The Musings of a Gypsy Yogini

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night!

…and I’m doing great… day 6 on the Master Cleanse.

I have learned a lot while on this adventure— yes, adventure.

It’s a total commitment. The juice tastes suprizingly good. I cannot watch TV. I’ve had to learn on a deeper level the difference between body hunger and mind hunger. It’s almost always my mind.In all honesty, I haven’t been truly hungry even once. As soon as I feel a little hunger pang, I do as directed and have a glass of the lemonade. It totally wipes it out.

I feel cleaner, alert, light, and centered. I just can’t go to the gourmet grocery store again to get more maple syrup. That’s too much right now. I was there earlier, and there were free samples of everything everywhere. Had to get the syrup and run!

So, I have just 4 more days to go and I will have completed the minimum of 10 days for total cleanse benefits. I’ve threatened to carry it out longer— and I may… but right now I’m thinking I won’t. It takes 4 more days post-cleanse to get back on a full day of solid foods. The first day I’m off I get to eat navel oranges!!! Anyone that knows me knows this thrills me. I love them. I meditate as I slowly peel them and savor them slowly…. mmmmm…. just thinking of them…..

Anyway! I’m also headed to Atlanta in about 2 weeks- and there’s no way I’ll be skipping the lovely food possibilities while I’m there!

I’m shocked at my ability to do this at all. I don’t think it would have been possible had I not spent about 2 weeks mentally preparing myself.

And that’s all for now.

Time to reboot my system so to speak.

A couple of weeks ago, I was reading about someone doing a “Master Cleanse” and it intrigued me. I began to think about how it would feel to cleanse the inside of my anatomy. Sounded good to me, so I began to do some research on what it was all about.

Turns out, it just might be exactly what I need.

I’m very proud of the fact I have become a person that takes really good care of myself. I don’t smoke or drink alcohol. I eat a diet of almost (not quite all) non-processed foods. I am around 90% vegetarian (I eat fish and chicken on occasion). I don’t eat white sugar, ZERO high-fructose corn syrup- (oh dear god don’t get me started on that!)… I am big on the superfoods (goji, blueberries, walnuts, raw chocolate, etc…), whole wheat and grains… lot’s of fruit… a fistful of vitamins… yadda yadda yadda…. You get the point…. which is, I spend a ton of dough on groceries.

OK, that’s not the point. The point is—I have a nutritious way of eating 98% of the time. (I splurge on occasion- I AM human and I love pizza and cupcakes!)….

But this lifestyle has evolved only over the last 3 years.

Before that- I lead more of an anything goes/ whatever way of life. Smoking, drinking, processed foods, unconscious eating behavior… all the stuff of a… you know, “fun” life!

My system loved the new food choices I was making. I began to hear what my body wanted. I ate mindfully without distraction. Whole foods were healing me on every level. You are what you eat. All was good…. and then I quit smoking.

Body lost it’s mind. Didn’t know what to do. Doesn’t digest. Needed it’s drug to function. Has never been the same. FOOEY!

I quit smoking last July, so it’s been like almost 9 months, and I’m convinced I need to shut my system down completely and reboot. I love the computer analogy I’ve been using for explaining this to everyone. I’ve downloaded ALL new software and it needs to restart in order to begin to function correctly.

The Master Cleanse, when executed correctly, shuts down the entire digestive process in order to clean house. The lemonade concoction is brilliant. Lemon juice, (full of enzymes and trace nutrients) to clean every cell in your body, maple syrup for glucose to keep the brain going, and cayenne pepper to detoxify. People are known to do the cleanse for up to a year in extreme cases. 10 days is the minimum amount of time required to finish the entire cleansing process. Many go for the 40 days. I’m going for the 10 day minimum. That’s 10 days with no food! Just the lemonade and herbal tea.

If you do some research on this, you might be horrified to find out exactly what has been inside of your body for years. There is a gross amount of EWW! and YUCK! that your body can never get rid of without shutting down for repairs. That’s what I’m doing. That’s why I’m doing it.

I’m planning on blogging, (no promises though)- and updating my Twitter status through this process (no, nothing gross… ugh!)— I’m sure it will be harder emotionally than physically…

I begin with full commitment on Monday, March 9th!