Dharma Healing Center Of Samui, fasting, holistic weight loss and healing retreat by the sea

The Fast

We do an 'Elimination Fast' which includes taking our own Chinese herbal formula balanced for softening, loosening up, cleansing, and eliminating old hardened mucoid plaque, bile, poisons, cholesterol and parasites that stay sometimes for years in the digestive organs and body tissues. (Mucoid plaque is a term used by doctors to describe the rubbery layers of mucous and undigested food which accumulates layer by layer, year by year along the entire digestive tract)

Twice a day fasters self-administer a simple full colon wash called colonic irrigation or high enema to quickly eliminate the loosened up material and toxic elements, using organic freshly roasted and ground coffee in the morning and herbal teas in the evening. We add Hydrogen Peroxide drops of 35% to our colonic water to oxygenate and alkalize the colon and the whole body. The method used we call "Colonic Yoga". Colonic Yoga incorporates a four part process which is gentle and efficient but also stimulating and relaxing. The practice is excellent for getting connected to every part of the colon and thus the whole body.

During the day fasters sip on a variety of liquids, such as: purified water, medicinal herbal teas of the day, fresh coconut waters filled with enzymes, vitamins, minerals and fatty acids that are harvested daily; and a veggie broth soup that is rich with minerals and phytonutrients, made with locally grown fresh veggies, spices and herbs from China, North America, India, Malaysia and Thailand.

Throughout the week a variety of classes (20 in total) are taught to help participants work with the cleansing, fasting process, to guide them into themselves and to prepare them for leading a healthy life when they leave us. This includes the following 9 classes on foods and nutrition:

Fasters are each given an Iridology reading during the week with a personal explanation of what Iridology is and how to read a chart. This is to provide a picture of their all over general health condition and constitution. In addition to the Iridology reading we offer a nutritional, emotional and spiritual counseling session.

During each week of the fast fasters are given two Thai massage treatments which include a thorough abdominal massage, stimulating all the systems of the body to cleanse, including the circulatory, lymph, nervous, muscular, elimination and immune systems. Thai massage is available during the day time on a fee by hour basis.

On the third or fourth day of the fast we give a special drink called a liver flush. The liver flush gives a kick to detoxifying the liver and gall bladder. The extra-virgin olive oil opens up and relaxes the bile ducts allowing old stagnant bile and sometimes gall and liver stones to be released into the intestinal tract for elimination.

Everyone who comes here leaves feeling different, vibrant and truly great! Many people overcome old habits, attitudes, and addictions. Smoking is not allowed and most people quit smoking, drinking, taking drugs and eating unhealthy processed foods. . . Our Fasting Course Program is for those who want to be guided to change their lives; who want to leave behind old habits and outdated attitudes and work toward their Higher Potential, toward their Higher Self on a Path of Healthy Living. It is our privilege to help each person who comes here work toward this positive state of being.

If you are new to the idea of internal cleansing you will be starting a fantastic education into your body and your health from a very personal experience. As we like to say, you really get to know your body well. Basically we all need to cleanse, it is just a matter of making the commitment to do it. The theory behind the internal cleanse is that we have subjected our bodies to harmful life-styles, eating habits, and a modern world full of pollutants that inhibit the body's own ability to cleanse itself. The digestive organs get clogged with waste matter that becomes an internal sewer, and the toxins given off by this waste are absorbed by the body. This old mucus and rubberized matter or mucoid plague in the intestinal track (and there can be over 20 lbs. in there) also prevents the body from absorbing all the nutrients you take in, and inhibits the action of the immune system forcing all of systems in the body to work overtime trying to clean up this access waste material. The toxic state that most of us are in can cause everything from cancer, to that tired feeling, CFS - Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, acne, Candida albicans, asthma, arthritis and other auto-immune disorders, backache, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Irritable Bowel Disease (basically anything wrong in the intestinal track), also PMS and Menopause symptoms to name a few problems. Probably not every illness is related to this waste overflow the body is carrying around, causing a clogged digestive system, but as one well known doctor said, 90% of our illnesses are related (refer to our quotes). Fasting is a natural healing method, a time to let the natural intelligence of your body take over. It is the oldest healing method humankind has known. To cleanse the colon [large intestine] and other internal organs may be the best thing you will ever do for yourself.

Breaking The Fast

For 4 days after the fast a "zesty" fermented drink that we make is given that reintroduces friendly bacteria into the intestinal tract, important enzymes for stimulating digestion and B Vitamins to support the immune system.

After the fast, it is important to put one's own loving energy into their food. We encourage each person to go to the market and buy their own fruits and vegetables. This simple act of feeding and nurturing ourselves after a fast supports a physical, mental and spiritual immune response, toward our happiness and well being. A person is very delicate after a fast and needs to take excellent care in breaking their fast properly. We have found that it takes a minimum of at least 10 days of breaking the fast properly to feel the full benefits. That is why we give explicit directions in staying away from a list of "no-nos" (that are stated on the Preparing for the Fast page) while eating a natural whole foods diet.

It is necessary to watch not only what we eat, how we eat, how much we eat and also where we eat after a good fast. Restaurant and airline food may not always be healthy. Many people who eat in restaurants and who eat airplane food directly after a fast report not feeling well. We encourage and support carrying healthy foods on long journeys. A new interactive kitchen on location will be ready to use starting in January 2006.

After a fast a person is at a much higher vibration and will often become intuitively awakened to what appropriate nutrition is and what are unwanted poisons. We are much more vulnerable and sensitive to what we eat.

We encourage our fasters to stay around and feed themselves after their fast is finished. It is our hope that each person feels loved and supported in our family environment up to the time they leave us, and our hope that everyone leaves feeling an empowered responsibility for their health; knowing how to set up a health food kitchen, how to eat a healthy diet, how to meditate and practice Yoga, how to perpetuate the cleansing process, how to work with old addictions and habits and how to protect themselves and be vigilent in a stressful world.

The Fasting Course Program is directed according to Buddhist Principles. Counseling is offered that guides each individual into themselves; practicing Love, Kindness, Empathy/Compassion and Equanimity.

Throughout Eastern tradition fasting has been our primary way toward spiritual inspiration and self-purification, broadening our inner consciousness and intuitive abilities toward well being and enlightenment. It is a time to go within, giving the body a rest from the material world, the mind a superior focus and the spirit freedom to swim in harmony with the elements of nature, elements that support one's humanness and ultimate simplicity to experience life at its most basic existence. It is the oldest therapeutic method known to man. Even before the advent of the medicine man and the healing arts, man instinctively stopped eating when feeling ill, and abstained from food until his health was restored. It is without a doubt the absolute best gift a person can give oneself and is the ultimate vacation!