Tips for Detox: Detox Your Body With Yoga

'Yoga to Detox Your Body: Deep Body Cleansing Yoga Exercise'

Extract from Kundalini Yoga

Kundalini Yoga is a powerful tool for cleansing both body and mind. The Kundalini Yoga exercise described below is excellent for cleansing your body of toxins and helps you to detoxify your entire system.  It can be added at the end of any Kriya - a cleansing technique - and should be done prior to the final relaxation period. This pose is officially a part of Kundalini Yoga Warrior Kriya, which is an advanced kriya that I will publish in the future, and it uses a powerful breathing technique to help purge and cleanse the system.  As with all yoga techniques, don’t overdo this exercise and build up your capacity slowly. This particular exercise will be part of the following 3 free e-books here on Mastery of Meditation, as it is a Hatha Yoga pose, a Kundalini Yoga exercise as well as a yoga breathing technique: Free Hatha Yoga Poses, Online Kundalini Yoga Exercises & Free Yoga Breathing Exercises E-book. One last thought before I jump into the details of this terrific pose.  I was once attending a yoga camp in upstate NY, where a Hatha Yoga teacher was teaching the class.  She asked us to do this pose and afterwards commented that she could immediately tell the Kundalini Yoga students apart from the rest, because they are absolutely not shy and seem to have no social inhibitions when asked to do yoga exercises that are a odd, weird, crazy or even downright embarrassing. I tell my students exactly that when I ask them to do any technique which is strange or embarrassing.  I remind them they are Kundalini Yoga students and Kundalini Yogis are fearless and have no inhibitions.  We do whatever is necessary to make spiritual progress.  So remember this if you feel uncomfortable doing the exercise below.  It is cleansing your system of garbage and toxins, don’t worry about how it looks, don’t hold back, just go for it! If you are not a Kundalini Yogi, feel free to add this exercise at the end of your yoga session or exercise routine to help cleanse your body of released toxins.

Yoga Exercise to Cleanse & Detox Your Body

Illustration #1 Detox Yoga Dog BOF

Illustration #2 Detox Yoga Dog BOF

Yoga Exercise to Cleanse & Detox the Body:

a. Instructions for practicing Detoxifying 'Panting Dog Breath of Fire':

• Yes the pose is called 'Panting Dog Breath of Fire'! 
• As illustrated above, sit up on your heels in Rock pose (also called Hero Pose), except lean forward slightly.  Rest your hands on your knees as shown. 
• Open your mouth wide and stick your tongue out as far as it will go.  Now begin to pant like a dog.  Remember what I said above and don’t hold back.  You are a Kundalini Yogi, just stick your tongue out and pant like a dog.  All the breathing should be taking place through the mouth. 
• Emphasize the exhalation, and with every exhalation your stomach should be contracting in towards your spine sharply (similar to Kapalbhati Yoga Pranayama in this way).  The pace should be fast, just like a tired dog panting. 
• If you feel a metallic taste emerging on the back of your tongue, this is toxic heavy metals being release and cleansed from deep within your tissue, keep going!

b. Duration for Detoxifying 'Panting Dog Breath of Fire':

• 1 - 5 minutes.  If 1 minute is too much you can start with 15 seconds and build up from there as well.

c. Benefits of Detoxifying 'Panting Dog Breath of Fire':

• Detoxifies and cleanses your system of garbage, toxins and heavy metals.
• Strengthens and tones your abdominal muscles.
• Builds your respiratory capacity.
• Promotes good health and longevity.

d. Practice Tips for Detoxifying 'Panting Dog Breath of Fire':

• Like I mentioned above, you can add this exercise at the end of any Kundalini Yoga Kriya.  It helps your system purge itself of any toxins that have been released into the blood stream as a result of the Kriya.
• After doing this cleansing exercise, I also recommend drinking plenty of water once your yoga session is completed, to further help wash out any released toxins.
• Given the amount of pollution in our air and water, we can’t afford not to incorporate 'Panting Dog Breath of Fire' into our routine from time to time.  It really will help cleanse and detoxify your entire system.

Tips for Detox: How To Detox Your Body With Yoga

How to detox your body

Excerpts from Detox Blog

Following are various articles dedicated to detox in all its aspects.  They cover nutrition, health, exercise, and other dimensions of the detoxification process.

Yoga Poses For Body Detoxification

How yoga poses may affect your body’s natural detoxification process is simple to understand once we can come to an idea as to what is involved in the detox process itself first.  There are several processes and organ systems that your body uses to detox on a daily basis.  These systems were designed or created in your body to help you filter out what your body needs for nourishment and growth and eliminate the toxins and unnecessary waste products.

The organs and tissues that are involved in body detoxification are contained within three main systems in your body:  circulation, digestive and lymph.  As your blood flows and is pumped through your arteries and capillaries, it is constantly exchanging oxygen and other nutrients with your cells and tissues and taking back the waste by way of your veins.  This system keeps the flow of nutrient and waste in harmony within your body.  The veins then send the blood through your liver and ultimately is filtered again and the waste ends up leaving through urine or feces.  Your lymph system collects or drains the intracellular fluid where it can be dealt with by way of your immune cells and ultimately dumps into your veins for the final filtering just described.  Then, to follow with this body detox process, the digestive system then is necessary to absorb larger nutrients, electrolytes and water mainly through the colon and eliminate the rest through your bowels as feces.  You really couldn’t design a better “how to detox” program if you had to write it yourself.

How Yoga Poses Work With This Natural Detoxification Process

There are several ways in which we can assist our body in this toxin elimination process it goes through each day.  It isn’t that it doesn’t work, we just have very high demands for the modern way we live our lives.  Any assistance we

Spinal twists are great poses to assist with your body detoxification.

can provide our body with the detox process is that much better for our health and well-being.  Many types of exercise are great to assist your body with one main aspect of its natural detox mechanism which is breath.  Your lungs are a major organ responsible for a big part of the detox process.  The following are simply a few detox yoga poses that assist the major systems previously described.

First of all, consider the spinal twist.  It has many variations, consider Marichiyasana 3/Marichi’s Twist or Ardha Matsyendrasana as suitable asanas (poses/postures).  It is based upon the idea that the twisting motion, combined with full deep breaths, assists your body in gently squeezing and moving the toxins through your body – like gently squeezing and wringing out a sponge.  Photo Credits

A second pose is often referred to as a resting pose in many yoga fitness traditions.  It is called Adho Mukha Svanasana  (downward-facing dog).  This is a well-known pose by name and has many benefits.  One of the benefits as we are describing here is with circulation and lymph flow.  Also, by the nature of your position, it is also a gentle abdominal stretch and digestive aid.  Photo Credits

Finally, Viparita Karani, the pose that is easier to call legs-up-the-wall is a good one for detox purposes.  Again, by opposing gravity, the flow of circulation and lymph is enhanced.  Additionally, as you rest on your back, it soothes your nerves and allows your body to go into a parasympathetic mode rather than the daily fight or flight, stress response mode it may typically be in.  All three of these yoga poses for detox can be done in a sequence or practice that can be done daily.  The benefits of your yoga practice will also enhance your mental and emotional well-being, another important aspect to the detox process.

Tips for Detox: Detox Your Mind, Detox Your Body

Exercise Is A Wonderful Body Detox Technique

If you are considering a detox, you probably have a specific reason in mind.  Maybe your goal is to lose some weight or just firm up a bit.  Some people do a detox for strictly health reasons and feel lighter and more clear mentally after they have done a colon cleanse.  Another popular reason to do a body detox is to simply remove the accumulation of toxins in one’s cells and tissues.  In other articles, we have discussed how many aspects of a detox are involved from diet to detoxing your mind.

The focus of this article is to address another component of the physical body aspect of detoxing, which is exercise.  You see, what you put into your physical body in the way of foods and drink or even medicines, pollution and commercial agricultural by-products is only one aspect of what needs to be addressed.  Sure, if you are constantly eating processed foods, soda/pop, and other refined food products then you have an obvious source of toxins entering your body.  If, on the other hand, you simply eat commercially grown fruits, vegetables and take some prescribed medication, you may not be aware that there are potential toxins accumulating in your body from that as well.  This is by no means a case for you to stop taking your medications to live on a water fast alone.  The point is that there are toxins that exist in our environment and are entering our bodies in a variety of ways.

What Type of Exercises Help With A Body Detox?

Running is great exercise to help with your body detox.

The key point to be made with exercise is that any is a good thing.  It doesn’t require an expensive or exclusive gym membership or fancy machine to get the kind of exercise necessary to detox your body.  Since one of the main forms of natural body detoxification is through your sweating, this is what you’ll need to produce more of.  So, exercise that causes your heart rate to increase and your body to heat up is what is most important.  However, you can also get a lot of benefit from having your breath rate increase as well.  It is really not possible, to any large degree, to have one without the other, it just deserves mentioning.  This is because your lungs are another natural source for detoxifying your body.  Cleansing breath and breathing is becoming a lot more common language.  It involves breathing in the nose deeply and out the mouth fully.  It can sound something like wind entering your nostrils and then a “haahhhhhhh” sound as you exhale.

There is no specific how to detox exercise book or manual.  You just need to use your body feedback as a rule.  Running, cycling and other traditional forms of cardiovascular exercise could be used for detox purposes, but you don’t need to really push yourself.  In another type of exercise, like yoga, specific poses and postures are known to have detoxing benefits for your colon and internal organs.  For example, postures that involve spinal twists, downward dog and legs up the wall are great yoga poses for detoxifying your body.  With all of the forms of exercise mentioned, it is critical that you are consuming adequate amounts of water that may be much more than you are used to.

the Benefits of Physical Exercise and Fitness: 'Why Yoga is the Best form of Exercise for your Body'

'Why Yoga is the Best form of Exercise for your Body'

Power Yoga Blog - March 29, 2010

Yoga is an ancient science geared towards bringing both body and mind to a state of perfect balance.  While the ultimate goal of yoga is spiritual in nature, practicing yoga yields tremendous benefits on the physical, mental and emotional level of the practitioner. Looking back at the roots of Yoga, it appears that the original practices originated in India around 5,000 years ago and were perfected over time in an effort to provide the perfect combination of physical and mental practices that would ultimately bring vibrant health, strength, longevity, and stress-free living to its practicing adepts.  No other physical discipline is as complete and holistic or brings such impressive results as yoga does.  That's why Yoga has endured the test of time, transcending scores of generations, governments, cultures and religions in order to offer its benefits to all people throughout the ages.  Because Yoga understands that individuals have distinct physical and mental compositions (personalities) and are therefore attracted by different disciplines and sources of entertainment for their mind, it has adapted and given birth to many branches which cater to different groups of personalities.  Some people may have a more physical approach while others may prefer mental activities, yet, others will be drawn to more emotional pursuits while some are very spiritual in nature.  Whichever type of Yoga fits your personality is the Yoga you'll practice with more ease and enjoyment and which will yield the most powerful results in terms of your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.  This is exactly what the ultimate goal of Yoga is, i.e. the union with all aspects of yourself on all levels of your being, and it is not as difficult as you may think.  In the West, the primary focus of Yoga has been on the physical aspect and benefits of this system and there is nothing wrong with that.  After all, spiritual masters themselves say that ‘your body is a temple' and you cannot neglect it without negatively effecting your health and overall well-being. The Asana branch of Hatha Yoga which entails all the physical postures of yoga primarily focuses on keeping a clean, healthy body and mind so that you can thrive on all levels of your being and truly enjoy life, light and carefree.  In order to achieve the best possible results, Asana Yoga blends focused breathing and deep concentration with physical poses. It joins breathing, moving and thinking together. The benefits of yoga are extensive.  Many books have been written on the subject and but none can give a fully exhaustive list of all the advantages brought about by the practice of yoga.  Typically, an Astanga Yoga practice includes poses dedicated to engage every cell of your body, heart, kidneys, liver, eyes, bones, brain, nervous system. It is, beyond comparison, the epitome of perfect exercise programs that is essential to complete health. Oxygenating the entire bodily system is one of the greatest benefits of vigorous exercise and the deep, regular breathing inherent in any Yoga practice strengthens and increases the lung's capacity of the practitioner. Astanga Yoga is by far the best, most complete form of exercise.  With each practice, your body’s muscles and bone fiber become stronger as you perfect each pose.  Further, unlike popular belief, yoga practices also include a cardio element, especially Astanga Yoga.  Astanga Yoga sequences are systematic and strengthen every muscle in the body, including the heart. If you practice Power or Astanga Yoga for just one hour a day, you will get as much ‘cardio' as if you had done a work-out at the gym.