Slow Down and Detox the Mind

Taking time to slow down and detox the mind is a must for totally cleansing your body. A mind detox involves removing toxic thoughts like fear, hate and worry, just like a body detox removes harmful impurities and accumulated toxins from your body.

You can’t completely cleanse your body without also cleansing your mind of the thoughts that are causing it stress. Remember that the real issue behind all of your problems is how you think about it, or your perception of the challenge at hand.

Detoxing the mind involves spending time practicing relaxation or meditation techniques, and other stress relieving methods. A calm mind often equals a healthy body.

Detoxing and calming the mind can reduce illness

Studies have found that by invoking practices that calm the mind and reduce stress, those who suffer from disease and illness related to chronic inflammation such as migraines, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease, and many others can reduce or even eliminate their symptoms.

(An example: http://www.tm.org/blog/students/college-students/)

Meditation and other stress relieving techniques offer many other benefits to the body, with just some including:

• Improved quality of life
• Better sleep
• Decreased anxiety
• Improved focus
• Lowered blood pressure
• Weight loss, or increased ability to maintain an ideal weight

Calming the mind provides a sense of peace and balance that benefits your emotional well-being in addition to your physical health. The benefits continue throughout the day to help you handle all situations more calmly and effectively.

How to detox the mind

There are a number of ways to detox and calm the mind, reduce tension and relax. Just spending a few minutes each day on any of the following techniques offers benefits to the mind and body.

• Deep breathing is one of the easiest stress relievers to employ. It serves to oxygenate the blood, wake up the brain, relax muscles and quiet the mind. It can be done almost anywhere, working as an automatic de-stresser. One of the simplest exercises is: breathe in slowly from the belly, counting once for each breath in, holding for one and then counting again for a slow breath out, working to a count of ten.
• Meditation. Meditation is a step up from deep breathing. In a meditative state, your brain begins to function in a way that is similar to sleep but with benefits that can’t be achieved in other states, such as the release of certain health-promoting hormones. Focusing on “nothingness” helps to stop your mind from working too much and increasing stress levels. There are a variety of meditation types that can be practiced, with all ultimately helping the body to achieve inner peace. Some include guided imagery or visualization, mindfulness meditation and transcendental meditation.
• Exercise not only helps you to become more in tune with your body, but it also serves to reduce stress. It provides an excellent distraction from worries and stressful situations, and a healthy outlet for anger and frustrations. Exercise also boosts those happy hormones known as endorphins.
• Other stress reducers include laughter, sex, soaking in a warm bath, listening to music, spending time with a pet, enjoying nature, getting a massage or just spending time with good friends.

If possible, dedicate the first or last 10-15 minutes of your day to quieting the mind. A mind detox can be especially empowering and transforming; a must for a total detox and for achieving optimal health.