Yogaville

I apologize for the little break in blogposts this past week. I spent 3 days in Yogaville at an ashram studying Yoga for Stress Relief with Gary Kraftsow. Got home last evening and I am finally settling down to give you all an update.

First, let me recommend Yogaville as an excellent place to get away from it all! The ashram is in the middle of nowhere (actually Virginia) and there are no televisions, radios, telephones, or any other kinds of screens in the guest rooms. I did not bring my laptop, although I could have received wifi if I had selected that option. I spent a lot of quality time with myself, hiking the trails through the woods to an awe-inspiring vista of the blue ridge mountains or just resting and reading in my free time. It is possible to visit the ashram for the day, as an overnight stay, for a long weekend, or for weeks, months, even years at a time.

There are many residents who make the ashram their home, where they live, work, study, and serve this unique community. The staff come from all over the world and everyone I met was friendly and kind. There is an organic farm where much of the food is grown. There is even a school for the children of Yogaville, where they study all the required subjects in addition to yogic philosophy.

But let me get to the food! Because they only serve vegetarian food at Yogaville, I was a bit concerned about how I would feel. As you know, I normally eat many different forms of animal protein. From Friday evening until Sunday evening, I ate no meat. However, I must have put together enough vegetarian protein sources because I did not have any trouble with dizziness or excessive hunger.

I did end up eating a lot more grains than I normally do. Breakfast choices included simple, whole grain cereals, yogurt, hot oatmeal, whole grain breads, fruit, and condiments. As you can see, nothing is very high in protein. So I combined yogurt, seeds, sprouted grain bread, and peanut butter in order to get as much protein as possible. This amounted to more carbs than I usually eat, but at least they were whole grain and organic! I had been hoping for some eggs or cottage cheese, but there were none to be found. There is also no coffee! Only teas and juice, milk, or water to drink.

Lunch at Yogaville is the heaviest meal of the day. There were more choices, although still no eggs. The hot dishes included several bean options: black beans (vegan) and cheesy refried beans (not vegan!) as well as brown rice pilaf and steamed greens. Plain cubes of steamed tofu are always available which helped bring up the protein content of every meal for me. A "nacho" bar offered blue corn tortilla chips alongside a HEAPING bowl of mashed avocado, various homemade salsas, shredded cheese, and sour cream. Heaven!

Dinner was a lighter version of lunch, with a couple of soup options, a couple of pastas, and sauteed or steamed veggies. The salad bar was available at lunch and dinner, featuring beautiful organic leafy veggies, grated carrots and beets, chopped parsley and green onions, plus much more. I favored a savory miso dressing which I plan to try and recreate here at home.

Over the course of a long weekend, I didn't find it difficult to enjoy eating this way. The only challenge was making sure I got enough protein at each meal. However, I was very happy to come home to a hunk of animal protein on Sunday evening. And freshly brewed coffee for breakfast this morning!