NOTE: Scroll to the bottom of this post to find a very simple but important breathing practice you can try RIGHT NOW!

Last month I took a week off work for a couple of online continuing education workshops. In the same week, Sean and I decided to do an Ayurvedic Cleanse. We did it right around the Spring Equinox.

The Ayurvedic Cleanse we do is one I learned from a former yoga teacher and friend. We have done it almost every year for about 6 years . I have a packet and took a workshop on HOW to do the cleanse because it’s not necessarily a traditional diet. It’s not about losing weight. It’s a rest for your gut. IMPORTANT NOTE: I would NOT recommend doing this type of cleanse on your own without an Ayurveda trained professional guiding you through your first experience.

To prepare, you have to begin to ween yourself off caffeine. There is NO caffeine allowed for the 5+ days you do the cleanse. And I will tell you, when you ween yourself off, you realize what an addiction feels like on the VERY smallest of teeniest levels. It’s difficult and you can feel VERY sick if you do it cold turkey. Trust me I felt like I had the flu the first time I tried going without caffeine for longer than a couple of days. The cleanse itself is 5 days but you really need a full 10-12 days mapped out between preparing for the cleanse, doing the cleanse, and then coming back into your regular habits.

The cleanse is truly a gut reset. You eat the SAME THING for 5 days in a row. You use the SAME spices, even in your digestive tea. You can eat as much as you want, but there is NOTHING exciting about eating the same meal for 12 meals. Breakfast is a little different and even less exciting than lunch and dinner. All the spices and the food you eat is easy on the digestive track. You eat basmati rice and mung beans, always soaked overnight to make it even easier to digest. You drink a tea of cumin, coriander, and fennel seeds. You know you are deep in the cleanse when your entire house smells of cumin.

All this description is to tell you that when you do this cleanse, you should plan to REST. It’s low calorie. And the only movement you will probably even WANT to do is an easy walk, or some short restorative yoga poses that concentrate on digestion and relaxation. When you eat, you are full but not SATISFIED. That is the interesting thing about a monodiet. You get to eat, but the flavors are subtle. It’s low in salt. There is no sugar. Only a little honey and lemon in a cilantro chutney. For dinner you make dark leafy greens sauteed in coconut oil, turmeric, cumin seed (surprise!) and salt. It’s the most VIBRANT thing you will eat!

There is a struggle in eating without satisfaction. In eating to just nourish the body. I think it’s a worthy experience. I think of all the religions of the world that practice fasting. That practice is here with the Ayurvedic cleanse as well. When you eat, it is not for selfish reasons but for a journey back into appreciating our world, celebrating life, and slowing down from the everyday. It’s a rest.

I ended up resting my body for probably a full 10-14 days. I don’t usually do that. I love to move. It is my life-force. Before the cleanse I was fortunate to attend a workshop all about resetting the body’s nervous system. It was three days of practicing how to find conscious relaxation taught by Jill Miller of Tune Up Fitness®. The course, called Breath and Bliss®, was an exploration in how our BREATH is a true barometer of the state of our physical and mental body. Learning tools to help our breath turn down our sympathetic nervous system, when needed, and turn up our body’s ability to relax and rest.

Over the course of about 2 weeks, I gave my body permission to relax, I believe, because I had turned DOWN my sympathetic (flight or flight) system. I could truly enjoy resting because I was not feeling stressed about NOT working out. My body was already tuned into a more calm state. (Ok I had a few pouty days on the cleanse where I was REAL hungry, but I think that’s to be expected. By the last day I was fine).

We must rest. We must be able to hear when our bodies say it’s time to rest. We must get more sleep, we must say no to over scheduling, to jamming our days FULL. Rest can come in small ways. Like getting in bed in a little earlier, or saying I’ll take a walk today and enjoy the weather. Sometimes rest can be self massage, or a nice bath. A little yoga or a simple breathing practice. Maybe it’s a week at a beach or in the mountains, or just an afternoon on your porch without your phone in your hand. Take a few days off social media. (I promise nothing will happen while you are gone. LOL!)

NOW! Try this:

Taking away some of the noise of our lives can have a huge effect on our bodies. Simply stopping to breathe slowly for a few minutes a day is helpful.

Here is a simple breath practice you can do right now:

Find a comfortable position where you feel relaxed and silence your tech devices.

Try breathing in for 5 seconds, then breathing out for 5 seconds.

Practice this breath in and out through your nose.

Repeat this for 2 minutes.

You can keep your eyes open and gaze soft or close your eyes. Whatever feels most comfortable to you.

This breath pattern is probably slower than you breath normally. And we NEED to breath less. We breath too much. Breathing too much can put us in a stressed out state. Let’s not be so stressed!!! Maybe you breath through your mouth and don’t realize it. So catch yourself and close your lips lightly. Practice nasal breathing more and more through your day. It gets easier the more you practice. Just like anything in life! And be gentle with yourself as you practice!

Let me know how it goes and thank YOURSELF for taking a few minutes to take care of YOU!

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R&R: release and Relax