Britain's pioneers in juice & water fasting
A keen blend of 25 years experience,
profound ancient understanding
and cutting edge science.
Make your detox retreat the best there is.
We have guided thousands of people over the last 25 years to safely detox while water fasting or juice fasting. We hold a supportive environment with an experienced team.
Put your health back into your own hands
Based on our unique breadth and depth of experience we offer you an experiential nutrition and detox fasting education programme.
During the course of a week-long fast you will learn about your body, mind and spirit. There will be daily talks covering a broad range of topics centred around nutrition and our relationship to food from a ecological and evolutionary biological perspective. there will also be workshops on other areas such as stress and anxiety and self-care. Every day there are Yoga and Tai Chi/Chi Kung training where you will learn more about your body and your relationship to activity. This is an experiential learning programme. Through your experience of fasting and your participation in the educational support offered, what you will learn about body, mind and soul will be profound. Previous participants have gone on to acknowledge that their time on retreat with us has marked a turning point in their lives.
You will share your retreat with up to 20 other people who come from a surprising range of cultures and backgrounds, yet share the same needs.
A damned good rest, and deep relaxation
Reboot their sense of well being and energy levels
Learn how to have a healthy body
To understand their relationship with food
Take stock of one's life, and get some direction
See what water fasting or juice fasting can do for them
And some come to manage weight / blood pressure / energy levels
The retreat uses either juice, or just water fasting as the most effective way of supporting the body's natural ability to cleanse itself. The fast lasts 5-6 days, and the last day is a celebration of food.
“It is actually really uncommon to feel hungry during your detox retreat”
After 1 or 2 days you may experience phases when you will have no energy, you may feel vulnerable and emotional.
Then there will be times of quiet energy, mental clarity and a profound sense of ease. However, for some people fasting can be a challenge, whether on juice, or only water.
There may be times when you feel unwell, but fasting in a held, supported environment makes it much easier to ride the ups and downs that may be part of your process.
The upsides are what makes it worthwhile and are why many people come back regularly, regarding their detox like an MOT. Many returnees, having fasted on juice several times, return yet again, and engage in pure water fasting, as means of deepening their healing and invigorating their health still further.
At the end of the retreat most people feel rejuvenated and restored to a vitality and sense of abundant life force that they may not have felt for many years. With this is usually an experience of ease, inner peace, happiness and clarity. Very often it feels like our lives dawn anew.
The real detox retreat that supports you
We are here to support you through your detox process, staying on site with you, and available 24-7. We check in with each person daily, to give explanation and emotional support whenever it is needed.
This is a genuine detox retreat (not a spa or bootcamp!), offering you understanding about your relationship to food, each other, and your life's choices.
We make fresh juices 4 times each day, for those who are drinking juice, and of course an endless supply of filtered water for those doing a water fast. We make sure there is a variety of teas to keep the palate entertained, as well as more functional supplies.The team also provide tai-chi, meditation & yoga sessions, counselling sessions, nutritional talks, and food prep sessions.
You will find us in the communal area at around 9am. At other times you should find someone in the staff cottage, if there is anything you need help with - from a light bulb to a hug. You are free at any time to schedule a one-to-one session with team members to discuss any aspect of your retreat.
Sarah B. London
”Got what I came for and more”
Hugo F. - London
”Got my Mojo back”
Mike B. - Kent
”I wouldn’t go anywhere else”
Wendy W. - Devon
”Professional, warm, & friendly“
The programme is full,
but feel free to ignore it.
Listen to your body,
it’s your best guide.
Morning Exercises and Meditation
Daniel starts your day with some gentle, Tai Chi exercises to lubricate the joints and give you sense of ease in your skin.
You will learn some fundamentals of Daoist movement practices and how these relate to more recent discoveries in Neuroscience. Meditation is that time and space devoted to becoming more aware of yourself in the present moment. The more we know about ourselves the more opportunity we have to live our lives in harmony with our deepest desires.
Juice and Supplements
Four times each day we make fresh juice for those not on a water fast.
The more juice you consume, the more of the body's energy is spent digesting, so the juices are diluted with filtered water, and you are encouraged to drink as little as you need to get the best detox.
Psyllium powder or capsules, and detoxing herbs are also taken to make the whole experience more effective and manageable.
Colonic hydrotherapy
Twice-daily there is the opportunity for a simple colonic irrigation, a safe and gentle way to clear your colon of debris and increase assimilative and eliminative powers. Despite being a scary idea for most first-timers, everyone is surprised by how easy it is, and how deeply relaxing they can be. However, if you want to fast without colonics, then that option is available too.
Yoga Sessions
Be you a beginner or a practiced yogini, you will learn something new. Nikki or Jamus will help you to stretch and release joints, correct your posture and 'lengthen' your body, thus relieving much strain on tired joints.
You can expect to increase your range of movement by the end of your retreat while revitalizing body and mind!
Nutritious Talks
Dao has designed these extremely popular daily talks to be inspiring, empowering, and easy-to-grasp.
The talks will deepen your understanding of why our food and lifestyle choices often work against us instead of for us.
Covering much more than just food, we will also attempt to clarify the difference between marketing spin and 'natural' products in order to make better educated choices on a variety of daily topics and the larger ecological environment.
Sometime During the week
Personal Coaching
During the week, there will be opportunity to spend more time going much deeper with Daniel. Using his experience with body-based psychotherapies, breath-work and mindfulness, he can support you in a gentle enquiry about where you are in your life, what you truly desire, and what holds you back from living the life you want.
With clarity and perspective comes the possibility to embrace your integrity; live with greater authenticity, and to move into the future you want.
Deep Relaxation : Yoga Nidra
On some evenings, we offer a Deep Relaxation hour.
Using pillows and blankets to support the body, either lying or sitting, we will use muscle tense and release, breath, and visualisation to help the body and mind let go of tension, and rest deeply.
The perfect way to wind down before sleep.
Stress & Anxiety Workshops
Many of our participants come to us suffering from the effects of too much stress. Sometimes life gets hard, situations and circumstances come along that knock us off track. Things that we once took in our stride leave us overwhelmed, exhausted and frazzled. We find our thoughts dwelling on the things that might go wrong and we get anxious about things that might never happen. Daniel leads two afternoon workshops where we explore what stress is and look at how we can become more resilient to it and have greater capacity for it.
Beach Walks
You have a two-hour block each day with nothing scheduled into the programme. Some use this time to socialise, swim, sleep, or watch movies, but there is also the opportunity to walk around the property and beyond. Whatever the weather, Daniel will take a group out to one of the countries most stunning beach for a gentle stroll or a swim.
Massage Treatments
And of course, as often as you wish, there are endless treatment options. These are available throughout the week. Some are used to speed the process of detox through the manipulation of the lymph system, take advantage of your relaxed state to smooth out your stressed muscles and aching limbs we accrue in life, or else, just to pamper yourself while you're away.
And on the final day
Raw Food Prep Classes
To help ground your body back into the process of eating and digesting, we reintroduce food on the Friday.
Keeping to the theme of raw foods being the best, as discussed in the week's talks, we run two raw food prep sessions, in which you not only learn how to make wonderful, yummy, nutritious foods, but you are there making it yourself.
This process also helps to land you back into the world of food, when you are back at home, because you then have both the 'how' and the 'why' to follow this path of health.