How To Make The Most Of Your Detox Retreat

Leisa Wheeler, naturopath, health and healing mentor, and fatigue specialist, is the founder and director of Embracing Health, a business dedicated to bringing you health information that can change your life.
Leisa’s passions include many areas of health – from food as medicine and nutrition, to physical fitness and detoxification; from emotional release work to spiritual healing; these varied interests shaping her belief in the value of integrated healing on all levels; physical, emotional and spiritual.

With our first detox retreat for the year just around the corner, and places in our amazing Bali and Byron venues filling fast, I thought I would post some tips today about how to make the most out of your detox experience.

Basically this post should be called “Don’t Do What I Did Before My Detox Retreat!” Having attended the retreats, first as a guest, and then as a facilitator for 3 years now, I have come to pick up a fair few tips from those people who got the best out of their detox experience. These tips can be used to prepare your body for any detox or cleanse period.

Wean Off The Caffeine and Alcohol
Knowing that you’re attending a juice fasting, organic, raw food retreat can cause some people to indulge leading up to the retreat. Especially in our glorious Bali location, some guests decide to really get into the holiday spirit and have a few big nights on the booze, followed by a few days heavy on the Bali coffee before arriving hung over and wired at the retreat.

Now, seriously, no judgment. That’s what I did before my Bali retreat so I hear you! But be warned, overindulging before retreats can cause you to feel the detox symptoms a great deal worse over the first few days. It also means for the first 24-48 hours of the detox, your body is busy ridding itself of the toxins so recently ingested.

If you want to get the most out of your retreat, take 1-2 weeks before your retreat to wean off, or at least down, your caffeine and alcohol consumption before arriving. This will result in less detox symptoms, and encourage your body to do some serious deep level detoxing from day 1, as opposed to only getting to the old stuff a few days in. At the same time, boost your water intake to between 1.5-3L of water per day. Hydrated cells detox a lot more effectively than dehydrated cells.

Eat Clean
This one carries on from above. If you can, try to have at least a week of clean eating before you detox. Cut down on processed foods, meat, sugars and simple carbohydrates, focusing instead on lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, legumes and only a little meat.

In the same way as above, your body will be able to detox those deeper, stored toxins a lot sooner, and you won’t suffer cravings or difficulty ridding yourself of the last few days of heavy meals.

Be Open To Being Tired
One of the main surprises to retreat guests can be that they feel tired while detoxing. That is completely normal! Detoxing is hard work, and given the right conditions, your body will delve into stored toxins and start moving rubbish it may have been holding onto for years! This will make almost everyone tired.

Some of the guests at our retreats think they’ll be popping off down the road for some shopping when ever they have a spare moment, catching up on work or study, or  exercising. These people often find being at the retreat and going off for a nap is all they can mange. Again this is perfectly normal. And healthy! It shows us your body is doing what it needs to do- detoxing.

To make the most of your retreat, try not to plan too much during your week. Definitely don’t bring any work to do! Don’t promise loads of souvenirs to friends back home, but rather take that time out as 100% you time. Take a nap, lay by the pool, sunbake on the beach, read a book, just zone out. Immerse yourself in the beauty of doing nothing! How often does that come along?

That being said, once you start eating the raw organic meals, your energy will likely come back in leaps and bounds. You will definitely be able to shop or sight see, but to get the best out of your experience, try not to plan these in your first 4-5 days.

Go In With An Open Mind
Our detox programs contain many elements that are new to a lot of people. Perhaps you have never had a colonic before, or this may be your first energetic healing Ka Huna massage. Perhaps you have never heard of breathwork or transformational breathing, of vision boarding, or sound healing.

We ask everyone to come in with a mind that is open to new experiences. And please, if you do have questions or concerns, voice them and let’s see if we can negate your worries and allow you to experience all the retreat has to offer.

Take A Before And After Picture
The changes I see in one week always blow me away! Some times people look years younger after only a matter of days! Others come away with a sparkle in their eyes and a new found vibrancy.

I would thoroughly recommend taking a picture of yourself before and after your retreat, just so you can see the difference for yourself!

We have 4 places left at our Byron Bay retreat starting on March 13th, there is still time to secure your place! Looking forward to seeing you all soon!

Rhianna

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