After my near death experience, I thought I fully recovered. Until, I got hit by an intense second wave of nausea, excruciating headaches, bloated-ness, body pains, unable to consume any food (even ginger tea I threw up) and basically being bed-ridden for days with only capacity to consume water. I was at a total loss at what happened to me.
I went to the clinic and they gave me symptomatic medicine, which I knew would not reach the root cause, but it would help. I went to the hospital with the suspects of potential blood vessel damage, and I was thankful to know it was not. They gave me a 4 hour IV drip, and I did feel better. However, I was still experiencing excruciating headache’s, and body pains.
The hospitals and clinics could not find the cause. I had a strong feeling it was parasites or organisms in my gut. It was the only potential explanation to this bizarre invasive experience. At this point, I was about 5 days bed-ridden. Even sitting up gave me headaches… the only thing I could do was lay down, drink water, walk slowly, and eat small pieces of fruit for the sake of consuming the medicine.
In my foggy, bed-ridden state, I thought “If water was the poison, then water is also the medicine.”
I remembered a place in the North of Bali to do a water fast. I knew that I needed to do an intensive internal cleansing. I had to rely on my own senses, and despite people around me that were skeptical of the water fast in my weak state; I went for it.
I travelled three hours North to the tip of Bali to visit Tirtananda for a 7-day water fast, with my headaches and nausea. I have been having on-going conversations with the facilitator and mentor for the fast Tuuli, around my concerns with potential parasites in my gut. She was confident, encouraging and patient with my process of questions, and eventual commitment.
The water fast consists of colon hydrotherapy, living in a simple clean wooden cabin, consuming only pure H30 water from the pristine mountain spirt near the Yeh Mampeh Waterfall — of which is absolutely stunning to live near and immerse in every other day. It’s affordable, low-key; not the luxurious kind of popular retreats. This was grounded in the sacred site and the simplicity of supreme water.
We gather usually in groups of 6-7 with Tuuli every morning. The day is often filled with plenty of resting, healing bodywork by locals, occasional fire or water ceremonies, and daily support from the group with Tuuli’s mentorship. I felt extremely held in this process, and it was exactly what my body was seeking.
Fasting helps the body enter into a state of ketosis, a metabolic state where the body burns fat for energy instead of carbohydrates, producing ketones as a fuel source. After time, usually the fourth or fifth day, the body reaches a state of autophagy, a process where cells break down and recycle damaged components for maintenance and repair.
In this fasting process, you do feel tired and weak, and you often require much more sleep. It also brings up experiences of pain, which is part of the body’s healing process. Eventually, once you pass those thresholds, you can also reach a state of euphoria and bliss in the pure bio field of water. It’s one of my most memorable states of being.
From the bed-ridden pain of invasive parasites, to the intelligence of the body clearing it’s toxins, the cleansing of my gut, and the pristine water to flush my system clean; was an intense and immersive embodied experience. I had some visions and clarity on why I went through such an initiation through the near-death experience at the river, along with how my entire internal microbiome is being regenerated for this new transition in my life.
I want to extend my gratitude to Tuuli, a humble, authentic, and open hearted mentor for this process. I felt safe, guided, and confident with her patience on walking through this process with me. I also extend my gratitude to my new friends that were in this process together, committing to the fast together, listening to each other’s stories, and simply presence and witnessing is powerful enough to feel supported in this process. Of course, to the land, guardians, peoples, healers, and waterfall of Tirtananda and Yeh Mampeh. What beauty to be immersed in your fields.
Tirtananda is a place of miracles — people arriving ready to process deep grief buried for decades, people with intense chronic issues, with cancer, with parasites, all of these toxins that are built into the systems we live in that we have to eventually cleanse out of our internal worlds before we can again encounter the demands of the world.
I highly recommend this water fast to anyone who seeks renewing their gut microbiome, or with any major health issues — anything under the sun, from skin issues, to chronic pain, to liver or gallbladder stones; fasting is the fast track, as they say. The body holds the intelligence to cleanse ourselves of toxins to have a clear, clean, and coherent channel for us to be as our most connected Self.
