Retreats for Natural Healing

My Experience at a Retreat for Natural Healing

OHI San Diego (Lemon Grove)

There are many fine treatment centers that offer programs featuring juicing and raw food preparation, detoxification and a spiritual connection. In the sunshine state we are blessed with the Optimum Health Institute located in Lemon Grove, CA. A short distance up the coast we also have the Hallelujah Acres Lifestyle Center in Fallbrook, CA. The Optimum Health Institute offers one, two, and three week programs. Prices start at $1,000. per week, but scholarships are available if you apply in advance. The Hallelujah Acres Lifestyle Centers offer 2-day, 5-day and 10-day programs. Prices are $550, $1200 and $2300, respectively. OHI has a center in Austin, Texas as well as the San Diego campus. Hallelujah Acres offers lifestyle centers throughout the country.

Because Optimum Health Institute had helped someone that I was acquainted with conquer stage III colon cancer, I chose to go there in July 2009. I paid for a private room for my first week then applied for a scholarship for the second week in which I shared a room with another guest. OHI features a three day juice fast to begin your detoxification and offers classes in cleansing your body, quieting your mind, and renewing your spirit.

Organic Gardens at OHI

We are introduced to the Wheat Grass Room where everyone comes to juice their own fresh wheat grass throughout the day. Gentle exercise is included in the form of walking/jogging and beginning yoga classes. During the first week we attend classes to discover how to eliminate toxins with wheatgrass, rejuvelac, juice fasting, raw organic food, colon cleansing, exercise, and massage. We learn how to optimize digestion in all organs (brain, mouth, throat, stomach, pancreas, liver, intestines, and colon) and how our body works to absorb healthy nutrients. Everyone discovers the best way to combine foods to optimize the way your body digests food and absorbs nutrients. Another class was how personal and household products can bring toxins into your life. We discover organic products that are better for us and our planet. Another class features useful tools such as juicers, dehydrators, and sprouting supplies that can help you at home.

The Mind-Body connection is addressed when we learn to practice Alpha meditation techniques to quiet the mind, manage stress, release tension, and control pain.  A class in emotional detoxification teaches us how to feel, process, and understand the important role your emotions play in creating and maintaining health and well-being. We discover the healing power of forgiveness. In mental detoxification we learn how beliefs, thoughts, and emotions can make you sick. We learn how to cancel, reframe, and replace negative thoughts with positive ones to facilitate the healing process and develop a mindfulness practice for maintaining a positive attitude – gratitude, affirmations, visualization, journaling, and living in the present.

Food Preparation

The second week at OHI introduces more hands-on cooking classes where we learn to prepare the raw foods we have been eating at the institute. We learn how to preserve enzymes during food preparation, make fermented foods, plan menus and start an organic garden. The third week covers dehydrated food preparation including "live" crackers, advanced breathing, and advanced Alpha meditation techniques for directing the mind to heal the body.

Many of the people I met at OHI had been there before. They make a yearly pilgrimage to rededicate their commitment to the lifestyle. The campus includes lovely garden areas to sit and relax in the sun, rest and read. I hope to go there again in the future. It's hard for me to do a complete juice fast at home, even for a day, but I was definitely able to accomplish it at OHI.

Juicing at H.A. Lifestyle Centers

Hallelujah Acres offers a ranch-like home setting where guests learn to prepare delicious, healthy foods and juices. Instruction is based on the idea that God has designed our bodies to eat this way for optimum health. You will learn tips on how to stock your kitchen and how to continue the program at home. Participants are encouraged to exercise in the great outdoors and spend personal quiet time in reflection and relaxation. Fellowship, support and devotions are also part of their program. The second week of the program is a repeat of the first with a different menu, so most people will be fine just attending one week.


Optimum Health Institute

Hallelujah Acres Lifestyle Centers

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