Shruti Sharma and her husband took a break from their stressful city lives and escaped to a wellness sanctuary in Phuket for a 7-day detox retreat— with their baby and helper in tow. Shruti recounts the exhilarating experience, which left her body cleansed and spirit rejuvenated.
By Shruthi Sharma
I had been craving for some new adventure and a spiritual detox for a while, and so was excited to have discovered a wellness sanctuary that did just that in Phuket. My husband had to be persuaded a bit, but we knew all along that he desperately needed a break. It wasn’t the best time at work for him, with a reorganization underway, multiple resignations and stress levels at their peak among employees. Fortunately, it was mandated for him to use up his accrued leave before the year ended. We couldn’t have left our 18-month-old baby alone with the helper, so off we all went to Phuket, after the friendly staff at the Santosa Detox & Wellness Centre assured us that our daughter and caregiver were welcome as well. They booked us into an apartment with an extra room for our helper.
The centre promised a large spread of detox facilities: a vegan restaurant, juice bar, colonics, detox massages and steam room, along with fitness activities like yoga, zumba, fitball, pilates, dance and meditation. We opted to be kind to ourselves and selected a seven-day raw-food detox program, instead of the shock treatment of a full fast or the moderately intense juice fast.
A warm welcome awaited us when we reached the wellness sanctuary, with a sumptuous raw food dinner of tomato avocado soup, raw lasagna (unbelievably yummy –who knew such a dish existed!) and some raw pad Thai Our program began the next morning.
DAY 1 : THE COLEMA TUBE CHOKES
Our first day began with an early morning pH test followed by yoga. We socialized around shots of wheat grass, juice and detox tea with our fellow detoxers—a Canadian couple (he was hoping a stint of detox would help him avoid back surgery), and two young girls (a Japanese and a German), both celebrating their graduation with a detox holiday.
My first colonic session was challenging. I lay in the colema room for a whole 30 minutes, frantically trying to get the coffee colema solution to flow into my body. I was later told that the little rubber tube used for the colonics had a choke. (And no, there was nothing wrong with me anatomically!) The tube was immediately fixed and I was given an extra session at the end of the program to compensate for this fiasco. It ended well after the initial hiccup. My husband’s session, on the other hand, was a breeze.
Colon cleansing was followed by a round of coconut water and a detox massage. After some rest, it was time for a guided meditation, a thoroughly relaxing experience. We ate raw foods for lunch every day: the menu consisted of beetroot carpaccio, alga nori rolls, pad thai, zucchini spaghetti, lasagna and salads. Dinner was either raw soup or raw food, salads and hot broth.
DAY 2: MYSTERIOUS DARK PATCHES ON THE FOOT
The routine on Day 2 was unchanged, but strangely, a few dark patches appeared on my right foot. The detox experts said these could be physical manifestations of some accident that I might have had earlier on. I had forgotten that I had had a car accident six years ago, so perhaps the trauma had resurfaced in the form of patches on my body.
We found most of the other guests had signed up for a 3-5 day program, and wondered whether a 7-day intense therapy would “over detox” us, but were reassured that a detox regime was harmless and there was no cause for concern.
On day 2, we also experienced a four-stage Osho meditation that involved shaking toxins off our body, which had a very calming effect on the mind.
DAY 3: TUMMY ACHE FOR THE HUBBY
My husband had a stomach ache on the third day. A traditional Chinese medicine expert saw him and said it was a problem in his liver. On the detox menu that night was a “liver cleansing drink”, and the next day my husband, who woke up with a heavy head, felt his symptoms gradually disappear. By the end of this day, he was feeling quite relaxed and was happy that he took the time off and chose to detox. He said he seemed to gain his balance back.
DAY 4: THE MOSQUITO-BITE WOUND
I woke up to find a new wound above my knee, the size of a mosquito bite. I sprayed colloidal silver on it and soothed it with aloe vera. Apart from our daily yoga-colonics-massage-lunch meditation-dinner routine, day 4 featured an Indian dance session, conducted by a sari-clad Italian lady. I took my daughter for this and we watched as the lady made beautiful yogic mudras with her hands and used her eyes to convey expressions.
The sanctuary was flexible with our needs and those of our baby’s. My husband and I were able to adjust our detox routine so one of us could spend time with the baby, who was either in the apartment with the helper or very often in the open activity area. The kind staff even offered to play with her so we could participate in more activities.
DAY 5: ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER WOUND
The next morning, another wound appeared above the older one, the mosquito-bite lesion which now had sadly generated pus around it. Experts said long-held toxins, perhaps unknown to me, were releasing in the form of these wounds. I wasn’t sure if other guests at the center developed any such wounds.
DAY 6: HEALTHY COOKING AND HEALING
A healthy cooking session with the Italian chef at the vegan restaurant was the highlight of our penultimate day. We learned how to prepare raw chocolate fudge and vegan mayo. Our little one, too, enjoyed the soups and juices served at the center.
We also had some healing sessions with yoga therapy and body work. Both my wounds were being treated with antiseptics by now. I couldn’t think of any food allergy that may have caused the wounds, so concluded that my body, and mind, were undergoing deep cleansing, just as the experts had explained.
DAY 7: ZUMBA THOSE WOUNDS AWAY
We followed our daily routine on the last day, but also got bonus time for Zumba to sweat away some more toxins. Though all the jumping and sweating caused my wounds to burn a little, it was good to move to the fantastic music for a while. We enjoyed the special raw-food buffet at the sanctuary before bidding adieu to the very hospitable staff. My husband looked completely de-stressed and calm.
HOME AGAIN, LIGHTER AND READY FOR THE NEXT ROUND
Back home, we were free-er and more balanced. My wounds took another 3-4 days to heal fully. It took us about a week to ease into our daily routine which now changed to a newer, healthier one with reduced portion sizes. Physically, I lost about 4 pounds during the program, but kept losing weight steadily while maintaining high energy levels. My husband lost a good 10 pounds during the program. He stopped eating eggs completely. He discovered that he had gluten intolerance, so witched to rice. The biggest discovery of the holiday was the goodness of raw food, though we still haven’t been able to include it fully into our daily eating habits. It was also a reminder that you can manage to take time out for such retreats if you put your mind to it, and a new baby should not be a reason to stop you.
This article was first published in the print edition of Yoga Journal Singapore, which is now Yogahood Online.
