A healthy lifestyle must include times of
detoxification. The body is a machine that gets dirty just like a
house or car. But did you know the body has its own self-cleansing
mechanism? This is part of the immune system’s job. Fall and spring
are considered the best times to do a physical detox program, so
don’t put it off. With the growing rate of physical and mental
disease manifesting on the planet, we need to practice ways of being
healthy.
Detoxifying body, mind and spirit is one of the fastest ways to get
well from emotional or physical diseases and combat the immense
stress we are under. The two most severe forms of stress are
emotional/mental stress or the stress of toxicity. Emotional stress
can also create chemical changes that add to body’s toxicity. A
toxic and emotionally stressed body is an acid-dominated body. For
health to thrive in the body, the right pH balance must be
maintained. Disease cannot progress in an alkaline-dominate body.
Body Detox
Most alternative health practitioners agree that the cause of most
disease is toxicity. It’s a shocking conclusion, evidenced fastest
by our children and the growing epidemic of Autism, ADD, ADHD and
allergies. New research points to toxicity and poor diet as the
cause of the still raising epidemic — and this is not limited to
children. We’ve known for a long time that cancer is caused by
carcinogens (toxins). Many neurological conditions, psychotic
behavior disorders, depression and brain diseases are linked to
heavy metal overload in the brain tissue, which interferes with
normal functioning. When the immune system is overloaded with toxins
it doesn’t function well and much of its energy allotment must focus
on handling the overload. Opportunistic virus, bacteria, parasites,
fungus and other pathogens then flourish — creating even more
toxicity from their byproducts. Prolonged immune system
dysfunction/malfunction leads to autoimmune diseases.
Our planet is becoming more polluted all the time. We create garbage
at such a rapid rate that we are all being poisoned by it. Our food
is full of chemicals, preservatives, dyes and empty calories. We
dump tons of heavy metal into the atmosphere and even willingly
vaccinate ourselves and take medical drugs loaded with heavy metals.
And now oil spills are poisoning the oceans, killing our fish or
filling them full of heavy metals. Disease rate is rapidly climbing.
To live a long and healthy life, and to produce healthy offspring,
we need to continually clean out our bodies. The toxic overload is
too much for our bodies to handle without help.
The alternative health industry offers many products designed to
help the body detoxify. Alternative health scientists create
products that are compatible with the body and many reputable
supplement manufacturers offer detoxification supplements that
assist the body. Along with supplementation, you may want to also
consider some of the following to help your body with the process:
detox herb teas, colonics (colon cleansing), liver/gallbladder
cleansing, fasting, ion cleanse machines, saunas, hyperbaric oxygen,
or biofeedback. Additionally, drinking a half-gallon of purified
water a day is always a good assist for the body.
It also helps to become conscious to stop poisoning yourself, or
allowing your children to be poisoned with junky, empty-calorie food
products, unnecessary drugs, and to be aware of your environment for
potential health hazards at work or home.
Mental Detox — Toxic Thinking
Detoxification works on the emotional/mental level and spiritual
level as well as the physical. If you decide to detox your body, be
aware that your emotional garbage will also come up for detox. We
are holistic beings. What happens on one level happens on all
levels. Physical detoxification can cause negative thinking. Or
negative thinking can create and hold physical toxicity. The more
negative your thoughts, the more you are prone to toxicity. The more
acid your thinking, the more acidic your body. Many times simply
practicing positive thinking can change the pH of the body.
Emotional poison comes from emotionally-charged negative thoughts
and beliefs about life, yourself and others. Many come from old
traumas and over-reactive nervous systems. Hate, fear, worry,
holding grievances, thought habits of condemning, blaming, shaming
and blasting our anger at others — all this makes us toxic. You
probably know some people who spew emotional poison with their
constant condemning and negative talk. Sometimes we wallow in
negativity for the excitement and sensationalism. But if you keep
thinking negatively, not only does the body stay toxic, but you will
keep yourself confused, unhappy, discouraged, vengeful and
depressed.
When you do a mental/emotional detox, it is important to declare
your own mind a battle-free zone, and to develop zero tolerance for
chronic negativity. You might start challenging the thoughts your
brain feeds you to see if they are true. You will be astounded at
how much of our thinking is false. In this fast-paced age, we all
have to train our brains toward truth. With so much technology, we
are bombarded with information, and plenty of false knowledge,
opinions, and excuses are often held as truth.
Actively cleaning out your brain and emotional system takes work,
but when you throw out all the lies the body sighs with relief. What
is hardest for many people is to stop telling negative stories. Lots
of people are storytellers by nature — and many are full of negative
stories. Avoid well-meaning friends who only emote negativity with
you, or go into agreement with your right to be so negative.
Happiness is an inside job and comes from positive, optimistic
thinking. The more positive you are, the happier life situations you
create. A happy body is a healthy body. Depression is the result of
brain toxicity and chronic negative patterns of thinking and
believing. Depression will eventually steal your will to live,
creating apathy, disease or unhealthy chronic conditions in the
body.
Setting the Spirit Free
As we detox mind and body it can feel like our spirits are becoming
much more free — because they are! Negativity and toxicity imprison
the spirit as well as the body and mind. They simply put the light
out by limiting us. We are all spiritual beings who long for freedom
and light. But if we never come out of the darkness we can’t
experience the light. We don’t realize how we trap ourselves and
limit our self-expression with our toxicity and negativity, so we
stay stuck in negative relationships, wrong jobs, and unhappy
circumstances. We drift, not knowing our purpose or what life is all
about — questions only a free spirit can answer. One of the most
beautiful things about actively detoxing body and mind is that our
lives change for the better. Spirituality frees up, allowing us to
seek a larger expression of life.
Spiritually we get ourselves in good shape when we clean out our
mental/physical/emotional closets, getting rid of junk and clutter.
Our spirit energy doesn’t like to be trapped in matter. All that old
‘stuff’ can steal and trap the spirit. For health, all the
incompletion in our lives need to complete — and all the junk
(physical as well as mental) has to go.
Letting go is a powerful spiritual practice. We all need to let go
of what no longer serves us. It is easiest to start with the
closets, or perhaps the garage. Remember: when you clean and detox
on one level (i.e., your bedroom closet or the garage), you are
affecting all levels of body, mind and spirit. So start with the
basics and see how healthy and happy you feel when you are done!
Jackie Kosednar is a
hypnotherapist, energy medicine practitioner, human design analyst,
and the publisher of Alaska Wellness Magazine. She also
teaches workshops on Human Design. Contact: 272-2469 or
jackie@alaskawellness.com.
