A moment of vulnerability

Now lets just say I wasn’t fooling myself when deciding to do a cleanse, especially a cleanse of this magnitude. I knew I was going to be hungry, I knew I was going to be emotional, I knew I was going to feel challenged in pulling away from my daily americano.

The thing i didn’t account for, is the rest of my absolutely insanely wonderfully full life. Nothing in the world stops when you are on a cleanse, they keep plugging right along. And lets just be real here, I am nearing the ripe old age of 30, and my life is PACKED to the brim of many things that I am doing or learning to manage, or encountering new things on the daily that I get to be challenged with and learn….anyone who knows me knows I am working simultaneously on at least 5 projects. All these ‘adulting’ projects are taking more problem solving abilities and patience than ever before.

So on Monday I walked away from my espresso / egg a day habit and went to green juice and salad my brain wasn’t really excited about me deciding to take away my comfort zone, the beautiful plate of caffeine and animal protien that I had been feeding myself in moments of stress and uncertainty.

I started with the intention to look at myself this week a little bit more intensely before I was to pair with our cleanse group that my friend and colleague Nicole DeVaney and myself are hosting in the next week.

What I have been handed is the truth peeps, cleansing is no joke!

Nicole and I had plans to formulate our cleanse packages and daily care routines the following day, so I was feeling confident that I could withstand 24 hours with juice/ water and a salad and be completely fine. When I completely underestimated my day of mental activity ( I’m a Gemini by the way, so any amount of stumble to my mental acuity and I tend to ball up in the fetal postition) I knew I was in for a rough one. I have always said it, my americano helps me think straight. It will never be possible for me not to wake up thinking, but to organize and act on those thoughts is a whole other scenario….usually requiring my 16 oz. of pure espresso heaven. So going to run a bazilllion errands before noon on no coffee was, lets just say, painful! Caffiene withdrawl is a real thing….have you ever tried it? I have, but things like this are easy to forget when you’ve gone a while without doing that… by the end of the day I had cried twice, was COMPLETELY exhausted and was a little weary of the next day, even though I knew I would be meeting with Nicole to finally get square on our healthy cleansing routine!

The next day felt fresh, no caffeine headche, and I was on the go again, but somehow even with renewed optimism on my side I managed to sustain a head injury on the job site while getting into my car (nice to look where your head is going….smack) headaches, upon headaches! 4 o’clock couldnt come soon enough.

Upon arrival to the Iron and Salt studio I knew I was in good hands, Nicole made me a glorious colostrum milkshake and handed me my amino acids ( part of our cleanse kit) and kindly some wintercrest for the goosebump on my head and it was like night/day.

It was at that point that all of this cleanse started to come into perspective, and where I became truly aware of how necessary our formulation for support during this cleanse time will be during our collective release. So many individuals make the attempt to cleanse on their own and go about their days much like I had spent the last 36 hours. And boy let me tell you, that just isn’t gonna fly! Not for busy, driven people with lots on their plate everyday. And I realized the idea of collective accountability and support is key too! Even just having Nicole hear about my hard day and symptoms and offering a hand made a world of difference with my own anxiety. No herbal concotion of my own making could really touch the support of a friend.

And so I guess I’m posting this today because I find myself really excited and proud of what we have put together here! Our efforts in ritually cleansing our bodies has become sharply formulated and well thought out. I have gone the rest of the week feeling supremely different and really feeeling back on top of my life thanks to the key pieces of our cleanse. And it hasnt really even started yet! I am happy to be the test monkey of own own design though, I recieved such insight into why I have studied herbs and healing modalities in the first place (I am an artist mostly, but man is it good to know about herbal medicine and what the natural world does to support the body, heart and mind!)

Our cleanse begins on the 30th of this month, with a 2 hour class on everything you’ll need and want to know going on at Iron and Salt studio Wednesday the 27th! There are limited spaces this round, but still a few openings! Wont you come cleanse with us, it feels WAY good to be supported during this time! click on this link and read through a bit more to see if it might be a good fit RELEASE CLEANSE If you cant make it for this round, dont worry 🙂 we will be recording the class and will make it available online, along with your kit so you can order it on your own time as well. If you have time, and intention to release and let go of patterns that dont serve you and your health and well being anymore, consider joining in this time! We have partnered with some truly great local companies to help in making this release the smoothest ever! Vive Juicery and Real Foods Market have been great in giving us some great deals for everything you will need!

I share all of this with you in a true moment and feeling of honesty, transparency and vulnerability. I always try and show my best face to the world at large, but really you have just gotta lay it out there sometimes and tell it like it is! I am including pictures of my transformation over the past 5 years from good and bad times. I used to use photo booth on my computer to take a daily ‘check in’ photo and they have proved to be a really interesting look into my overall wellness-emotional and physical. If nothing