The body’s ability to detoxify itself is a huge part of its brilliant design. Toxins enter into the body via our food, the air we breathe, and what our skin comes into contact with, in addition to the toxins the body?releases just from performing its daily functions. Negative thought processes and stress also increase the release of endotoxins in the body.
Fortunately for us, our bodies are well equipped with several ways to get rid of these toxins–the lungs, colon, kidneys, liver, and skin play a huge role, as well as the?lymphatic system. In a perfect world with clean air,?fresh, local, organic food, and little stress, these five detoxifying organs would manage just fine on their own. However, that’s not the world we live in today, so I’m a big believer in helping my body along with periodic cleanses or detoxes, where I do a combination of an elimination diet, liquid fasting, detoxifying herbs, homemade vegetable broth, and herbal tea for a set period of time.
I eat really?healthy year-round, but?I’m not gonna lie. I have a sweet tooth, and even though the treats I enjoy are fresh from Whole Foods or homemade, they are still sweets and sometimes I eat too much of them. There are also times I eat out, enjoy an alcoholic beverage, or travel to places that don’t have ideal food choices for me to eat–so I eat what I want. And I’m OK with that–I love the 80/20 rule where I do the best I can 80% of the time and then the other 20% accounts for these other moments. But I also think it’s really kind to my body to help it get rid of the extra toxins that come in from that 20% with periodic detoxes.
I noticed something really interesting when I first started with detox…
When I’m doing a detox, I find that it’s REALLY easy for me to meditate and visualize. I also find that my Reiki flows much stronger than when I’m not detoxing. During my meditations and visualizations, I also find that I receive intuitive guidance much more clearly than normal, and my recollection of that wisdom is stronger.
At first I thought it was because with fewer toxins in it, I was able to let go more and be open to receive intuitive guidance. I then thought back to before my first Reiki attunement, when the Reiki master I was working with instructed me to fast and take salt baths for 3 days before the attunement, so I’d be a better vessel in which to receive the attunement. I remember having some pretty intense dreams during that time, as well as waking visualizations.
Though in Western Civilization, detoxification is a fairly new practice, and is more associated with maintaining proper digestion and promoting healthy skin (remember, the skin is a detoxifying organ!), in other parts of the world and even here before the Europeans arrived, native peoples have incorporated some sort of detoxification into their lifestyles, sometimes for physical health, but more often for spiritual reasons.
Of course mind-body-spirit healing systems like Ayurveda, Mayan Herbalism, and Traditional Chinese Medicine do not differentiate between physical and spiritual health, as all is connected–but often detoxification and/or purification rituals were done in preparation for all sorts of rituals, divination, prayer, shamanic journeying, questing, etc. Detox methods?like fasting, hot springs, sweat lodges, herbal preparations, sauna, binding the body, and fasting continue to be used not only for physical health, but also to aid one’s?spiritual work.
Why do you think that is?
There are several ideas which I think have merit–my original thought that accumulated toxins interfere with one’s ability to be open to receiving spiritual guidance is one, because toxins are built up negative energy in the body. They also cause stagnation along the body’s energetic pathways, which prevent the flow of life-force energy (AKA chi, qi, prana, chu’lel, etc.)–which some believe is the same type of energy as intuition. There’s also the belief?that ailments have equally as strong mental, emotional, and spiritual causes as they do physical causes. Whether someone’s poor diet and lifestyle is linked to mental or spiritual illness or vice versa isn’t the question–you might as well as which came first, the chicken or the egg–but recognizing the validity of both causes is important. So often in a native tribe or community, when someone is ill, the shaman or wise woman will seek to figure out whether the cause is physical or spiritual, and regardless of the findings, some sort of detoxification technique is utilized.
I personally believe that skin conditions have both physical and spiritual causes.
The reason for that is because something I’ve learned in my studies of herbalism and metaphysics is that the effects are often a mirror image of the cause. What we see on the skin might be a reflection of internal health, but sometimes continued symptoms on the surface can cause more within. This is something I observed early in my coaching practice, and is part of what prompted me to want to become a minister in the first place–to be able to help people heal on those deeper levels. During a detox, people not only experience physical “healing crisis” symptoms, but also emotional releases and sometimes spiritual awakenings. This, to me is a manifestation of the?link between detox and spirituality.
Should people detox more often to gain greater spiritual wisdom?
This comes with a big NO. Detoxification is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly, and if done without proper guidance or knowledge, can be quite dangerous to the mind, body, and spirit. Taking regular salt baths, saunas, and some herbal teas can be quite healthful–as is doing a smoothie or soup fast once a week as long as your health permits it (of course, consult with a qualified health professional before undertaking any type of cleanse or detox)–but longer-term detox diets and liquid cleanses should be done with care and are best done at certain times of the year.
Regardless of if and when you do detox, it’s important to understand that detoxing in and of itself doesn’t make you more spiritual or pure. What I learned from my metaphysics professor, Dr. Paul Leon Masters, is that during an elimination diet (and even when following a strict vegetarian or vegan diet for some people), or during a fast, it’s not that you’re avoiding foods that block intuition that makes you more spiritually open, it’s more that the body isn’t busy exerting energy on the process of digestion (which normally takes up about 70% of the body’s energy), and due to the lack of certain nutrients, it actually becomes so depleted of energy that it lets go of whatever resistance to the meditation or other spiritual ritual it had, and just lets go. He refers to this as the Exhaustion Principle. This also explains why people tend to sleep often and deeply during a cleanse, but report extremely vivid dreams.
What do you think about the link between detox and spirituality?
Do you do regular or periodic detox? If so, have you experienced a deeper connection with your spirituality and/or more ease getting to “that place” in meditation? Please share your experiences in the comments below, or in our private Spiritual Skincare Sundays discussion group on Facebook.
*Image 2?by Caducosity, image 3 by Robert Gourley.
