There is a point in our Ten-Day Cleanse when the focus begins to shift.
For the first several days, you're already supporting digestion, hydration, elimination, nourishment, and the body's natural pathways.
And then comes Day 6.
Day 6 brings intentional attention to a system most of us rarely think about:
The liver.
The gallbladder.
Bile.
And the biliary tract that connects them to the intestine.
There is a reason we've built this into our cleanse.
Because at Sanctuary, we don't believe a deeper cleanse should focus only on what you're trying to remove.
We pay attention to the terrain around the release, too.
And understanding the liver and gallbladder gives you an entirely different appreciation for what these organs are already doing for you every single day.
What Does the Liver Actually Do?
The liver is sometimes casually referred to in wellness as a “detox organ.”
But that description barely scratches the surface.
The liver is one of the body's major processing centers.
It helps process nutrients absorbed from the digestive tract, metabolizes medications and other substances, regulates aspects of energy metabolism, produces important proteins, and produces bile.
Bile is especially important to our Day 6 conversation.
The liver makes it.
The gallbladder stores and concentrates it.
The bile ducts transport it.
And when you eat, bile is released into the small intestine, where it helps with the digestion and absorption of fats. NIDDK
So rather than thinking:
Liver = detox
We want you to begin seeing the larger system:
Liver → bile → gallbladder → biliary tract → intestine
Everything is connected.
What Is Bile—and Why Does It Matter?
Bile is a digestive fluid produced continuously by the liver.
It contains bile salts along with cholesterol, bilirubin and other components. Between meals, much of that bile is stored and concentrated in the gallbladder.
When food enters the digestive system—particularly food containing fat—the gallbladder contracts and releases bile through the bile ducts into the small intestine.
This is normal physiology happening quietly inside you every day. NIDDK
And it is one of the reasons we believe the gallbladder deserves more attention in conversations about digestion.
The Gallbladder Has a Job, Too
The gallbladder may be small, but its role is very specific.
It stores and concentrates bile and releases it when digestion calls for it.
Gallstones can form inside the gallbladder when the components of bile become imbalanced or when the gallbladder does not empty completely or often enough. Researchers are still studying exactly why these changes occur. NIDDK
Most gallstones fall into two primary categories:
Cholesterol stones, composed primarily of hardened cholesterol.
Pigment stones, composed primarily of bilirubin.
And here's where the parasite conversation becomes interesting.
Can Parasites Live in the Liver, Gallbladder or Bile Ducts?
Certain parasites can.
But specificity matters here.
One example is Clonorchis sinensis, commonly known as the Chinese liver fluke.
This isn't a parasite everyone should assume they have.
Clonorchis sinensis occurs primarily in parts of Asia and is generally acquired by eating raw or undercooked infected freshwater fish. Once inside a human host, adult flukes can live within the biliary passages.
The CDC recognizes that Clonorchis infection can involve the liver, bile ducts and gallbladder and, more rarely, can be associated with biliary complications including gallstones. CDC
That makes the relationship between parasites and the biliary system a legitimate area of scientific research.
But it does not mean that most gallstones contain parasites.
And it does not mean finding something stone-like during a cleanse proves that it was a parasite or a gallstone.
Those distinctions matter.
A Fascinating Study of Parasites & Gallstones
One study in particular caught our attention.
In 2022, researchers published a study in the Journal of Helminthology examining 33 gallbladder stones that resembled adult Clonorchis sinensis worms.
The researchers analyzed the stones using several methods, including spectroscopy, electron microscopy and histopathology.
What they found was fascinating.
Clonorchis sinensis eggs were identified in 30 of the 33 stones.
Parasite tissue was identified in 12.
The stones themselves included calcium carbonate, bilirubinate and mixed stones.
Based on their findings, the researchers proposed that in these particular cases, the parasite entered the gallbladder and stone-forming material subsequently accumulated around parasite material. PubMed
Earlier research has also identified C. sinensis eggs in gallstones from infected populations, with especially strong associations involving certain pigment and calcium-carbonate stones. PubMed
That's important research.
But context is equally important.
These studies investigated a specific liver-fluke infection in populations where that infection occurs. They do not establish that parasites are a common cause of gallstones in the general U.S. population.
That is exactly the kind of distinction we want to make at Sanctuary:
We can remain curious without turning possibility into certainty.
So Why Does Sanctuary Focus on the Liver & Gallbladder?
Because our Ten-Day Cleanse isn't designed around one isolated system.
We don't look only at parasites.
We don't look only at the colon.
And we don't look only at the liver.
We look at the terrain.
Digestion.
Elimination.
Hydration.
The kidneys.
The liver.
The gallbladder.
The intestinal tract.
Movement.
Nourishment.
Rest.
And the practices that help you become more aware of your body.
This is the philosophy underneath the Ten-Day Cleanse:
We don't feed fear. We support the terrain.
Why Day 6 Changes the Focus
By Day 6, you've already spent several days changing the environment around you.
Your food has changed.
Your hydration has changed.
Your daily practices have changed.
You're paying attention to elimination.
You're using the herbal and nutritional support built into the protocol.
And you've probably become much more aware of your body than you were on Day 1.
Day 6 creates another intentional point of focus.
The liver and biliary system.
Within our protocol, this is also the day we incorporate our liver-flush practice.
For us, Day 6 is better understood as one component of our broader cleansing practice—a day intentionally centered on the liver, gallbladder, bile, digestion and elimination.
What Are Those Green “Stones” People Sometimes See After a Flush?
This is where we want to slow down for a moment—because this conversation matters deeply to us.
If you've ever completed a liver or gallbladder flush, you may have seen green, tan or brown, or even white stone-like material during elimination afterward.
So what is it?
The most accurate answer is: appearance alone cannot tell us.
Emerging published case reports and case series have documented: people with gallstones confirmed on imaging before a liver-flush protocol who later had measurable reductions—or, in some cases, no stones identified—on follow-up imaging after liver-flush protocols combined with dietary and lifestyle changes.
It gives us reason to remain curious.
And our reason for remaining curious goes far beyond what we've read in a study.
What We Have Witnessed at Sanctuary
We have been doing this work for years.
We have walked alongside people who came to us after being told their gallbladder may need to be removed.
We have had clients choose to focus deeply on nourishment, cleansing and supporting their liver and gallbladder—and later return to their healthcare providers for follow-up imaging and be told that surgery was no longer needed.
We have watched clients bring us before-and-after laboratory results showing changes in liver enzymes and bilirubin.
We have heard from people who had spent years trying to understand what was happening in their bodies, only to see numbers change after intentionally supporting their body in a completely different way.
We have watched people surprise their doctors.
Again and again.
Those experiences are not randomized clinical trials.
They are also not nothing.
They are individual experiences and outcomes that have shaped the way we think about this work and why we believe questions like these deserve continued research.
We cannot promise that another person's body will respond the same way.
We cannot promise that a liver flush will eliminate gallstones.
We cannot tell someone to cancel a medically necessary surgery based on another person's experience.
But we can tell you what we have witnessed.
And we can encourage people who choose a holistic approach to measure what is happening whenever possible.
Get the imaging.
Know your labs.
Work with your healthcare professional.
Know what your gallbladder looked like before.
And find out what it looks like afterward.
Because if we're going to talk about the body's capacity to change, we don't only want to guess.
We want to document it.
We Have Seen What Can Happen When People Begin Supporting the Terrain
This is why Day 6 means so much to us.
We've watched people who felt hopeless begin to feel hopeful again.
We've watched people become active participants in their health instead of feeling like something was simply happening to them.
We've watched numbers change.
We've watched imaging change.
We've watched people return from appointments stunned by what their doctors told them.
And we've watched people develop an entirely different relationship with their bodies.
We call some of those moments miracles.
That is our language for the awe we feel witnessing someone's story change.
It isn't a promise about what will happen in someone else's body.
It's our testimony about what we have been privileged to witness.
We don't believe the body is something to fight.
We believe it is something to understand.
To nourish.
To support.
To listen to.
And sometimes, when given a different kind of support, it surprises us with what it can do.
Day 6 Isn't About Forcing the Body
This may be the most important part.
Our philosophy has never been:
Push harder.
It's:
Support better.
Day 6 doesn't exist because we believe the liver suddenly starts working on the sixth day.
Your liver has been working the entire time.
Before the cleanse.
During the cleanse.
While you're sleeping.
While you're eating.
While you're reading this.
The intention of Day 6 is to bring your attention to it.
To learn.
To understand.
To support the body thoughtfully rather than blindly chasing what you can remove from it.
And at Sanctuary, that support doesn't stop with the physical body.
Because we believe there is another layer of cleansing that deserves our attention, too.
The emotional one.
This Is the Sanctuary Difference
We have never believed that cleansing is only physical.
Throughout the Ten-Day Cleanse, we intentionally create space for the emotional and spiritual work that can accompany physical change.
Within traditional and energetic healing philosophies, the liver has long been associated with emotions such as anger, frustration and resentment, while the gallbladder has been connected with bitterness, judgment, decision-making and the difficulty of moving forward.
Modern medicine does not teach that these emotions are literally stored inside the liver or gallbladder. We don't need to present them that way to honor what we have witnessed.
Because for us, these associations become an invitation:
What am I still angry about?
Where am I holding resentment?
What am I frustrated with that I haven't been willing to face?
Where has bitterness taken root?
Who am I still waiting for an apology from?
And what might change if I finally chose forgiveness—not for them, but for me?
This is why forgiveness work is such an important part of Day 6.
While we're physically bringing attention to the liver and gallbladder, we're also asking what may be ready to move emotionally.
We've sat with people through incredibly powerful forgiveness work.
We've watched tears come.
We've watched anger finally be spoken.
We've watched people recognize resentment they didn't realize they were still carrying.
And we've witnessed clients experience profound physical releases around the liver and gallbladder alongside that emotional work—sometimes before they had even completed the physical flush itself.
We can't tell you that forgiveness medically causes the liver or gallbladder to “flush.” We can't measure an emotion leaving an organ.
But we can tell you what we have witnessed.
And after years of doing this work, we don't believe those experiences should be dismissed simply because they are difficult to quantify.
For us, they are part of the story.
Forgiveness Is Part of the Cleanse
Forgiveness doesn't mean pretending something didn't hurt.
It doesn't mean excusing what happened.
It doesn't mean allowing someone access to you again.
And it doesn't mean forcing yourself to “get over it.”
Sometimes forgiveness simply means deciding that you no longer want an experience, a person, or a wound to occupy the same space inside of you.
There is something powerful about asking:
Do I still need to carry this?
Because cleansing isn't only about asking what the body can eliminate.
Sometimes it's about asking what you are finally willing to release.
That is why our Ten-Day Cleanse includes meditation, reflection, emotional awareness and forgiveness alongside herbs, nourishment, elimination and physical support.
We don't separate the person from the body.
We work with the whole person.
Body.
Mind.
Emotion.
Spirit.
The Liver Flush Is Only Part of Day 6
Yes, we support the liver and gallbladder physically.
We nourish.
We hydrate.
We use herbs.
We support healthy elimination.
We bring intention to the liver and gallbladder.
But we also get quiet.
We reflect.
We forgive.
We listen.
Because after years of walking people through this process, we have witnessed again and again that some of the most meaningful things released during a cleanse aren't things you can see in the toilet.
Sometimes it's anger.
Sometimes it's bitterness.
Sometimes it's grief.
Sometimes it's an old story.
Sometimes it's the belief that you have to keep carrying something simply because you've carried it for a long time.
This is the Sanctuary difference.
We aren't interested only in what leaves the body.
We're interested in what becomes possible when you finally make room.
And that is what Day 6 is really about.
Not forcing.
Not fighting.
Not chasing.
Supporting. Listening. Forgiving. Releasing.
And allowing the body, mind and spirit to meet each other there.
Research & References
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases — Gallstones & the Biliary Tract.
Overview of gallbladder function, bile, gallstone composition and biliary physiology. NIDDK
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — Clonorchiasis.
Clinical and biological information about Clonorchis sinensis, including its presence in the biliary tract and recognized biliary complications. CDC
Ma R-H, et al. “A systematic study on 33 gallbladder stones resembling adult Clonorchis sinensis worms.” Journal of Helminthology, 2022.
Researchers identified C. sinensis eggs in 30 of 33 studied stones and parasite tissue in 12. PubMed
Qiao T, et al. “Cholecystolithiasis is associated with Clonorchis sinensis infection.” PLoS ONE, 2012.
Study investigating direct evidence of C. sinensis eggs in gallbladder stones.
