What is the detox life all about? Weight loss? Disease prevention? Looking gorgeous? These kinds of goals might have drawn you here initially, but they are only part of a much bigger picture.
Today, as you contemplate a more whole and connected you during this change of seasons, let’s consider detoxification in terms of Life Force Energy. The purpose of cleansing is to remove blockages so that Life Force Energy can flow freely through open pathways in the body (intestines, blood, meridians, brain synapses, etc.), igniting and animating you as nature intended. Here are a few steps you can take to open up your body to this experience:
1) Release tension through awareness. Take a moment to feel your body. Your jaw (is it clenched?), your mind (is it chewing on endless to-do lists and worries?), your chest (is your breathing shallow and truncated?), your neck (is it tight)? Believe it or not, simply holding tension in the body will hinder the flow of Life Force Energy. To alleviate tension, practice raising consciousness of your body. Just focusing on your breathing will release tension. Don’t worry or be disappointed with yourself for holding tension—just acknowledge it. Several times a day, follow a mental course throughout your entire body, watching for tension, releasing it, and opening yourself up to the flow of Life Force Energy.
2) Practice gentle lengthening and “folding.” So many of you either spend hours “working out” in ways that waste energy and increase tension or remain sedentary all day. Your muscle tissue needs to be flexible to let the Life Force Energy flow. Waste cannot be “burned off.” A beautiful body cannot be created by weightlifting. In fact, regular and prolonged aerobic exercise will age you rapidly by overtaxing your adrenals and exhausting you (I will expand on this topic in a future blog). Take time as often as possible to stretch your muscles gently. I recommend “folding,” a term I use for the following exercise:
1. Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you.
2. Lift your back, neck, and head up and out of your “seat” from your lowest vertebrae (your root chakra), lengthening through the crown of your head as you stretch your arms and hands forward, parallel with your legs and feet.
3. Stretch as far as is comfortable. (The goal is not to go all the way forward, but to open up the blockages by increasing flexibility. You can also do this while standing).
All forms of yoga will help increase flexibility and open up blockages. Once you have achieved this, you may strengthen your body through anaerobic (preferably not too much aerobic) exercise, such as sprinting and some weight-bearing activities, but do not compromise your form (length, posture, flow) by clenching up or getting too competitive, which will only bring back the tension.
3) Do all that you can to remove the waste that you’re awakening. These cleansing actions, along with a cleansing diet, will activate the colon and fill it with more waste. In addition to colonics, I recommend eating baked beets, which are delicious and brilliant for the bowel. Bake a few whenever you can at 350 degrees for 1 to 3 hours. The longer they stay in the oven, the better they will taste, and they’ll also be delicious served cold the next day! I am also a huge fan of pure, whole leaf, raw aloe, which is terrific for anyone with (or even without) bowel issues. The only brand I have found to be up to scratch is Herbal Answer, which is available in most health food stores. It is expensive (about $26 per bottle) but well worth it. You cannot overdose on aloe and you will see how quickly and effectively it works. This is great for people who are just starting this lifestyle who have lots of animal protein sitting in their intestines. It is a painless way to lubricate and loosen it up for elimination.
4) Once you reach a more advanced level, stick to a maximum of 2 meals a day. If you are truly committed to health and vitality–and have fully transitioned gently away from mainstream eating habits, which can take at least 6 to 12 months, and in some cases years–2 meals a day should be the maximum you consume. More than that is just excessive. Juicing until lunch, having a raw salad with avocado for lunch, and then a properly combined meal at dinner is the optimal routine (again, this is not for beginners, who will hit emotional and physiological pitfalls if they attempt this in the first year). This ensures a mini-fast each day between dinner and lunch, which works wonders for your physical advancement. Systematically eating less ensures that you pass more, so you avoid the sluggishness, putrefaction and proliferation of bacteria caused by over-consumption.
Don’t be afraid to make your mid-day meal a winter-fruit lunch. The low-sugar winter fruits (citrus, pears, and apples) are great and safe for almost everyone except a Candida patient to enjoy. Make them your first solid food of the day to avoid the fermentation that occurs when consumed after a cooked meal.
Keep in mind that this is a way of life, not something you do for a week or a month. You can only live fully—with maximum joy, inspiration, and life-generating experience—in a clear, clean body, flowing with abundant Life Force Energy.
Friends, this is what living the detox lifestyle is all about!
