Is Your Body Ready for a Spring Clean? What Ancient Longevity Wisdom Can Teach Us About Detox – Part 1
Updated: Sep 21
Connie Ng is an international speaker helping people overcome chronic pain, mobility issues, and complex health challenges, especially when conventional approaches fall short. Integrating Five Elements philosophy, vibrational medicine, and mind-body coaching, she empowers clients to reclaim their health, reconnect with who they truly are, and create lasting transformation.
As I write this, it is 1 September, the first day of spring here in Australia. Canberra has not exactly transformed into a botanical paradise overnight, but there is already something different in the light. There is something about the promise of spring, with its renewal, new beginnings, and the sense of bringing new things to life, that makes me want to open windows, clear cupboards, and finally deal with whatever I have successfully ignored throughout winter.
It also feels like a natural time to consider what we have accumulated physically, emotionally, and energetically, and what may now be ready to move on.
My idea of a spring cleanse is not to make food the enemy, live miserably on green juice, or sit through a three-day water fast watching everybody else eat dinner. After spending much of the past month writing about biohacking, I am increasingly wary of turning looking after ourselves into another endurance event.
My training in Traditional Chinese Medicine Five Elements theory and Macrobiotic Health takes me somewhere more fundamental, "What has become stagnant, what we are continually loading into the system, and what conditions might help the body do its own housekeeping more efficiently?"
Why spring makes sense through a five elements lens
Traditional Chinese Medicine associates spring with the Wood element, and the Liver and Gallbladder with Wood. Wood relates to growth, planning, flexibility, direction, and movement, while the Liver is traditionally associated with the smooth flow of Qi and with the sinews.
Nature makes the metaphor obvious. After winter, plants push upwards, branches extend, and what appeared dormant starts moving again. Human beings may be somewhat less elegant about it. Winter can bring heavier food, less movement, more time indoors, and the gradual accumulation of habits we promised ourselves we would eventually address. Spring arrives, and suddenly “eventually” has a date.
For me, spring really is an invitation to do a proper clean-out. I just do not think we need to make the body suffer for the privilege. Water fasting can be demanding, while a prolonged juice fast may be far too cooling or simply unsuitable for some constitutions. Clearing accumulated load while continuing to give the body something useful to work with is one reason the philosophy of enzyme cleansing later made sense to me. Cleansing and nourishment do not necessarily have to sit on opposite sides of the fence.
That balance sits comfortably with Five Elements theory, which is always inquiring how different parts of the system support, regulate, and restore one another rather than operating in isolation.
The body knew how to detox before detox became fashionable
One of the stranger developments in wellness culture is the way detoxification can be marketed as though the human body was completely helpless until somebody invented a sachet or a pill.
The body is already doing an extraordinary amount of detoxification work behind the scenes. The liver metabolises and processes substances, the kidneys filter the blood, the gastrointestinal tract moves waste through the system, and multiple physiological pathways continually transform and eliminate what is no longer required. We are walking around with a remarkably sophisticated detoxification system built in.
Cleansing, to me, is therefore less about seeing how forcefully we can make the body purge and more about recognising the extra work our everyday choices may be creating. Alcohol, highly processed food, poor sleep, chronic stress, overeating, inadequate movement, and unhappy digestion all contribute something to the terrain, whether or not we ever formally decide to “do a detox”.
This overlaps with what I explored in The Biohacking Blind Spot and Why You Need to Understand Your Body First. Before piling something else onto the organism, it helps to understand what the organism is already trying to manage.
My right foot gave me a lesson I was not expecting
My first ZenCleanz experience in 2023 made cleansing considerably more personal.
In March that year, I travelled back to Singapore for family time and a large reunion, spent five days in Vietnam for a wedding, then returned to Singapore before heading home. It was my first proper trip back after roughly three and a half years of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) disruption, so there was plenty of catching up, eating, and celebrating packed into about three and a half weeks.
Ordinarily, I might drink alcohol only a few times in an entire year. On that trip, however, it became an almost daily feature of socialising. My liver probably wondered who I was and what I had done with the usual Connie.
During the holiday, significant pain began developing around the inner arch of my right foot, close to the heel. By the time I reached Vietnam, walking was becoming uncomfortable, and my mobility was starting to suffer. The pain followed me back to Singapore and then home to Canberra, fluctuating from day to day but never properly disappearing.
The glaring departure from my normal lifestyle was the sheer quantity of alcohol I had consumed over those weeks. I strongly believe my body was struggling with a load it simply was not accustomed to carrying.
Around four months later, in July 2023, I decided to do my first seven-day ZenCleanz Rainbow cleanse. My reasons had nothing to do with my foot. I wanted to reset my body, lose some weight, and see whether clearing the gut might help some lingering eczema patches.
During the cleanse, the persistent pain in my right foot reduced by around 90%. After months of living with it, that was not something I could casually brush aside.
My practitioner brain began connecting the dots afterwards. Within Five Elements theory, Wood is associated with the Liver, which is traditionally connected with the sinews and the smooth movement of Qi. Given that the pain had emerged during such an unusually alcohol-heavy period for me, the connection was difficult to miss. Its location deepened my curiosity because the painful area around the inner arch sat close to a Liver zone on reflexology maps I had studied.
Energetic and metaphysical traditions had also introduced me to laterality, where the left side is often associated more with receiving, while the right relates to giving, action, and outward expression. Since my symptoms appeared specifically on the right, I began wondering whether there was another symbolic layer around release, elimination, and the body's attempt to move something out.
That became part of my own practitioner theory about what my body had been communicating. I have long thought of the human body as an enormous detoxifying machine, continually processing, transforming, and eliminating excess in its effort to return itself to equilibrium. After placing such an unusual burden on mine for several weeks, perhaps the pain and restricted movement reflected difficulty shifting what needed to move. Through a Five Elements lens, that loss of easy movement also brought me back to stagnation, or stuck Qi.
The timing, alcohol intake, persistent right-foot pain, restriction in movement, Five Elements and reflexology associations, followed by a roughly 90% improvement during a cleanse undertaken for completely different reasons, all seemed to form a pattern worth remembering.
Experiences like that make me reluctant to automatically separate everything into unrelated boxes. Physical symptoms, lifestyle, energetic themes, and the body's own attempts to restore balance may be far more interconnected than they first appear.
Why ZenCleanz made sense to me
By the time I came across ZenCleanz, much of its philosophy felt strangely familiar. It uses a Traditional Chinese Medicine Five Element-inspired approach to cleansing, looking at digestion, detoxification, circulation, respiration, and regeneration as interconnected functions rather than treating each organ system as though it exists in its own little universe. As a Five Elements Coach, I already spoke that language.
Its formulations use a wide range of plant foods fermented for more than three years in Taiwan, producing what I think of as essentially predigested, enzyme-rich nourishment for the body to work with while cleansing. The idea is not simply to stop feeding ourselves and wait for everything to clear, but to continue providing nourishment while helping accumulated waste move through.
ZenCleanz also describes Buddhist sutras and vibrational intention as part of its fermentation environment. Considering that my work spans Five Elements theory and vibrational medicine, and I happen to be a fairly token Buddhist without being particularly religious about it, you can probably understand why my curiosity was well and truly piqued.
The intestinal-cleansing philosophy is where my visually graphic, slightly disgusting sewerage pipe analogy tends to enter conversations with clients. Imagine the digestive tract as a large plumbing system, food enters, useful material is absorbed, and waste needs to move out. Cleansing traditions use the term “mucoid plaque” for some of the thick, ropey, or mucus-like material people report passing during intestinal cleanses.
Among seasoned detoxers, passing this elusive material can become something of a holy grail. In fasting circles, I have heard people talk about undertaking extended water fasts before seeing anything they identify as “mucoid plaque”, while juice fasters may also wait weeks or months. ZenCleanz users commonly report seeing similar-looking material much sooner, sometimes within the first day or two, with elimination continuing when the liquid phase or fast is extended.
I sometimes describe the fermented enzymes as little “Pac-Men” working their way through an overloaded sewerage system, helping break down and sweep through what has accumulated while the body continues receiving nourishment. It is deliberately graphic, but my clients usually understand the idea immediately.
During some of my longer ZenCleanz cleanses, I have continued passing what cleansing circles call “mucoid plaque” for as long as six days. Observing changes in elimination, digestion, and the way my body feels throughout the process makes the philosophy considerably more meaningful to me than simply reading about it on a packet.
ZenCleanz therefore fits comfortably within my practitioner worldview. Five Elements theory repeatedly brings me back to balance and relationships, and enzyme cleansing works with a similar premise, we can give the system a decent spring clean without necessarily asking the body to run on empty while we do it.
What I noticed during my first Rainbow cleanse
The improvement in my foot was the surprise that made me sit up, but it was hardly the only change during that first seven-day Rainbow cleanse. I lost 4.1 kilograms, felt noticeably clearer mentally and more energetic, saw improvement in the remaining eczema patches on my body, and thought my skin looked brighter.
My history with eczema has taught me not to assume the skin is necessarily where the story begins, something I explored in Tried Everything? What If Your Skin Isn't the Problem But the Messenger?. Having several things shift within the same week made me curious enough to explore ZenCleanz much further.
During 2024, I deliberately worked my way through every ZenCleanz detox kit across all Five Elements. I began with the Rainbow cleanse supporting the Gut and Liver, corresponding with Earth and Wood, then moved through the Lungs with Metal, Blood and Lymph with Fire, and Kidneys with Water. If I was going to incorporate a Five Element-based cleansing system into my work with clients, I wanted to experience each part from inside my own body.
ZenCleanz's testimonial library also includes medical doctors, nurses, holistic practitioners, experienced fasters, and everyday users, with people describing changes in energy, mental clarity, digestion, skin, food sensitivities, mood, addictive patterns, and general wellbeing.
What I find particularly noteworthy is how often those stories describe shifts across several apparently unrelated areas at once. I explored a similar idea in What Do Your Skin, Gut, and Lungs Have in Common? More Than You Think and, from the emotional perspective, in When the Body Speaks: Decoding Mental Health with the Five Elements.
Traditional healing systems developed through generations of practitioners observing real people and noticing which changes repeatedly appeared together. That instinct still makes sense to me. When enough seemingly unrelated pieces begin shifting at once, my instinct is to become more curious, not less.
This is where I want to pause, because a cleanse is only the reset. What happens afterward opens up a much bigger conversation about food, constitution, longevity, and our relationship with the body.
Read more from Connie Ng
Connie Ng, Holistic Practitioner, Quantum Healing Facilitator & Transformational Coach
Connie Ng is a Multi-Disciplined Holistic Practitioner and Quantum Healing Facilitator who specialises in helping clients overcome chronic physical and emotional conditions by addressing their root cause at the energetic level. Blending Five Elements wisdom with Star Magic Healing, vibrational medicine, and holistic counselling, she facilitates deep transformation for those who feel stuck despite trying everything. Connie is the founder of The Salt Therapy Clinic & Sanctuary and works with clients both in-person and remotely.
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