Have you ever been frustrated by starting a habit building activity and not being able to go through with it? Have you ever felt that there are too many moving pieces in your life and you cannot joggle priorities well enough to keep you on the life changing habits track? Well, chances are that there is nothing wrong with you and you were just taking too big of a bite from the personal development pie. Performing successfully in your profession, minding the nourishing balanced diet, self-care and fitness routines, organizing and designing your living space, finding time for friends and loved ones can be often daunting. Your mind cannot efficiently pay attention to that many ‘priorities’. It is not that you cannot do it. You can. It is just better to take smaller steps sometimes. The good news: including seasonal mind-body cleansing in your life can be one of these manageable smaller steps.

In this article :

• The main reasons for detox and seasonal cleansing
• Definition of the concept of cleansing and detoxing
• What are the benefits of mind-body seasonal cleansing?
• List of benefits
• My Perspectives and Conclusions

The Importance of Detox and Cleansing

Do you feel sometimes like you need to push the “re-set” button? Ideally, it would be perfect to have good habits that allow us to detox, cleanse, refill and rejuvenate regularly, even daily, but it is so easy to get off track in these complex environments and times we live in. It is way too easy to get caught up in the whirl of activities only to find yourself feeling rundown, tired, disappointed, dissatisfied and overwhelmed. For some it might come natural and easy to refill, but for many it is a challenge to include good well-being practices in their daily schedule.

Ideally, we would like our bodies to be as healthy as possible, want our homes to look and feel good, want to feel satisfied professionally, we want our core relationships to go in positive directions and we want to feel personally and socially content with our lives. Habits and routines are important for maintaining mental, physical and emotional balance and wellbeing. Developing a daily routine of getting enough rest and exercise, getting a harmonious work-life balance, getting a nutrient rich balanced diet, getting organized, getting enough novelty and creative times is what we all strive for, but it can be too big of a jump from where you are.

It is good enough to set yourself up for an easier, healthier, gentler personal development process by starting with seasonally taking time to stop, recharge, refill, revise and prepare for the coming days. Yes, it is better to do it daily, weekly or monthly, but if that is too much and you are struggling with keeping that kind of systematisms in your life don’t give up. It is much easier, perfectly fine and greatly beneficial to include seasonal periods for mind-body cleansing and recharging. It may be one of the most beneficial things you can do for yourself from the comfort of your own home.

What is seasonal cleansing?

Seasonal cleansing is a purification, and renewal process in which we eliminate whatever physical and emotional toxicities we have accumulated during the prior months, allowing our mind-body to return to a natural state of balance and health. It is also an ideal time to sit back and reflect on what may be out of balance in our lives, then take steps to restore our equilibrium. Chopra – Healers and Practitioners Summit

Seasonal cleansing is used most often to refer to a way to support the body. Over the years the body can accumulate toxins, residuals from chemicals in the air, chemicals we use to clean our homes, the plants and substances we consume, the water we drink and the body care beauty products we use on our skin. An additional burden of substances might come from: poor diet and lifestyle choices, cigarettes, alcohol, drugs and medicine use. Many of these toxins get stored in the body. But surprisingly, for most people the bigger load of chemical toxicity in the body is not coming from the outside, but it is coming from inside the body, from their patterns of thinking and feeling. 

Our body has an incredible system of detoxification and can naturally rejuvenate and eliminate toxins. However, self-healing can work only when we are not running away from the lions, so to say. Our system is soooo efficient that it shuts down the regeneration, healing processes to optimize the energy use. So when we face the lion- the stressor – our system shuts down all that it considers unnecessary for the situation and rushes all the energy in the escape mechanisms. This causes a temporary chemical imbalance that doesn’t benefit the body, but it makes us capable to run fast or fight hard.  In this case the body puts great pressure on itself by creating ‘toxins’, a so called “adrenalin rush” , a chemical cocktail of hormonal drugs, that put our mind and nervous system in the fight or flight mode.

The logic behind it is, that once we have survived the danger, the body can handle this chemical shock and recover. Now, the problem is that we don’t let it time to recover. Not that we have to run away from lions too often these days. Yet, we create ‘lions’ out of places and people, friends, colleagues and all kind of life situations. When we are mentally stressed, criticizing, blaming, fighting in our heads with exes, proving our righteousness to our boss and so on, we give the same signals to the body as if it was in danger. This survival mechanism wasn’t designed to run all the time, but as we are not trained in our ways of paying attention we kind of automatically run the stress and survival program. This short, purposeful and efficient intervention became a lifestyle. The body has its limits and being in this negative chemistry on the long run starts causing all kind of system failures, diseases. Through seasonal cleansing we are able to support the mind-body in its natural ability to rid itself of these substances, sync itself to the cycles of nature and revitalize, reenergize and rejuvenate.

Cleansing has been used as a natural way to keep the body healthy for thousands of years

While it may seem like a new age thing, cleansing has been around for thousands of years. Cleansing has been used over the centuries as a natural way to keep the body healthy. We can find purification rituals in Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism and all other major religions around the world. The Egyptians, and the Native Americans have all embraced the idea of seasonal cleansing and recognized the benefits of engaging in regular programs of purification and rejuvenation.

The ancient textbook of Ayurveda says it is best to detox during the transitional seasons of spring and autumn. The environment and seasons have great influence in our lives and the symbol of transition applies to us and our bodies, as well as the environment. From Vibrant Ayurveda

From an ancient tradition cleansing and purification has emerged into a popular modern day practice. Seasonal cleansing, also referred to as a “seasonal detox” , has however been translated in the western world from a tradition of reconnecting and rejuvenating seasonally into a harsh, asceticism like experience of fasting, colon cleansing, taking laxatives and other similar practices. There are many detoxification programs and even practices like a week of juice fasting have their place and benefits, but that might not be needed in most cases. There are more gentle ways to rest, reconnect and find inner balance and harmony.

SUMMARY SO FAR – During seasonal cleansing process we press the pause button with the intention of deepening our awareness. In a holistic approach this refers to both the body as well as the mind. A seasonal cleanse is an effective way of attuning our minds to harmonize with the needs of our body, energizing and purifying the body, increasing our ability to think clearly and deepening our awareness of how we feel and what we truly want.

Why detox? What are the benefits of mind-body seasonal cleansing?

The benefits of carving out a short period of time, just a few days in every season, range on a large plethora from boosting your digestion, experiencing more wisdom and rejuvenation, to self-empowerment. To give yourself, your mind and your body extra attention and conscious downtime is important from all aspects of life.

To name a few of the benefits of seasonal cleansing we can start with THE BODY: it helps your body get rid of toxins! Your body has its own highly efficient detoxification system and you can do a lot to aid and enhance your body’s natural detoxification.  Reducing food intake, minding what we eat and how we eat it can ease and boost the regeneration work done by the body. Detoxifying and nourishing the body can help protect you from diseases and renew your ability to maintain optimum health.

The main benefit of the cleansing period for the MENTAL aspect is clarity. When we cleanse mentally we can clear our mental space of bad habits, rituals, emotional residuals and emotional waste. Cleansing is a time of journaling and letting go.  When we cleanse, we can also tap into our true and natural rhythms and listen to the wisdom of the seasons. Our circadian rhythm (our internal clock) and our body has to constantly adapt our lifestyle to the changes of light, temperature, wind, sun conditions of the current season.  Giving yourself time to become aware of the seasonal transition experience can boost your mental capacity to cope. Moreover, becoming aware of the signs of emotional imbalances can help you stay on top of them.

LIST – Benefits of Seasonal Mind-Body Detox

The bottom line

Detoxing is much of a buzzword these days, but the popularity of the practice makes room for a lot of misunderstanding. Detox and cleansing programs don’t have to be harsh, aggressive interventions, but more like a gentle reconnection to who you really are. Of course it takes discipline and intention to follow through with a seasonal cleansing process but it well worth the effort.