5 Actions to Prepare for My Spring Cleanse & Detox Program

Spring officially started yesterday, March 20 at 13:15 in Egypt. It is time to shed winter jackets and leap into the lap of summer. 

At the beginning of the month, I set my intention for a week-long body-mind Spring cleanse and detox. As cold weather persists in Egypt, I decided to start my Cleanse Program next week. Hopefully the weather will warm up. In the meantime, I am preparing my body and mind to lose my winter indulgences.

Over the last several years, I’ve tried dozens of cleanse programs. I’ve found that I failed more often when I jumped into a program and didn’t take time prepare physically, and more importantly mentally. The mind can be a vicious saboteur.

Here are a few of my preparation tips that I integrate 10 to 14 days before starting any cleanse and detox program:

1: Set intention of what you expect from your detox program and integrate that intention. Not only will this set your approach, it will help you to chose the right program for you.

This Spring cleanse, I visualize radiance, lightening up, and revitalization.

During this time, I don’t just think and say I’m “going to do a cleanse.” I am making choices in my foods, actions, and words to support a week of changing up my daily routine for the benefit of my body.

Don’t try a cleansing routine because everyone else is doing it, or you think you are fat. If you take some time to consciously be aware of “why” you want to do a cleanse, then you will know if it is right for you and what program will suit you. When you have set your intention to be true to your cleanse program, then unexpected temptations to veer aren’t really tempting.

2: Explore and understand your selected detox program and arrange your food pantry to reflect the foods you need. Start using up perishable foods that don’t fit in the detox menu and get rid any foods that might derail your detox efforts before, during, and after you finish the program. Purchase non-perishable ingredients for your cleanse menu.

3: If you don’t already have a daily morning practice, start one.  For example, if you are doing 3- to 7- day detox program, plan (as in schedule) 21 days to encompass before, during and after your selected cleansing period. Determine a set time for a 15- to 30-minute daily morning meeting with your Self. No compromises. Practice yoga. Practice meditation. Read something spiritual or uplifting. Do one or all. Be compassionate of your Self during this time.

Upon awakening, sit quietly for a few minutes and tune into your breath. Become aware of your body and your surroundings.

Create your support system through your self awareness. Healing is of yourself, and you cannot heal if you perceive sickness or lack. Take this time to face any misperceptions you have of your self and see your way through your cleanse.

Tune into your body. Set your intentions. Tame the mind that will challenge you to eat everything in the grocery store.

Spring Cleaning on all levels. Clean surroundings make
tough detox days lighter and brighter.

4: Clean your house from top to bottom.
Not only will you shift the energy of your home, it’s great exercise.

If you apply posture and fitness principals as you go up and down the ladder and mop the floors, you can really feel your muscles getting a workout. Strengthen your arm muscles as you wash the doorframes and shake out the curtains. Don’t forget to stretch from time to time, especially after a bout of scrubbing.
Last weekend, I scheduled myself to clean the apartment. (Not to have my maid do the cleaning.) My husband was away, so I had the place to myself to chant, sing, talk to myself and get downright exhausted as I wiped down pollution-stained windows and doors, and mopped in every corner. It took me the whole day.
When I finished, I made a cup of tea and basked in the shine and fell asleep before 9 pm. The next day, I woke up invigorated and refreshed in a gleaming apartment. My stage is set. Clean surroundings make tough detox days lighter and brighter.

5: Get your friends and partner to support you in your detox program. If they are interested, then welcome them into your plans. Otherwise, don’t preach but ask for their support. I know that my husband won’t drink hot lemon water in the morning and doesn’t have any inclination to do a cleanse. But, I do know that he loves the fresh juices that I make, so I make sure to include him in the juicing portion of my cleanse. He eats what he wants, but doesn’t tempt or taunt me with his food choices.

Hope these tips help you for your happy Spring Cleansing!

Pain and Peace through an Ovarian Cyst

This is for any woman that might be panicking about experiencing an ovarian cyst or trying to figure out the pain down below. Take care, but don't panic.

A few days ago, I woke up to an agonizing pain in my lower abdomen. (the day before a full moon). The pain felt like I was having menstrual cramps, but I knew it couldn't be, as I just had my period 11 days ago.
Today, the pain in my ovary area is worse, especially as I walk. With every footstep, it feels like someone is stabbing a dagger into my ovaries.

Just want the pain to stop

To ease my menstrual cramps, I typically lay a hot water bottle over my lower abdomen. I've always opted for a hot water bottle rather than a heat pad to ease cramps. I don't like the idea of having electric coils on my internal organs.
After no relief with the hot water bottle, I was desperate to make the pain stop. Rarely do I ever take drugs to alleviate pain, but I as was scheduled to teach yoga classes, I needed something. I could barely take a step without stabbing pain. We don't get Aleve or Tylenol in Egypt, but the pharmacies here are an amazing source of help. The pharmacist gave me ibuprofen. Definitely helped me.

Pain in my uterus and ovaries has happened to me before. When I lived in New Mexico, I didn't have medical insurance. But, I was able to negotiate a discount and payment plans so that I could see an Ob-Gyn doctor for an exam and sonogram. The diagnosis was a cyst. It went away after a few days.

I don't have a doctor here in Cairo, but I know more about my body than any medical practitioner. I know my body was moving through ovulation and had a formed a cyst. Intuitively, I knew I had a cyst.

Important to know that the vast majority of ovarian cysts are not cancer

There are many different types of ovarian cysts, and they are an extremely common gynecologic problem. Because of the fear of ovarian cancer, cysts cause a lot concern to women who experience them. But, it is important to know that the vast majority of ovarian cysts are not cancer.
The good news is that almost all ovarian cysts will go away by themselves without doctor's treatment. Since the vast majority of ovarian cysts are benign, the presence of an ovarian cyst should be a non-worrisome occurrence.

Here's what I did to ease this painful journey

1) Understand messages from the body
The following are a few excerpts taken from "Messages from the Body, Their Psychological Meaning" by Michael J. Lincoln, Ph.D.

Uterus Problems: "I don't dare." She feels that it is not safe for her to manifest her creativity or her generativity, and she threfore distrusts and has disgust towards undertakings. She fears rejection, abandonment and attack, along with envy, jealousy and retaliation.

Ovary Problems: "She-jection." They have a fear of and rejection of their creativity and femininity. They are systematically self-denigrating and ashamed of the feminine role and situation. "Self-undermining." They have a great desire and need to be respected that is being prevented. Their circumstances are of such a nature as to be exploitative, non-accepting, and denigrating.

2) Ease off on activity
Rather than whinging about not getting to the gym, I took some down time.
Heat eased the pain, so I went to the steam room or sauna.
At home, I took advantage of a hot bath and a cup of hot cinnamon milk tea.

3) Take focus off of pain. Direct focus to lofty thoughts
The pain becomes so intense that "P A I N" is all that I can think about. My mind travels through every notion of pain.
But, I completely believe the body is an extension of thoughts and one can not have pain without thought.
The mind dictates, the body follows. 
By shifting my focus and reflecting on the messages revealed from this experience, I was able to create a space to clear accumulated emotions, fear, and pain. When the pain struck, I remembered my breath.

4) Use yoga postures to ease pain
I tried many postures but the only one that seemed to bring peace was bow pose.

I'm holding my tailbone a bit high in this photo of bow pose
taken at an earlier date.  Rather, one should burrow
the tailbone down toward the floor

At first, the pressure from being in the posture was intense, but as I breathed in, down into my torso, my breath cleared everything. In a state of bliss, I realized that I was meditating in this posture for almost five minutes at a time.

Dhanurasana (Bow Pose) How to do it:

1) Lie on your belly with your hands alongside your torso, palms up. (You can lie on a folded blanket to pad the front of your torso and legs.) Exhale and bend your knees, bringing your heels as close as you can to your buttocks. Reach back with your hands and take hold of your ankles (but not the tops of the feet). Make sure your knees aren't wider than the width of your hips, and keep your knees hip width for the duration of the pose.

2) Inhale and strongly lift your heels away from your buttocks and, at the same time, lift your thighs away from the floor. This will have the effect of pulling your upper torso and head off the floor. Burrow the tailbone down toward the floor, and keep your back muscles soft. As you continue lifting the heels and thighs higher, press your shoulder blades firmly against your back to open your heart. Draw the tops of the shoulders away from your ears.

5) Eat and drink specific foods
I drank plenty of fresh ginger root tea and cinnamon stick tea with milk. As it is the season, I ate fresh mango and fresh banana. Both are excellent for women. According to Yogi Bhajan, mangos are a woman's medicine that works in every area.

6) Practice patience and fearlessness
I decided that I will allow at least 14 days for pain to pass. If the pain didn't lift, then I will seek a healer to help me.

Alhamdulillah, Kulla Tamem

update: after seven days of terrible pain, my body is now healing. The pain is almost gone. I plan to deeply explore the messages of manifesting my creativity and generativity without fear of rejection, abandonment and attack.

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PLEASE READ: I am presenting MY pathway to healing. Since I do not subscribe to western medicine practice, I approach ALL of my health matters with an attitude of gratitude and self-healing using yogic principals.

Always consult your physician if pain persists. Nothing in this website or this particular post is to be construed as medical advice. The benefits attributed to the practice of these techniques presented here or the use of Kundalini Yoga will vary with individuals.

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the body speaks

Day 10 of nabhi kriya. Core becoming stronger...physical condition somewhat stable. Just as I did when I decided to start this intended yoga set, I flipped back the pages of my journal to read my free-flow moments from the past few days. (yes, despite being flat on my back in bed...I am true to my daily "time to write.")

I can only liken my condition to heat stroke. I write this because the trigger to all of this dis-harmony in my body seemed to be kicked into high gear by spending the entire day outside last Thursday. I was exercising and only drank less than a liter of water.

Indeed, the lack of water and the Cairo heat contributed somewhat to my physical problems over the last 5 days. But, I also know that issues run deep and will find a way to surface by our unconscious acts.

My reference guide whenever I experience serious physical ailments is "the Body Speaks" by Michael J. Lincoln (aka Dr. Narayan Singh) His website is a wealth of information: Talking Hearts

I've copied the below physical conditions for reference, unedited and straight from his book. I hope that anyone reading this post might find this information insightful and helpful. As I usually find for any of Mr. Lincoln's deeply intuitive prescriptions, some points strike a nerve, some not...but I rarely discount much of this man's insights.

HEAT-STROKE (Dizziness, nausea, spots before their eyes)
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“Get me outta here!” They are feeling overwhelmed and very oppressed by their current circumstances.
They are highly co-dependent and over-responsible for everyone in their life’s problems, and they hate it.
They are disgusted and revolted, and their feeling is that “This is an up with which I will no long put!”
It came from out of nowhere in a “return of the repressed” fashion as their situation reactivated their childhood experiences in spades.
They were systematically suppressed, exploited and blamed by their dysfunctional family.

NAUSEA
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“What a revolting development THIS is!” They are having a fear and disgust reac-tion to what is happening to them.
They are totally rejecting an idea or experience -- they don’t want to have anything to do with it.
They want to throw it right back out again.
They feel that something wrong or immoral is happening.
They are inundated with disgust with the situation and themselves, and they are full of fear of the consequences of what’s going down.
They feel that something dreadful has happened, and they feel responsible for it. They wish it hadn’t happened, and they are truly sorry it has occurred.
They deeply wish they hadn’t “done it”.
They want things to return to the way they were before this hap-pened.
They are full of upset, pain and sadness, they don’t want the situation anywhere near them.
They desperately want to undo the past, and they are afraid of the effects of this on their future.
They are full of dissatisfaction, disgust and regret over the way things are.
They are saying to themselves over and over, “I should have . . .”
They feel personally accountable for everything that happens, particularly the negative outcomes.
Their family held them accountable and responsible for all that took place, and all eyes turned in their direction when anything went wrong -- which was frequently.
They were made very aware they had no right to commit to anyone or anything else but the continued maintenance of the family.
They therefore have great guilt about sexuality, success, and intimacy, as if these were “evil deeds”.
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DIARRHEA
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“Shooting the rapids.” They are feeling overwhelmed, that things are moving too fast.
They are intensely rejecting of the possibilities in front of them.
They are fearful, and they want to run off, to get away from all this.
They don’t want to assimilate and absorb what they are experiencing.
They feel in over their head much of the time, and they are easily flattened by ex-periences.
They are the product of over-protective and possessive parenting in which they were systematically programmed to be unable to cope with life’s demands.
*************************************
“Get out of my life!”. They need to get rid of some duty, some obligation or some other thing in their life.
They are desparately trying to clear the toxic systems, situations and people out of their life.
They want to get this over with so as to return to a desired routine.
They are in effect seeking to escape the situation and running away from the re-requirements involved.
They tend to be compulsively orderly and sameness-demanding in their function-ing.
However, they are wanting to “throw the baby out with the bath” as they reject the past, and they try to get rid of ideas too rapidly.
They are wanting to get the whole thing over with in a hurry, and they are rushing it.
There is an underlying passivity and desire not to be bothered, and they are acutely fearful of their situation.
They are the product of a competence- and confidence-undermining enmeshed dys-functional family.
*************************************
“Here it comes!”. They are faced with a heavy and meaningful task, they wish it were over and done with.
Something important is pending, and they don’t want to go through with it.
They have a fair amount of competence-anxiety and built-in programming against success and intimacy.
They were supposed to stick around the old homestead and take care of their par-ents.
Any move towards independence, self-empowerment, and significant involvement/ contribution/commitment activates annihilation-anxiety and betrayal-guilt.
The current situation is just such a requirement and issue for them.
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The “TROTS”; The “RUNS”
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“Scared shitless”. They are being overwhelmed by the requirement and/or process of having either to let go of the past or to take on something radially new and different. Something extremely important is pending and about to happen, and they are totally terrified of its implications and ramifications.
They are wanting to rush through it with their nose plugged, so to speak, so as to not experience it or the transition process to it.
The situation at hand is one in which they are being forced out of their old pattern of lifestyle, and they are completely blown away by the prospects of life without it.
They come from a chronically anxious and catastrophe-expecting “hunkering down in the bunker” family culture.
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“Hands on control”. There is an underlying passivity and desire not to be bothered, and yet they are simply terrified of letting go.
They have an abiding fear of the Universe, and they have to have personal control of their life and of the environment around them. http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
It feels like a matter of almost life and death to them.
They grew up alone on their own in totally untrustworthy but seemingly unim-peachable environment, but their deeper experience was that things are never as they seem.
They learned to take care of everything and everyone, in a desparate disaster-de-flecting psychology.
The “buck stopped with them”, while the family considered them to be the cause of all their problems.

** Read more "Messages from the Body," by Michael J. Lincoln available on line at Talking Hearts

**