Moving Beyond Fear of the Unknown
Thursday, October 7, 2010 at 10:14AM 
Much of my life practice lately has been dealing with a concussion. Although it may seem unrelated, the symptoms are actually similar to detoxification symptoms of cleansing – headache, fatigue, fogginess, muscle soreness. Sound familiar? The other symptom is fear. You see, the night after I reinjured myself this week, I noticed a lot of fear coming up. I had been unable to talk to my neurologist and friends for reassurance and feedback, and I suddenly felt the fear of the unknown and watched my mind play tricks on me: “Will I be OK?” “Poor me.” “Am I going to make it through?” And the mind went through the whole bag of tricks and even amplified them since that is also a symptom of the concussion. The beauty of practice though is that I was able to be transparent to my closest friends and partner and acknowledge my humanity, and in doing that I took back the power from my tricky mind, I felt much of the fear dissipate, and I learned to reach out and ask for feedback from people who have my best interest at heart and who could give me perspective.
Where do you let your mind tricks rule your life? Who are people in your life that you can trust to be transparent with? Where are you stuck because you think you can do it “all myself”? In what ways do you present yourself to the world as a “PR” agent would? In what ways do you deny yourself experiences that although uncomfortable at first, can lead to great healing?
I liken cleansing to surfing. It’s a beautiful balance of riding the wave. The key is to find the sweet spot – the place where you are in perfect balance riding the powerful wave of healing without crashing into the rocks. Finding the balance requires following a structure and from that place intuiting the changes you need to make for your body. It requires staying with the wave, even when the fear of crashing or falling comes up, and trusting the process. It also requires open communication with your health practitioners, coaches, and people that you trust just as your feet communicate subtly with the wave through the surfboard. As one of my mentors encourages, give the cleanse four days. By tomorrow, you may find that many of your detoxification symptoms and mind games start to subside and you are RIDING THE WAVE!
What Happens When We Cleanse?
We cleanse the body of stored toxins to address symptoms of decreased energy, excess weight, sugar cravings and other symptoms like chronic headaches, adult acne, allergies, arthritis, and autoimmune disease. When cleansing, some people report new symptoms yet these are not actually new symptoms affecting the body, but the body’s attempt to heal disease. Also known as "Herxheimer Reaction", a healing crisis occurs when toxins stored in the body are released at a faster rate than can be properly eliminated. The more toxic one's body is, the more severe the detoxification and the more intense the reaction. You may experience a temporary increase in symptoms during a cleansing or detoxification process. Such symptoms may be mild or severe, depending on the body's original toxicity and are temporary. They can occur immediately or take time to manifest. The body cleanses in layers, starting with the newest layer. As bodies store fat, the chemistry of the fat reflects the internal body conditions at the time the fat was stored. Each year, a residue of the viruses, bacteria and toxins you were exposed to are stored in fatty deposits. As the body is cleansed, stored toxins, bacteria, and viruses are released. As they are released, symptoms associated with the toxin may be re-experienced in a milder way.
Possible Symptoms
Detoxification symptoms can include:
- headaches
- constipation/diarrhea
- fatigue
- arthritic flair ups
- skin eruptions
- mental fogginess
- sinus congestion
- muscle cramps or pain
- restlessness
- insomnia
- fever
- strong emotions or mood swings
- aggravation of auto-immune disease systems
What’s Next?
Continue to follow the Cleanse and incorporate the following:
- Drink abundant amounts of water to help the body eliminate released toxins.
- Increase fiber intake and fiber supplements to cleanse the colon.
- Rest. Nap and/or go to bed earlier.
- Meditate to help with symptoms such as strong emotions and mood swings.
- Work closely with your coach and health practitioners to customize the Cleanse for you.
Ride the Wave!
Angela
From Your Health for Life International Team
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Cleanse for Life offers a number of healthy benefits:
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