Detox - Sweating through your skin (Note 4 of 6)

[David Ashanti]

Skin – The largest organ in our body (an average of fourteen to eighteen square feet) plays the greatest role in this superficial world of ours. People will judge you in seconds on how you looked and not your personality nor your character. Beautiful skin may be “skin deep”, it gets you jobs, love and even out of speeding ticket, so I am told.

Not commonly known, skin is a breathing organ. The producer and director of a James Bond Movie – Gold Finger, learn this fact painfully, the model who had her body coated with gold paint die of suffocation at the set. Our skin is also a part of our ingestion system; it will absorb anything you put on it, good examples of this are nicotine and morphine patch.

Skin is also an excreting organ, the fact that deodorant and perfume are billion dollars industries is good testimony to this; no one will disagree with me on this statement.

There we have this organ stressing out trying to help us excrete unwanted toxic materials that our other organs have difficulty to reach; we then spend whatever it takes to stop this process in order to be acceptable in society. Fortunately, sweating at a gym is still regarding as trendy, attractive and sexy.

For those of us who are lazy and not too swift on the treadmill, dry brushing, sauna and hot bath are good substitutes. Bathing is getting to be too time consuming in our busy life, most of us settled for an 8 minutes (I was told this is the average time for North American) shower.

When you feel really fatigue (your body is telling you to relax and detox), run a hot bath, add two cups of natural sea salt or Epsom salt and soak for at least 20 minutes. You will love this, as your aches and pain starts to melt away… Some people prefer essential oil, that works too. If you don’t have a bath, get a bucket and have a foot bath.

Sauna; what I am about to say is going to upset a few people. The sauna has been a traditional detox for centuries in many cultures. It is also a way people socialize throughout history. Wet or dry sauna both causes our skin to heat up and promote the skin to sweat out the impurities that trapped below and help the lymph fluid to be more liquid and free flowing. This is indeed a important part of a healthy lifestyle.

The modern sauna with latest technologies, however, begins to turn a corner from our wonderful traditions. The first to appear in the market place was the electric sauna, it promises all the result with easier maintenance; tucked away cleanly and conveniently in your home. The problem is we have to enjoy our sauna in a rather large electric and magnetic field radiated from the heaters. The many times I tried this, I felt worst for days, I guessed this is the price to pay for convenient. For those of you who can also see aura, well, you don’t need for me to tell you how your sauna mates’ aura look like while they are in the sauna.

The latest invention really gets to me. That is the infrared sauna. Infrared is capable to penetrate 1.5 inches below the skin. By my calculation, if my head is the sauna, my brain would be in this range. As my maker protects my brain with a hard solid skull by design, as well as a blood brain barrier, no blood could enter my brain to cool it; the heat generated will not be able to escape quickly. In effect, I will be cooking my brain.

Fortunately, I bought an infrared sauna (model no longer available) that allows me to lay down horizontally with my head outside the sauna capsule. Am I a smart cookie, all the benefits of modern technologies and minimum harm to my precious brain?

This is my personal view; you can draw your own conclusion. I am open to your opinions.

Light and blessings

David Ashanti

[Isabel Cuerrier]

Thank you, David, for this enlightening piece on Detoxing through sweat. Are there any kinds of home saunas, which may be considered safe and effective at the same time. Also, what are your thoughts on sweat lodges. I've been to a few and have had the most wonderful cleansing sweats, provided I drank lots and lots of water.
Love and Light,
Isabel.

[David Ashanti]

Your are welcome Isabel,

I love The Hyperthermic Chamber from Longevity Resources Inc., I use that in my clinic with Ozone. I also have a infrared sauna called "The Therapist" from B&N but I believe they no longer sell this. If anyone know how I can get in touch with the manufacturer (B&N), I would like to represent them and sell this sauna. I do like this model, I bought three used one on the E-Bay for my clients already.

I love the cleansing effects of sweat lodges as I am a medicine man with a local North American Indian band, but the primitive, natural sweat lodge they do were so hot, I practically have to crawl on the floor and breath the cooler air on the ground for the later part of the session. My native friends enjoyed laughing at me for unable to take the heat. I was born in the tropic in the Far East, but never could take the heat.

When you are in these "big time sweating" sweat lodges, your body loses a lot of minerals through the sweat, put a pinch of sea salt (two fingers pinch) in your water bottle (stainless steel, never use plastic bottles in this high temperature, in fact never use plastic period) to help replenish the minerals. If you like, you can add those expensive liquid minerals supplements instead.

For me, I chew on the sea weed or kelp and drink distilled water (good for detox) and the chewing help, as I don't like small confined places with 12 other sweaty, naked guys (ha ha , quite innocent, they are all medicine men, this is the only way to learn from them, they tell tall stories and when they are in a good mood, they slip out some of their secrets in the use of their herbs - and I am : ) because I love healing secrets.

Light and blessings
David