Cambodia Detox



I travelled ½ way around the world to not eatJ

Part of the reason for choosing Hariharalaya was that they offered a detox program – 3 days, water or coconut water and support.  One could choose to do a longer detox but I thought 3 days might be long enough to see what the impact was and if I could do it.

I’ve looked at detox programs in Canada.  There are many prepackaged powders, workshops and books available to provide advice or support for a detox.  There are juice detoxes, brown rice detoxes, one day and seven day.  There are as many programs as there are seekers (or so it seems).  Knowing myself, I knew I had to do my first detox away from home and in a supportive environment.  I chose wisely.

Hariharalaya provides access to all the regular programming (yoga once a day, meditation three times per day) and a detox ‘guide’ who provides information each day (of the detox) for 90 minutes.  The information is about what to expect during the detox, to share our experiences, to learn about our digestive system, to talk about how to come out of the detox and how to maintain the practice of detox in our ‘regular’ lives.  In addition, there is one massage from the blind gentleman who comes to the retreat and two herbal steam baths.  And of course, all the coconut water one can consume in three days!

I was really lucky – there were three other people who began their detox either at the same time or one day after me.  Some were also doing a three day detox; others were going for seven or eight days.  Having ‘detox buddies’ was very helpful.  Sharing an experience really does make it easier when there are bumps or doubts.

 

As I mentioned, Hariharalaya provides three meals a day in a pretty structured way.  Each meal time is marked with poetry and/or a circle activity/ohm or yumJ  One my first day I couldn’t join for these activities.  I skipped the first part and drank my coconut as far away from the other diners as possible.  The idea of being hungry is so compelling.  I found it is hard for me to know when I am really hungry.  The idea of lunch time or dinner time is strong within me and I respond more to this idea than to hunger pains in my body.

Did I mention I’d also decided to not drink caffeine during the retreat?  So from Saturday, when I arrived, I didn’t take any caffeine.  For those that know me, this is as astonishing as any detox program!  This was mostly accidental.  I hadn’t found a decent coffee before I left for the retreat and then it seemed too much trouble to find some coffee the next day.  And before I knew it, I’d been caffeine free for 10 days! (I am writing this on the 21^st).  I have been having small amounts of coffee in the morning for the past three days but it is not incredibly joyful.  Maybe the coffee quality?  Or maybe it is no longer necessary?  Time will tell.

Koby, the detox guide, had met with me prior to the detox beginning to see what I hoped to gain from doing the detox and to identify any concerns I might have.  During this meeting, he asked me to consider not taking my allergy medication (there is so much in bloom here that my summer allergies are triggered) and to not take any other medication (except for my two prescription meds).  Everything we put in our body has to be processed by our organs.  He suggested it might be helpful for me to allow the toxins from prolonged medication use to leave my body and minimizing what I was adding would help.

On the second day of my detox, I decided to go to Angkor City.  I had not seen the temples during my first trip to Siem Reap (due to flu or malaria?) so I was determined to see them during this trip.  The retreat folks arranged a tuk tuk who picked me up at 07:30 and would stay with me between temples and then return me to the retreat.  I had a coconut to begin my day and took one with me as I imagined I’d return in the afternoon.