Healthy Living Retreat at Rippledown

Juice fasting and yoga retreat

Nutrition & natural health talks, meditation, yoga, group walks and raw food prep & feast on the final day

Friday 8th to Monday 11th August, at Rippledown House, Ringwould, East Kent

This is the inaugural Rippledown healthy living retreat. In partnership with Sura Detox, one of Britain’s leading detox and health retreat teams, this affordable retreat in a relaxed setting provides a great opportunity to cleanse and recharge your body and mind in fun way, whilst gaining numerous fantastic insights into nutrition and healthy living.

About The Retreat: what, why, how, who and when

What: a long weekend - 4 day retreat of juice fasting with yoga, walks, nutritional education, a raw food preparation class and other activities.

Why: In our distant past, as we started to expand into less habitable areas, it became necessary to cook food. The resulting stress on the digestive system required strategies to compensate for it – and so fasting was born. With the additional stresses of modern life, never before has fasting been so relevant or beneficial as it is today, so whilst it may seem like a relic from the distant past, the benefits of fasting are still being documented.

On physical health:

1. Fasting is found in every ancient text on health.

2. Fasting remains the safest and most reliable way of resting the overworked digestive system.

3. Fasting is massively rejuvenating to most bowel conditions (Crohn’s, IBS, Candida).

4. Fasting rebalances metabolism; burning fat and resourcing the digestive process.

5. The immune system uses the resources and energy freed up during fasting to clean body tissues.

6. Many athletes attest to period of fasting as a time-tested method of increasing personal bests.



Fasting is equally upheld in the realm of spirituality, as the mind goes into a profoundly restful state.

On mental/emotional health:

1. Fasting leaves plenty of time for reflection and all manner of elevated thought.

2. It is the most reliable method to renew a sense of well-being and optimism.

3. Without the suppressive nature of constant food, lost emotions can reappear for integration.

4. Meditation practices are enhanced as the mind naturally calms and clears.

5. Addictive patterns with foods and substances are broken, leaving space for authentic consideration.

6. A greater sense of ‘connection’ to things beyond ourselves becomes more apparent.


With this retreat we are aiming to bring the price of these benefits within the reach of most people.

How: We will use various herbs that stave off hunger, encourage the bowel to throw off its contents, and make fasting that much more efficient for the body as a whole. Diluted juice will keep your mind and body afloat throughout the whole experience, making it less of a leap for our 21st century mentality. The nutritional talks are aimed well above the usual approach of ‘statistical mortality avoidance’, and look more at the roots of the human digestive process. This is with a view to understanding both where we come from, and how we apply nutrition to aid us in where we are going.

Space is made in each day for group meditation, yoga, walks, talks, sharing and deep rest, within the timetable:

Friday 8th	Saturday 9th	Sunday 10th	Monday 11th
10-11.45am Arrivals 12noon: introductory talk 1pm:  juice & supplements 2pm:  nutritional talk 5pm:  juice & supplements 7pm:  group event 9pm:  juice & supplements	8am:  gentle meditation 9am:  juice & supplements 10am:  yoga 11am:  walk 1pm:  juice & supplements 2pm:  nutritional talk 5pm:  juice & supplements 7pm:  group event 9pm:  juice & supplements	8am:  gentle meditation 9am:  juice & supplements 10am:  yoga 11am:  walk 1pm:  juice & supplements 2pm:  nutritional talk 5pm:  juice & supplements 7pm:  group event 9pm:  juice & supplements	8am:  gentle meditation 9am:  juice & supplements 10am:  yoga 11am:  walk 1pm:  juice & supplements 2pm:  raw food talk and prep 5pm:  raw food feast 7pm:  closing circle Depart by 9pm

Who:  Dao has been running detox retreats for 20 years, and will hold the space, along with Nikki, who is a Dru Yoga teacher, and previous educator at The Eden Project, plus a fabulous raw food chef - making the final day both a practical education in how to reintroduce food, as well as long-awaited culinary delight.