Nutritional Cleansing is something I began incorporating into my lifestyle a few years ago, but it was just during my recent cleanse that its poignancy really came into focus for me. Interestingly, it seems that people are coming out of the woodwork this year to explore it too! I have a strong feeling that this has something to do with the current state of the economy. People are getting back to basics & reevaluating their values & lifestyles. While other businesses are experiencing precarious decline, or even shutting down, massage therapists & holistic health practitioners are seeing an increase in their business. This tells me that people are now prioritizing their health & wellbeing more than ever.

2009 is a year of Change, and Nutritional Cleansing helps create space for clarity and insight to enter and guide us while providing energy, focus, and the physical and emotional stability to support us in making vital change.

I've come to learn through observation & experience how the process of cleansing can be challenging because it literally resets the brain's chemistry, and along with it, familiar, comfortable habits of not just lifestyle, but even thoughts and beliefs which affect our self image and how we relate to and perceive others.

Every emotion has specific neurotransmitters and patterns in our brain. The brain can literally become addicted to the chemicals of emotions just like caffeine, heroin, meth, alcohol, etc. Similarly, we can become addicted to emotional/mental complexes such as "drama" or feeling "worthless" -and the stories & perceptions that reinforce that feeling.

Depression is an easy example I like to use to illustrate this dynamic. When our bodies get depressed from lack of nutrients, too much toxicity, too little sleep, not enough hydration, not enough exercise, combating pathogens, etc. our energy goes down and this physical depression is *felt* and becomes an emotional depression.

If you resolve any of these physical factors, your emotional state will reflect it. That's why when I have a family member, friend or client show up with depression, I always cover these physical basics with them before anything else.

The reverse works as well. When someone breaks our heart, or we lose a loved one, we become emotionally depressed, and we feel that in our body as low energy, fatigue, and generally feeling un-well.

Because it works both ways between emotions & body, we can salve most of our initial depression from a broken heart through nutrition, cleansing, exercise, hydration & rest. When we shift the chemical balance of our brain away from depression, we can reinforce our feelings of wellness by affirming positive notions such as all that one has to be thankful for in their life and how fortunate they truly are.

So for people who have lived most of their life in chronic depression, or with victim consciousness, cleansing can present both a profound opportunity as well as great challenge for transforming that. When one's identity depends on (is addicted to) feelings of anger, resentment, unworthiness, depression, fear, etc. doing a cleanse literally presents a threat to that identity. As we transform our brain chemistry, we transform our Selves on every other level. Doing a cleanse and getting better nutrition requires changing our lifestyle & habits.

For me, my greatest nemesis is gorging on pizza, cake, ice cream & soda late at night after a long day of doing massage. I recently turned 35, and I've been finding it harder to keep myself lean. Worse than that however is that I've noticed my vision degenerating! I knew this was due to my Nemesis and that I needed to change this habit.

So I did the Isagenix 9-Day Nutritional Cleanse to help me "reset" my brain chemistry to support me in making this change. Doing the cleanse helped me come to realize the different unconscious reasons I had for this habit. First, I realized that I was eating these things to GROUND myself and get back in my body for self-preservation on the psychic/energy level after working on all these people (usually 5-8, not including the energies of all my co-workers).

Shortly after that I realized that I ate for COMFORT too. This went even deeper for me as I quickly realized that I haven't eaten socially -particularly with family- for many years. I usually eat by myself. I realized then that there was this element of depression & isolation involved with this eating habit of mine.

After this epiphany, I also thought that I may be REWARDING myself by eating these particular foods for having done a long hard day of work. This led me to another insight where I found myself continuing to eat way past the point of feeling full because I wanted to continue experiencing the joy of different tastes & textures. With the prior insight in mind, I identified this form of eating as ENTERTAINMENT.

So with all of this association, it's easy to see why it could seem so threatening to give up this eating habit. It represents loss of comfort, boredom, and vulnerability, but also feelings of depression and isolation which as I said before can be just as addictive and adopted by the unconscious identity. Transforming these feelings & thoughts not only requires a change in my lifestyle, but confronting deep & powerful feelings related to self & family.

To this end, a colleague & I developed a support program for people who are doing cleanses. I'll share the principles of it so you can integrate them into your own process of cleansing & transformation and work with practitioners you're familiar with.

One can align their energies to hold the space for transformation though specific Acupuncture or Acupressure sequences such as the "Bridge Channel" or the "Regulating Channel" to name just a couple.

Essential oils are also exceptionally helpful! I always use Young Living for their purity & formulation. My favorites for transformation are "Dreamcatcher", "Valor" & "Harmony" & "Transformation".

Getting lymphatic massage & good old fashioned nurturing swedish or even vigorous shiatsu or tui na can help keep one grounded in their body and connected to earthy life energies to better hold the course.

I've found that doing a cleanse with one or more friends or family members also helps greatly and adds not only fun but lends a sense of community & support as one re-invents aspects of their self.

Some people may need counseling as well -or even just a forum like this where they can relate their feelings & issues as they go through their process and get perspective and feedback that can help them think outside their box.

I hope this is all helpful to you, and invite more thoughts, techniques & experiences that can help myself and other readers here to get more out of life!

Namasté