Juice Cleansing Isn’t Just For Your Body
uice cleansing is most well-known for its physical benefits. People report endless benefits, including increased energy, better sleep, clearer skin, weight loss, digestive improvement, minimized pain and aches, and so much more. Today I’d like to talk about the benefits beyond the physical benefits that juice cleansing can bring us.
I want to do this for two reasons. The first is that I’d love to illustrate possibilities that can happen during juice cleansing which you might find exciting, so that you might consider adding non-physical goals to your intentions for juice cleansing. The second has to do with the misconception that cleansing is inherently or necessarily superficial, which comes from those who are simply unaware that juice cleansing does not have to be only about the physical, nor is it even mostly about the physical for many people.
It’s important to point out that I believe juice cleansing for the sole purpose of physical healing, with no other intention, is perfectly legitimate, and I coach Juice Feasting for those who only want physical changes, as well. Of course, juice cleansing should always be used in the context of long-term dietary change, meaning it should not be used as a way to get thin fast and with no intent to change how we eat. But other than that, do not feel bad if you’re simply looking for an immune-system boost and aren’t feeling the other stuff.
Personal Growth, Creativity, and Change
I like to say that Juice Cleansing can be the best self-help course you’ve ever taken. Juice cleansing can be an agent for personal growth, allowing one to become introspective and to work on a relationship that is one of the most important you have: with yourself. Some use cleansing for creativity, and will embark on a juice cleanse when they would like more creative energy and ideas. Have writers block? Want to try your hand at painting? You might find that juice cleansing allows more creativity to come through. Many cleanse when they’re facing major decisions or starting a new phase of their lives, or when they are ending a phase of their life. Change and juice cleansing go well together.
Spiritual Connection
Still many more use cleansing to focus on their spiritual life. This includes religious fasting of course, of which there is some kind in most religious traditions, but this also includes cleansing outside of religion. Those who have a religion may still feel a draw to cleansing outside of traditional fasting holidays or times of their calendar. Many people do not identify with a religion but are interested in either exploring spirituality for the first time or deepening their spiritual connection in some way and cleansing is absolutely amazing for that. Many of my clients, as well as myself, will focus on meditation or yoga during their cleanse, or perhaps spend more time in nature. They may not take any outward action at all but simply open their heart in the direction of spiritual connection during their cleanse.
Healing Compulsive Eating
One area I specialize in coaching which has been an inherent part of my own cleansing and fasting journey has been the area of compulsive eating. One can enter a juice cleanse with the intention to look at the underlying reasons for why they use food in an imbalanced way, and to heal them. Thus, cleansing can be a support for deep emotional work. Many with whom I work discover emotional wounds or damaging beliefs under their eating patterns, and consciously going into the process of feeling and releasing these warrants deep transformation in healing compulsive eating, as well as in their lives as a whole.
Words of Wisdom
Juice cleansing and fasting will not inherently give us more self-love, or accomplish greater creativity, or give us spiritual fulfillment. But there are so many benefits beyond the physical – and in my opinion, sometimes more amazing than the physical – that juice cleansing is capable of supporting, if we choose that. To finish, here are some of my favorite quotes on this subject:
“What the eyes are for the outer world, fasts are for the inner.” -Gandhi
“The benefit of bringing a larger focus than just physical cleansing is the the clearly conscious intent to heal on every level of one’s Being. Such a focused healing process cleanses not only the physical body, but also the emotional, mental, and spiritual bodies, thus affecting our quality of life and how, after the fast, we choose to live in the world. The willingness to allow ones rebirth, in joy, is a primary key to the total healing process. During cleansing, the accumulated physical and mental toxins are released from the body and mind in such a way that our body-mind’s armor melts away. As we allow our defenses to drop we begin to heal on every level and our natural healing forces begin to take over.” -Gabriel Cousens, M.D.
Something to Consider
If you are considering juice cleansing purely for physical reasons, as I’ve said, I feel that is absolutely legitimate. And, you might consider setting some additional intentions for your cleanse. It could be an action like spending more alone time with yourself, or journaling for 10 minutes a day. It could be an intention such as increasing your self-love, or allowing your creative side.
What’s Your Take?
I’d love to hear from you. Do you have reasons beyond physical ones for juice cleansing? Have you ever started a cleanse for the purpose of physical healing and discovered it became more than that for you? Leave your comments below!
Love, Courtney