Being the Cleanse: Living Pura Vida in a Busy World

A five-day cleanse is easy to finish.
Walking your way out of it takes more wisdom.

Someone at the clinic said something that stayed with me:
Everyone has a beast inside them. Are you feeding the beast, or is the beast feeding the beast?

It wasn’t judgmental. It wasn’t moral. It was practical.

This was my second time doing this cleanse in Costa Rica. The first was six years ago, in the same place. What’s changed isn’t the protocol — it’s my understanding of what the cleanse is actually for.

I completed a liver flush mid-week and finished the cleanse on Friday morning. By Saturday, nothing was technically stopping me from returning to “normal.” But my body wasn’t finished yet. Digestion was still recalibrating. My nervous system was still sensitive. The point hadn’t been the protocol — it was what came after.

The real work isn’t stepping away from the world. It’s learning how to live Pura Vida inside a busy one. To be in the world, but not of it. To keep choosing care even when no one is telling you what to do next.

At some point, the cleanse stops being something you do and becomes something you practice.

What helped most wasn’t discipline. It was continuity.

Instead of asking, What can I eat now?
I kept asking, What makes this easier on my body today?

That meant staying with simple food longer than necessary — not because I had to, but because it felt kinder. It meant resisting the urge to celebrate the end by overwhelming my system again. Cleansing doesn’t end when the instructions do.

One choice that made things noticeably easier was deciding not to argue with my thoughts.

When my mind started looping — about food, timing, travel — I didn’t try to think my way out of it. I quietly asked for help. Not from anything specific. Just help. I whispered it under my breath. That alone was enough to interrupt the internal dialogue.

I did this while on the phone with an airline, fully expecting the usual rerouting and delays. Instead, the conversation softened. Within minutes, I had the exact same flight one day earlier — and a future credit I hadn’t asked for.

Call that angels, intuition, or nervous-system regulation if you want. What mattered was that I wasn’t feeding the beast with more thought. I stayed calm. I stayed kind. I didn’t judge myself or the person on the other end of the line.

And things moved.

One intention I’ve carried throughout this time is simple: not to judge.
Not my body. Not my pace. Not other people. Judgment tightens the system. Care loosens it.

If you’re coming out of a cleanse — or any period of deep effort — remember this:
Your body continues integrating long after the structure falls away. Don’t shock it awake again just because you can.

Eat gently.
Move simply.
Whisper for help if your mind gets loud.

Let the practice keep unfolding.

That’s how you live the cleanse.