Skin Brushing
One of the best ways to cleanse the entire lymphatic system is by
brushing the surface of the body with a soft dry brush made of natural
vegetable bristles.
The traditional Chinese version of this method uses the dried fibres of a
ground fruit called 'silk squash', known as loofah in the West, but
natural-bristle brushes have proven to be far more effective. The brush
should have a long handle, soft natural bristles, and always be kept dry.
Dry skin brushing stimulates the lymph canals to drain toxic mucoid matter
into the colon, thereby purifying the entire lymphatic system.
This enables lymph to perform its house-cleaning duties by keeping the
blood and other vital tissues detoxified. Most people today today have
chronically toxic lymph fluids and swollen lymph nodes, a condition which promotes toxicity throughout the system by
robbing lymph of its power to clean the blood and cellular fluids. In
addition, skin brushing is highly stimulating to surface circulation of
blood and leaves you feeling invigorated.
Skin brushing need be performed only once a day, preferably first thing in
the morning, and it takes only a couple of minutes. If you're feeling sluggish, toxic, or ill, you may want to do it twice a
day.
The body should be dry and naked, and the brush should be swept once or
twice in the same direction, across every surface of the body except the
face.
Do not scrub, massage, or rotate the brush on the body; just sweep it
across the skin in long smooth strokes in the direction of the colon.
Brush up the arms from hands to shoulders, up the legs from feet to hops,
down the back and torso, up the bullocks, down the neck, and across the
shoulders.
After a few days, you may notice a gelatinous mucoid material in your
stools; that's toxic lymph which has drained into your colon owing to skin
brushing.
For a thorough lymphatic cleansing, perform skin brushing daily for about
three months. Thereafter, twice a week is sufficient to keep your lymph quite
clean, but you should resume daily brushing whenever you're feeling ill.
Source: Daniel Reid, The Complete Book of Chinese Health and Healing:
Guarding the Three Treasures.
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