Michael Ducharme Information about YOGAYoga's Benefits Yogis and Masters Karma, Bakti and Jhana Yoga Hatha Yoga Ashtanga Yoga Kundalini Yoga FREE YOGA CLASSES TOTAL HEALTH PLANClean air and sunshine Eat right Excercise Detoxify |
Total Health PlanStep Four: DetoxificationThe fourth step in my total health plan is to detoxify. Everyone needs to detoxify because environmental toxins are everywhere. Even if we try to eat healthily, we cannot avoid the toxins in the air, and while the kidneys attempt to remove as many toxins as possible from the blood, some inevitably get through the filter, and they accumulate in the tissues all over your body. If left alone, these accumulated toxins eventually lead to a multitude of diseases, including cancer. Fortunately, there are many ways to detoxify, some of which won't cost you a cent. You can use any combination of the following methods for removing the harmful poisons on a daily basis:
Saunas and steambaths are your best daily detoxification method because they employ your body's largest organ, the skin, and its billions of sweat glands. The skin is an eliminative organ, meaning that it, along with the kidneys, has the function of eliminating unwanted materials from the body. At least during profuse sweating, the skin is even more effective at removing toxins than the kidneys due to the skin's large surface area. As well, the kidneys are normally overburdened with incessant work, since our polluted world constantly bombards them with heavy metals and deadly poisons. The sauna gives your kidneys a much needed rest as blood is shunted away from interior organs towards the skin. This happens during a parasympathetic nervous response, which means that you are relaxed. Excercise Rigorous excercise promotes detoxification in a similar way to saunas because of perspiration. The main difference is that with excercise, the body is in a sympathetic nervous response, also known as 'fight or flight' mode. This deters slightly from your body's ability to detoxify. The best excercise for detoxification is yoga. Toxins tend to settle in sedentiary muscle tissue. Yoga excercises are specifically designed to stretch and squeeze and twist every muscle tissue to forcibly expel those hiding toxins, while allowing your body to stay calm, therefore avoiding the sympathetic nervous response. Even more important is yoga's slow, controlled breathing, which is essential for detoxification. Shiatsu Massage Getting a shiatsu massage is like practicing yoga, without the effort. The shiatsu practicioner will identify areas of your body with hardened muscle 'knots' as well as areas of restricted motion. These are the areas where a buildup of toxins has caused a blockage in the normal flow of energy through your body. The practicioner will release the blockage by pressing on and stretching your muscles, while you lay on the shiatsu table. In Japan, where the shiatsu massage originated, a shiatsu massage can be quite painful. If a patient has some tolerance for 'good pain', the shiatsu massage can release significant energy blockage quickly and efficiently. But not all shiatsu massages have to be painful. If the practicioner is given more time to complete the therapy, she or he can achieve similar results much more gently. Tantric Breathing Tantra is a form of yoga, and it is sometimes referred to as the highest yoga. Tantra focuses on the control of energy, through specific actions including pranayamas, the awareness and control of your own breath. It is helpful to remember that breathing does not only occur in the lungs. Rather, it is a phenomenon in which every cell in your body participates. As you inhale, you draw fresh oxygen, and as well pure energy from the air, into your lungs. But at the same moment, this oxygen and energy also enters every cell in every tissue. As you exhale, the body dumps toxic carbon dioxide into the air and pushes other toxins from your cells into your bloodstream, where they can be filtered by the kidneys. Green Tea and Herbal Teas Most green teas and herbal teas are alkalizing, and since our bodies are mostly acidic, most of us need to alkalize in order to restore the pH balance that is needed for detoxification. As well there are some herbal teas that are specifically designed for detox. In particular, there are two excellent mixtures of medicinal herbs from the Central American rainforests that are blended by Dr. Omar Moreno for the purpose of detoxification. Doctor Moreno's Formula 1 medicinal tea is designed to treat kidney problems specifically, while his Formula 4 targets the toxins in the lungs and the heart. Dr. Moreno recommends drinking his Formula 4 tea regularly as a means of preventing the common cold and other common ailments. Fasting The king of all detoxification methods is fasting, which implies either a drastic reduction or a complete cessation of food intake over a period of time. Normally the body expends a great deal of energy in digestion. In fact, digestion is our number one expenditure of energy according to some studies. Going without food (yes, no food) for up to 40 days allows your body to switch into detoxification mode. No, you will not die of starvation or faint, or lose energy. (In fact, your energy level will be higher than usual because you will not waste so much energy digesting food. The average human body has enough nutrient reserves to take you through the six week fast without any issues. Many of our ancestors knew about the powerful healing effects of fasting. Look no further than the Holy Bible, the Torah, the Buddha Dharma or the Koran. All the masters enjoyed major physical and mental and spiritual benefits from a fast lasting around six weeks. Unfortunately, some modern religions have thrown out the original meaning of the word fast, in favor of a more convenient 'sacrifice' like giving up chocolate for a while. But giving up chocolate while continuing to eat other foods will not cause your body to go into detoxification mode. Consider a yearly fast like spring cleaning for your body. Once per year is rather arbitrary, but then we do have the benefit of yearly religious holidays to ensure that we don't go too long without taking out the trash. |