We admit it. We're suckers for a good cleanse. Whatever the toxins may be, we find creative ways to eradicate them. We juice them out with bitter greens, sweat them out in hot yoga, and meditate them away with the power of positive thinking. But the latest cleanse that started here in Venice is one that we're totally sweet on. Get your spoons ready for an ice cream - yoga cleanse.
Beginning March 31, Kippy's Ice Cream and next-door neighbor RA MA Yoga are teaming up to offer the three-day ice cream and yoga cleanse. For $195, participants can attend one yoga session daily and eat up to five pints of ice cream per day – a tempting way to jumpstart a new health regimen, revamp those 2014 resolutions, or simply enjoy a stay-at-home rejuvenating retreat.
Kippy’s, located on Lincoln Blvd, just south of Rose Ave., is not just any ice cream, it’s 100 percent non-dairy and made with five all-natural ingredients or less. Kippy’s starts with raw coconuts that are opened, drained and gutted by hand to create the cream or water base for delicious ice creams and sorbets. Fresh fruit, raw honey, and occasionally some cacao, are added to create a variety of flavors like Spicy Mexican Chocolate and Honey Grapefruit Sorbet that are decadently creamy and healthy too. Kippy’s partner, Max, notes that the raw saturated fats in coconut cream are especially good for binding and removing toxins in the body, as well as delivering nutrients efficiently.
“This is actually food disguised as ice cream,” he says.
A few bites confirms that the goods are rich, satisfying and mildly sweet, even a little savory. Kippy creates special flavors for the cleanse that include Coconut Yogurt and Orange Creamsicle.
Guru Jagat’s RA MA Institute for Applied Yogic Science and Technology is just next door and a haven for Kundalini practitioners in the neighborhood. RA MA offers a comprehensive approach to yoga that combines meditation, mantra, exercises and breathing techniques. There are classes for the whole family as well as specialized ones for pregnancy and postpartum. Guru Jagat emphasizes her passion for revolutionizing the short-term use of fats in the cleansing process.
“For three days you saturate the system with healthy fats," she says. "These penetrate into the cell body and help to take out toxins that are not water soluble.”
Juice fasts, she explains, do not cleanse these deep-seeded toxins alone. Some of the toxins that need to be cleansed, particularly if you are over the age of 30, include environmental toxins and heavy metals that come from pharmaceuticals and other sources. She is also passionate about getting healthy in a fun way.
“We need to reprogram ourselves around fat and fun! We need to stop treating our body like the enemy,” says Guru Jagat.
This is the second time Kippy’s and RA MA have extended this opportunity. Daily yoga practice is key to the experience. By adding yoga to a high-quality diet rich in healthy fat, participants are amplifying the cleansing effect through breath work, sweating, and exertion. Cleansing can sometimes bring intense emotions to the surface, and it can be a great support to have a community to share that experience. RA MA has set aside a special morning cleansing yoga class, although participants can attend a different class throughout the day instead if they wish. To find out more about the cleanse and to sign up, just pop into Kippy’s or RA MA Yoga and ask.