External Detox
on and around you

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Detoxify, and minimise toxins, in your immediate environment and on yourself.

A hard reality of city life is that it's quite toxin friendly. Unfortunately, that is the nature of the beast called urban living. While not much can be done about this propensity for toxic buildup, what can be done is cleansing out as much of the toxins on and around us as we possibly can. Pyschic, mental and emotional detoxing is as important as the physical one.

Smokin' It Up!

The fastest, quickest, easiest way to detox around you is to burn selected purifying and detoxing substances.

The lighting up of camphor, sage, incense sticks, aroma candles, ghee lamps, dhoop, oudh, soundrayani, various cold-pressed and essential oil lamps and diyas - these are all tried and tested ways of smoking up your environment for the better.
Each of these have their own benefits, and preferred seasons and time of the day, for maximum effectiveness.

Oil Application

A very under-rated detox ritual, regular oil application for wellness was prescrbed thousands of years ago, by ayurvedic texts.

This does not need to be a full fledged massage, simply the applying of selected oils 20-30 minutes before your daily bath. You could use medicated ayurveda oils recommended for your prakriti by a qualifed therapist or physican; you could use blended aroma therapy oils; or you could simply use regular cold pressed coconut/ olive/ mustard/ sesame oil too.

Elemental Baths

Naturopathy has forever advocated the use of baths that delight the 5 prakritic elements, using naturally occuring substances and phenomena.

Mud Baths are had by applying a thick layer of natural (and clean) mud all over your body. Baking yourself under direct sunlight whle caked with this mud layer is the ideal mud bath, but just letting it dry off and then rinsing off comes a close second. A Sun Bath is a common practise and needs no explanation; however, substituting natural sun protection for the chemical concctions would be better.
An Air Bath is what you have when outdoors on a really breezy day, with fresh clean air of course! Water Baths are well, daily baths, but specially exhilarating ones are those where you drench yourself in the rain, soak in natural hot springs and fresh water lakes, or stand in natural waterfalls. Fire Baths are a forgotten Indian ritual, little known and rarely practised, but seeing a revival these days.

Body Massages

Deep tissue massages, Swedish and Thai - to name the commonly known ones, are great at detoxing tissues and organs. Dry brushing is another gentler form of body massage which can be performed on yourself.
Most body massages are baed on the energy meridian or nadi system, as well as marma or pressure points. Both the energy meridians and the massage points are common to most traditional healing therapies of older cultures around the world.
The most effective deep tissue massages are those that you walk away from feeling rejuvenated and refreshed, or have you running for the loo soon after!

Aural Rebalancing

This type of detox uses sounds to change the energy vibrations within you as well as your environment.

Sound has the power to heal and detox, protect and nourish - it just has to be the right kind of sound. Even a lack of sound plays positively on our psyche, as is seen in the practise of vipasanaa.
Binaural beats. Tibetan singing bowls. Temple or church bells. Mantra chanting. All of these are examples of aural rebalancing. Classical music of traditional cultures tend to have the same effect.
Don't let the lack of instruments like the Buddha bowl, huge bass drums, cymbals or hand held bells stop you - simple OM chanting is also a healing sound you can make for yourself.

Digital Detox

Whatsapp and social media upvaas, internet fasting, disconnecting from all devices - there are many ways to detox digitally.
Just like physically fasting from food on a regular basis keeps the body healthy, regular digital detox is good for mental health.
Simply disconnect totally over a weekend, a holiday or some predetermined length of time and see the difference. This will also let you know if you are addicted to electronic devices.
Think of it as an upvaas, a roza or a fast from all things digital; a month long ritual like Shraavan or Ramzaan or Lent isn't required, but two days a month will go a long way in refreshing your mind.

Havans & Artis

Special kinds of woods are burned in a havan kund, or ghee and camphor lamps lit in an arti thali.
Havans are a detox practise that combine smokin' it up with aural rebalancing. It encompasses the burning of selected wood resins, plants and substances like ghee, accompanied by chanting of mantras or singing of hymns. This may or may not be include some musical instruments like cymbals, hand held temple bells or tambourines.

Salt Lamps

That crisp fresh texture to the early morning air that feels so refreshing is nothing but negative ions that dawn brings. Slow burning salt lamps achieve the same result within the confines of your home, at a time of your choosing.
Natural negative ioners, salt lamps in general and Himalayan salt lamps in particular, are great for cleansing the air in your immediate environment. These lamps could be heated either by tealights or an electrically lit bulb, from within; either way it causes the release of healthy negative ions.

Indoor Plants

Natural air purifiers, certain species of indoor plants are particularly effective in cleaning your air and oxygenating closed spaces.
Most give off copious amounts of oxygen (some even at nght), while others clean out particulate matter from the air around them.
Indoor plants are specially chosen for the less than ideal conditions of an indoor space - they need little sunlight, often not much water and pretty casual amounts of care to thrive.

Bathing Essentials

Our skin is our insulation for the world outside, and the first line of defense to the toxins of the external environment. Stands to reason, it is the first, and most important, region to detox.
A daily bath is the means for us to do so, and a ritual we could pay a lot more attention to. Minimising the use of chemicals and using naturally detoxing cleansers and emoullients is the place to begin!
Naturally scented bath salts, soaps scented with essential oils, chemical free perfumes, sprays and body washes, sun dried vegetables as natural loofahs - all of these will keep you free from the estrogen mimicking and endocrine disrupting chcemicals that most all factory made cosmetics and toiletries contain.

Camphor

Camphor can be used in many way to detox (even debug!) our immediate environment. Small open containers with camphor placed around your bed and in living spaces works as a natural insect repellant. Burning camphor cleanses the air and cancels our odours. Generous spreads of camphor under your mattress prevents, and even drives away bed bugs.
Camphor has proven anti viral, anticancer, antimicrobial properties that helps in seasonal infection times.