Cleansing 101
Intelligent deep-tissue cleansing sets into motion a chain of events that will affect the body all the way down to the cellular level. Here is a little “Cleansing 101” to ensure we all understand the mechanics behind this 30-day cleanse:
By abstaining from very acidic, dense foods and limiting the quantity of food that we take in, we prevent the accumulation of new waste. Meanwhile, by flooding the body with alkaline juices and raw vegetable salads, we create an environment that allows our internal systems to catch up on the work of removing accumulated waste through the eliminative organs (primarily the colon, skin, liver, kidneys, lungs, and lymph system). Specifically, the juices and salads help to drench and magnetize the accumulated waste out of the cells. In other words, this organic hydration reconstitutes the dry waste and the alkalinity magnetizes it. It is only once the waste has been “awakened” that it can be released from the cells and tissues via the eliminative organs.
Therefore, you can think of the 30-day cleanse as a big three-tiered sweep. You will be (1) preventing the buildup of new waste matter, (2) magnetizing out the old waste matter, and (3) giving your body a chance to do what it’s been trying to do ever since you started clogging it with too many acidic substances. In short, you will remove the obstructions to your body’s flow of life force!
Discover Your Power
We often talk about taking hold of our power as part of the detox journey. This will be an important theme during your 30-day cleanse. What do we mean by “power?” We are not referring to the external, transient power that comes with titles, accomplishments, and financial or social status. What we are interested in is an inner power that is not subject to external circumstances. It is a place of peace, strength, and self-assurance that resides within us all and is accessible to those who seek it.
When you are “in your power” and listening to the voice of your higher self, you experience your greatest moments of joy and inspiration. When you are in your power, you possess a solid understanding of who you are, what you are made of, what is best for you, and why you make certain choices. Those who forge and maintain a strong connection with their inner power enjoy a sovereign life. They accomplish things that seem impossible to others and have a much smoother life experience, even when challenging things happen around them. It is from this place of power that inspired lives are lived, authentic experiences and expressions are discovered, and joy is deeply felt as a constant companion.
Yes, this 30-day cleanse will make you feel physically amazing-probably the best you have felt since you were a child! However, for a truly profound and lasting transformation, you must discover, cultivate, and finally own your inner power throughout this 30-day journey and beyond. We have found that the act of cleansing the body and anchoring this inner power go hand in hand, so as you move deeper into the cleanse, you should feel a new strength and conviction radiating from an empowered center.
Before you begin the cleanse, begin to evaluate the state of your inner power by just witnessing yourself. If a friend or a colleague offers you food during the day, can you easily and politely refuse, or do you find yourself making unnecessary excuses? Is it easy for you to remain strong and steadfast in your pursuit of your highest good, or are you anxious about how others will react? Witnessing how you cope with external pushback throughout the day is an excellent way to assess where you inner power is strong and where it may be fragile.
If you find yourself vulnerable in the face of certain peer pressures or temptations, reevaluate your position. Renew your commitment to yourself, to your core self-that voice within you that serves your greatest good. Resist the path of least resistance, which leads to mindlessness, conformity, and regret. Instead, look long and deep into your own soul and choose radiance, vitality, and power!
Your Body’s Transformation During Week 1
Don’t expect a quiet, uneventful week. The intestine, the lymph, and the skin will all be jumping at this opportunity to begin removing the waste matter. Like old, neglected engines, they will start to hum and come to life. You can expect lots of internal activity as waste is awakened and ushered into the body’s pathways. You will feel the effects of this even more if you further stimulate the internal activity with external activity such as rebounding and body brushing. For more on the sequence of events and movements happening within the body, please read the blog at DetoxtheWorld.com, “A Salad In Motion Stays in Motion.”
Possible Symptoms During Week 1
You can definitely expect a range of detox symptoms throughout the cleansing process, particularly in the first week. Remember, this is all part of the cleansing journey. These symptoms (described below) can come up at different times, depending on your health and diet history. Fortunately, they do not tend to stick around for long, but rather come and go as deeper levels of waste are awakened for release. If you are applying the cleansing support tools (properly administered colonics and enemas), the symptoms should not be too acute or lasting.
We cover these possible symptoms in detail only to reassure you that if you are experiencing some discomfort during this first week, it is actually a very natural part of the process. These symptoms are simply the rumblings of your body beginning to mobilize poisonous matter for elimination, which is desirable!
Symptoms arise and subside as the body cleanses itself. Generally speaking, the more old waste and toxicity you are holding in your cells and tissues, the more acute you can expect your symptoms to be. If you have a history of suppressing symptoms with medicines, you can anticipate those symptoms to flare up as you cleanse, especially at the beginning. Remember, this is an essential part of your transformation. Once the waste is eliminated, the symptoms will disappear, but the process takes time. Pay attention to these symptoms, even learn to appreciate them, for they tell the story of exactly what is happening in your body and how effective your cleanse is.
- Your midsection may expand. The temporary expansion of your belly is simply the waste matter awakening from its dormant, dry, shriveled state. Like reconstituted dried fruit, the matter is going to expand as it is rehydrated and mobilized for elimination. While an expanding midsection is the last thing many people would want or expect from a cleanse, in this instance it is actually a welcome sign that you have “teed up” this waste for release. It usually takes about 3 to 4 days for the waste to be reconstituted to this degree, so if you’re seeing an expanded midsection around this time, everything is in order. This will typically be followed by a strong bowel elimination on your own.If you do not have a few strong bowel movements on your own this week, properly administered colonics and enemas can easily remove what you have dredged up. From there, your midsection should only get smaller and more attractive. By day seven or eight, you should notice a distinctly flatter stomach.Of course, it’s also normal for your midsection to expand slightly after a hydrating vegetable-based meal, when the water and cellulose are moving through the intestine. Day by day, however, you should be waking up with a tighter and more toned midsection.
- Your bowel movements may look different. You get an A for content and any grade for form, because at this stage it’s the content that matters! As the body reconstitutes and magnetizes old waste, it is going to release anything and everything. Don’t look at your loose or hard emissions as an indicator of whether or not you are on the right track. This week, things should not be “business as usual.” At this point, if it’s coming out, no matter how it looks, that is a good thing. If, on the other hand, you are constipated, you may need the assistance of a good colon hydrotherapist or the help of several home enemas (we like the Cara brand enema kit) to get things moving out.
- You may experience flu-like symptoms, headaches, and skin eruptions. Again, these are simply the side effects of old waste matter awakening and moving through the system. When you utilize all of the detoxification aids at your disposal (bowel cleansing through enemas or colonics, sweating, dry brushing, rebounding, etc.), you can greatly reduce these symptoms.
- You may experience emotional symptoms. You may find emotions or memories surfacing that you didn’t expect. If you were feeling numb or depressed prior to the cleanse, you may feel much more emotionally stirred during it. It’s impossible to predict exactly how you will feel, but chances are you will experience some atypical emotionality.Just as suppressed physical symptoms tend to surface during a cleanse, suppressed emotions or memories are also more likely to surface at this time. If you’re someone who processes life experiences, good and bad, as they occur, this stage won’t likely be a very stormy one. If you do feel emotionally stirred up, please keep in mind that this is perfectly normal and even important to the detox process. We encourage you to take this opportunity to release these old, unaired emotions, which can be just as toxic as the waste matter that your body is working so hard to eliminate. Old emotional residue, like old waste matter, creates blockages that stand between you and your sovereignty.You might be surprised to find you are much better equipped to face these feelings and experiences from your older, wiser vantage point today than you ever were before. If you still don’t feel ready to cope with all of them, that’s okay too. Process what you can and gently nudge back what you can’t, but we urge you to do so consciously, while acknowledging that at some point you will need to address them. You cannot ignore your inner demons and be whole. But you can release them little by little, just as your body releases its old blockages.All of our experiences are stored in our bodies. When we use food to suppress our emotional reactions to experiences, those feelings tend to awaken along with the old residue of the food that we used to suppress them. Overeating can have a numbing effect on our psyches by shoving emotions deeper into the body, making it seem like they are not there when really they are just buried in our subconscious and unconscious minds. (Dr. Candice Pert, a physiologist and biophysicist, has done extensive research to prove that our emotions and thoughts become our physical body’s peptides and receptors-that our emotions become our molecules! I highly recommend her books and audios to anyone interested in this subject.)Rolfing, a highly effective type of healing bodywork, was developed by Dr. Ida Pauline Rolf in 1971 to help realign and improve the functioning of the skeletal-muscular system. However, the method of working on the connective tissue turned out to be deeply emotionally cathartic. It is believed that one’s old memories and emotions become deeply embedded in one’s connective tissues and that Rolfing serves the dual purpose of both refining the skeletal-muscular system and releasing a great deal of stored up emotional negativity. If you can afford it, we highly recommend getting ten full Rolfing treatments. Like awakening old waste in the body, processing these emotions is not always pleasant, but it is essential to a joyful life.As you release old physical waste matter, you will simultaneously have the opportunity to address and release many stored toxic emotions that are blocking you from optimal states of being. Do your best to become an observer of these emotions as they present themselves. They will come to the surface because this is part of true detoxification. Embrace this is your opportunity to elevate your health on all levels!
- You may sweat more than usual (especially at night) and your sweat may smell stronger. You may notice that your sweat or body odor is more pungent than usual. This is due to the toxic waste leaving your body through your skin-which is desirable! Do not use toxic antiperspirants or perfumes. Blocking the release of toxins through your skin and underarms completely defeats the purpose of cleansing. Although excessive sweating can be uncomfortable and possibly embarrassing, in the long run you will be much better off allowing your body to eliminate toxins through your skin.If you need to mask your body odor, be sure to use only the most natural deodorants. If you can get away with washing under your arms with only natural soap and water, this is the time to do it (we like the South of France brand that can be found at Whole Foods). If you are a beginning cleanser who sweats a lot and emits a strong odor, you can deduce that you have a lot of noxious accumulated waste to release; this is a great indicator of how deep the cleansing will need to go. If you are an advanced cleanser, you can interpret the sweating and the odor as indication that your body is highly efficient at releasing toxins when given the opportunity to cleanse.
- Your breath may be more pungent. Again, this is just your body releasing the stored toxicity in your body through your mouth. Just be sure to brush your teeth with a natural toothpaste so you are not introducing more toxins through your mouth (we like Tate’s Natural Miracle Toothpaste. You can also use an herbal mouthwash, such as Heritage Original HPM (Hydrogen Peroxide Mouthwash), or freshen up midday with a chlorophyll- or essential-oil-based mouth spray if desired.
- Any preexisting physical weaknesses or susceptibility to infection, especially those that you have been suppressing with medications, may flare. For example, if you have experienced many bronchial infections, arthritis, or sinus infections in the past, these may come up for you when you cleanse. Although this may be disconcerting to the novice cleanser, you can rest assured that most flare-ups of preexisting conditions under cleansing conditions will actually support the body’s healing functions by allowing more toxins to surface and exit. For the most part, these symptoms will be relatively mild and they will subside on their own. However, in extremely rare cases, the aid of allopathic medicine may be required for severe and acute symptoms. The severity of your symptoms will all depend on a combination of factors: your age, your amount of waste accumulation, your inherited energy (lineage), and your ability to release the waste you awaken. If you are experiencing a lot of detox symptoms, put aside some time for rest and drink plenty of fluids.In summary, as different symptoms present themselves, remind yourself of all the toxins you have taken into your body throughout the years and be thankful for the opportunity to release them. Such toxins are the root cause of almost all diseases. The temporary discomfort of releasing them is a small price to pay for a fabulously vibrant future! The first week’s symptoms will pass and you will begin feeling better day by day as the matter awakens and then exits your system.
- Finally, if you are experiencing heavy detox symptoms and doing activities that stimulate the lymph and pathways of the body (such as body brushing and rebounding) you may want to back off of those activities for a bit-because they will turn the dial up on mobilizing the waste. Instead, opt for gentle chi-generating activities such as walking, biking, and hiking.
Colon Cleansing During Week 1
If you are new to this lifestyle, you will want to wait until the third or fifth day of this initial week before you have your first colonic or administer your first enema. Waiting a few days is helpful because you want to make sure you give your body enough time to magnetize and reconstitute enough waste; otherwise there will be nothing to release. People who eat “normally” do not tend to have effective colonics. It’s the awakening process that makes colonics and enemas powerful. This explains why one cannot get away with using colonics and enemas to clean up one’s bad diet.
Do not eat prior to your colonic, and consume only water and/or raw vegetable juice before your session. You may want to juice immediately after your colonic as well. For those of you who incorporate juicing daily and colonics regularly, the timing of your first colonic is not as important and can happen at any time during the first week.
While following the Rose Cleanse, you can expect a well-administered colonic to release copious amounts of waste from your system. If you do not have access to a professional colon hydrotherapist or cannot see one for whatever reason, self-administered gravity enemas with the Cara enema kit (or a similar two-quart “hanging bag” enema kit) is the next best option. However, you will need to do these more frequently because they generally do not release nearly as much waste as a well-administered gravity-fed, closed-system colonic. In our experience, enemas two to three times a week or colonics once a week are appropriate throughout the cleanse. But we urge you to tune into your system and intuit the right cleanse-support protocol for you.
Many of the colon hydrotherapists in our directory offer special programs to Rose Cleanse participants to further support your cleansing efforts. You can view a list of participating therapists in our discussion forum under Colonics/Enemas/Colon Health in the Rose Cleanse Virtual Living Room.
Practical Considerations
To ensure as much deep cleansing as possible, here are some practical considerations that you should keep in mind.
- Secure the right colonic appointments and/or enema kit.
- Make sure your vegetables are organic, locally grown on an environmentally conscious farm, and not irradiated and/or flash pasteurized.
- Use natural and organic cosmetic and body products.
- Use only organic household cleaning products.
- Find an organic dry cleaner for clothing items that require special attention.
- Identify all the things you can do to make your month of cleansing more convenient and prepare accordingly. Can you get produce delivered from a local farm or health food store? Can your children help wash the produce, or help with juicing and salad prep?
- You will find freedom in juicing until dinner because you will only have to prepare one meal a day. Even if you are still preparing lunches and cooking for family members, you will realize that not having to prepare three meals a day for yourself saves considerable time and energy-your intestine will think so too!
- If you need help from family, friends, or the Natalia Rose Institute community in order to make this 30-day cleanse work for you, now is the time to ask for it. If you are still using time as an excuse not to heal your body and improve your life, evaluate why you are continuing to block yourself from a better existence. Are you resistant to change because you can’t see a better future for yourself? Are you accepting mediocrity in your physical and emotional existence because you are afraid to step into greatness? Such questions are important to ask if you may be sabotaging your own success. Simply realizing you are blocking your own progress is a huge first step in the cleansing journey!
Strategies for Getting Through the Day
It is helpful to have a plan for when and what you will consume. For example, the later you can push back your first juice of the day, the shorter the hours until your evening meal will feel. Instead of starting the day with juice first thing, you could try a fresh, cleansing lemonade made with lemon juice, mint, and stevia. After that, you could wait until you feel the need for more and then enjoy a hot brew of herbal tea. Then, when you really need your juice, enjoy it! Chances are, it will be later in the day than you expected, and the leap between juice and food will not seem very long.
It will be helpful, especially in the beginning, to have all of your liquid options available throughout the day so you always have something to consume whenever you feel the need. Vegetable broth can be especially helpful in the afternoon before dinner. It will get easier and easier to go through the day without constantly drinking something, but allow yourself to take in as much as you need at this early stage. The first few days are the most difficult because your body is adapting to a new schedule.
Once that’s established, you can expect smooth sailing for the duration.
You can break your daily liquid fast with raw veggies as early as 5:00 p.m., if needed. Something as simple as a bunch of organic carrots can hit the spot; or, if you want something more exciting, feel free to create a plate of crudités (raw veggies such as carrot sticks, cucumber slices, raw sweet potato slices, cherry tomatoes, etc).
This will help you through the salad and dinner preparation and prevent the urge to overeat at dinner.
Sample Daily Intake
Below is a sample day to give you an idea of how you can spread out your liquid and solid food intake. The Rose Cleanse e-book offers two more examples of a typical day on the cleanse, which also apply here. This sample time line is merely to illustrate what your daily intake of liquids and foods might look like. We do not designate specific times for drinking your juice, sipping herbal tea, or having some vegetable broth. Instead, we encourage you to tune into how you feel rather than eat and drink according to the clock. If you are fine without consuming anything until noon, go ahead and do this. If you would like to drink your juice first thing in the morning, that’s fine as well. As long as the substance is one included in this Cleanse, partake when you decide it’s time! Again, this schedule is just to give you an idea of what your daily intakes might look like, not presented as a prescription. You can start with this type of plan and then modify it to your personal needs and rhythms as the cleanse progresses:
- 7:00 am: 8 ounces of highest quality water you can find (with fresh lemon or lime juice, if desired). See Live Q&A Recorded Audio regarding water quality.
- 8:00 am: Herbal tea of your choice (with fresh lemon juice and/or stevia, if desired)
- 9:00 am: 16 ounces of Green Lemonade (see recipe) or other fresh vegetable juice of your choice.
- 12:00 pm: 16 more ounces of vegetable juice of your choice
- 2:00 pm: Herbal tea of your choice
- 4:00 pm: 1-2 cups of organic vegetable broth or more vegetable juice
- 5:00 pm: Carrot, celery, olives, and cucumber slices (if needed before dinner)
- 7:00 pm: Any ideal Rose Cleanse dinner option (see recipes for suggestions)
- 8:00 pm: 1-2 ounces of 70%+ dark chocolate (only if desired)
Dinner Time
You will come to love dinnertime more than ever-not because you will be starving yourself until then, but because it will be a celebration of beautiful, deeply satisfying foods. When approaching dinner, there are a few things to keep in mind.
First, you don’t want to come to it completely ravenous in body and spirit. After a long day, it is important that you take a ritualistic break between your daytime activities and your evening activities. Take a bath, do a quick five-minute meditation (if you can meditate longer, that’s even better), or listen to some calming music-whatever it takes to ensure you pause and take a moment to breathe before dinner. You want to approach your evening meal with mindfulness, with a sense of calm joy and gratitude. Do whatever it takes to shed the madness of the day and slip back into your body so you can be fully present prior to dinner.
Second, you must begin your dinner with a raw salad or raw veggies of some sort. These will aid in the digestion process, ensuring that your cooked food moves through the body smoothly, without getting stuck and adding to the accumulation that you are working to undo.
It’s a good idea to plan your dinners for the week and make sure you have all the necessary ingredients when you need them. See the Pre-cleanse Preparation Guide, the discussion forum in the Rose Cleanse Virtual Living Room, or any of Natalia’s books (especially Detox 4 Women) for several well-combined, vegetable-centric dinner recipes you may want to try throughout the week. There are many raw and cooked dinner options that are cleansing. We invite you to share any recipes or dinner ideas that you’ve tried and loved with your fellow cleansers. On a scale from 1 to 10, dinners should score a 10 for taste and satisfaction! If yours are not turning out that way, they are not the kind of dinners we’re talking about, and our virtual community will help you develop more satisfying meals. Think in terms of flavor and abundance, not restriction and blandness.
Here’s what we suggest to get your creative juices flowing: Think about what you would really love to eat for dinner and then create that flavor and experience with all that is available to you in our vast ingredient spectrum. Challenge yourself to reinvent pastas, pizzas, tacos, salads, soups, and any number of ethnic dishes using well-combined, high-vibe ingredients. It is entirely possible. You’ll know you’ve nailed the art of culinary reinvention when you realize that out of all the foods you could be eating, you crave nothing more than those cleansing dishes that you are preparing yourself! In fact, we will help you come up with dinners that you’ll still want to eat long after these thirty days are complete.
Physical Activity
Unless you are experiencing serious detox symptoms, you should be able to enjoy all of the physical activities that you usually do. If you are not doing any physical activities, this is a good time to start. However, it is important to consider what activities are right for you, and whether or not you are doing them consciously. Use this time to undo the old programming that says you must exercise to burn calories and fat. The main reason you want to exercise during this cleanse is to oxygenate and alkalinize the body. In addition, you want to maximize the energy flow throughout your body, generate additional energy, and open pathways so that blocked energy can make its way to the brain.
While physically active, make a conscious effort to be present in your body. Breathe deeply from your belly. Ground your consciousness in your core and move your body with a sense of purpose. Rebounding, yoga, dancing, biking, walking, hiking, and playing with your children in the yard are all good examples of physical activities that will accomplish the goal of oxygenating the body and increasing energy flow through the body’s pathways. Movement should not be a chore. Do something that makes you feel vital and joyful!
Social and Lifestyle Considerations
You may be surprised to find that some of the people around you are very supportive. A few may even be personally curious about what you are doing and want to join you. As people are becoming disillusioned with the old ways of eating and living, they are becoming more open to alternatives. Of course, there will also be plenty of critics.
Just remember that one of the jobs you have this month is to embrace your role as your own highest authority.
As much as possible, simply witness the emotions that arise within you when faced with a challenging social situation and do your best not to react with negativity.
There will always be skeptics and critics, but you can use this time to become comfortable enough with your choices not to cater to the opinions of others. Try to be compassionate rather than combative, and try not to take criticism personally, especially when that criticism says more about the critic than about you. These experiences provide opportunities for us to grow in love, understanding, and sovereignty. This month, there will probably be many social and lifestyle opportunities to practice self-reliance and personal responsibility. Remember, if you focus on what feels right deep in your soul, you will never go wrong.
If you find that you cannot answer some of the questions about the cleanse that others pose to you, this can help to reveal holes in your knowledge base. Feel free to bring these questions to our live Q&A calls and our Virtual Living Room discussion forum, and observe how the answers play out during your cleanse. This is a great way to deepen your understanding of the process. Then you can own your knowledge rather than just repeat what you have been told-by anyone, including us!
Mental & Emotional Considerations
During this first week, you will likely experience significant emotional and mental shifts. To remain positive and focused, it will be very helpful to read some inspiring books, do guided healing meditations, and to take time out during the day for quiet contemplation. Be sure to visit our Recommended Reading.
If you find yourself resistant to deeper self-reflection, you might ask yourself why. Why am I resisting the calm, the quiet, the voice of my innermost self? It is within the silence that your true self can more fully emerge. We are conditioned to always be doing something, and it is rare that we take the time to just be in the moment, in the fullness of our consciousness. However, it is within such moments that our greatest insights and personal revelations can be found.
Homework for Week 1
Really solidify your commitment to this 30-day cleanse by writing a contract with yourself. State clearly what you are going to do over the next several weeks. Begin by drawing up a list of your promises to yourself. For example:
- I will consume juice, herbal teas, and water until 5:00 pm daily.
- I will go to my favorite yoga class twice per week.
- I will go for my colonic once per week.
- I will meditate and write in my journal daily.
After you draw up your list, state clearly why you are undertaking all the terms of this cleanse. Then write down what you expect to get in return for these efforts. For example, you might begin with something like this:
- I will feel more vital, beautiful, and free.
- I will feel a deeper sense of connection with my food and my inner power.
- I will take more pleasure in my body.
Don’t hold back! Write down anything and everything you hope to accomplish during this cleanse. Be clear about what you are doing and why you are doing it, and what you are expecting to accomplish.
Visit the contract often to remind yourself of why you have chosen to do this cleanse. While it might seem unnecessary now, you may experience moments of temptation or doubt. Thus, taking a moment every morning and every night to remind yourself of all your specific intentions and motivations-and the deep commitment you have made to yourself-could be essential to your success!