Spring is detox time! According to Ayurveda, spring is the best season of the year for detoxification, purification, and cleansing treatments (followed by autumn, which is the second best). When speaking of detox, we usually think of treatments that help releasing toxins that penetrate our body. However, holistic detox for working moms also considers mental, emotional, social, and spiritual cleansing methods as well as our daily working mom time-constraints.
In this article I share hands-on methods for cleansing your holistic organism my holistic means, and which you can easily implement in your busy working mom everyday life.
In part 1 of the Holistic Working Mom Detox Series, I offer a short introduction to the topic of Ayurveda & detoxification before turning to the first of several dimensions of our holy BodyMindSoul-Complexes: Our bodies. Most certainly, everything is connected with everything. However, in terms of simplification, I will address one dimension – physical, mental, emotional, social, spiritual – at a time.
You will learn about two purification methods that help eliminate toxins that penetrate your body system. Let’s get started!
Detox and Ayurveda
When it comes to the topic of detox, it is safe to say that Ayurveda has plenty to offer, probably more than most other medical systems or other approaches to health. The Ayurvedic detox methods presented here have been field-tested for thousands of years.
Also, according to Ayurveda, Working Mom Burnout defines as a severe state of imbalance, and cleansing methods help to get rid of some baggage for re-establishing more balance.
In terms of detoxification, Ayurveda is very well known for what is called panchakarma. According to Dr. Vasant Lad (one of the most established medical Ayurveda experts worldwide), the aim of panchakarma is to cleanse one’s body, mind, and emotions. “Pancha” means “five,” and “karma” means “actions” or “processes.” Thus, there are five basic methods: therapeutic vomiting; purgatives or laxatives; medicated enemas; nasal administration of medication (nose cleansing); and purification of the blood (blood-letting).
Panchakarma is usually performed by professionals in Ayurveda clinics, hospitals, and health centers. It lasts several days to a couple of weeks. Its detoxifying and healing power can be truly life-changing. However, panchakarma is not only time-consuming but also costly. Therefore, let us look at the kinds of treatments us working moms can actually put into practice.
Please note that the precondition for this kind of detox treatment and any other Ayurvedic treatments is a very meticulous and professional analysis of the person in question for determining what in Ayurveda we call “constitution.” By constitution we mean both the individual’s natural state of being and current state of being. We analyze body characteristics, personality traits, and imbalance tendencies/health problems, especially disease proneness.
This is why in Ayurveda we do not give general advice, it always highly depends on the individual’s constitution.
So how come I promise to give general advice by Ayurvedic principles in this article?!
Because there are some exceptions, some pieces of detox advice that many people, no matter what their constitution, profit from, and there is some advice that is helpful for us working moms specifically. So let’s get started!
Ayurveda Water Treatment
This treatment is highly efficient and yet easy to implement in our loaded working mom everyday lives. Essentially, it is drinking warm/hot water that was boiled for a certain time first thing in the morning. Why? Because according to Ayurveda, boiled warm/hot water has properties that
- increase the digestive fire, stimulate the metabolism and thus promote healthy digestion
- dissolve & release toxins for inner cleansing & detoxification (which is why it is promoted as a means for rejuvenation)
- cause an energy kick for the day
The Ayurveda Water Treatment is considered one of the easiest and most effective Ayurvedic treatments. And yet, there are a couple of things to consider, e.g. how long to boil the water and how to integrate it in your morning routine.
If you wanna try this ancient wisdom method, I have something for you: I have prepared the Ayurveda Water Instructions Handout that you can access for free on my website. It comes as a package with my Normal Digestion Video, a cost-free video teaching that informs you whether or not your gut is in balance and whether your digestion is normal; also, I have summarized the most important facts I teach in the video in the Normal Digestion Signs Handout, which is also available to you for free.
Just visit my website on drclaudiaburger.com. On my homepage, there is a black box entitled “Ready for finally mastering your exhaustion?” Register there for free and you can start your Ayurveda Water Treatment tomorrow morning!
Please note: You will receive an email that you will have to confirm in order to access the material. Please make sure to check your SPAM folder!
In Ayurveda, healthy digestion is central, it really is key when it comes to holistic health. In my video and the accompanying Normal Digestion Signs Handout, I share with you what to consider normal in terms of digesting
The Ayurveda Water Treatment is as effective as it is easy – if you follow the advice in my Ayurveda Water Instructions Handout. With regard to its detox power, it can be a change-maker. And again, if you consider the advice in my handout on how to implement it in your busy working mom everyday life, it truly is a kind of treatment – other than further Ayurvedic treatments – which you as a working mom can actually put into practice.
Because the deal is this: There is lots of great advice out there, Ayurvedic advice included. However, more often than not, as working moms we don’t have the capacity to act on it. The Ayurveda Water Treatment is a low barrier treatment.
Try it for yourself and enjoy!
If you have any questions on this treatment, e.g. if adding ginger or lemon is advisable, please book a free 15min call and we talk things through.
Also, if you seek tailored-to-you detox advice that considers your highly individual and holistic BodyMindSoul-Complex, schedule a free 15min call – I can’t wait!
Detox Fruits for Inner Cleansing: Triphala
In Ayurveda, there is a super famous mix of fruit that is recommendable for all constitutions. It is called Triphala, a combination of three fruits prepared in a certain way. It contains laxatives that help mildly eliminate toxins.
Taking Triphala, especially in spring for detoxification, is the to-go-solution of Ayurvedic treatments. It supports your digestion, eliminates toxins, and rejuvenates your gastrointestinal tract. Also, it increases your digestive fire, so if you aim at reducing weight, this might do the trick (ideally in combination with a diet that considers your individual constitution, of course).
You can take Triphala as a tablet or, more ideally, as a powder that you drink like tea. At first, you might not like it because it is bitter, but you get used to it after time. In the beginning, you can take it mixed with juice or even cooked with ghee and milk (also plant-based milk), and you can fancy it up by adding spices. For example, put some ghee in a pot, add spices like cinnamon and cardamom, add the powder, then (plant-based) milk, cook for a couple of minutes and enjoy.
You can either take it in the morning or in the evening before bed time. If you drink it as tea before bed time or first thing in the morning for activating your digestion, let it steep for 10-15 minutes.
However, please consider two things:
No. 1: In detoxification treatments, feeling worse first before feeling better is a well-known phenomenon. Bringing toxins to the surface often means that one feels unwell, sick, worse than before. Bear this in mind.
No. 2: Although in Ayurveda we suggest Triphala for all constitutions, we all are highly individual beings, which means that we react to things differently. In theory, Triphala works well no matter what constitution, but your BodyMindSoul-Complex is unique. Feel for yourself whether or not taking Triphala is working for you, which, by the way, is true for each and everything that you eat, drink, smell, hear, read, believe, etc.
If there are uncertainties, just schedule a free 15 min call and we get to the bottom of things.
What to Start out With?!
What to do now: Drink Ayurveda Water or take Triphala or both?!
My suggestion: Start out with the Ayurveda Water Treatment. After 2-3 weeks, if you still feel that you would like to support your digestive system, and if you still recognize that none or only some of the normal digestion signs apply that I lay out in the Normal Digestion Video and the Normal Digestion Signs Handout go for Triphala.
Just visit my website on drclaudiaburger.com. On my homepage, there is a black box entitled “Ready for finally mastering your exhaustion?” Register there for free and you can start your Ayurveda Water Treatment tomorrow morning!
Please note: You will receive an email that you will have to confirm in order to access the material. Please make sure to check your SPAM folder!
However, you can also do both in combination, drink Ayurveda Water AND take Triphala. Depending on how sensitive you are and how severely you are out of balance and perhaps suffer from what in Ayurveda we call Ama (undigested and unabsorbed food components that accumulate in the large intestine and which turn into a sticky substance, thereby blocking or clogging the intestines and other body channels), you might want to try Triphala straight away.
What’s Next?!
In part 2 of the Holistic Working Mom Detox Series, I focus on how to purify your mind.
References: Lad, V. (1984). Ayurveda: The Science of Self-Healing: A Practical Guide. Lotus press.
