Cleanse: Day 8

I have finally turned the corner on this cleanse. So happy.

The weekend was hard, only because certain celebratory rituals involve food and drink.  One of the big revelations of this cleanse for me (so far), is how food is not just food.  It’s social. It’s symbolic. It’s comfort beyond physical hunger.  It functions as  amusement.

I feel as if inside my body there is this sun, this big, bursting ball of energy, and that certain things, including food, can either block that energy, or free it up.

So here’s what I’m thinking now.  I will probably not bring back caffeine.  (I cannot believe I just wrote that.)  A coffee might become a “treat” from now on, but not the beverage that ignites my day.  I’m  feeling  more focused and centered and relaxed without it. Caffeine, for me,  masks as a energy freer-upper, but it’s actually an energy blocker.  It produces a lot of static in my brain and in my body, and I prefer to have a clear signal.

The other thing I love, is having my main meal in the middle of the day, and then having only a smoothie or a bowl of (clear) soup for dinner.  I really like how it feels to go to bed with my gastro-intestinal tract quiet, done, finished, closed for business. My sleep these past few nights has been so soft and so very deep.  I don’t feel hungry at all at bedtime.  I just feel empty, and it feels good, and spacious.

So far I am not seeing anything dramatic in the mirror, which is weird, given how dramatically different I am feeling on the inside.  That’s okay though, I’m sure mirror changes will show eventually.

During the first week I did hardly any sweating.  I took walks, I did soft yoga, I did only one day of the yoga workout.  This week though, I am anxious to ramp up physically: run on the t-mill, do ashtanga, lift weights.  I also want to go take some saunas.  Tomorrow I am having a massage, and I am really, really looking forward to that.

So that’s it so far.  Week 2 begins today.