Yogabody Detox with Lucas Rockwood

Lucas Rockwood

Lucas Rockwood was in Manila last weekend and conducted a "Yoga Detox Retreat" at Yoga Plus. The program consisted of yoga exercises, breathing techniques and a 3-day 100% liquid diet. Yup, no solids! He said that  the program is designed to reboot our bodies and "one of the most exciting things this process is, changes can happen very quickly."

Very quickly indeed. In three days, I lost four kilos and didn't feel weak at all. I experienced a slight headache though on the second day which may be a withdrawal symptom from no coffee.

It's actually safe to do the detox program on your own. He gave us three simple steps. First is elimination through yoga-based breathing techniques, sweating through yoga and the all- liquid diet guaranteed regular treks to the bathroom to pee out all the toxins.

Second is through proper rest. Mind you, this is not through sleeping or being immobile. How then? Rest by not eating any solids.  Yup, no solid intake. He said "On any given day, digestion takes 40% (or more) of your body's energy and resources... by cutting your digestive demands by 75%, your body can devote the same energy toward self-cleansing." The all liquid diet requires only 25% of the usual digestive energy to process.

one of the six juices

And lastly, through superfood nutrition to simultaneously detoxify and rebuild body. He defined 'Superfoods' as those loaded with vitamins, minerals, nutrients and phytonutirents.
We were provided six bottles of freshly made juices and one uncooked soup taken every two hour intervals throughout the day. The juices contain dark greens, fruits, grains and seeds and essential fat acids (e.g. flax seeds). 

Pre-tox tips: reduce or eliminate anything made with wheat, dairy and caffeine;  increase water consumption to at least three liters a day; and, add green vegetables to at least two meals each day. And to break the fast,  he recommended to eat fresh fruits and vegetables and to eat slowly.

the detoxers

Lucas said that we all have toxins inside us that need to come out. I guess from everywhere - the air we breathe, foodstuff, pesticide sprays, etc. As a parting word, I'm sharing his advise- - 'how you choose to live your life before and after the cleanse is totally up to you; but right now, I'd be smart to take some action because when you lower your toxic load, you feel better - - a LOT better."

Yoga Retreat with Lucas Rockwood in Samui

Absolute Sanctuary in Koh Samui

What a great way to start the new year - detox and yoga - in Absolute Sanctuary in Koh Samui with 21 other like-minded individuals from different countries- 14 countries to be exact.

I've attended several yoga retreats before but nothing beats Lucas Rockwood's style. He was not at all imposing and in fact, more gentle and perhaps lenient offering several alternatives on how to execute a pose. He defined Yoga  as "taking your power back."

The schedule was not strict and allowed some leisure time in between to go to the beach - either Cheong Mon or Chaweng or remain at the resort for treatments (massage, facial, colemas, etc), short courses (like napkin folding!) or lounge in the pool area.

Daily schedule

The day started with a flow practice at 7:30 am, then breakfast at 9:30, free time from 10:30 to 1:00pm, Yoga Lab from 3 to 4:15pm, gravity yoga  from 4:30 to 6pm, dinner at 7pm and pranayama from 8 to 9pm.

The Yoga Lab was more like a workshop intensive focusing on different aspects of vinyasa flow practice. We had a total of five workshops: Transitions, Inversions, Nutrition, Back-bends and Jump throughs.

Lucas is an advocate of healthy eating. He tried all kinds of diet and lost 40 pounds through yoga and a plant-based diet lifestyle. During the Nutrition workshop, he introduced healthy foods vs toxins. The healthy foods consist of (1) fruits and veggies, (2) natural meats (hormone-free, no medication and dioxins), (3) sprouts or live foods, raw nuts and seeds, (4) essential fat acids (flax seeds, cold water fish), (5) sea veggies, liver fermented foods (kimchi, kefir, kombucha) and (6) water. He recommended to move away from products especially those with shelf life and go towards free produce. The ingredients used to preserve packaged food products are  harmful. He advised to make it a habit to read food labels and check for preservatives (such as transfat, sugars and colors) and excitoxins (MSG and aspartame). Also, to refrain from the intake of alcohol, rancid fat (mostly deep fried foods), polysaturated fat and genetically modified organisms (GMO).

I liked the gravity yoga at the end of the day which is essentially stretching.  The movement required to hold the pose for a longer period than normal and to use body weight (yours or a partner). On the right is a photo showing Lucas  putting weight on the back to stretch the hamstrings.

I truly learned a lot from Lucas and joining his retreat is a good way to jump start the year health-wise.

Here's Lucas' explaining the jump through/back: