My Secret to Losing Weight – It’s Not What You Think It Is

A few months ago I was preparing to shoot a yoga video. I was apprehensive that I wasn’t feeling in my best shape, and worried that would come across in the video – that I’d be captured on film not looking or feeling my best. If I’m being honest, vanity got the better of me, and I decided I needed to lose some weight to feel better about shooting this video.

Even after all these years, I still have this conversation with myself. I preach regularly that success isn’t a destination. It’s not a place at which you arrive one day and then passively get to enjoy. I know success is an active state of being. I know that I am successful only when I am working towards being successful. Yet because of this looming deadline, I took my eye off the ball. I broke my own rule. I spent two weeks trying to lose weight, with that as my goal, and it flat out didn’t work for me. I employed my willpower, and when it didn’t work, I felt like I’d failed. I got through the video, and know in my head that it came out well, but truth be told, I wasn’t feeling like my best self – and it was all the worse because I couldn’t reconcile my supposed failure.

I’ve been reflecting back on the time leading up to the video shoot. And here’s what I realized: I know me. At my core, I am fierce and wily, and I’m uninspired by small games. I’m uninspired by that which I don’t find important. And for me, losing weight is small and unimportant. Losing weight is a surface game, and I’m deeper than my surface. Don’t get me wrong: my appearance is not unimportant to me – it’s just that when I’m feeling my best, my appearance is a reflection of that. I care about my reflection, but reflections are the effect; they are not the cause.

About a month later, I prepared for my summer cleanse and decided to try something new. I wanted to shake things up a bit for myself, and explore a pure juice cleanse. I‘d never been a proponent of juice cleanses in the past because the liquid-only programs I’d explored (never a juice cleanse) just felt wrong for my body. But going into this particular cleanse, I asked myself the question that is at the core of the Conscious Cleanse: What makes me vibrant?

Most of the first week of my juice cleanse has been a cake walk.  I’m feeling amazing, I’m feeling energized and vital, but I know that this isn’t only about what I’m taking into my body (although that’s certainly playing a major role!). Completing this process has nothing to do with willpower. It isn’t about suffering or struggling or going into dialogue about how I’m not good enough. My success in this cleanse is about believing that I am answering the question, every day: how can I live more vibrantly?

Feeling deprived does not make me feel vibrant. Focusing on the things I’m supposedly sacrificing does not make me feel vibrant. Instead, I fuel my body for energy, and then I use that energy to focus on my blessings. Successful cleansing for me is about sharpening the lens with which I view myself and the world around me. This isn’t self-delusion, it’s just another angle. When you cleanse, you can choose to see the space you create as a void to fear, or an opportunity.

For those of you who are feeling a little apprehensive about beginning your own cleanse journeys, I urge you to embrace that. New things can be scary. The alternative is to never try something new, to live an un-scary, uninspired life. To settle for acceptable when vibrancy is right within your reach. To view setbacks as failure instead of a part of the natural ebbs and flows of life.

The Conscious Cleanse is about building a struggle-free means to tap into your health, your body, your spirit – your most vibrant self. If you’ve been feeling edgy about taking on a cleanse because you’ve been “unsuccessful” in the past, I promise you: this time can be different. You are about to shatter your beliefs, lift yourself to a place of ease. The Conscious Cleanse is just using the gateway of food to help you live your best life. Food is never about just food. Your life is a much bigger game than that. We’ve got your back; we’ll hold your hand; we believe in you! Are you ready to play?