Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Dry Skin Brushing


Back in 2006, when I first began my journey to healing through diet through diet and nutrition. I began a researching and reading a lot. I never take just one resource, I tend to read a lot and use wisdom and common sense before I just believer or do. In this process, I came across Dry Skin Brushing

Okay, so I know this sounds weird, right? 

Our skin is our largest organ, yes organ! It also accounts for 1/4th of our body's detoxification every day. It eliminates 1-2 pounds of waste daily. It is known as our 3rd kidney, lungs being the 2nd. It's the last to receive nutrients and the first to show signs of improper balance and deficiency. When your skin cannot properly eliminate toxins, it cause acnes, itchiness, eczema, hives and body odor. Did you know that body odor is an indicator of toxic build up? Clogged pores prevent your body from effectively releasing toxins. When toxins are unable to be released through the skin, they will be stored in fat cells, contributing to cellulite and other fatty deposits or re-circulated back into the blood stream. When this happens the kidneys, livers and other detox organs become overloaded. We all know exfoliating our skin is good for us, right? It's also invigorating for our skin. It increases our blood supply and brings nourishment and oxygen to that area, also improving circulation of the skin and keeping the pores of the skin open. When we stimulate our skin and nerve beds, we can set natural healing in motion through out our body, also increasing a normal healing process. 

If you think about the amazing way God created our bodies, they were made to heal themselves. If you get a cut on your skin, it heals. If you break a bone, when it's reset, it heals. When we have a temperature or pain, our body is telling us, sending a signal, that something is wrong, that we need to slow down and pay attention. In our fast pace society, we tend to want a magical fix, a pill to make everything better. I can tell you friends, it's not that simple! 

If you read my post yesterday, you'll know I haven't been well for several moths now. I will say that over that last 3 years, I've seriously lacked in the dry skin brushing area, partially living in community, sharing a bathroom and busyness. I had begun to get back into a routine  before I got sick, but I'm back on track (for the most part). :) 

Benefits Dry Skin Brushing 

  • Helps with digestions and nurtures the body.
  • Stimulates blood and lymph flow and cleans toxins from lymphatic system. Dry skin brushing helps move lymph fluid and jump-start our health. Our lymphatic systems is an important part of our cleansing and immune system. It cleanses and restores our cells, however it must be moved through quickly so we don't end up with swollen tissues, particularly in our ankles. It stimulates the lymph canals to drain toxic matter into the colon, which purifies the entire system, which enables the lymph to do it's job and keep blood and other vital tissues detoxifies. 
  • Removes dead skin cells and other debris collected in pores. This helps improve skin texture and cell renewal. Dry skin is a sign of detoxification. It's important to remove them to prevent clogging our system. When clogged pores are eliminating, our skin is able to absorb nutrients better, contributing to overall body health.  
  • Increase and stimulate circulation. As mentioned above, this encourages discharge of metabolic waste, improving lymphatic drainage throughout the body. When our bodies are free of toxins, it runs more efficiently in all areas.
  • Tightens skin, reduces cellulite and increases cell renwal. Who doesn't want to have tighter skin (look younger) and have less cellulite? People pay lots of money for this. In order to see results, you must do this daily for months, but the payoff will be well worth it. Dry Skin Brushing tightens the skin because blood flow is increased and increasing circulation to the skin, which helps reduce the appearance of cellulite. The stimulation creates new skin cells which tightens and regenerates overall skin health and beaty. By massaging and stimulating the skin, the toxic deposits of stored fatty tissues that pucker up under the skin into cellulite are broken up. **Cellulite is TOXIC! It's is toxic material that has accumulated in our body's fat cells that our body was able to eliminate. 
  • Stimulates the nervous system and tones the muscles. When our nerve ends in our skin are stimulated, our nerves are rejuvenated and individual muscle fevers are activating, which results in toner muscles. Many of us sit at computers all day and have inactive lifestyles, which can lead to stiff/sore necks and shoulders. Increasing the blood flow increases energy that helps us feel more energetic. 
  • Stimulates hormone and oil glands. Sweating is an important part of the detoxification process but when our pores are clogged, we can have foul body odor. Over time this will go away, but may get worse before it gets better. Daily brushing can also help the skin produce the oil it needs to stay healthy. 
  • Strengthens the immune system. Dry skin brushing can reduce the length of illness and infections because toxins are being moved quickly through the body and stimulating the lymph to eliminate waste from the body. 
  • Improves exchange between cells.

How to do Dry Skin Brushing

Buy a Natural, NOT synthetic, bristle brush. I use one like this one sold on Amazon. I don't think this is the actual one, but mine has a removable head. I bought mine at WholeFoods. 

Buy one with a long handle so you can reach all areas of your body, especially the ones that aren't so easy to reach. 

Brush BEFORE showering or bathing, at least ONCE a day, TWICE, if possible. It will not have the same effect on wet skin and will stretch your skin. 

Brush LIGHTLY over and around your breast and do NOT brush the nipples. 

Use long motions toward the heart, NOT back and forth. 

The skin should not become red. If it does, you're probably doing it too hard. 

Brush each part of your body vigorously and completely, several times. Brushing your WHOLE body. 

START with the soles of your feet as the nerve endings there affect your WHOLE body, next brush your ankles, calves, and thighs, then stomach and buttocks and lastly your hands to arms. 

ALWAYS brush TOWARD your heart. 

Do circular counter-clockwise strokes on your abdomen. 

Take a WARM bath or shower, which should be followed by a COOL rinse at the end to invigorate blood circulation and stimulate surface warmth. 

Wash your brush every few week in water and allow it to DRY. 

Avoid brushing anywhere you have cuts, broken skin, rash or infection. 

You may find large amounts of lymph mucoid in your stool after a day or two of beginning brushing. This is perfectly normal as your body is emptying out the backlog of mucoid from the lymphatic system and this is the effect of detoxifying the lymph system. 

I would love to hear from you if you have questions. 

Happy Brushing!


                                                               






2 comments:

Mom&Dot said...

Wow very interesting! Thanks for sharing!

Becca said...

I'm intrigued--I think I'll try this! - Rebecca Read