Recently I went down to AAPNA’s (Association of Ayurvedic Professionals of North America) 14th International Conference on “Consciousness in Ayurveda & Yoga.” Consciousness integration is a subject I am wading into, trying to embody at my learning edge.
My spring cleanse was coincidentally winding down at the same time. In the past I might have just prioritized my trip with little thought to the cleanse process. This time I decided to bring my cleanse experience with me on the road, rather than truncate it abruptly, shock my body and feel awful. So I worked out my cleanse transition for the road.
It is important how you come back to your new set point after each cleanse experience. You can pay it forward for your health. A real question for reflection can be about what to embrace and what to release as you transition out of the cleanse period. I have used cleanses to leverage my ability to let go of low nutrition food choices—Diet Coke and potato chips among them. Cleanse changeover is the opportunity to up-level to a new normal, like keeping a new self-care habit or a new recipe you tried during the cleanse.
How do you decide what to keep and what to let go of? Check into what really worked in your body, what made you feel good. Letting go of a food or activity should feel natural and not forced. Avoid the binges and backlash of compulsion. Dialog with yourself to connect to the level of change you are ready for and excited about. For this cleanse, earlier, lighter evening meals and an earlier bedtime are my target carryovers.
Effective cleansing can require a compromise between the demands of life and rest for the mind and body. My goal was to finish the cleanse and transition thoughtfully to retain the most benefit, so it didn’t make sense to me to stop and go hog-wild because of scheduling. My compromise was to only go to part of the conference, bring my food, make it to bed on time and take an extra day to travel by car. I overnighted at places with fridges in the rooms and that were completely non-smoking.
Aligning with my goals lightened the load of the extra work to travel. I brought a full cooler and a bamboo bowl and silverware, paper towels, plastic ware and a travel blender. I whirled up smoothies for breakfast and early dinner. I used bagged, prewashed organic greens, organic avocado, lemons and berries. I put together raw salads for lunch and drank a lot of water. On this trip a new yummy salad evolved that can be put together in a hotel room.
It was pretty easy to not eat between meals; I was too busy listening. I did taste a chyavanprash sample right before lunch. I counted it as an appetizer. I hit the sack early. I walked outdoors each day. In the car, it took more will not to snack. I listened to classical music between periods of quiet.
At the time of writing this, I am still eating light, early dinners and getting more sleep. The trip went better than I expected. I came home with my cleanse transition intact.
Here are a couple of road-ready recipes I used. Enjoy!
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(Note: This one is better made a bit ahead of time so the dressing soaks in.)
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