10 Days On the Inside

Waking up sick had me clear that going to the 10 day was a bad idea. Instead, after getting coaching from several people but mostly because of my conversation with Travis (wherein he pointed out that I seemed more juiced by the idea to stay home), I decided to stay at home and do the 10 day silent retreat at home while also doing the Master Cleanse. This basically consists of drinking 6-12 glasses of a special lemonade (8 oz water, 1 oz maple syrup, 1 oz, lemon juice and 1/10 a teaspoon of cayenne pepper) each day; drinking laxative tea before bed; and starting the morning off with a salt-water solution (32 ounces of water with 2 teaspoons of non-iodized salt in it) each morning. If you think about it like doing your laundry in a washing machine: the cayenne/lemon juice combination acts as the soap agent for the intestines, the laxative tea acts as an intestine agitator and the salt water solution is sort of like the rinse cycle. The maple syrup provides the vitamins and nutrients (and calories) to sustain you.

I did this cleanse 4 years ago before my 10 day meditation, so it seemed appropriate to do them both together, though a bit more challenging. Of course, everyone was quick to point out the whole set of challenges that obviously arises when you do a sit at home. I was a disbeliever and thought, "I will do this."

My intention at the outset was:

1. do the master cleanse for 10 days
2. meditate following the course schedule and precepts for 10 days
3. not hoop or poi dance for the full 10 days
4. not call anyone and speak with them
5. not email anyone

I bought the food and, off I went...