Yoga for Mindful Cleansing

Mindfully eliminate bloating, gas and fatigue

These days it seems like everywhere you go there is a new cleansing diet. At one time in my life I would easily get swept away with the current trying all different types of detoxes and trying to lift my mood and enhance my physical strength. I have always been slightly underweight and what I lack in quickness of thought I make up for in hard work. That is why I would invest time and energy in many different detox routines hoping to get the results that would springboard me towards the type of health that I truly desired.

While I did often experience short term changes I realized that by bouncing from one cleanse to the other I was no longer sure what was helping and what was hurting. Yoga has long been used to help increase mindfulness and to allow you to become more aware of your body and the effect of foods and exercises on it. Through my interest in cleansing I became an Ayurvedic practitioner and I have been leading seasonal cleanses for the last 10 years.

The secret ingredient in a cleanse is yoga. It helps participants become more self-aware and is one of the best strategies for maximizing the effect of a detox. I no longer believe in the heroic cleanses that ask for extreme restriction in order to attain far off goals. Instead I find that simple yoga sequences can have profound effects on the body. If we look at change like evolution it takes many small incremental changes over time in order for the genome to change to be able to adapt more effectively to its environment. By using 20 minute sequences and making yoga a small part of your day 6 days a week it allows for some profound changes to start to mount.

As I like to say “eventually all your bad habits will give you up.” This means that through dedication to small actions like incorporating yoga into your routine you can start to receive the long term benefits that go along with being more aware of your body’s needs. Although exercise may boost your confidence and make you feel stronger it is not until you become aware of your needs and are able to act in a way that is in accordance with your future self’s best interest. Then you will truly experience the benefits outlined in most cleansing approaches.

So today may be the day that you start your journey towards your best self by using yoga. I can tell you from my own experience that by doing 20 minutes of mindful yoga daily I have experienced less bloating, gas and fatigue. This is mainly because the yoga aligns me in such a way that I make decisions that are consistent with my long term goals. I hope that can also help you experience these benefits.

Ross, A., & Thomas, S. (2010). The health benefits of yoga and exercise: a review of comparison studies. The journal of alternative and complementary medicine, 16(1), 3-12. http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/acm.2009.0044