My Cleanse Situationship

I have a love/hate relationship with doing cleanses. I’ve written more about them in the past- ​here​.

I’m in the middle of my spring cleanse right now (day 2 is when I’m writing this; you’ll get this day 5!).

I typically do a cleanse twice a year, in the spring and in the fall. My usual cleanse is 7 days, but this year due to some other things going on around my cleanse time, I’ve decided to do 5 days.

I’ve done as little as three days and up to ten days in the past, and last spring I did my first at-home pancha karma (with an Ayurveda practitioner)-- it was more intense, and I don’t recommend doing this without guidance (you are your own worst client or patient!!). You can read a bit about my experience with that ​here​.

I do cleanses because of how I feel afterwards. I often feel clarity of mind, my allergies are WAY better, my skin is clearer, I have more energy, less cravings for sugar, and my digestion gets a little break and reset.

During a cleanse– UGHHHHH.

While in a cleanse, we are intentionally turning down the digestive fire, giving it less physical food (and hopefully, taking in less through the senses as well).

Kitchari (a dish of rice, mung beans and vegetables eaten during the cleanse) is a very easy to digest meal, so it gives the body a chance to digest other toxins that have built up over the past seasons. If we allow space, there is also a capacity to clear previously undigested emotions.

A simple Ayurveda cleanse with kitchari is meant to keep you nourished. You’re not supposed to be hungry.

The biggest difficulty of the whole thing? Dealing with the ego throwing a tantrum.

What's on the other side of THIS cleanse this time? Nature walk near Denver. Photo by Ron Michael Photography.

EVERY single time, I find out again just how attached I am to the food I like to eat, the variety, and my favorite buddy, SUGAR. I’m also attached to being “productive.”-- which is laughable these days because distracting myself with busy work often doesn’t even result in any tangible benefits.

So I dread and look forward to the cleanse. If I’m honest– it’s mostly the after that I look forward to 😉.

But ‘the during’ is in fact an opportunity to take a break. I clear at least two days of my life from obligations, do more self-care practices, and practice the elusive thing: REST. I plan at least one month ahead for this time, sometimes six weeks.

I’ve now led several clients through cleanses, and it looks different every time for each person, and ALWAYS results in revelations for them.