I still had issues? Absolutely.

THERE IS SO MUCH I DID WRONG TONIGHT!

I finished the performance, I left straightaway, blew off my other friends performing tonight, and felt this real strong primal urge for India and a blog. You know, my version of Scotch and a cig.

So what can we take away from this experience?Ummm, wait. What can I take from this?

"Sometimes you fly, and sometimes you fall. There ain't no way to avoid the pain, cuz getting burned that's how you learn to come back to the middle"

I think... I think... I think...

I think I'll be ok. I think this is Goduniverse's kick in the ass telling me to smarten up my technique. To have such an amazing morning with vocal discoveries and an extremely painful evening with Self-disappointments is an extreme ego-bruiser, and I think ... I think... I need to be very gentle with myself here.

It's Ok... because, to quote Queen Arie ... "to get to the top you must come back to the middle". So here lie I, before you... humbled, open, action ready, having hit Cocky, moved into Humbled... and now... am back at the middle.