Springtime is detox time - every year.
And for good reason. The modern lifestyle of many people is characterised by time pressure, lack of sleep, too little exercise and fast food.
Possible consequences are digestive problems, weight gain, tiredness and psycho-vegetative complaints due to restlessness and tension.
We use tried and tested methods such as fasting and elimination methods via the gastrointestinal tract, respiratory tract, kidneys and skin to get rid of the winter's accumulated excess.
In Ayurveda medicine, Panchakarma has been the most comprehensive detox programme available for over 2000 years and is also highly proven in Europe. As an intensive inpatient treatment or as a mild outpatient programme.
I myself led inpatient Panchakarma cures in the heart of Germany for 12 years and recognised a special phenomenon there that I had hardly experienced in India in the 1990s.
For many spa guests, cleansing the body led to an intense experience of inner processes such as thoughts, feelings, sensations and memories. How can we face these, free ourselves from old burdens and, with a cleansed body, reorient ourselves mentally?
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Body, senses and mind form a unit
Our mind uses the brain as a control centre that controls our body. Conversely, information about the environment and internal processes is transmitted via our senses to the mind, which evaluates and responds to it - internally emotionally and externally through action.
After a good, wholesome meal that satisfies all the senses, we feel warm, nourished and simply well. The fullness and pleasant heaviness, called Kapha in Ayurveda, calms and relaxes.
Conversely, when we skip meals or delay eating, we feel increasingly restless, irritable, cold, weak and lacking in concentration. These symptoms caused by lightness and emptiness are the possible result of an increase in Vata.
Physical fullness and emptiness are therefore transferred directly to our mind. In a state of emptiness, significantly intensified by purging procedures, our system becomes more sensitive, subtle and vulnerable. We gain a deeper insight into our inner world and perceive the outside world in a more intense and differentiated way. From a psychotherapeutic point of view, this is a great opportunity to recognise and let go of mental stress. How can this be achieved?
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Time out!
The first step is to reduce external stimuli and change our usual routines. An inpatient cure or a retreat in quiet, peaceful places helps us to get off the daily hamster wheel and minimise the flood of information to be processed.
Only when we have arrived in stillness and non-doing does our inner perception open up. Now we can pause, turn to ourselves lovingly and ask questions like these, which usually go unnoticed in everyday life:
- How do I feel at the moment? Perhaps exhausted, disorientated, anxious or sad?
- Where do these feelings come from or how did they arise? What has happened recently, what has burdened me?
- How did I react to the events and with what consequences? Would I repeat my actions today?
- What do I want to free myself from inside? Am I ready to accept and let go?
- Who and what is close to my heart? What do I want to do in the future to express this?
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Mental detox happens passively
When we want to cleanse our body, we combine two measures: relief and active elimination.
Relief occurs when we eat less and easily digestible (e.g. liquid) food, get enough sleep and avoid strenuous physical activity.
The Active elimination removes accumulated residues such as faecal residues, mucus, water retention and any microbes or toxins bound to our bodily fluids. The most important route for waste disposal is our gastrointestinal tract, through which both water-soluble and fat-soluble substances can be transported.
If we want to „cleanse“ our mind, the first step is comparable to the body. We relieve ourselves through stimulus control. However, the second step is fundamentally different - even if we often tend to want to actively free ourselves from inner burdens.
There is no discharge and therefore no liberation from Fear or depression. On the contrary: the harder we try to get rid of emotions, the stronger they become. However, freedom arises in the centre of these conditions.
There is pain. There is frustration. We all experience it sooner or later, less often or more often in life - inevitably. Whether we suffer from it, however, is something we influence ourselves.
The American psychologist and Buddhist teacher Tara Brach expresses this truth in the following equation:
Pain x Resistance = Suffering
The solution and liberation lies in recognising, exploring and becoming aware of our often unconscious resistance. In the present moment, without distraction, without repression. In this way, we create a space in which painful things are allowed to be, without defence or avoidance. This acceptance provides considerable relief.
This gives rise to the solution formula that Tara Brach teaches:
Pain x Presence = Freedom
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Complete Detox!
I am a big fan of combined cleansing programmes. The physical release of old burdens acts like a door opener for the mind, which in turn influences the physical detox intensity.
Professionally accompanied mental detox requires psychotherapeutic skills in order to be able to deal with painful experiences or traumas from the past in a compassionate and helpful way.
In the West, we have these possibilities and should definitely utilise them. Every Ayurvedic spa centre or fasting clinic can raise the effectiveness of its naturopathic measures to a whole new level and thus contribute to a truly holistic cleansing.
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