Editor’s Note: This is a month long series following be&behappy Co-Founder Suyogi Gessner as she experiences a pancha karma detox in India. Check back daily for her latest videos and blog posts, and follow her journey on social media with the hashtag #SuyogisDetoxJourney.
It’s the day of the warrior. In the morning, I did yoga with a wonderful teacher; she’s so simple and yet so knowledgeable. The way she teaches yoga has a certain magic. You can feel that she creates a symphony. Everything is in harmony, and in the end it becomes a beautiful song. The result? My body is already so much more flexible and just feels amazing.
To prepare for today, I practiced all the imagination and visualisation and meditation techniques I know—and believe me, I know tons of techniques! I wanted to prepare myself like the athletes do. So I imagined in my mind how I will drink the herbs, how I will vomit. I prepared my mind and my body for success. I never thought that I would be able to say, “I love to vomit.” It makes me laugh a lot, but I decided today to make my vomit a happiness journey. In the end it all depends on your attitude, and it’s up to me which thoughts I choose. How many times have I told this to my patients? Now it’s time for the real stuff.
So now comes the hilarious part. First, I had a massage and local steam. This was written on my chart. So I prepared my mind for a loving, soothing, amazing massage with a soft local steam on my body. But what came in reality I was definitely not prepared for.
Image a tiny Indian lady, who has done body therapies for 21 years, each day giving 75 different treatments. Can you imagine what is happening with her tiny, soft hands when she uses them every day for 21 years, 75 times a day? Exactly. They become like iron. And that’s how she massaged me, with iron hands.
I actually just wanted to do one thing, and that was scream and shout out loud, “Are you insane? I want a soft massage, not someone hammering on me and squeezing my body!”
It hurt immensely. But I was the good girl, who wanted to be a warrior. So I smiled and decided to enjoy the process and imagined the after-effect of the treatment. And then it came. After this, she made me sit up and she came with a long steam pipe and put it on me. I couldn’t hold it in any longer, and I just cracked up. Another therapist came and we laughed full-heartedly. It was a cool moment where our hearts connected, and we laughed about the situation as much as we could.
And then the real stuff started. First, I had to take some real yucky tasting herb paste. I was still laughing and smiling. But then she came with warm milk. I haven’t touched milk for years, and then I had to drink suddenly 1,8 Liters of warm milk. Believe me, soon you stop smiling. You just want it to be over.
But then the interesting part comes. Our brain is tuned to make us survive, and as a small kid it connected vomiting to fear and pain. So when I felt like I was going to start vomiting, suddenly I could feel my whole body in survival mode. I held onto it. And here I was, the brave warrior. I tried it all. I put 3—yes 3 of my fingers—down my throat in the deepest way you can imagine, and what happened? Nothing. Just a little mucus came out.
Nothing isn’t good. I asked the doctor who was with me how many times I should vomit. Six to eight times would be ideal, she said, using a very unemotional indian tone as if this was nothing. In my head I thought, “What? So many times?” And now nothing. I felt like after drinking the milk and taking the herbs, I had qualified for the Olympic Games. I had qualified for the real race. And now? Nothing came out.
Soon I felt my doctor getting a little nervous. My belly felt so full, like I was 7 month pregnant already. But, still no vomit. So then she came smiling with 2 litres of warm liquorice tea, and I had to drink it all. You have no idea how it feels to drink another 2 litres on top of a huge belly full of milk. Yet I stayed in the race and tried my best. I visualised, I prayed. Believe me, in that moment I was ready to do anything just to feel relieved. And then, all the toxins got assimilated in the upper area of the chest and I started to sweat like anything. Tons of sweat came pouring out, covering my whole body. My system was working on high speed, as if I was running the race of my life.
But still, nothing. So my doctor called the senior doctor and asked for help. The senior doctor had a brilliant idea: we should get some fresh Neem leaves and put it inside my throat to make the vomiting start. Neem is a beautiful tree, where every part has a medical use. It’s a wonderful tree, divine and holy and just there to serve humanity. And suddenly, as I put the neem leaves deep in my throat, the miracle happened: I vomited. It felt like really good, and it was amazing how many toxins and mucous came out.
The doctors looked full of amazement as they saw what came out of me. And I felt like I had won the gold medal in the Olympics.
The best part for me was that I didn’t have any fear. Somewhere between the warm milk, licorice tea and neem leaves, my old fear patterns had melted away. You might not believe me, but I would do it again any time—as long as I have neem leaves.
Today was one of the most intense experiences of cleansing I have ever had. I feel like I am a real warrior. Amazing!!
Join Suyogi on her journey by reading her daily blog posts, and using the hashtag #SuyogisDetoxJourney on social media.
