Hi
I hear time and time again that practising asana can release toxins from your body.
I hear that toxins can be released through our sweat.
I also hear that stretching in asana will get into areas of the body that are seldom moved, and will remove toxins lodged in these ‘little nooks and crannies’ of our bodies.
For a long time I just accepted this. But I’d like to understand whether there is any explanation for how this actually happens. If anyone can explain I’d be very grateful.
DMT
First of all it?s widely accepted one of the things sweat does is releases toxins, analyzing sweat proves this, example; it?s one of the best ways to purge mercury from your system. Common sense theory; an ashtanga vinyasa practice opens up with 10 sun salutes building heat leading to sweat, many of the asana block blood flow to body parts, organs, glands ext. heart rate is up pressure builds, blood vessels dilated upon release of the pose perhaps toxins are easily removed in a natural washing process? Same with the stretching it elongates and squeezes blood vessels, glands, organs etc. Inversion asana reverse the effects of gravity fluids stir differently etc. etc… Without a $50,000,000.00 medical study it?s all theory.
The first step in hatha yoga (ie the ‘physical’ aspect) is to purify the 72,000 energy pathways of the body.
Think of ones internal prana as a river that might become stagnant with pollution. Such a person might manifest illness. Correct asana practice will purify this river, allowing it to flow and run freely. Such a person is brimming with good health.
The emphasis on perspiration is a new idea seen in Bikram or ‘hot’ yoga. There is no focus on sweating as such in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Yoga Sutras.
So unless you practice hot yoga, I wouldn’t be too concerned with perspiration.
If you want detailed analysis on the individual effects on the body of every asana, I recommend ‘Light on Yoga’ by BKS Iyengar.
Opening channels and pathways, removing blocks, unknot the body you unknot the mind and vice versa. The mind and the body are so intricately connect meditation and asana should benefit proper health. Makes sense if all the systems are working at potential physiological and psychological toxins have a better chance of being eliminated or dealt with.
I didn’t know Patanjali HAD a babe.
Generally speaking, the concept of toxin release is one of those things contemporary yoga teachers have latched on to as a marketing phrase - to laud the “benefits” of the practice. It can be conveyed as teachings but it’s often only regurgitated as a result of a shallow teacher-training (or none at all).
What we know about the body is that it has built-in mechanisms for releasing toxins and when healthy we don’t need to do much more to make it so. We also know that part of that process involves sweating, thus our movement in life is important to that and other functions. But it is interesting to note that urinating is also a form of toxin release and I don’t see many people that concerned with peeing more, or staying properly hydrated, if you’d like to look at the chain from it’s “other” end. Ah the mind makes such crafty justifications to cloak that which we want so that it may look like that which we need
We also know that things “reside” in muscle tissue and that when we work with body, mind, and breath in a synergistic fashion that which is etched into those muscles can be released into the lymphatic system for transport out of the body.
I want to share this article excerpt in order to de-mythify some sweating claims:
Medical Opinions
The majority of health care professionals maintain that sweating is the body’s way of cooling down, not a means of toxic elimination. In a Los Angeles Times article that discussed the effectiveness of infrared saunas, Donald Smith, a professor of environmental toxicology at UC Santa Cruz, claims sweating eliminates less than 1 percent of toxins and most certainly will not purge metals such as mercury or lead. His assertion is supported by Dr. Dee Anna Glaser, a professor of dermatology at St. Louis University and founder of the International Hyperhidrosis Society, a medical group dedicated to the study and treatment of heavy sweating. Glaser agrees that sweating does not release a significant amount of toxins from the body.
Crazy as a Mad Hatter, 12 years ago I went through 18 months of DMSO/DMSA weekly intravenous and oral applications to bring my mercury levels back into the normal range, at the time there was no $50,000,000.00 study completed, perhaps there is now? What you referenced is an opinion not a study?
That something is widely accepted doesn’t make it necessarily factually correct. Urine and excrement is where the body’s toxins usually come out. Which is why we shouldn’t really touch it, much less put it in our mouths.
So if toxins came though our sweat, then surely being an ashtanga teacher would be quite a hazardous job - since adjustments involve loads of bodily contact. That teachers touch student sweat, get it all over their clothes, day in, day out, would suggest to me at least, that we can’t lose that many toxins through our sweat. And therefore the claim that we ooze toxins from our sweat should be queried.
I understand there are many benefits of stretching. I just wanted to know whether toxin release was one of the benefits and if so, how. Sure, stuff resides in our muscle tissue - but can toxins reside in our muscle tissue. Can someone explain how?
Thanks for thinking this stuff through with me.
Oddly enough I?ve worked with several persons who drank their urine daily and soaked in aged urine weekly; all three have retired and live healthy lives well into their 70?s go figure? I’m now rethinking; sweating doesn?t seem to be playing an extensive roll in detoxing, like I said 12 years ago I researched a Russian study; when employees who worked in mercury factories began acting strangely they were thrown into sweat tanks till they became lucid again, maybe it was an easy way to get out of work.
@Ps Babe - i can’t speak to stretching per se, but my understanding of the asanas is that the squeezing and release of internal organs and muscle do aid in the free release of toxins. Then the body can excrete them. So, very beneficial.
Thanks to all for your contributions.
Flex penguin, yes you’re right, I can see how some of the twisting poses would facilitate healthier organs, which then would lead to their more effective functioning.
Inner Athlete, yes, I suspected as much.
Toxins can definitely be found in muscles. Specifically, for example, lead can be found latched on to individual muscle cell membranes through its affinity for calcium-activated potassium channels.
Many other things, mostly naturally found toxins, can also be in muscle – things like tetrodotoxin from the puffer fish, some scorpion venoms, and nicotine. Man-made drugs, too, like phenytoin that is used to treat seizures, can get stuck there for bit.
When it comes to stuff most people worry about with detox, things like pesticides, there is also some evidence that DDT and pyrethroids can latch onto muscle cells. For the most part, however, the nastiest stuff like that goes to our fat cells.
Most muscles have fat cells around them. The fat is used as energy as the muscles run out of more readily available sources. Burning the fat helps to release environmental chemicals stored there.
Does stretching help to detox the muscle and to get rid of these toxins? Sure. All movements require “work” of a muscle. Stretching one generally means the contraction of another. Both help to bring new blood flow to the area. It’s the blood flowing through a muscle tissue that helps to “wash away” toxins that are hanging out there, lowering their concentrations. The more blood flowing through an area, the better the flush.
“I also hear that stretching in asana will get into areas of the body that are seldom moved, and will remove toxins lodged in these ‘little nooks and crannies’ of our bodies.”
That’s a cute way to promote the asana, but all “little nooks and crannies” of our bodies get blood flow or the cells would die. They get blood flow whether they “move” or not. More movement brings more blood flow for nourishment and removal of toxins.
As for sweating, it is definitely one mode of elimination of some toxins – but only those of a certain chemical nature. And it is a very minor route of elimination.
Well stated and sound. Thank you.
Yoga doc - EXACTLY the type of answer I was hoping for. Thankyou so much.