A good spring cleaning just feels right this time of year; let the windows open and fresh air blow through, chuck stuff out where it has stacked up in all corners, maybe even try a detox or short cleanse for the body. But what else could this spring cleaning do?
I am just in the middle of a Spring Detox. Jason and I have been doing the Wild Rose Cleanse for a lot of years and it always feels great. It is in line with what my body wants in the spring, and I love the shift in habits it promotes for us. And.. this year it feels different.
This year, with more Ayurveda experience, with a greater level of intuition available to me, I am noticing that cleansing my body is directly tied to my creativity and ability to bring ideas into fruition. My mind is clearer and more efficient, my energy and drive to create is available, and I am noticing the expansion of my mindset.
Ayurveda would help us explain this with what they call the Gunas or natures qualities of influence. In the winter we spend all winter creating heaviness, warmth, and stability. Cozying up under warm blankets with hot soup and a fireplace beside us. Then in the spring it feels intuitive to throw off the heaviness of that winter cover, and stretch out and feel spacious again. This season is our annual invitation to clean out, to feel light, cool, and mobile again. The problem is when we don’t heed this intuitive call we can be held down as the weather shifts and the wet, damp, season of spring over rides our natural instincts. Falling into sync with circadian rhythm means we must shift from our winter hibernating habits to new ways. We must clean out, move more, and lighten up. Switch our brains over to the invitation of the season.
In our homes we like to open windows and let the fresh air blow in, clean out the back door closet of the ski pants, toques and mitts. In our bodies we shift from eating warm cooked hearty food to greener, lighter, meals. Where we live this isn’t usually something we need any encouragement to do, we CRAVE it after the past season.
This year I am finding that as we stretch into this new space there is an opportunity to do more than shed clutter or extra pounds, there is an opportunity to shed old beliefs, old patterns, and open up to new thought processes and ways of being. We need this spring detox to create some time to allow this evolution. The movement and effort required to wash, scrub, haul, in our homes is beneficial in our bodies and in our minds. Move the body to still the mind. The action of raking, digging, mulching in our gardens, the planning of simpler, lighter, greener meals, all suggests readiness for change in not only our bodies, but in our beings.
So…what does that look like?
Take time to allow shifts. Notice what sensations are coming up for you. Where do you have resistance to throwing something out? When do you feel cravings? Notice the emotion that sits between you and the action and allow yourself time to be with it. This moment, this subtle acknowledgment is so powerful. We are attached to our way of being in this world, our old habits are grooved and well established, and pulling them out to be examined can feel sticky, uncomfortable, and scary. We often notice that we eat, or let stuff pile up, or zone out on our devices, because it helps us avoid sticky/uncomfortable/ scary feelings. Our growth, our intuition calls us to look at those feeling head on. In my cleanse this spring, there is so much to discover in the moments… I go to have snack only to realize that my intuition says not to – it is enjoying this time freed up by lessening digestive effort. What I am actually feeling has been mind blowing. It is taking this cleanse thing to a whole new level for me. My awareness of patterns that just hold me back is astounding. And allowing it all the time and space to shift is a different approach from what I have felt in the past.
Spring Cleaning in the house and garden. Spring Cleansing the body and soul. Highly recommended.
Want to do a 3 week cleanse with me? You define what cleanse means to you. We build a community of support. We create tools to expand the cleanse to a deeper, juicer level. We start in June. Message me for details, I haven’t quite got it all worked out in my head yet.