If you wanna know how I lost 3kgs without going to the gym and had a mini-facelift without having surgery, read on.
I am big on reinvention, in fact, I’ve built a career on it: I was once an Engineer, then a Fashion Designer, from Fashion Designer I dabbled in TV Presenting, from there started Styling, then Blogging, and now Teaching. All one big evolution of new-ness.
This past 12 months however, have been particularly transformative. I have quite literally changed every aspect of my life: my life path, my goals and dreams, the work I do in this world, my thoughts and beliefs.
Even all the menial (and I use that word lightly) stuff too: where I live, the car I drive, the people I hang with, the food I eat, how I spend my downtime.
You name it, it’s transformed at some stage in the past year. So I thought I should honour this incredible period by giving myself some time to process, relax, rejuvenate and reconnect with Amber Renae 2.0.
The best way I know to do exactly that, is to hit the eject button completely and check in to do to a full mind/body/soul cleanse, so I reached out to the beautiful Natalie at Byron Bay Detox Retreats, to guide me on my journey.
Here’s the specifics of my stay, in case you’re wanting to replicate:
I did the 5 day personalised cleanse: arrived Sunday, had all my therapies on Mon, Tues, Wed, then had Thursday to myself. Broke the fast Friday (with half a Papaya) and left around noon.
SIDE NOTE: Interestingly, the Papaya was delivered to my room Thursday afternoon, so I could’ve eaten it at any time Thursday OR Friday when I woke up, but I actually didn’t tuck into that sucker until about Midday Friday…by that stage I really wasn’t interested in food at all!
Each day I had three cold-pressed organic juices (which were insanely delish), three bentonite clay drinks (these act as an ‘internal broom’ – which is what I was reminding myself of, as I forced them down ha!), and one mineral broth (this was like a clear soup, at the start of the week tasted quite bland, but by the end was super yummy – shows how much our taste buds can change in a week!).
I also had a daily infra-red sauna to further assist the detoxing process.
I had three colonics, one Chi Nei Tsang massage and one Sound Healing. The Chi Nei Tsang is like a massage for your internal organs, and works on clearing the blocked energy by triggering energetic points on the body. It felt both relaxing and grounding, and the treatment includes a 6 healing sound meditation to clear any negative emotions that may have surfaced through the session.
The beautiful Natalie and her team at Byron Bay Detox Retreats would like to gift all of my beautiful readers a complimentary Chi Nei Tsang massage with every retreat booking, click here for more info.
Sound Healing is the conscious use of the energy of sound to promote wellness in the human system including the expansion of consciousness. Basically, sound changes consciousness, and this had a HUGE impact on me.
And here’s what everyone wants to know
Did I get hungry: No.
I thought about food constantly, but it was more a mental process than an actual tummy hunger. Around Dinner time, I would start thinking, ‘Gee I’d love to sit down and eat a steak right now’, but when I checked in with my tummy, I wasn’t hungry at all.
So no, no hunger.
Did you do those bloody colonics (Dad’s words): Sure did, and loved them! Here’s why:
My therapist says that we carry between 2-6kgs of faecal matter in our bowels that’s built up over time! Seriously as if that’s not a good enough reason?!
The procedure itself is waaaay less scary than you think, and actually becomes quite a cathartic experience as you release all your past emotions at the same time (there’s a joke there somewhere!)
Did you lose weight: Yep and I had a ‘facelift’ too!
I dropped probably 2-3kgs in the week I was there, which supports my theory that a lot of the weight that we’re carrying is caused by inflammation. So it can be as simple as eliminating the cause of the inflammation and the weight will drop off. Or at least it did in my case.
As far as a facelift goes, I reckon I’ve wound back the clock about 3 years – my skin isn’t as droopy and wrinkly, my eyelids don’t sag down, my eyes are waaaay brighter and clearer, and I have a general fresh glow about me. 🙂
How was the location/accommodation: serene
I was at the Tallows Beach Houses in a private guest house. It overlooked the river and had a beautiful ‘forest-feel’ to it. I didn’t see a neighbour or here a peep for the entire time I was there, so in the spirit of taking it back to nature I spent the majority of the week in my birthday suit! And it was liberating!
And the million dollar Q: How do you feel now
Well! I feel like AR 2.0.
Everything feels a lot clearer and lighter (both physically and emotionally), I have more confidence and trust within myself which has really stemmed from being connected, and I’ve integrated habits into my life that will stay with me forever.
Like SINGLE TASKING (this deserves CAPS cause it’s BIG!). You’ve probably never heard of this before, as you’re no doubt a savvy, high-performing, multi-tasker. But guess what…you can actually do one thing at a time and each thing becomes more enjoyable!
Yep, MORE enjoyable. What I realised was that I’m only ever truly happy when I’m in the present moment and I find when I’m single tasking, it actually makes you become more present.
So here’s what I was doing: Sitting without reading (like just sitting and looking at the sky), walking without listening to a podcast/music and eating (drinking) without checking my phone.
Just. One. Thing. At. A. Time.
It’s like a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders, with this one liberating idea: just one thing at a time. Because guess what, you’re never gonna get it done, and you’ll always want more, so what’s the rush?!
I was quite literally bursting out of my skin at the end of the week, so I decided to have a chat with Natalie about my experience, check it out here:
+ show Comments
- Hide Comments
add a comment