Toxins: Effects and How to Remove

Just like water can't flow properly through a drain that is blocked, our blood circulation and hence the nutrient absorption won't be efficient if there are toxins in our blood.
Examples of some effects of the presence of toxins in the body:

• Skin problems like acne, skin allergies, rashes
• Kidney stones
• Chronic fatigue and low energy levels
• Swelling
• Stomach irritations
• Altered metabolism (which can lead to obesity)
  
• Weakened immunity due to low absorption of nutrients
• Even cancer in serious cases
  

Toxins are absorbed from the environment or because some chemicals are produced in the body due to negative emotions. Toxins accumulate because our body is unable to excrete those in some way. Some most common reasons for toxin accumulation:

• Improper breathing
• Lack of exercise
• Low fluid intake
• Negative thoughts and beliefs, stress
• Improper diet
• Incomplete excretion of waste products
  

 Ways to purify blood (rakta shodhan in Sanskrit) and the body by removing the toxins:

• Proper breathing: 80% of the toxins are removed from the body via the breath. For more details on breathing, check out my post.
• Yoga and yoga breathing routines like Pranayama: This calms the mind and removes stress which can be a major cause in the toxin build-up.
  
• Sweating: Sweat is another way the body releases toxins. The ideal way to sweat would be to exercise but one could also use sauna once in a while or other ways to sweat.
• Regular exercise: Exercise improves blood circulation and aids in the proper functioning of body organs and produces sweat.
  
• Drink lot of fluids: Drink at least 8-10 glasses of water (more if you sweat a lot). You can also have juices or add something to water like lemon juice, electrolytes, glucose etc to replenish the loss of essential electrolytes from the body. In fact, warm water with the juice of 1 lemon taken in the morning on an empty stomach is a great liver detoxifier, and has been shown to aid in weight loss.
  
• Ayurvedic blood cleansing: You could try some commercially available ayurvedic compositions used for cleansing the blood and the body. You could also use some herbs that aid in cleansing the blood like Neem, Triphala, Turmeric, Manjishta.
  
• Diet improvements: Include food in your diet that naturally helps cleanse the body - fiber rich foods like whole grains, green vegetables, fruits etc. And avoid processed food, food containing preservatives or any kind of chemicals in it.
  
• Fasting: Various forms of fasting could be regularly undertaken to let the digestive system remove toxins. You could go on a fruit fast for a day where only fruits and water are had during the whole day (you could have an early dinner to make it easier). You could also go for a complete fast where only water is had during the day. The first few times fasting would seem difficult but after that you would notice a feeling of being active, light and your thoughts would improve. Fasting is supposed to make the mind calm and is suitable for meditation. Make sure you start fasting with one day at a time - maybe once in a week or ten days. Ensure that you don't indulge in too much eating the next day. Fasting will be effective if we have a regular balanced diet during the non-fasting days.
  
• Go caffeine free: Or at least reduce the intake of caffeine.
• Sleep well: Have a regular sleep schedule so that the body has enough rest and the biological cycle is well maintained.
  
• Ayurvedic Massage: Massage improves blood circulation. Upon absorption through the skin, the medicated oils help to remove toxins from the system.

Please share your experiences or any more suggestions for toxin removal. Also, it would be great to hear from you after you use these techniques.
More later!