Detoxing the Mind, Body and Spirit in the Arizona Desert

By Audrey D. Brashich

Experience a Life-Changing Transformation at the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center

Dashing through Los Angeles’s crowded international airport in an attempt to catch an overbooked flight isn’t the ideal way to begin a trip to a detox center. Or maybe it is – especially if you’re on your way to the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center (TOL), a holistic, raw-food rejuvenation center in Patagonia, Arizona, located about sixty miles south of Tucson’s fast food restaurants and shopping malls. My LAX experience was like one last dose of everyday stress before briefly settling into a community and pace of life where anxiety doesn’t even exist.

The Tree of Life bills itself as a cross-cultural, ecological, vegan, live-food, educational, and spiritual retreat center that offers holistic medical spa treatments, detoxification, and healing programs. Gabriel and Shanti Cousens, a powerhouse couple when it comes to alternative modalities and spirituality, founded the center in 1994 to “promote the healing and awakening of consciousness within the individual and the world community.” An ambitious goal, but given the couple’s outstanding professional credentials, they might just have a shot.

Gabriel, author of Conscious Eating (North Atlantic Books, 2000) and Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine (North Atlantic Books, 2003), is a Rabbi, a Kabbalistic teacher, and a yogi who received a Shaktipat (a spiritual awakening) from Swami Muktananda Paramahansa of the Sidda Yoga lineage in 1975. In addition to his spiritual training, he attended prestigious Amherst College in Massachusetts and earned a medical degree at Columbia University in New York City. Shanti, a native of New Zealand, is a Senior Instructor of Kali Ray Tri Yoga, a kundalini-inspired flowing form of hatha yoga that focuses on the trinity of breathing practices, concentration techniques, and meditation. She is also an aromatherapist, a live food instructor, and an expert on women’s spirituality rituals.

Most visits to the TOL begin with an exhaustive medical evaluation that measures glucose tolerance, blood components, and natural energy level. There’s also a two-day Bio-Brain-Body Assessment that helps determine how to individualize diet programs based on the three Ayurvedic doshas, or categories: Vata (naturally thin, high energy people who have trouble gaining weight), Kapha (people with a slow digestion who tend to gain weight easily) and Pitta (muscular, medium-framed people who tend to be hot blooded with strong, fast digestive systems). Next, many guests participate in a medically supervised fasting program (usually seven days) that includes daily, fresh juices made from live, organic vegetables and fruits like kale, cucumber, celery, tomato, parsley, and lemon. Fasters drink at 8:30 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 2:30 p.m., and 5:30 p.m., and many also have colon cleansing treatments to help advance the body’s detoxification process. “Fasting is the elixir of spiritual nutrition,” explains Gabriel, who is known by his first name to all guests and staff. “Not only does it feel good, but [it]literally turns on the anti-aging genes and turns off the aging genes. A one-week fast is safe and easy for everyone – and since 1988, I’ve successfully fasted thousands of people from ages 13 to 88.”

Whether fasting or not, all guests are immersed in the raw food lifestyle. Gabriel believes that creating a healthy environment inside the body is key to good health. In Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine, he writes, “If your terrain (your basic physiology) is strong and healthy and in proper pH from eating the right foods, you are less likely to get any exogenous acute disease, and you are likely to be better able to fight disease.” In other words, he adheres to the old adage, “The swamp breeds mosquitoes. Mosquitoes do not breed a swamp.” As a result, Gabriel advocates a low-sweet, live-food, non-acidic diet that excludes all dairy and animal products, sugar, honey, alcohol, and mushrooms, (because fungus can cause imbalance in the body). He also eschews all genetically engineered, irradiated, processed, refined, and canned foods – and believes that food should not be heated over 115℉ (the temperature of a gas oven in the off position heated only by a pilot light) because it destroys nutrients. To help the body transition to a raw food diet, Gabriel has devised several phases based mostly on the glycemic content of foods. Phase 1 focuses mostly on vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Phase 1.5 adds in fruits like cherries and blueberries as well as grains like wild rice and spelt. Phase 2 includes apples, peaches, and some unfermented soy products. “Start by doing one thing and being successful at that,” advises Justin Quan, a chef at the TOL Café. “Add in more fresh juices, or go to [eating]50 percent raw foods. It’s important to avoid setting rigid goals that are too difficult to attain when starting out.”

Even without the enormous breakfast buffets and five course dinners seen at most resorts, eating at the Tree of Life Café is an unparalleled experience. All meals offer selections from the different diet phases. Breakfast typically includes a “porridge” made from dehydrated nut pulps, dried fruits, and seeds accompanied by almond “mylk” (a mixture of water and strained almond pulp). Lunch and dinner always include an abundant salad bar brimming with dark leafy greens and an array of perfectly ripe vegetables accompanied by dressings like Miso Blood Orange, Curried Carrot, Lemon Dill, and even Italian. There’s also prepared entrées like Tabouli with tomatoes and mint and Red Tang Paté, a combination of red cabbage, spices, and miso. The Sunday brunch menu features such treats as Blueberry “Cream” Pie and Carob Fudge. The most amazing part? Since raw food is unadulterated and high in nutrients, most people find they actually need less to fill them up. I had stashed a few protein bars in my luggage in case I experienced desperate hunger pangs during the night – and I didn’t touch them.

Days at the TOL are filled with appointments with Gabriel and other staff members who are experts in holistic medicine, bodywork, healing, and detoxification. Guests may also use the ozone steambox and the infra-red sauna, both of which aid detoxification on a cellular level, or relax in the hot tubs infused with Effective Microorganisms (EM) instead of chemicals. As for bodywork, the panchakarma Ayurvedic cleansing and rejuvenation program helps eliminate toxins in the tissues and bloodstream and create mind/body/spirit balance through abhyanga (an aromatherapy massage that stimulates energy centers), shirodhara (a continuous stream of oil poured over the forehead), and swedena (full body herbal steam box). Every evening at dusk, there’s an outdoor fire ceremony as the sun slips behind the mountains, followed by a silent group meditation that often includes Shaktipat, an infusion of energy from a spiritual master (Gabriel) to the seekers (the guests). Following the meditation, Gabriel fields reflective questions from participants like “Can you explain death to me?” and “Should children meditate?”

On my second day, I had a Rejuvenation Facial with Izabela, which started with a papaya and pineapple enzyme masque to exfoliate under a gentle steam that increased circulation to the face. Next, Izabela administered an oil massage with jojoba oil, which is absorbed into the skin instead of left on top, and Bulgarian rose oil. She used lymphatic drainage techniques, which noticeably helped me recover from a cold, and she also administered a pressure point scalp massage to relieve tension.

Treatments can also be added to scheduled workshops and retreats like the Living Yoga retreat, or the Arizona Live raw food retreat. This year, the TOL also opened the Oasis, where à la carte treatments are available to day-trippers, and the Awakened Living shop, which offers books, kitchen tools, raw foods, supplements, hair care, and cleaning products. Another draw is the world’s largest Chartres Labyrinth, a maze of stones set in concentric circles in a desert clearing. Following the path, which actually leads you toward the outermost circle before heading toward the center, gives one plenty of time to reflect on one’s choices and habits.

The most unforgettable component, however, of a Tree of Life experience is the people. I expected all the guests to be lifetime vegetarians, well-versed in all aspects of holistic living and healing. Instead, I found people like Steve, 51, a truck driver from North Carolina, who went raw a few months before coming to TOL, and who now brings raw meals with him to truck stops that normally only serve greasy fries and burgers. “My goal in coming here is to figure out how to feel my utmost best,” says Steve enthusiastically. “I don’t want to just get through life anymore, or do more damage to myself.” And then there was Sally, a colon hydrotherapist from New Hampshire, who realized that her own diet and habits fell short of the advice she gave clients. “For me, this experience has been like a shot in the arm,” explained Sally about her juice fast and transition to raw foods. “It’s given me authentic experiences to bring back to my clients. I’m going to be able to walk the talk now.”

According to Gabriel, plenty of guests arrive at the Rejuvenation Center not knowing what to expect, but end up having fulfilling – even life altering – experiences. “Our goal is to be an oasis of awakening with integrated spa facilities,” he explains. “We’re not about beauty treatments coupled with a few light massages, but about consciousness, mindfulness, unity, and clarity.” And while the Tree of Life is happy to continue as a haven from today’s contemporary stress and chaos, there is one principle that its staff wishes to impart to the rest of the world: Success and change happen gradually. “If guests sustain even a few small changes in their habits and choices once they leave,” encourages Gabriel. “They’ve managed to change their lives.” And that’s a bold first step. For more information call (520) 394-2520 or visit www.treeoflife.nu