Why consider “spring cleaning” your body?  
What are some practical ways to start? 
With busy lives, still stressed over this pandemic, what simple nutrition tips can help you lead a healthy lifestyle?
 
These are some highlights of my interview with Magdalena, Certified Holistic Health Coach and Living Foods Chef, streaming live on Instagram from Switzerland on Wednesday, March 24, 2021.  
 
I met Magdalena in Costa Rica in 2017. We were solo travellers from opposite ends of the globe, who crossed paths on a bus ride to Pachamama in Guanacaste.  I had booked a stay in the forest commune retreat center to attend a workshop on movement meditation.  Magdalena convinced me to stay longer and join her in their body cleanse, 5 days of juice fasting.  I met her as she was pivoting careers to holistic health.  
 
I’m delighted to have reconnected with her on this interview, in which she shared her discoveries in wellness and healing through nature.  Here's our Q+A from the interview. Enjoy some treasures for your own journey in optimal health.

1. What is your background and area of specialty in nutrition and wellness?  What inspired you to focus on this?  How have you trained in it? 
I am a Certified Holistic Health Coach (Institute of Integrative Nutrition) and Certified Living Foods Chef. I trained as a Chef with Ben Richards at Seeds of Life in Bali.
 
Since I was a child I have always been very much connected to nature. However later as an adult I felt that my lifestyle and choices were not contributing to my wellbeing, I felt overwhelmed, very confused, lost and quite stressed. I traveled to Costa Rica where I lived in a small cabin in the forest and completely immersed myself in nature. I participated in a detox program, cleansed my body doing a powerful detox, mediated, drank fresh juices made of fruits, vegetables and herbs. The effects of this cure were outstanding, I have never experienced before such expansive feeling of wellness, clarity and vitality. 
 
This experience inspired me to enroll in the Institute of Integrative Nutrition where I was certified as Holistic Health Coach. 
 
As I am passionate about the healing power of nature and living foods I wanted to deepened my knowledge about plants and healing so I did a training as the Living Foods Chef at Seeds of Life in Bali. There I learned how to prepare beautiful and nutrition meals made of raw foods only. I stayed in Bali for 2 months and it was also a powerful healing journey. Most of the time I was eating raw foods, tons of fruit and I was immersed in nature. 
 
I have also traveled a few times to Thailand where I was mentored about the process of detoxification. I did many detoxes myself and followed different protocols. I studied more about detox and living foods reading books of.Jensen, Andreas Moritz, David Wolfe, Arnold Ehret. 
 
         
2. How important is nutrition and the digestive system in overall health, especially during a global pandemic or a stressful busy life? 
 
Nutrition is at a core of health. I believe that WE ARE WHAT WE EAT – we become the food we eat..- the food we take in stays within our body way longer than the few moments we were aware of its taste. It becomes out blood, enters each and every cell of our body, it becomes our thoughts, mood and feelings, our life energy. 
 
An Ayurvedic doctor has made this interesting analogy: Imagine that your digestive system is a river of life. This river needs to flow and move easily trough your body to bring the life force to your body. Once that river is congested, full of rubbish and toxins and it cannot move, no life force is being provided to your body & to your cells. 
 
80% of immune cells are located in our digestive tract, if we our digestive track is compromised so our health and this will manifest in various diseases and discomforts. 
 
Natural, whole, living foods, mostly plants are healing, detoxifying and boosting our immunity. And this is really crucial to remember during this pandemic – our bodies are incredibly powerful and can heal at any moment, but we need provide our bodies with foods and environments in which they thrive. The more contact we have with nature and natural foods the better our immunity. 
 
 
3. Why is spring a good time for inner body cleanse?  (or is it?) 
Traditionally, Chinese medicine and Ayurveda view spring as a time for renewal. In winter, here in Europe we experience less sunlight, days are shorter and it is cold, we eat lots of cooked foods and also eat more foods for comfort. In Spring the body is coming out of that winter hibernation mode and ready to cleanse. Its like we clean our house and do the Spring cleaning, the same refers to our bodies. In nature there is a renewed and fresh energy and intuitively we want to match that and have that sense of renewal and a reset. 
Cleansing is a tune-up for the body, we clean our amazing organs which are the filters:  our liver, kidneys, colon, lymph system (which become congested with metabolic waste).  
I usually recommend a 10 days cleanse. But before we start the cleanse first we prepare for it for at least one week when we eliminates sugar, processed foods, meat, grains, dairy, and caffeine. During the cleanse for first few days we eat plant-based diet with some cooked foods, next few days we eat raw foods, smoothies, salads raw soups, juices. And then finish the cleanse with a few days of juices only. The detox can be supported by herbs supplements.  
Because our bodies are naturally in sync with the seasons, foods that support detox and the liver are plentiful at this time: spinach, lettuce, snap peas, asparagus, celery, and berries; cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower; kale. To enhance the detox its great support it with lemon water, spirulina (very detoxifying) garlic, and green tea.
 
 
4. Please share your 3 favorite/most effective ways (maybe include a simple recipe) to spring cleanyour body using whole foods.  Can you provide any health facts, research or personal stories to vouch for their effectiveness? 
I start my day with lemon water – simply juice one lemon and mix the juice with a glass of clean filtered water (room temperature). Lemon water really boost the digestion and it is alkalizing for the body – which means thriving environment.
 
I eat a lot of fruit in the morning, one or two fruits at a time is best so the body can really digest and absorb all the goodness from fruit. 
 
I make fresh juices, using different combinations of celery, apples, carrots, fresh ginger, beets, oranges, lemons, cucumbers. 
 
Also raw soups are great, they taste great and are very satisfying: 
EXAMPLE: This easy to make gazpacho is a yummy dinner meal 

• mango and/or papaya
• lime juice
• tomatoes
• spring onions 
• fresh jalapeño, chile or cayenne pepper

Optional green goodness: Add some fresh herbs like coriander, basil etc or some neutral greens like spinach. This will turn it green. 
Method: Combine all in a blender until smooth. You can top with fresh herbs, spring onion, sprouts, chopped tomato etc
 
5. Moving forward, what basic healthy eating/healthy lifestyle principle might you share to help guide a continued conscious joyful nutritional practice?   
My simple and basic advice for a healthy lifestyle is to tune more into nature, pause from technology, be outside, feel the sunlight on your skin, nature will invite you to slow down. There is so much magnificence and harmony in nature, when we are immerse in nature we invite more peace, expansion, more harmony and joy into our lives. I call it “rewilding”, we come from nature and we need to return to it to heal. 
 
For nutrition: slowly add in & introduce more natural foods to your diet. FEEL what it does for you, and let the good “feeling” foods slowly crowd out foods that don’t feel good to your body. 
  
Some good choices of food to introduce to your diet on a regular basis are:

• Fruits and vegetables, with specific emphasis on sweet vegetables and dark greens, 
• Eat MORE fruit – fruit is the most amazing gift from nature, it contains so much of LIFE FORCE; of vitamins, minerals and enzymes. And what more – it contains a lot of water, water from fruit is the most hydrating, it hydrates us at the cellural level and makes our skin really alive and beautiful. 
• Eat more raw, living foods – raw food is a live & fresh food that has not be heated or processed or modified in any sense. It’s a pure life force. Enzymes help digestion, living foods profoundly nourish the body and are essential for balancing the body metabolism and producing energy. 

 
 
6. What kinds of services do you offer?  How can anyone get in touch with you to learn more or to work with you?   
I am just in the process of building my website which I plan to launch in May. 
Currently I offer an online 1:1 guiding for a 10 days detox. I am currently guiding two beautiful women in this process and I am so thrilled about how well they experience this journey. 
 
I will be also organizing onsite detox retreats for bigger groups and I am looking at venues in Spain and in Switzerland. 

Now, spring cleaning is not only about your physical body or home.  Inner spring cleaning involves addressing the mental habits or emotional baggage that need to be released too.  Check out my free guide to get you started with your inner spring cleaning!

​I can understand the jadedness some people express about the word “love.” Valentine’s Day candies inscribed with messages like “be mine” as if to love someone is to possess them like property. Pink and red fluffy hearts with doilies decorate love with a feeling of daintiness and fragility.  
 
But what about the kind of love that drives a single mother in Bangladesh to work in a sweatshop 14-16 hours everyday to try to feed her toddler who has to live with her grandparents and hardly see her mom?  Or, the love that chooses to liberate a suffering pet of 15 years from their painfully aging ailing body despite the sadness of losing their best companion? 
 
Author Sharon Salzberg likens love to water in its soft and strong qualities—so flexible it takes on the shape of whatever vessel it flows into, “yet over time, water will carve its own pathway even through rock.” And it’s a testament to our interconnection, “an incarnation of the water in the juicy fruit you ate yesterday may have fallen as rain halfway around the world last year, nourished a flower offered to a beloved in India…” and so on.  
 
As we’re surrounded by holiday decorations of “love,” I’m compelled to look into the ways it deeply connects, inspires, enlivens and heals us as a pure expression of our inner nature.  
 
Compassion is a highly regarded practice by mindfulness authors, like Pema Chodron, who teaches that it expands our capacity to love without condition and necessitates our ability to fully feel our difficult emotions.  In metta meditation, one practices sending sincere loving kindness to themselves and others in a series of stages.  

This is a valuable tool for feeling and rippling love from within, and I’m inviting you to join in.  Sat, 2/13 @5:30-6:30pm PT on Zoom, I’m facilitating a mind-body-spirit practice of Gentle Yin Yoga, breath work and Metta Meditation, by donation of whatever energy exchange you can afford.   

To access the live event, 'Metta Date' Night, RSVP at Root2RiseYoga.org/Community-Events 
 
May we feel the love that is at the core of our being and all beings, as Mother Nature exemplifies.

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”― Viktor E. Frankl

This sums up one of my reasons for meditating daily. In case you don't know me that personally, I tend to be very passionate. While this passion joyfully fuels my work and play, it has also lent itself to impulsive reactivity. In a fit of rage, I once punched glass repeatedly with my bare fist until it shattered because I felt betrayed and disregarded by a partner I loved and trusted. That "rock-bottom" moment of being hijacked by my anger was over a decade ago, and I have the scar to remind me that I'm committed to self-healing, which includes letting go of my shame about it in order to transform "my karma (or, effects of my actions) into my dharma (or, spiritual path or duty)," as author Kathleen Hanagan says.

I felt nervous to post this, but it's a part of my shadow that spurred self-study and tools for self-healing. I eventually started a daily sitting meditation practice in 2013 and it continues to serve as a tool for learning to observe my thoughts and emotions without getting caught up in them that I lose myself. Meditation is my teacher of equanimity, the ability to feel wholeheartedly (not sweeping uncomfortable things under the rug) but allowing the space for discernment to choose my response.

I share this story because in our common humanity, I understand we all feel difficult emotions, especially when life challenges arise. And during physical distancing and quarantining, we might forget that we have support and are not alone. Thankfully, we're in an era of technology that lets you read this or live-stream together from different time zones. So, I'm taking the opportunity to share what I can and what's been of great service to my healing and continues to be: my meditation practice (the 7th limb of yoga).
You can find a link to a free YouTube playlist of various lengths and kinds of guided meditations, from beginning to sit for it to dealing with anger and negative self-talk here:

https://youtube.com/playlist...
​
If you'd like to share the practice live, here are some Zoom events you're welcome to join:
1. Fridays 4:30pm Yoga postures, breathwork and 10 minutes meditation (weekly)
2. Sat, 2/13 at 5:30pm Metta Date Night: Yin Yoga, breathwork and a guided meditation for sending loving kindness to yourself and others
3. Thur, 2/18 at 6pm Integrative Yoga Night focusing on Nurturing Resilience
4. Sat, 2/27 at 1pm Peace through Forgiveness: Qi Gong + Integrative Yoga, co-facilitated by Sigal Mehuyas

Details + Sign Up at Root2RiseYoga.org/Community-Events
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You're welcome to invite a friend. Come to practice with a community that supports each other.