Roxy Yoga

Detox Week August 19, 2008

I have chosen to do a little detox this week. It’s about 2 weeks until my birthday and I have always felt like fall and my birthday are perfect opportunities to evaluate myself and my health and make any adjustments to be sure I’m living the lifestyle I want to live. I detoxed once before and it was quite the experience. I did a combination of the Master Cleanse and a juice fast for 3 days. The Master Cleanse is also known as the lemonade diet and it has been around for about 50 years. It entails drinking lots of a special lemonade concoction and flushing your digestive system with a salt water flush each day. Juice fasting is nothing more than consuming fresh fruit and veggie juices. The first day was by far the worst and I had to adjust what I was doing so I could at least function in my day to day life. I noticed how food and eating is such an emotional habit. I have always turned to food in times of stress and boredom and it was great to realize how unnecessary that was. I felt lighter and energized by the end and my yoga practice was freer in many ways. I was sometimes weak and tired, I swear I slept 10 hours a day, and I had some cramping when I tried to do an intense yoga class, but overall at the end I felt great.

This time I want to consume enough fruit and veggie juices to keep my energy up for teaching yoga and for my other responsibilities and work. If I feel too weak, I will eat fresh fruit, veggies, and possibly brown rice until I’ve reached my goal of 5 days! I am debating on the salt water flush though. My detox books say it’s necessary to flush the toxins. They say that not doing it will just make me feel worse because my body will be going through a ‘cleansing/healing crisis’ during which you feel symptoms of sickness while your body heals itself. The sick feeling should be temporary. All that is fine and dandy, but I had a very bad time with it last time and am afraid of doing it again. It was just wrong and I felt like death. I won’t do it these first 2 days, but if I’m going to do this, I shouldn’t do it half-assed, don’t you think? I will also try to just take it easy in general, trying to get some rest and enjoy some quiet time. Detoxing is not only about detoxifying your body, but also your mind, so going out and being crazy social and wearing myself out is contradictory to the whole purpose. I will try my best to honor my true needs, because I can’t exactly be a shut in or I’ll just go crazy when I come off the cleanse.

Wish me luck! If you are interested in what detoxing is all about, there are some pretty good books out there. The New Detox Diet & The Detox Book are great resources. The Master Cleanse is also interesting. I have also posted some of my favorite parts of The Detox Book on my online reader’s journal.