DAY ONE
Happy Equinox. It’s cleanse time!
Today and for the next five days can you commit to any or all of the following:
No caffeine
No alcohol
No processed foods
No refined sugar
Minimal screen time (especially before sunrise and after sunset)
Maximal rest
Do what you can and what feels appropriate for your lifestyle. The more you participate the more benefits you will receive :)
Here are your additional recipes and practices for today:
Upon Waking
TONGUE SCRAPING
Upon waking before consuming anything scrape your tongue. Use a tongue scraper or a spoon to lightly (!!!) scrape off the white coating from your tongue. Overnight your tongue pushes up toxins, removing this coating off the tongue is a practice used in ayurveda for millenia. Do this every morning.
GHEE CLEANSING OR LEMON WATER
Ghee cleansing, known in ayurveda as Snehana is a process of internal oleation (oiling) that is traditionally used as part of a more intensive Ayurvedic cleanse protocol. By ingesting increasing amounts of ghee daily, you will extract fat-soluble toxins from the digestive tract, trigger increased fat metabolism and nourish the lining of your gut. This is an optional practice. If you are not ghee cleansing have a glass of warm lemon water instead.
Prepare your food
We want to eat freshly made food this week, prepared with love. Avoid leftovers as much as possible. Kitchari is a simple meal of mung beans and rice. Traditionally used in ayurvedic cleansing because of it’s easy to digest nature, healing spices, and the way that mung beans lightly scrape the digestive tract. You can make a batch in the morning and have it for all three meals, or just pepper it in throughout your cleanse. You can choose to stick with eating kitchari and only kitchari over these 5 days which makes things logistically very easy. However, variety is the spice of life in my opinion. And so you are welcome to enjoy any recipes from the booklet today and on every day of the cleanse. There are some yummy snacks in the booklet too which you can help yourself to mindfully.
Sip herbal teas or warm water throughout the day, make juices and/or the other beverages offered in the recipe booklet to sip on throughout the day. No cold beverages.
Day One Movement Practice:
A Fascia Flossing practice to stimulate all of the main digestive organs plus a few belly massages for good measure.
ADDITIONAL RITUALS
If you have the time to include any additional rituals into your day, take your pick from the rituals in the guidebook. Please don’t feel like you need to do it all. This is our opportunity to swap out the scrolling, news and Netflix bingeing for something life giving.
EVENING ROUTINE
Try to get off the devices by sunset. Light candles and turn off the overhead lights to support your circadian health. Use this time to journal, read, have a bath, listen to calming music, light some incense, light a fire, sip herbal teas.
If you are taking triphala, take it just before bed.
Try to be in bed before 10pm. According to ayurveda from 10pm our bodies switch into “pitta time”. This is why we often get a second wind of energy at this time, but that energy is supposed to be used while you are asleep for your body to cleanse. If you are awake after 10pm that additional energy will be used in other ways (like your brain looping the same old unhelpful thoughts).
Chinese Medicine similarly considers 10pm the time of the Triple Burner or San Jiao - This time is dedicated to metabolic regulation, repair, and preparing for deep sleep. It is considered the ideal time to be in bed, allowing the body to clear energy, balance hormones, and detoxify.
Leave a comment below to let me know how day one has gone for you 💖
See you tomorrow for day two.
Much love,
Cat xx