How an Ayurvedic detox and veganism changed my life and cured my skin disease after 17 years.
There are two things which made me try to be a vegan. One of them is an Ayurveda detox I’m doing on this moment. The second is my experience to live as a vegan in worlds larges vegan community in India, which opened my eyes.
For the next three months my daily routine would become slightly different from what I was used to. Did I say slightly?
Since I deal with psoriasis (a chronical skin disease) for over 17 years and tried all kinds of treatments in the west, I wanted to give the ancient Indian health tradition (Ayurveda) a try. I was already planing to go back to India for several reasons, this treatment was definitely one of them. I found a doctor specialized in skin diseases on the web and his website made me feel worth traveling a far end to visit him. So I trusted my instinct and made an appointment. I arrived in the Indian city Bangalore to see him, and in one hour I walked out of his office with a bag full of herbal medicine, body scrub and lotion, different pills and a liquid. For the next three months my daily routine would become slightly different from what I was used to. Did I say slightly? He gave me a diet which made it even a little bit more intense! For breakfast and dinner I can eat one type of fruit (except banana) or raw vegetables until I feel full, for lunch I can eat a cooked meal, but it has to be vegan, non processed ingredients and nothing from a fridge or freezer. In between meals I can’t eat anything. I can only drink water or green tea and no drinking one hour before or after food. Three times a day I’ll take the medicine and I take a shower with my new herbal equipment (and they don’t smell like roses) And last but not least I have to exercise everyday until I sweat (this is good for detoxation) and meditate half a hour a day (which I call mental nourishment). I was willing to commit myself to it and payed for the first month. Never expected it would have such a huge change in my life.
Worlds larges vegan community
After one week of a bit of a struggle while traveling (I had to make sure I could exercise, shower and if there were any fruits available. I took it very serious and if there was nothing around I just skip my food, but this didn’t make me a nice person at some moments. To make it easier I tried to have breakfast and dinner on my own, not being surrounded by people who were eating my favorite kitchen (Indian!)
And then, without looking for it, I ended up in worlds larges vegan community (Sadhana forest: http://www.sadhanaforest.org).
I wasn’t necessarily looking for a vegan community, but more for a community with a good vision and action in sustainability and where I could do something to serve the planet and learned to do some selfless work. Sadhana forest has both! Sadhana forest has over a thousand volunteers a year, who are all committing for at least three weeks to work together on reforestation and water conservation.
How to they work and what are their values?
Everyone sign up to commit on a plant based diet, no alcohol, smoking inside and outside of the community. The community has values like a non competitive environment, gift economy (based on needs, rather then money, no direct exchange and giving without expecting something back). It’s beautiful to see how people look at those values wth different eyes after three weeks.
A day at Sadhana
We wake up at 5.30 to do stretching and give each other a hug (yeah!) At 6 am we work (first seva) in the forest (digging holes, making and putting compost, watering etc), at 9pm we have breakfast all together in a large circle in the main hut and from 10 until 11.30 am we have a second seva which can be gardening, cooking, cleaning, laundry etc (you can imagine that a large community like this has a lotof household as well). At 12.45 pm we have lunch together and free time (unless you help cooking or cleaning a few times a week). We can go to the beautiful mud pool to swim, chill in a hammock, go to Aurovile (http://www.auroville.org) or attend or give a workshop. With a community of 50 to 70 volunteers there are many workshops to follow: yoga, meditation, mantra singing, macrame, theatre, workshops about ayurveda or veganism etc). On Monday we have a sharing circle (a safe space to say what’s on your heart and a practice to listen without judgement), on Wednesday we have an open stage (we can perform everything we like to share; from singing to theatre and dance and you don’t have to be talented) on Friday visitors from Aurovile can join our community/forest tour, and watch eco movie and dinner! Last time we saw the movie: The ghosts in our machine and afterwards we had a video skype call with the director!! (every week we got around 120 people visiting)
Must see:
My stay in Sadhana opened my eyes on veganism. What is very strong is that volunteers commit being a vegan for at least three weeks. To put this practice in action together with other people makes it less difficult. We also talk with people who already have a vegan diet, have group discussions about it and watch documentaries together. It all gave me so much information I have always closed my eyes for and made me realize In order to serve the plant I had to take action. And all around me people became more aware and made life changing choices. It was beautiful to see. And not to forget the amazing beautiful, healthy, tasty food we ate every day, vegan is definitely not a boring kitchen!
Open eyes and a soft skin
Besides this amazing experience, my detox went so well that my skin improved with 80%! I didn’t have to think about what kind of diet would suit me best, I am convinced being a vegan is the best cure for my skin problem. One and one makes two. Besides this veganism and a different diet has more benefits, such as more energy ( 7 hours sleep -22 pm to 5am- a night is enough and I wake up energized and ready for the day) my sweat and mouth in the morning smells a lot fresher, I lost the extra body fat I was carrying for a long time and I feel I have a very stable mind and concentration.
It’s cool how my new lifestyle inspires others. I don’t have to talk about it, it just happens that people are interested in ask me questions which sometimes turn out that they try to eat less animal products. I still have two more months to stick on the detox and after I can have a regular diet again. For me it’s quit clear how this diet would look like.
