In 2006 I was several years into my cleansing phase. After being raised in the fast food culture of small town Tennessee, part of my spiritual awakening was learning to eat healthy. I tried many different diets, paying attention to how specific foods made me feel. One day I noticed that I was very sensitive to sugar. This was bad news for my sweet tooth, especially considering that I’d been a chocoholic my entire life. What to do?

Off to Maui

I was in Portland, Oregon, where I had been living since 1998. Having just returned from a year of solo travel between Europe and Central America, I settled back into my jobs of teaching yoga and waitressing. But I was restless… on a whim I took out a credit card and flew to Maui, my favorite place, to visit my sister, meditate, cleanse and ponder moving there.