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Q:
Once you find
out that you can detoxify at home, what are the recommendations for
self-detoxification?
A:
The
first thing to do is to prepare for detoxification by following these
recommendations for diet, spices, and daily routine. Spring is the best time
to detoxify, so you can start right away.
PREPARATION FOR
SELF-DETOX
(Fifteen Days)
I.
Follow the Detox Diet
1. Avoid ama-producing foods. In general, you'll want to avoid foods that
produce ama, such as leftovers, dead foods such as packaged, canned, frozen
foods. You'll also want to avoid foods that create garvisha, such as
non-organic foods, foods grown with chemicals, pesticides and chemical
fertilizers, and foods with chemical additives.
2. Eat ama-reducing foods. Favour vegetarian foods that are lighter, warm,
cooked and digestible. Avoid heavy dairy products such as cheese or yoghurt
(although lassi is good); foods that are fried or oily; raw foods of any
kind; heavy desserts; and foods with refined sugar and honey as these are
harder to digest and create ama. Avoid yeasted breads and dry breads such as
crackers. Freshly made flat breads, freshly made soups and dhal, organic
vegetables cooked with spices, and freshly made grains are ideal.
Certain fruits, vegetables and spices are especially helpful in detoxifying,
so you'll want to favour them during detoxification. Fruits:
cooked prunes, figs, apple, pears, pineapple and papaya.
Vegetables:
cooked leafy greens, brussel sprouts and cabbage.
Grains: rice,
barley, quinoa, amaranth, and kanji (rice water).
Spices:
ginger, turmeric, coriander, fennel and fenugreek. These spices help open up
the channels and support the flow of toxins from the skin, urinary tract,
colon and liver.
3. Choose foods according to your body type or imbalances. This will help
regulate your agni. For more information on diets and foods for pacifying
each of the three doshas, see our
Culinary Guide wall chart or
Contemporary
Ayurveda book.
4. Drink plenty of hot water throughout the day to flush toxins out of the
body through the urine. Or better still, choose one of the detoxifying
herbal waters mentioned later in this newsletter.
II. Follow the Detox
Routine
1. Get enough rest.
You may need more sleep while detoxifying. It's also important to go to bed
early (before 10 p.m.) and get up early (before 6 a.m.) as both staying up
late and sleeping late in the morning can flood the shrotas with toxins.
Practice the Transcendental Meditation® programme regularly.
2. Exercise each day.
Gentle exercise such as Yoga asanas and walking can support
detoxification by improving digestion and elimination and moving toxins out
of the body. Walking for twenty minutes or half an hour is ideal because it
allows you to breathe deeply, purify the respiratory system and supply the
cells with cleansing prana. Walking in the early morning especially helps
move toxins out of the body.
Yoga Asanas are designed to purify and enliven different organs of the body,
and they also enhance digestion and elimination, as does all exercise.
Pranayama breathing exercises are also excellent for cleansing the
respiratory system and other organs. During the preparation for detox and
the actual self-detox programme, it's best to avoid strenuous exercise.
3. Massage daily.
One of the most important purification procedures in Maharishi Ayurveda is
warm oil massage (abhyanga), and you can do it every day on your own.
Abhyanga loosens impurities from the shrotas and tissues, allowing them to
flow into the digestive tract, where they can be easily eliminated through
the bowel. While you're detoxifying, take a little extra time with your
morning massage, and you'll magnify the results many times.
Use warm oil massage with herbs added, such as
Vata, Pitta or Kapha Massage
Oils, as the herbs are chosen to penetrate the surface of the skin and reach
the deeper layers and tissues, purifying and nourishing the shrotas of the
skin. By gently massaging the whole body, you're also gently purifying other
organs as well. Increasing circulation also helps purify the blood.
Always follow your abhyanga with a warm (not hot) bath or shower.
III. Follow
Ama-Reducing Eating Habits
All through the year, and especially while detoxifying, it's important to
follow the Ayurvedic eating guidelines for reducing ama.
These include:
1. Do not fast or skip meals during any part of the self-detoxification
programme.
2. Eat at the same time every day so your agni can "fire up" for the meal.
3. Eat your main meal at noon and lighter meals at breakfast and dinner.
4. Eat while sitting down in a settled atmosphere; paying attention to the
food when you eat (no TV, no phones, no reading).
5. Engage in pleasant conversation with friends or family (no business
meetings or emotional discussions).
6. Eat only when the previous meal has been digested (no grazing or untimely
snacking--this really disrupts digestion. Eat only when you are hungry
again.
7. Sit quietly for a minute at the beginning of the meal (saying grace
before meals is one way to do this), and wait for a couple of minutes after
eating before leaving the table. This gives your digestion a settled start.
8. Leave a little space in your stomach at the end of the meal to give your
digestion room to function. Maharishi Ayurveda recommends that you regularly
eat to only 3/4 of your capacity. This last guideline is especially
important when you're on a detoxification programme. You don't want to
overeat when your body is detoxifying.
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