Ayurvedic medicine is a system of healing that includes the physical, mental, and spiritual perspectives. Practiced in India for over 5000 years, this holistic approach to healing posits that disease arises due to imbalances in the multidimensional energy systems of the body. Ayurvedic treatments attempt to restore the body to a balanced state.
Liver Health
According to ayurveda, you possess a unique pattern of energy arising from three primary energy signatures, or doshas, which govern all biological life. Ayurvedic practitioners refer to these energy patters as vata, pitta, and kapha--corresponding to the elements of air, fire, and earth/water. Your state of health reflects the balance of these three doshas. Disease results when one or more of these doshas are aggravated.
Ayurveda stresses the importance of the liver in maintaining your health. An imbalance in the liver can produce many disease states due to an excess of pitta energy, producing excess heat in the body. This results from psychological disturbances, unhealthy diet and lifestyle, as well as environmental toxins.
To restore the liver to balance, ayurvedic liver cleansing techniques focus on cooling this abundance of heat energy through detoxification. The main ayurvedic self-detox methods include exercise, diet and ingesting certain herbs.
Concerning exercise, ayurveda recommends exercises that cleanse the the breath as well as through movement. The breathing exercises are called pranayama. By varying the intensity of your inhales and exhales, you purify the body of toxins while increasing oxygen intake.
Other exercises stimulate the liver to detox the body through various movements. For example, while sitting in a cross-legged position with your arms rounded in front and your fingers interlaced--as if you are holding a beach ball--inhale through your nose and twist to the left, then exhale while twisting to the right. Repeat these movements for 1 to 3 minutes.
Various herbs assist in strengthening the liver while removing excessive bile. According to Dr. David Frawley, detoxifying liver herbs include phyllanthus, katuka, barberry, nishot, guduchi, gotu kola, bhringaraj, and chiretta. Many green herbs such as dandelion, nettle, chickweed, and comfrey leaf produce similar purifying results.
Concerning diet, you need to ingest cooling foods heat-producing foods. You should eat a variety of raw vegetables and drink green vegetable juices while eliminating fried and excessively cooked food as well as coffee and alcohol.
Other more aggressive methods of detoxification include therapeutic vomiting, laxatives, medicated enemas, fasting, and cleansing of the sinuses. Many ayurvedic clinics combine all these cleansing methods into intensive sessions known as panchakarma. None of these methods should be attempted without consulting an ayurvedic practitioner or medical doctor familiar with ayurveda.
Tags: body through, while eliminating