After a weekend yoga practice, my friend-students and I would usually grab lunch and talk for hours about our practice, wellness choices, and everything that our meal’s taste would take our mood to feel like talking about. Sometimes, we’d get into a heated discussion because one of my friends would always like to play the skeptic one. Yeah, somewhat like a ‘devil’s advocate’, testing our other friends how persistent they are in their health goals. (I think you’d agree, there’s always that someone. But it’s not always a bad thing!)
So that friend of ours posted the debate question: Is there really such a thing as a detox regimen? Isn’t our body is designed to excrete the toxins on its own?
Well, the lunch had to spill over to the afternoon tea break! But I’m just proud of how that health(y) ‘debate’ stirs the interest to continue learning about and a deeper understanding of the many health pathways available to us these days. (And I believe that’s the most important!)
ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTION
Yes, our body is incredible! It’s built-in perfect harmony with nature—taking in and out what nourishes it and what can potentially harm it. But that had only been true when that harmony has not been disturbed by the many things that we now call ‘modern life.’
Our modern life in this modern world is incredibly toxic. We are assaulted by pollution in the air, in our homes, in the foods we eat, and in the clothes, we wear on a daily basis. Our livestock is treated with antibiotics; our crops are sprayed with powerful pesticides and artificial fertilizers.
With the overload of toxins in and around us, that innate capability of the body to detox is impaired with overwhelm. Constant toxic overwhelm.
That being said, the more relevant question today is WHEN. That’s why in my previous blogs and sessions, I always tell people: Listen to your body. Watch out for those signs telling that your body has reached again its toxic threshold.
AYURVEDIC CLEANSE
As an Ayurvedic practitioner and health coach, I felt that it’s my duty to help people navigate such discussions. Because one of the pillars of my practice, in fact, is detox and cleanse.
In Ayurveda, a cleanse is a vital part of the strategy to balance. At its core, an Ayurvedic cleanse is focused on drawing ama (natural toxins) and excess Vata, pitta, and Kapha out of the tissues and into the digestive tract so that they can be eliminated and move things back into balance.
An Ayurvedic cleanse improves the strength of agni (the metabolic fire) in the GI tract and throughout the body by resting and purifying the digestive system. Ayurveda sees balanced agni as one of the most important requirements in achieving optimal health.
GETTING YOU READY FOR THE NEW YOU
Some of the most common benefits of an Ayurvedic Cleanse include:
- Promote regular and balanced elimination of body waste.
- Support the maintenance of healthy body weight.
- Restore and maintain balanced sleep cycles.
- Recover each individual’s natural state of balance.
- Restore a sense of calm to the mind and the nervous system.
- Nurture an improved sense of energy, vitality, and enthusiasm for life.
- Foster both clarity and groundedness in the mental, spiritual, and emotional spheres.
- Prepare the tissues for deep nourishment and rejuvenation.
The operating principle of an Ayurvedic cleanse is to lower the fire (metabolic) and slow down the body to give time for your organs to adjust to what’s coming next. Your body’s daily grind plus the constant influx of toxins is just tiring for your body. By eating a mono-diet, supported by herbal teas and other supplements PLUS a mind and spirit detox through yoga and meditation, you are giving yourself time to remove yourself from the outer environment.
This is why an Ayurvedic cleanse is best done at the junctures of the year when the weather turns cooler or cold and warm or hot. It gives our bodies a chance to release whatever’s stored up throughout the summer or the winter. And ultimately, it gives you time to adjust yourself to the new tempo of the year or season or whatever new phase you are about to enter—a time to recharge, process, and get ready the healthier YOU!
