Detoxing using herbal medicine can be simple and easy to implement into your life. An herbal detoxification program can go for one week or one year; it really is up to you, your lifestyle and what condition you want to treat. And it does not have to be complicated or full of self-denial for extended periods.  Given a straightforward simple diet, herbal medicines really do the majority of the work for you. As a medical herbalist, I have been detoxing people for over 11 years and in this time I have witnessed first hand that you cannot detoxify the physical body, without detoxing the emotional aspect of a person at the same time.

How Do We Get Toxic?
There are many ways that we can build up toxins in our bodies, from the air that we breathe to the foods that we eat that contain pesticides and additives, to over or under exercising and absorbing pollutants through the skin, living in a city or using chemical-based products. Your job or career may be causing you to absorb toxicity e.g. through non-organic
farming practices or some types of factory work.
What you may not know is that the greatest way that toxicity builds up
in our bodies, is through repetitive negative thoughts and feelings and suppressed emotions.

The Channels Of Elimination
There are six main channels of elimination in the body, these are the skin, the lymphatic system/ blood, the lungs, the kidneys, the liver (including the gall
bladder) and the digestive tract (including small intestine or bowel).

What I have realised through my clinical practice is that by concentrating on the last three of these channels, the first three are simultaneously being healed, purified and nourished…

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) it is recognised that the liver governs the skin.  Therefore skin complaints greatly improve or heal entirely by treating the liver.  The liver also purifies the blood, so clear liver, clean blood.  Seventy percent of lymphatic tissue lies within the intestines, therefore by detoxifying the bowel, the lymphatic tissue in other parts of the body, such as the breasts, simultaneously become cleansed and nourished.  (I recommend my intestinal detoxification program to anyone with cystic breasts and/or breast cancer).

The lymphatic system also benefits greatly during a kidney detox, as the kidneys are once more able to maintain water balance within the body.  In Chinese understanding the lungs and
the large  intestine (bowel) are like brother and sister, if you detox the bowel, the lungs
will also release their toxins.  

The most obvious example of this connection is in relation to bad breath. The lungs breathe out the essence of the bowel.

Herbal Detox With a Difference
In the next three editions of Holistic Bliss, my section will introduce the reader to a deeper form of detoxification, that of herbal organ detoxification.  Why is it superior?  By dissolving kidney crystal formations/stones, dissolving and/or flushing out liver and gall bladder gravel/stones and removing the mucoid plaque (old poo) from the small and large intestines, it is possible to cure and prevent dis-ease on one of the most profound levels available to humanity.

If you are generally quite well, you may decide to detoxify your body in order to rejuvenate and rest your internal organs and give your body the holiday that it deserves! Preventative medicine really is the best medicine. Increased energy and well being is on everybody’s wish list. And after a detoxification program that is exactly how you will be feeling.

In upcoming editions, Miriam will take you on a journey of liver, kidney and intestinal detoxification, ending with an article on the healing crisis.

Miriam Young practices from Flourish Remedies Herbal Pharmacy, in Doonan.  She runs her 9-day ‘Detox For Life’ Health Retreats at ‘The Retreat Beach Houses’ on Peregian Beach every spring and autumn.  

You may contact Miriam on 07 5449 1130 and explore www.detox4life.com.au