Sample an ancient diet, try a triathlon ...
Learning to eat an ayurveda diet, space-smudging, a new fitness chain from Down Under and a Malibu triathlon: a roundup of what’s happening on the wellness front.
Back to dietary basics
An upcoming ayurvedic feast will focus on the staples of this ancient, plant-based diet.
“Ayurveda is all about balance and understanding that different foods have different energies,” said Meredith Klein, founder of Pranaful, which organizes wellness retreats and provides healthful catered meals.
Klein will give a short presentation on the benefits of ayurvedic practices at the Thursday event, which is part of Rodale’s Organic Life/Wanderlust Hollywood “Find Your True Fork” dinner series. The meal will include a cilantro lime pesto (ingredients deemed as “cooling” in ayurveda), fortifying black lentils, fennel for digestion and anti-inflammatory turmeric.
Info: 7 p.m. Thursday Wanderlust Hollywood, 1357 N. Highland Ave. $80 per person. Discounts for groups of four or more. wanderlusthollywood.com
Purify a room
If you’re wondering what to do with those smudge sticks you bought on a whim, here’s an idea: In conjunction with holistic services company Creative Collective LA, the Chuan Spa at the Langham Huntington in Pasadena is holding a session on how to use smudge sticks and sage, lavender and rose petals to cleanse and purify a room.
The Native American tradition of smudging has long been used to encourage a sense of well-being in a space: The burning of some herbs is said to release negative ions and elevate the mood of a room.
Info: “How to Clear Your Space,” 7 p.m. Thursday. $40 includes a glass of champagne and snack. RSVP to Chuan Spa: (626) 5856414 or tllax.spa@langhamhotels.com.
Tired of that treadmill?
F45 Training, an Australian fitness studio chain that is expanding globally, is opening more Los Angeles-area branches this month. The newest studios, in Culver City and Pasadena, precede openings later this year in Santa Clarita, Woodland Hills and Hermosa Beach.
Los Angeles-based founder and Chief Executive Rob Deutsch said he wanted to create a functional 45-minute (hence the name) plan that varied each day and also did away with some conventional exercise equipment: The studios, which average 2,000 square feet, have no treadmills or ellipticals.
“Instead we use sandbags, Bosu balls, dumbbells, sleds,” Deutsch said.
The studios average nine classes a day that focus on cardio, resistance or a hybrid of both, depending on the day of the week. (Deutsch said there are 27 varieties.) Classes are led by two trainers.
“Each studio has several plasma TV screens that play the workout and explain the exercises,” Deutsch said. “The trainers are there to check technique and provide motivation.”
Info: Membership is about $200 a month. f45training.com
A triathlon for beginners
A triathlon on your bucket list? Consider next month’s Nautica Malibu Triathlon. Last year’s event had 3,500 people run, bike and ocean swim their way to the finish line in the “classic distance” race, which is a half-mile swim, 17-mile bike ride and four-mile run. The classic distance is shorter than the international distance and has attracted people who’ve never done a triathlon or aren’t very active. The organizers are running weekly swim clinics until the event.
Info: Sept. 16 and 17 at Zuma Beach. Cost is $220 to $450.nauti camalibutri.com