Whole Body Cleanse & Purification

Since ancient times, people have practiced cleansing and purifying to attain better health, a sharper mind and new heights of spirituality. While modern diet gurus recommend cleanses that focus on the digestive tract, traditional forms of whole-body cleansing include massage, sweating and exercise and meditation practices like those offered by traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda. Cleansing practices can be dangerous. Consult your doctor before embarking on any cleanse.

Types

A cleanse can be as simple as refocusing your diet on healthy, organic produce and unprocessed foods, although many dietary cleanses include more intensive strategies like fasting, juicing and the strategic use of supplements. Many cultures worldwide have traditional forms of cleansing that any member of the community can enjoy. In Finland, the sauna, a small heated room or hut, is part of many family Christmas traditions. The heat in the sauna stimulates sweating, which can release toxins and improve circulation, Dr. Andrew Weil says in an article on saunas for The Finnish Sauna online. For those who wish to go deeper, traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda both recommend a complex approach to total purification, including meditation, exercise, dietary changes, herbs and healing practices like acupuncture.

Avenues

You might think that your digestive and urinary tracts are the only routes for eliminating toxins, but the skin and lungs are also major detoxification systems, according to the website of Nature's Intentions Naturopathic Clinic in Toronto, Ontario. Deep breathing, massage and sweating regularly are great ways to take advantage of these two little-recognized cleansing avenues.

Features

Recognizing that many people who consume a diet high in refined flour and other processed foods have problems with elimination, modern cleanses including naturopath and nutrition counselor Brenda Watson's "Fiber35 Diet" recommend drinking plenty of fluids and using fiber and supplements like magnesium to get your bowels moving. Broader-based regimens like those in Ayurveda help you identify a diet plan that works best for your body type in order to eliminate imbalances and maximize health, according to the website Ayurveda for You.

Special Regimens

Ayurveda includes a healing regimen called panchakarma that aims to eliminate the impurities caused by poor digestion, also known as ama, according to the website of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Panchakarma is an intensive process that includes a special diet, herbs, enemas, massage and nasal sprays. In North American sweat lodge ceremonies, participants enter a dome-shaped structure where they sit around a central fire pit, according to the website of Anishnawbe Health Toronto. The sweat lodge facilitators place hot rocks in the fire pit and pour cedar water over them to produce a cleansing steam. While sweating helps to cleanse the body, the real aim of a sweat lodge ceremony is purification of the spirit.

Lifelong Practices

According to the wisdom of the traditional practices, it's better to view whole body purification as a work in progress rather than something you can do in a weekend. In the traditional Chinese practices of tai chi and qigong, the practitioner acquires strength and longevity by meticulously eliminating internal blocks to health through a lifetime of exercise, meditation, emotional balance and healthy eating.