“I am tired”, “I am sleepy”
Those were my most frequently uttered words. Low energy, depression, skin problems, low motivation…gaining weight in the cold winter time.
Even though, my customers often said “Wow! It would be so nice to work in your shop! The beautiful salt lamps, aroma scent, candle lights, peaceful music! I wish I could work at your shop!”
Yeah, my shop is “Well-being Shop” but my body and mind weren’t anywhere near well-being after trying to run the business since 2004…keeping myself busy and hectic…out of normal eating/sleeping habit. I didn’t cook or eat properly or work out and my sleep schedule was out of sync with the rest of the world.
It got so bad I knew I had to take some immediate action! With this body and mental condition. I couldn’t focus on my work. I thought my first step would be to lose weight.
One day, a customer of mine mentioned her husband’s co-worker went to this health spa in Thailand and lost 7 kg in 7 days! Wow! 7kgs in 7 days?
I nagged her to find out about the information on that spa !
In a few days, she sent me the website www.spasamui.com and after researching the site I decided to go!
I mentioned the story to a friend in America and after checking out the same site he decided to join me! He was also depressed that he had been steadily gaining weight even though he went to the gym 4-5 days a week.
So we met in Bangkok and off to Spa Samui with our weight loss hopes high!
This spa is located in Samui island(Ko Samui) which is a 1 hour flight from Bangkok.
The local Samui airport was cute and very wild. It’s not indoor airport…I wish I took the photo of it!
Anyway! We arrived to Spa Samui.
There are several programs depending on your time and schedule. The best one is their Seven Day “Clean-me-out” program. To do this properly, we needed to do a Pre Cleansing which is normally 2 days of eating fruits and vegetables to make our body alkaline and ready for fasting!
Before starting the real course, we had to check our tongue with this litmus paper to see if it turns to blue which indicates our body is now alkaline. Luckily! Both of our paper turned blue and we were eligible to do it!
If it doesn’t turn blue? Then you need to eat fruit and vegetable one for two more days more till your body is alkaline.
While preparing for this Seven Day “Clean-me-out” program, I tried to read as much as information and testimonials to know and understand what I should expect to do and see.
Why Seven Days is needed, what kind of side effect or reaction will occur, what I need to do, what the pills and detox drink contains. But most interesting to me were the testimonials from people who already went through this program. How this experience changed their life, how great they feel. Some people rediscover their cheek bones and some noticed their skin was now glowing. Others said they felt so weak and their tongues were coated, while others described disgusting black rubbery stuff coming out of their intestines…this turned out to be a type of plaque made up of old undigested food that had been adhering to and blocking their bowels!
I watched the video of how to setup the colema board. What board? I know you are unfamiliar with that name! I had never done anything like that either!
So I was little worried if I would do it well. Anyway, it was good to see the instruction and ask some questions.
A Colema board is a board that specially made for colon clensing.
We were given bucket that had some coffee grounds and vinegar solution in it.
We were instructed to fill the rest of the bucket up with warm water which made about 5 gallons of the enema solution .We then run a piece of surgical plastic tubing from the bucket (which we have hung from a hook above the toilet), through a hole in the Colema board. We then place a special provided tip on that end of the tubing and lubricate it for insertion in our rectum. Gravity takes over and the warm enema solution starts filling your small intestine.
The colonic is supposed to take 20-30 min on the brochure but my first experience…it took 3 hours!!!!
The next day, I found out that it wasn’t necessary to remove the tube when you needed to let the water (and hopefully some old fecal matter) come out. You are just supposed to lie back on the Colema board and let the water flow in and the waste flow out . By day two I had it down to a science and I could relax enough to listen to music or read while the enema did its stuff.
Here is the schedule
7AM Detox Drink (every 3 hours)
8:30 Supplements (every 3 hours)
Morning Colema Board
Morning Spa Broth Soup
10AM Detox Drink…
…
(repeating this till evening 9ish)
We thought once we started our fast we would have a lot of free time…but as you can see…the schedule demanded we do either take supplements, drink the detox drink or do the enema almost every 1 ½ hours.
There are also yoga, meditation and Chi-gung classes in the morning. Plus I had to share the bathroom with my friend…and I took longer time to do Colema board…so always running out of time first couple of days till end.
Anyway, my body started to react to the fasting. My tongue was coated and my skin was breaking out
My friend ,who is in his mid forties ,reacted by being grumpy and tired.
By the third day, my mind started becoming very clear (I had read other people had had the same reaction after fasting for a few days!) I started awakening refreshed each morning ,full of energy, and I started to appreciate the bird singing sound outside my bungalow. I went out side to take pictures of beautiful nature, the sunrise, the trees…I didn’t really feel like taking picture before. So most of my photos were from day 3!
After day 3, everything became so easy and light feeling. My body felt so clean and light. My mind was clear and I was in a happy mood. But still my friend was having hard time…he even dreamed of huge sandwich and felt so low and tired. It was almost his worst day…
He seemed to react slower to the fast and the changes his body was making, perhaps due to his age.
It turned out that he was losing more weight than me, which seemed odd….but I found out that females usually lose 3-4 kg and men lose 6-7kgs simply because men are usually bigger
We enjoyed the yoga and Chi-gung classes. There were occasional Tea Ceremony where people can get together and drink Oolong tea with a man named San-Bao who is also the meditation and Chi Gung teacher..
There were so many people from UK, probably because of the reality TV show featured in 2002 called “Celebrity Detox Camp” on channel 5. There was one English teacher from Japan, a few people from Australia. It was great to meet people with same interest!
I still keep in touch with a few people I met, and we will try to meet up next trip together as we will do this great fasting trip every year or maybe 2 time a year?
OK. So you probably wonder what’s the result!
Yes. My friend lost 6 kg and I lost 3 kg.
He looks great and much younger! His double chin was gone and everyone meeting was impressed with his slimmer and healthier look!
But I gained back most of the weight because of my cooking class that I took 3 days in a row right after my fasting program!
I didn’t weigh myself after coming back to Korea but still people notice I am little better shape than before. But overall!
I was so much healthier and happier than before I left for Ko Samui!
My normal energy level had returned. And I got comment from two people “You look like you are glowing!”
Yeah…but it’s hard to be in that energy level if you start to live in Seoul! With polluted air and again the food (wish Korea is tropical country with lots of fruits everywhere cheap!).
So I am getting tired again and trying to figure out to keep me away from my same old routines. Joining gym, watching what I am eating. Nowadays I am trying to eat more salads! I went to Pizza hut yesterday only to eat the salad there!
Yes, I ordered the pizza to go and sat there and ate salads!
Here are some of the most asked questions regarding my experience:.
1. How can you not eat for 7 days?
It wasn’t that bad…actually I was full after drinking the detox drink with big jar of water after it. If I kept the schedule, actually I was fine. First couple of days were a little hungry but after third day it was so easy and I felt like keep going actually. But because of my friend’s schedule, I couldn’t do it more.
2. How much did it cost?
Our bill came out 1.5 million Won for our 12 days of the detox program and our room I n addition I got all kinds of massages, a hair perm…and cooking class fee…the secret was my not eating food there! Saving so much money!
Great thing from this trip was not only gaining my energy back and little weight loss but also the knowledge of keeping me healthy or eating right food combination, starting oolong tea life and engaging with being aware of nature, natural way of life.
It highly recommend reading these books if you plan to go to the Spa:
The Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity (by Daniel Reid)
The Tao of Detox (by Daniel Reid)
And check out these sites:
www.danreid.org
Great things to bring: Light books to read, CD player and speaker for peaceful music, aroma burner and essential oils, light clothes and positive attitude!
How to get there: Bankgok-Samui or Hong Kong to Samui (Flight ticket reserved in advance will give you much better deal)
www.bangkokair.com
Getting ticket from Korea-Unique Travel. :)
