Juice Up: Fast Retreats in Bali

Juice fasts have become a hot travel trend, with fasting retreats being held in luxurious places where you can deprive the taste buds with the distraction of indulging the other senses. High-end 7-10 day retreat centers offer massage, sound baths and meditation while your stomach takes a break.

The ancient practice of fasting, described as “ the voluntary withholding of food for spiritual, health, or other reasons” has shown that fasting affects more than digestion. Your body uses about 15% of its daily energy digesting food. By freeing up that process, your body has 15% of surplus energy to direct to other sources, meaning you can tap into mental or emotional clarity from fasting, and then take theses superpowers back into your daily life.

Juice fasts are more common and less aggressive that total fasts. For a total fast you need to have already reached an elevated state of physical and mental endurance. Fruit and vegetable juices give the body the calories it needs to keep energy levels up and motivation high.

Bali is the ideal place to test out a juice fast – it’s known as the island of “holy water” because most of the island is immersed in liquid. Water for the Balinese represents the flow of energy between emotion and intuition; a liquid-only diet does just that, cleansing the body on a physical, emotional and spiritual level.

These are the top Bali centers to engage in a juice retreat, each with a slightly different angle.

Best Intensive Retreat for Hardcore Yogis: Bali Mega Detox Yoga Raw Food & Juice Fasting Retreat – Ubud Yoga Centre

This hardcore detox includes daily yoga classes from Bikram Hot Yoga, Kundalini Yoga Meditation, Aerial Yoga, Yin Yoga, Ashtanga, Vinyasa, and Hatha, then luckily you get a break with some Sound Healing Classes. The Bikram Yoga classes are in a heated studio, so make sure you have the stamina for this one before booking. Apart from massage and meditation, they also do excursions to temples, explore the gourmet raw cuisine scene, and attend ceremonies. All raw foods and juices are provided, as well as a water excursion on the last day where they say “we wash and clean our physical, emotional and spiritual body, followed to beach hang out and dinner at the beach.” Their next retreat is January 2019.

Find out more: ubudyogacentre.com

Best Retreat for People looking for Total Reset: Bali Detox Fasting and Juice Cleansing Retreat – The Yoga Barn, Ubud

They take cleansing seriously at the Yoga Barn, promising deeper sleep, mental clarity, more energy, clear skin, strong nails and hair, weight loss, decrease in pain, a shrunken abdomen and even body shape shifting. This 7-day fast has all the perks of the other retreats, but also includes wheatgrass shots, self-love lectures, infra-red saunas and Ayurvedic foot massage, though it doesn’t include accommodation. One of the most well-rounded energy-wise, The Yoga Barn’s cleanse makes room for downtime as well as activities to lift the spirit. The next retreat is May 6-13, 2018.

Find out more: theyogabarn.com

Best Retreat for Peace & Serenity: Deep Tissue Detox with Juices & Yin Yoga – Bliss Body Retreats, Ubud

If you aren’t full of energy on a normal day, you’re not likely to be while fasting. Yin yoga retreat lets you chill as you detox, offering Nidra, Yin yoga and deep meditation practices. They also offer Reiki Energy healing, a sunrise yoga practice, Tibetan bowl meditation, and workshops. Plus the Bliss Body Retreats come teamed with inclusive accommodation.

Find out more: blissbodyretreat.com

Best Retreat to Get Away from it All: Simply Renew – Natural Instinct Healing (NIH)

Founded by the author of “The Essential Cleanse”, this retreat is located deep in the forests of Ubud, a total getaway in itself. NIH offers the Simply Renew program of detox and cleansing through fasting, with steam and sauna sessions, massage, low-key exercise, health workshops and herbal supplements in addition to juices and bone broths. This is a smaller retreat for people wanting a more intimate experience.

Find out more: naturalinstincthealing.com

Best Top-notch Luxury Retreat: Seven-day Cleanse – The Retreat Bali

Voted one of the four best detox retreats in Bali by UK Daily Telegraph Travel, the Golden Rock Retreat is a detox and healing centre hidden away on the north east tip of Bali. The London Evening Standard said: “Retreat yourself with some hardcore detox run on principles of Chinese medicine and Taoist philosophy, these retreats are built around the belief that ‘you cannot detoxify the body completely without cleansing the mind as well”. The services are top of the range, including reflexology, ozone therapy, trampoline, zen chi machine sessions and bio-magnetic therapy sessions. Luxe retreat cleanse coming right up.

Find out more: theretreatbali.com