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Review of Bali's The Yoga Barn 3 - Day Juice Cleanse

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Once upon a time there was a guy - my loving life partner Dillon to be more precise - who lost a bet. I save that story for another time, let’s just start from here. The story continued and as a result of loss he was supposed to ‘treat’ himself and me on a colonic cleanse (or colonic hydrotherapy). Big HURRAY for me because I LOVE a good detox, juice cleanse or ‘bum flush’ every now and again, but poor Dillon… he doesn’t fancy anything back up there at all, and fair enough. He did follow up on his lost bet and sponsored me.


The Yoga Barn Bali 3 Day Juice cleanse experience
The Yoga Barn Bali 3 Day Juice cleanse experience

Collecting selfcare experiences


Time passed by and we’re a couple of months later now. We’re living the good life in Ubud, Bali and being a yogini I sure know the yoga Valhalla – The Yoga Barn. I excitedly did some research online about all the healthy and nourishing stuff happening here. I discovered that they offer the treatment Dillon owed us: Colonic hydrotherapy. I freaked out and continued my search when my eye felt on their three-day juice detox. Six times the price but waaaay more benefits of course. I like a challenge (not eating for three days is a big one for me!) and a detox. So that was that, I booked the detox 2 days in advance (unfortunately there was only one spot left and Dillon will be ‘treating himself’ another day) only two months after my Panchakarma Detox, but I am looking forward to this experience! Why? Because I believe that fasting and detoxing the body (and mind) every now and again has SO many benefits. Where? The Yoga barn Ubud, Indonesia Duration? 3 days Costs? $ 289,-

Day 1 Excited | energetic | challenged

When I woke up - after a night of crazy dreaming - I felt pretty good. I hopped out of bed and made my way to Yoga Barn to pick up my goodiebag (YESS, I love goodiebags!!) and my first green juice. Just a short visit – luckily our hotel is only a 4 minute walk from Yoga Barn – and I walked back to chill a little and drink the juice. Soon after I got ready for the Vinyasa class at 10.00 a clock (be early, it’s busy). Yoga was nice & sweaty but with approximately 50 students, one teacher and loud music, it was pretty hard to stick to the sequence.

When class got finished I collected two juices at the same time, so that the post yoga juices weren’t straight from the fridge when I had them. Better I reckon, cold beverages can hurt your tummy and it’s better to drink lukewarm beverages when on detox. I relaxed until my first treatment: an acupressure foot massage. I have to be honest but it’s an absolute joy to walk around in The Yoga Barn. It’s hard to explain but let me say: Jungly or tropical, mysterious and sereen. Do you get an impression? The acupressure foot massage was amazing! A little painful, but that's good. I was a little bit disappointed that it took only 30 minutes instead of the promised 45 minutes. I headed back to the hotel and after some work (writing and social media) I rewarded myself with relax-time by the pool. I felt blissed & blessed and... I wasn’t hungry at all! However that didn’t really surprise me because I had 5 big jars of juice! A couple of hours later I prepared myself for my sauna appointment. Just before I picked up my last ‘treat’ from the day: a jar of cashew nut milk. Man, that stuff is DOPE! Great taste and a rich, fatty texture. Seriously super yummie. The sauna was hot and sweaty but I loved the idea of al these toxins being escorted out of my body! I tried to sit still and meditate but that wasn’t easy in the heat (dûh J).I got out, had to cool down and took a shower. The facilities are 5 star-ish to me. Everything is very clean and tidy. Fresh towels & flowers everywhere and drinking water and mosquito repellent are provided. I did consider staying at The Yoga Barn during the treatment – I am sure it would have been fabulous – but I am happy with our little hotel (Adi Santia Bungalows) around the corner. It offers a comfortable, peaceful and (much more) affordable stay. I went home, wrote a my diary and then Dillon I I watched a movie. At the end of the day I felt good and satisfied. Let’s see what tomorrow will bring apart from lots of green juice!

Day 2 Relaxed | peaceful | positive

Holy crap - against my expectations - this day went by so fast! I woke up feeling positive. I got out of bed, drank the lemon juice (which I had saved from yesterday) went through some emails and then slowly moved over to The Yoga Barn. I had my first green juice and worked until I took a beautiful yin session at 11.30 am. I accompanied Dillon for his lunch and smelled his coffee (oh my goodness) the bliss continued with a session by the pool where I listened to voice memos of friends - I miss them. Couldn’t help myself being amazed by the fact that I am not hungry nor irritated nor tired! Who is this? Who am I? It’s 8 pm now and I just threw myself down onto my bed. I only started my treatments at 4 pm with a (AMAZING) Kati Basti massage followed by half an hour infrared sauna. A cup off tea and a little rest before I made my way back to the hotel. This was the only moment that I actually wished I had stayed at Yoga Barn it’s self. The walk to my hotel was just 5 minutes but it felt like a decade! With my body feeling heavy, no energy and a slightly dizzy head I just wanted to be in the room and relax. But all is good, that’s where I am here now. I layed down for a bit and catched up with Dillon (after not having seen each other for…. 4 hours ;)). All of a sudden Dillon jumps up: he’s hungry and wants to go out for dinner (he is not doing the detox). This is the first moment during the cleanse that I feel hungry. However even though it is Friday night, I am not going to join him! I don’t want to make it too hard for myself and facing, smelling and feeling food wooooon’t help me at this stage. So I stay at home, typing, reading and then hopefully falling into a deep sleep! Tomorrow is the big day: the Colonic Hydrotherapy session will be at 9.00 am. Whoohooo, ready to feel reborn!



Day 3 Bored | impatience | agitated

Oh boy I had such gruesome nightmares last night. The weird thing is that I found myself rather curious than scared but anyway, at some point I woke up. As easy and quick yesterday went past, as long and drowsy was today. My colonic therapy treatment was at 09.00 am. I will keep the details for myself but everything went well. I had done it before and didn’t feel awkward. The doctor was friendly and seemed professional so I felt comfortable. The actual treatment took 40 minutes. Once I’ve finished I found myself a cosy spot and sat down with my juice before I dare to walk back to my hotel (you know why…). The rest of the day I felt quite disconnected. Bored at times and I was missing the treatments! I realised that that really helped me to get through the day. This obviously means I have a hard time doing nothing. I took a massage around the corner (kept myself busy and hopped from event to event) try to relax by the pool and went to the (FREE, yay!) community talk at Yoga Barn. Instead of letting Dillon going on his own for dinner AGAIN I decided to be strong and go with him. We walked around but Ubud’s main street is insane and the pavements shit. When we finally got to the restaurant I felt weak and was sweating like a butcher! I had a ginger tea and witnessed Dillon eating his delicious burrito. #fml When we got back home Dillon asked me what I wanted to do and to be fair: I just wanted the day to be over! I felt moody and super tired. We watched a series on Netflix (not easy in Indonesia, you need to install Nord VPN) which helped me to chill out. This cleanse has definitely put me on a mood swing but I have to admit that I feel a lot cleaner.

Day 4 (post detox) Relieved | in-between worlds | clean

Yay! Done with the treatment! Seriously, it was over before I knew it and not as hard as I thought it would be. I saved yesterday’s spicy lemonade for this morning. It’s funny how the – or at least my – mind works. Now I was done it’s starts to think about all sorts of food again and especially… COFFEE! I practiced yoga with Yoga TV and during my practice I even thought of COFFEE. I know that’s is my mind and not my body that wants to have it so badly, but can’t it just wait a couple of days? Anyway, let’s see who wins today 😉 However I do know that it is very important that after the detox you take special care of yourself. As a matter affect, if you don’t you basically waist your money and time because the benefits will vanish! So, recommended is to post- detox for half the duration of the actual detox so 3 days detox = 1,5 days post detox. I aimed to stay in control and sticked as much as I could to the post detox tips. We went on a fun scooter tour and I felt good and excited during the day! My first proper meal was Gado Gado. It tasted so good. 3 days detox = 1,5 days post detox

Post Detox guidelines

Right after the detox you should eat light and easy digestible meals. Recommended are fruits (choose one fruit instead of a mixed fruit salad to keep it easy for your digestive system) and boiled, green veggies. Slowly allow your body to get used to solid foods again. Give yourself at least some days to get used to heavier food. Enjoy the light and clean feeling.

Take Aways from this experience

Now that I am finished I am all excited to make some small lifestyle changes in order to become even more conscious and healthy. I want to:

  • Reduce my caffeine intake, I aim for not more than ONE coffee a day (this is the 4th time I promise this to myself whoops.)

  • Eat more green leafy vegetables! Their yummie and just SO good for you.

  • Chew A LOT more! Apparently 40 times each bite is perfect but I bite, chew and swallow. This is going to be my focus for the first week after the cleanse: let’s change the habit!

  • Last but not least, I want to dare myself to be with people who are eating when I am not. This might sound silly but really, for me that’s not often the scenario. For me it a habit to eat or start eating when other people are. Even when I am not hungry – and no, it’s not the peer pressure, I use it as an excuse (It took me a while to realise this but I am happy that I now dare to admit to you, but especially to myself).

Would I recommend this 3 day juice cleanse? Yes, I think I would. It is



It's pricy but I did have a good experience. However there is certainly room for improvement:

  • When I ‘signed up’ for the cleanse I knew that it was going to be self-guided. However I do think that a little support would have been good. For instance a daily walk-in-hour for a check up, peptalk or whatever you need at that moment. I had gone through a juice cleanse before but especially when you are new to it, it can be quite an intense (both physically as emotionally) experience.

  • The Jars are almost impossible to open without spilling juice on your clothes!

  • Aftercare! There is non. You pay a big sum of money for this experience and I think aftercare (email, consultation or anything) should be part of it.

Cheers to a happy, healthy life.

Do you have questions about the cleanse? Drop them below!




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