Yoga Poses Support the Body's Detox Functions

I've written before about how yoga can help our bodies with the detoxification process in Yoga Poses for Detoxing the Body.

In a nutshell:

• Yoga twists "squeeze and soak" the abdominal organs, like wringing out a dirty wash cloth and then rinsing it with clean water.
• Forward bending poses compress the abdominal organs, and stimulate the digestive system, making the elimination process more effective.
• Inverted poses help to drain accumulated lymph fluid from the legs, making it available to circulate through the rest of the body.   Also inverted poses help to reduce mental and emotional stress, making it easier for us to choose healthier behaviors that naturally lead to eliminating toxic materials from our bodies.

I found another recent blog entry that goes into a little more detail about how yoga twists help the body to detox more effectively - Yoga for Detox /The Real Dish blog.

The author of that post says to twist to the left to massage the liver, and twist to the right to massage the spleen.   Both of these organs need to be healthy to help eliminate toxic materials.

As she explains, the liver is, "constantly making decisions on what to do about your digestion, blood sugar, cholesterol levels, and detoxification" and the spleen, "also processes lymph. Lymph carries waste from the blood so squeezing the spleen can get that waste into the blood again to be processed and cleared".