Are you a human sponge?
Life hits us from every angle. Each day we are bombarded with energy from computers, cell phones, television, news, our cats, bosses, partners, spouses, and just about anything else can go here. It’s a world of rapid motion and change. We are all empathic to some extent. What this means is that we are all little sponges that are constantly absorbing the energy around us. Some of us are more absorbent than others, but we are all on some level internalizing the world around us. The closer something is to us the more profound an effect it can have on us. If we have a disagreement with a friend it might not impact us as greatly as an argument with a partner. We also drink and eat things that affect us on multiple layers. We also begin to see physical manifestations of this collective build up within the body. An easy one to point out is eye strain from sitting in front of a computer. On a deeper level stressful situations can cause ulcers and cancer is even associated with deep traumatic emotion stored in the body. Our shoulders ache when we carry too much emotional weight and we even store old emotions in the shoulder blades. We all know that we carry life’s stress as well as any personal stress that floats through our system. So, this brings us to…
Hitting the Spiritual Flush Button
So, the example I am about to give is a harsh one, but it really illustrates the point. Imagine the body as a toilet, and all that gunk that we are collecting with out EVER flushing is just building up. Pretty disgusting image, huh? Good. Then is time to learn how to take the body into a state of cleanse and detox. There are several ways to wring out the body. We can cleanse through meditation, diet/fasting, and exercise/body movement. There are of course tons of ways to cleanse, but we are just going to focus a few from each of these catagories.
Meditation as a Cleansing Tool: The most basic and easiest way to enter into a cleanse is to focus on your breathing. As we inhale we are bringing in new connection, and as we exhale we are releasing. Many times a though will catch the inhalation, and people often forget to exhale. We move through life getting caught off guard, and when our breath is not centered it keeps us from being grounded. It keeps us from letting it all go. The are we breath in brings in the oxygen or bodies need to survive, when we exhale all the waste leaves us. We can attach positive affirmations of letting go and cleansing to each inhale and exhale we take. Breathing in the affirmation deeply, breathing out any resistance to living it fully. Depending on our particular meditation modality we can begin to go on a deeper internal journey. We might even be able to venture deeply into each chakra noticing where imbalances might be. Even in this space the breath is important in facilitating a release of those blockages. You can also chant mantras geared for specific energy connection, or you can simply sit and relax. Most of us rarely get to slow down. Coming into full presence in an action of rest can do wonders for all levels of the body and it can help you through the detoxification process.
Eating/Fasting: The body also responds to what we fuel it with. I know everyone reading this isn’t vegan/vegetarian. I also know that many of you that are not might not make the leap right away. The idea here is to do the best you can with what you can. The idea is to be aware of what we are putting into our bodies to provide fuel, nutrition and balance to the entire system. We have to give ourselves foods that will heal us. Raw fruits and vegetables of all varieties, cooked steamed veggies, nuts, etc. Creating balance on your place becomes a physical affirmation of balance to what you are about to place into your body. Make your own food as often as you can. This connects you energetically to the food from start to finish. You might not be able to do this every meal, but it is a great way to give the body a flush. Fasting from foods that cause damage to our bodies is also important. Clearing out sugars, caffeine, saturated fats, fast foods, etc. Most people hear the word “fast” and immediately shut down. Fasting isn’t that bad as long as you use proper structure when starting it off. The key to a fast is setting your intention for what you are removing from your diet. Don’t jump too far into the deep end right away. This can cause the body to go into shock on multiple levels. Sugars, caffeine, and other addictive food additives can have the same effect on the body as narcotics during the detox phase. It will be important for you to have a meditation structure in place, as well as a fasting plan. Fasting helps us to break out connection to addictive food substances. Fasting also brings control of those aspects of our lives back. We often reach out to food in emotional crisis, in turn giving away personal power. Those are the food items that you want to focus on in the fast. This will help you to regain control over not only your attachment to the food substance, but to the emotions you are reaching out with. My recommendation is to not set a specific time limit for a fast. You start it, then you stop the fast. When we are working through emotional food attachment we do not want to begin attaching guilt to the act of eating. This can take you down a dangerous road. If you set your goal at 30000 days of fasting and then you eat the second day in, you may internalize this as failure vs success. Even fasting for a few hours can be a lot for some. Give yourself space to let go, to re-balance, and to re-connect to the self.
Movement/Exercise: Physical movement is something we do daily. So, here is your tool. Move with intention. When you are walking to the bus stop in the morning, set and intention. Give the energy from that walk to some area of 
your life that might need it. Give it to some place, some body out in the world that might need a little extra boost. Let each step you take during the day ground out any attached stress, distress or disease that might be present in the body. So, you can attach a positive affirmation of release or just be present in each movement fully. If you want to take this further you can take a yoga class or head to the gym. Yoga in itself is moving energy towards specific functions. Heart openers open the heart chakra to the sky and often directly into the ground. This allows us to do a deep release when we connect into that sacred space of breath and movement. Even working out can help to move energy into bettering the body. Lifting weights fuels the muscles with new blood and growth. We can attach affirmations of growth, movement and connection to those parts of ourselves that might have been dormant.
Release can take many forms. These are just a few ways to get the energy moving and to begin the “wringing out” or “flushing” process. Each of us has to decide what is the best form for us to connect into. We MUST do this daily. Over the next couple of weeks I’ll take each of these modes of cleansing a little deeper to show you how to detox fully from the inside out.
Please feel free to post questions you might want me to address in one of the up coming blog posts on dextoxing/cleansing. Or if there is an area of detox/cleanse you want me to focus on let me know and I’ll add those in as well.
Mahayogi Das CFT CSN MAT PAT
http://www.michaelbrazell.com
michael@michaelbrazell.com
the temple of the spirit transcends separations we may all have in faith paths. We choose our food. There is sacrifice involved in the preparation. The consumption also brings in a connection to energy in a way that even a non-spiritual person can agree with. This is also one of the few actions where we still foster a connection to community. Most food comes from the earth in some way, it brings in the elements: earth in bringing life, water in growth, fire in creation, and air in spreading the seeds and continuing the cycle. So, eating is a deeply spiritual action.
Tending the mystery 