Tag Archive for: detox

Detoxify Your Body, Mind and… Home: Connect to the Freshness

The 12 Day Wellness Journey in the New Year

Each new year offers the promise of a fresh start. As we embark on this journey into the Wood Dragon Year 2024, it is the perfect time to cleanse not only our bodies but also our emotions, minds, and homes. In fact, I’m New Year’s cleaning today as we speak! I recall asking a Dharma question to a teacher a number of years back, I asked-“how do you get yourself feeling better if you feel a lot of heaviness, sadness or depression?” I mentioned that I often have a lot of negative self talk, and my spiritual tradition has so many steep stages of purification and levels of enlightenment that to me, often sound daunting and exhausting. What I learned from child raising, it helps more to focus on strengths and be encouraging rather than be critical and fixate on shortcomings. The teacher replied to my question simply-“Connect to the freshness.”

This was a very powerful and simple transmission for me, and those four pith words remain etched in my heart. Oftentimes we have these grandiose notions of some well-being, happiness and some ever future ideal notion of accomplishment, that’s always just out of reach.

However, every morning we wake up and basically our life takes place in simple ordinary moments of experience. We go to sleep and wake up, brush our teeth, make some breakfast, meditate (hopefully), do some stretching, bathe, go for a walk, start our day, and every day, repeat. All we really have are these simple elements of human experience tied together, the past is gone and future is but a dream. As you remember the old Ram Dass famous quote- be in the moment, “Be Here Now.” What then, is really being here?

In my dharma tradition they talk about “Ordinary Magic.” Maybe the greatest attainment of all would be for us to really be raw, unfiltered and present in these little moments of our lives. I have a tendency to “future trip” or numb-checkout into Iphone/Facebook/Instagram/Reddit/X electric dissociation stupor, when indeed, the real heart connectedness is right here, in front of me. Can I really show up and be present in my life?

Recently, I was doing a group meditation weekend and it was raining and I was wearing dark wool, winter pea-coat. We went out for a walk during the lunch break and a few round raindrops were on my lapel. The sun was shining through the rain, and as I looked down and I saw a few perfectly refracted rainbows in the little drops of water. I thought to myself… This is it! My whole life has been leading up to this very moment- on this Sunday afternoon, for me to just fully experience these little sun-lit rainbows on my jacket. That was it- simple, unadorned, magic and the experience thereof, even bliss.

So, in a world flooded with detox and wellness advice, I think finding our authentic Selves and being present in each moment of our lives IS the spiritual path. It is all we have, really. Slowing down and opening is self care, rejuvenation and reconnecting again and again to the freshness. If we can take 30 minutes a day, to connect to this freshness, we are well on our way toward loving, self care and evoking this ordinary magic.

The Full 12 Day Wellness Program for the New Year

Day 1: Embracing the Self

Morning Ritual (15 minutes): Start your day with affirmations. Stand in front of the mirror, look into your eyes, and repeat positive affirmations about self-love, acceptance, and body positivity.

Throughout the Day: Practice self-compassion. Think about all of the good you have done since you have come into this world.

Evening Reflection (15 minutes): Before bed, take out your journal and write down three things you noticed about your life, family, relationships and things that you love about yourself. Focus on your strengths, beauty and unique qualities.

Day 2: Cleanse and Detoxify

Download Detox Plan

• Morning Ritual (15 minutes): Begin your day with warm lemon water to kick-start your metabolism and aid digestion.

• Throughout the Day: Opt for a juice and smoothie cleanse. Include a variety of fruits and vegetables to provide essential nutrients.

• Evening Reflection (15 minutes): Reflect on your emotions and thoughts throughout the day. Journal about any insights gained during the cleansing process.

Day 3: Somatics: Mind-Body Connection

• Morning Ritual (15 minutes): Engage in a 15-minute yoga session or light stretching to awaken your soma or body and mind.

• Throughout the Day: Commit to daily exercise, and do it! Whether it’s a brisk walk, a dance session, or a workout routine, make movement a priority. My trainer made me commit to 30 minutes a day- EVERY DAY, on the elliptical machine and/ or a walk.

• Evening Reflection (15 minutes): Practice mindfulness meditation. Reflect on the physical and mental sensations you experienced during the day.

Day 4: Envisioning Professional Goals

See the 8 Dimensions of Wellness

• Morning Ritual (15 minutes): Take time to visualize your professional aspirations. What do you want to do each day when you wake up? Picture yourself achieving your goals.

• Throughout the Day: Create a vision board that represents your professional ambitions. Use images, quotes, and symbols that resonate with your dreams.

• Evening Reflection (15 minutes): Journal about the steps you can take to turn your vision into reality. Identify small actions you can start taking immediately.

Day 5: Nurturing Relationships

See Articles on Relationships

• Morning Ritual (15 minutes): Send a message of love and gratitude to someone you appreciate, remember any good moments, and express your feelings genuinely. Heal the karma if you can with someone that you have not resolved an issue with. Let friends or family go that are not healthy, nurturing and harmonious.

• Throughout the Day: Assess your current relationships. Let go of toxic connections that drain your energy. Surround yourself with those who uplift and support you.

• Evening Reflection (15 minutes): Write a letter to yourself outlining the qualities you seek in meaningful relationships. Manifest the love and respect you deserve.

Day 6: Digital Detox

• Morning Ritual (15 minutes): Turn off electronic devices for the first 30 minutes of your day. Spend this time in quiet reflection or engaging in a calming activity.

• Throughout the Day: Cancel personal social media accounts temporarily. (Yes, I canceled my personal Facebook and never felt better!) Disconnect to reconnect with your inner self.

• Evening Reflection (15 minutes): Notice how your mood and energy levels shift without constant digital stimulation, and how much time you have for real, living connections. Reflect on the peace gained through this intentional break.

Day 7: Nature Connection

• Morning Ritual (15 minutes): Step outside and breathe in fresh air and sunlight. Connect with nature by taking a short walk or simply sitting in a natural setting.

• Throughout the Day: Spend at least 30 minutes outdoors. Engage in activities that ground you, such as gardening or hiking. Feel the earth of your feet.

• Evening Reflection (15 minutes): Journal about the tranquility and grounding sensations you experienced. Consider how nature can be a source of ongoing rejuvenation.

Day 8: Creative Expression

• Morning Ritual (15 minutes): This is otherwise known as Vitamin J=Joy! Engage in a creative activity, such as drawing, writing, or ecstatic dancing. Allow yourself to express without judgment.

• Throughout the Day: Take time for a creative pursuit you enjoy. This could be cooking, crafting, signing or playing a musical instrument.

• Evening Reflection (15 minutes): Reflect on how creative expression enhances your well-being. Consider incorporating more of it into your daily life.

Day 9: Gratitude Practice

• Morning Ritual (15 minutes): Start a gratitude journal. Write down three things you’re grateful for each morning. I created a lovely digital planner journal for 2024, you can order here.

• Throughout the Day: Express gratitude to those around you. Send a text message, make a call, or express thanks in person.

• Evening Reflection (15 minutes): Reflect on the positive moments of the day. Acknowledge the abundance in your life.

Day 10: Mindful Eating

• Morning Ritual (15 minutes): Have a mindful breakfast. Eat slowly, savor each bite, and pay attention to your body’s signals of hunger and fullness. They say that 1/3 of the stomach should have food, 1/3 water and 1/3 should be left empty!

• Throughout the Day: Practice mindful eating in all your meals. Choose nutritious foods that nourish your body.

• Evening Reflection (15 minutes): Reflect on how mindful eating influences your relationship with food. Notice any changes in your energy levels and overall well-being.

Day 11: Energy Clearing

• Morning Ritual (15 minutes): Burn incense, sage or juniper or use another energy-clearing method in your home. Set the intention to release any negative energy.

• Throughout the Day: Declutter a space in your home. Let go of items that no longer serve you~ donate gently used clothes, jackets and bedding to Goodwill or the homeless shelters.

• Evening Reflection (15 minutes): Journal about the emotional and mental space created through the physical act of decluttering. Notice how a clean, fresh space affects your mood.

Day 12: Self-Celebration and Reflection

• Morning Ritual (15 minutes): Celebrate your journey, and you just being you, with all of your positive qualities and flaws. Acknowledge the growth and positive changes you’ve experienced.

• Throughout the Day: Pamper yourself with self-care activities you enjoy. This could be a spa day, reading a favorite book, or simply resting with tea.

• Evening Reflection (15 minutes): Write a letter to your future self, expressing gratitude for the commitment to self-love and well-being. Reflect on the many lessons learned and envision the continued journey of self-discovery.

Clean Living for a New Year

As we step into this new year, let’s shift our focus from resolutions and future attainments to uncovering our already existing natural wellness. Just 30 minutes a day of self-care time and really being present in our lives can help so much. Clean living, detoxing the body, mind, relationships and creating a sacred space in our homes and work is a powerful commitment to our well-being. There might just be a rainbow already there, that we can so easily miss. Please stay in touch and bookmark our holistic offerings at rockymountainsomatics.com, where ancient wisdom meets modern, feminine-inspired wellness. A few small lifestyle changes can empower us to detoxify and start the year with renewed freshness, energy, and live our best lives!

Dawn Boiani-Sandberg

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Image: https://www.futurity.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/rainbow_droplets_525.jpg

January 28, 2024/0 Comments/by Dawn Boiani-Sandberg

3 Day Home Cleansing Panchakarma Detox Retreat

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East meets west, a modern “Cleansing Panchakarma” detox retreat! Traditional Indian Ayurvedic cleanses offer a holistic approach to taking time off for oneself to detox, cleanse and restore body and mind. John Douillard, a noted Ayurvedic Doctor, says that Panchakarma means literally to “punch your karma,” or make a bold step toward stopping unhealthy patterns in body and mind that would otherwise give way to disease. How can we function well if we are over-stressed and overworked and… overweight? We need regular self care, tune up time.

Create a Sacred Space

Life these days is traumatic, period, and we don’t generally process stress, grief and loss well in our culture. Preferably it’s best to undertake this mini-program on a weekend three day vacation so that you could escape your daily grind. Whether you have family life, or rent a cabin in the forest, try to find a spot where you can observe some silence, at least while the family is away or create a quiet retreat room in your house. I try to do one of these every month. It’s recommended to keep away from excess stimulation, media, cell phones and invest your time resting, walking in nature, reading light material, as well as practicing gentle yoga and meditation.

This mini-retreat can be used for healing and weight loss as well. The Indian curry dhal-bat diet called kitchari that’s traditionally used for three meals however, isn’t great for westerners exclusively, as it consists mostly of mung beans and rice. Those are generally considered high carb, survival foods. In the west, we have a different constitution and time and I found simple, high protein foods that are much more appropriate to add to the cleanse for weight loss. However, you will make a big pot of this kitchari, it is very easy to digest and after day 1 you will notice the digestive cleaning process.

Healing Body, Mind and Heart

I wanted to offer something as simple as possible that could go for all three different doshas or body types. This diet is focusing on Kapha body types, ones with slower metabolism, and with some extra weight. I personally have found that a hybrid of the Indian system and the keto work well for a three day personal retreat and if you like you can extend it to six days or nine days, however long you have. This could be done on a weekend or just taking a few personal days off to be alone in the comfort and quiet to do in your own home. Adjust your own portions, listen and your body will tell you how much or little it needs.

This retreat can release unresolved emotions stored dormant in our mind and heavy connective tissue. To cope, avoid the urge to re-suppress anything and use exercise and meditation to soothe your heart and soul. Walk, laugh, cry, allow whatever needs a voice to be released. My teacher Tsoknyi Rinpoche said “if you let the mind come out, it will.” Be gentle with yourself and your experience, joys comes often after the purging of tears and fears, likewise health comes after the purging of toxins.

Simplifying your diet allows your body to divert it’s energies to mobilizing and releasing accumulated toxins. According to Ayurveda, a few foods are easier to digest than others and therefore are preferred whenever you undertake a detoxification. Here is my hybrid, holistic “recipe” for Panchakarma:

Before you begin:

Schedule specific dates for when and how long the cleanse will be, like a Friday am until Sunday pm.
Prepare to eat a simple nutritive breakfast and two meals of cleansing Kitchari only.
Remove excess caffeine (morning ok), all tobacco, alcohol, or other substances from the daily regimen.
Drink a detoxifying herbal tea throughout this time and 8-10 glasses of water.
Evening Oil Massage and warm lymphatic massage brush bath every day during the cleanse.
Quiet, alone time for yourself during the cleanse.
At least 12 minutes each, of yoga, meditation and cardio every day.

Morning Panchakarma

1. 12 minutes of Yoga, sun salutations, outside is best, do whatever flow you are used to.

2. Keto creamer organic coffee or Kapha keto creamer chai tea with ginger and cinnamon, and a pinch of clove.
For the keto creamer, I add 1 tbs grass-fed whey power, stirred together with almond milk add stevia if needed.

3. 1/2c organic yogurt and 1/2 c raspberry, blackberries, and blueberries, or apples and pears
or 1/2c organic cottage cheese and 1/2c sliced red peppers and cucumbers (if dairy free, soy yogurt can be substituted)

4. Morning after breakfast meditation for at least 12 minutes, you can recite a calming mantra or affirmation.

5. Mid Morning, drink a quick shot of 2 teaspoons of organic apple cider vinegar

Courtesy of: https://www.marthastewart.com/1165773/kitchari

Afternoon Panchakarma

Since your digestion is strongest when the sun is brightest, it’s best to eat your biggest meal at noon, also have a little lighter dinner.

Recipe for Kitchari

Ingredients:

2 cups uncooked split red lentils
1 cup uncooked organic white basmati rice (rinse with water until water runs clear)
1 tablespoon of ghee (can substitute olive oil)

I used 4 tbs of quality bulk curry powder or you can use:
[2 tbs turmeric and 1 tbs fresh grated ginger root or 1 teaspoon ginger
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon per black mustard seeds, cumin, and garlic powder
Optional: ½ teaspoon each coriander powder, fennel, and fenugreek seeds]

6 cups water
½ teaspoon salt (rock salt or sour pink salt is best)
Sliced carrots, and or chopped spinach, chard, or beet greens
Pan fried, cubed tofu.

Instructions:

Rinse the mung beans till the water runs clear. I soak mine overnight or a for a few hours before cooking. Bring beans to a boil 6 water cups
Cook beans and rice together until until become soft (about 30 to forty minutes).
The the beans and rice are cooked, I heat up 2T ghee or olive oil in a fry pan and cook the spices lightly, and then add them to beans and rice.
Add vegetables and tofu, cilantro leaves as a garnish just before serving, if desired. Add salt to taste.

1. 2 c. kitchari with vegetables and tofu.

2. Lemon or mint water room temp or warm, 8-10 glasses per day, ginger or mint tea or tea and dairy free chai can be alternated.

3. Cardio walk or workout interval is best for at least 12 minutes.

4. Listen to healing music, read, light spiritual or poetic reading, long walks outside, 5 element nature bathing.

Early Evening Panchakarma

1. Eat 2 cups of ready made kitchari.

2. Add 2 teaspoons of oil- flax, ghee, olive or coconut.

3. Early evening sunset walk, celebrate each night and try to see the magical sunset to seal the day.

4. Massage your body for 15 to 20 minutes with 8 oz of lightly pan warmed organic sesame or coconut oil, from head to toe, hair too! The coconut I warm in my hands.

5. I then do my evening meditation for 12 minutes with a towel under me, to let my skin absorb the oil, then take a shower or bath. Scrub your body with natural or Dr. Bronner’s soap and use a dry brush over whole body toward your heart as this provides a lymphatic massage, but let some oil to stay on the skin before bed. You can do the oil and bath in the afternoon instead as well.

6. Get at least 7-8 hours of good, nourishing, self care sleep.

Basic Retreat Shopping List:

✓Dry Wooden Brush

✓ 2 Jars Raw, unfiltered organic Coconut Oil

✓1 lb. Basmati Rice

✓1 lb. Red Lentils

✓Bunch fresh spinach, carrots

✓1 block organic Tofu

✓Large bag of bulk Curry Powder

✓1 large container of Organic Yogurt

✓Berries, Pears and or/ Apples

✓1 small carton almond milk or sugar free soy creamer

✓Grass fed whey powder

✓Mint or ginger tea

✓Fresh lemons or lemon juice bottle

✓Coffee or black tea (mornings only, as desired with almond milk)

Download Recipe Here

Check with your doctor before beginning any diet, exercise or weight loss plan, and not recommended if pregnant or lactating. This diet is not intended to diagnose, cure any disease, this is what I personally have found, heals me… Try it if it’s safe for you, and please let us know how it worked for you!

Here’s to your new, yogic and healed self!
Dawn Boiani
Owner

Originally Published on: Jun 24, 2019 on Sakura Designs

December 27, 2021/1 Comment/by Dawn Boiani-Sandberg

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