Jiva Healing
Europe and India
From £350 per week
(www.jivahealing.com; +44 7786 363 553)

Jiva Healing is a young, dynamic and approachable team of nutritionists, sustainability consultants and yoga teachers who run affordable and effective six day juice fasts at carefully-chosen locations in Spain, France and India. Rebecca Andrist, Melissa Gamble and Heloise Buckland run them so well, in fact, that they fill each of their weeks by word of mouth alone.

To take your mind off the discomfort of fasting and take away tips you can use at home, you can enjoy various ‘classes’ on sustainable living and the environment, nutrition, food combining, setting up a healthy kitchen, and vegetarian and raw food cooking, but my favourite is the class on happiness, which draw on theories from Buddhism, positive psychology and the water experiments of Japanese researcher Dr. Masaru Emoto (go see the film What the Bleep do we Know) to encourage you to find out how to be happy.

During the fast you’ll drink organic fruit and vegetable juices and mineral broths, take herbs, spirulina supplements and psyllium husk, and have twice-daily enemas, which you conduct yourself in the privacy of an ensuite bathroom. You’ll also have access to expert massage therapists (for an extra charge), one-to-one nutrition counselling, meditation sessions and daily gentle Iyengar-based yoga classes, and there’ll be access to sea or pool swimming and soothing local walks.

Don’t be anxious if you’re never fasted before - as Jiva only takes 12 guests, you’ll receive all the personal attention you need. Jiva buys chunks of rainforest to offset their clients’ carbon emissions, and also runs Healthy Eating and Yoga weeks. Choose from a country villa in Andalaucia, Southern Spain or the Mandrem Beach resort in Northern Goa, India, where their next retreat runs in March 2008.

Kamalaya Wellness Sanctuary and Holistic Spa
Koh Samui, Thailand
From US$250 (£175) per person per night
(+66 (0) 77429800; www.kamalaya.com)

The delectable Kamalaya wellness sanctuary launched an Essential Detox Retreat in 2007, a seven day retreat held every month grounded in medical research but combining holistic medicine and therapies from different healing traditions. Each person receives a Wellness Orientation, daily massage, detox meal plans, specialist detox treatments, herbal remedies and supplements to ensure a safe and effective detox.

Special classes and presentations help support you in your personal goals – or just chill out in the beautiful location and let the fasting do all the work. A powerfully rejuvenating space centred round a tiny cave temple that once served as a place of meditative retreat for Buddhist monks, Kamalaya is fairly remote and peaceful so don’t expect to see any evidence of Samui’s party scene. You’ll sleep in sensitively designed villas, bungalows and suites tucked into the natural landscape - modern interior design emphasises serenity and comfort. You can also do a Detox and Rejuvenation Programme, starting any time and lasting from three to to 21 days.

The Retreat, Bali
From US$220 (£150) per night
(+44 (0) 1923 291066; www.theretreatbali.com)

On the east coast of Bali beneath the dormant volcano Mount Agung and away from the tourist crowds, The Retreat is a small centre for detoxing and rejuvenation set up in 2006 by brilliant English meditation teacher Guy Burgs, who runs meditation retreats in UK (see www.justletgo.org). It is now staffed by a qualified team of 12 Balinese staff, and Burgs visits at various times throughout the year.

Stay from three days to 30 – those suffering from diseases including Cancer and MS can also come here to cleanse and recuperate. Meditation, qigong and yoga are used to help cleanse the mind as well as the body. You’ll receive nutrition consultation, supplements and a specially tailored fasting diet, and have access to state-of-the-art equipment including an infra red sauna and herbal steam room, ozone therapy, oxygen therapy, bio-magnetic resonance and the use of a trampoline as well as massage, enemas and infusions.

You stay in spacious, well-lit bungalows with a sitting room and bedroom on two floors – each bungalow opens onto a balcony with soothing sea views. The Retreat is near Bali’s most important complex of Hindu-Buddhist temples, Besakih, and surrounded by a rich, spiritual history with unspoilt countryside to walk in. You can also swim or snorkle off the beach, though there are sometimes strong currents.

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