7 Ways to Detox

This is Day 2 of 7 days of Self Development posts I am writing. If you are chasing Self development, please do join in. Begin practising these tips in the order of my posts starting here.

When a farmer tends to his crops, he prevents the growth of weed and uproots them if any. Else, it hinders the growth of his crops. It is the same with Self Development. We need to detoxify ourselves so that we grow without any hindrances.

When we talk of detox, we need to take an overall approach to it – Detoxing our thoughts, our body and our surroundings – A Physical and Mental Detox. So, from now on, we try to consciously purify our thoughts and surroundings. Here is how:

1. Water Therapy 

Yes! We already discussed this in my earlier post. In addition to drinking 4 glasses of water on empty stomach, drink warm water 40 minutes after each meal. It eases the digestion process. Following this daily will purify your blood, gives you clear skin and detoxifies your body.

2. Pranayama 

Your life is counted by the number of breaths you take, or so it is said. Pranayama is a practice of refining breathing ability.  It helps you focus on your breathing and control the same.

• Close your right nostril with your thumb and inhale deeply through your left.
• Now hold your breath and shift your thumb from your right to your left nostril.
• Exhale deeply and fully through your right nostril.
• Inhale through the same nostril (right).
• Hold your breath and shift your thumb from your left to your right nostril.
• Exhale deeply and fully through your left nostril.

This is one round. Do this daily for about 10 minutes. You can start with 2-3 minutes initially and increase the time gradually. Pranayama ensures that there is maximum supply of oxygen to all the parts of your body. It purifies the blood and the respiratory system.

3. Meditation

There is a common misunderstanding that meditation is difficult. All you need for meditation is a bit of patience since you don’t see immediate results. Meditation is the process of cultivating awareness of our thought patterns and there are many methods to do it. Here is a simple one that I practice:

• Find an idle place and sit in a comfortable position – Vajrasana or Sukhasana (cross legged).
• Play a soft instrumental music if you’d like that and close your eyes.
• Inhale and exhale slowly and deeply for some time.
• As you bring your breathing to normal, focus on your body parts one at a time.
• Bring your attention to your toes, relax them, move up to your feet, relax your ankles, move up gradually to your calf muscles, your knees.
• At this point, go back to your toes and swiftly ensure that all the parts until your knees remain relaxed. If not, loosen them.
• Resume from your knees upwards relaxing each body part until you reach your face. Relax each feature on your face and begin a quick revision from your toes.
• Once your entire body is relaxed, stay conscious of your body for about 5 more minutes.

Now bring your attention back to your breath. After about a dozen normal breaths, slowly open your eyes, look around, absorb the sights, the sound and feel the air. Congratulations! You just spent around 10 minutes of your day without letting your mind wander. Even if the mind wanders in between this exercise, don’t fret. Bring it back to focus on your body. It might take a week or so to tame it. 🙂
4. Distancing From Negative People 

Cutting off people from your life is difficult, at least for me! There might be people around you who do not fulfill your emotional needs, or those for whom you are always there but when you need them, they vanish. There could be some who keep telling you how you ‘cannot’ or ‘should not’ do certain things. People who pull you back from everything, who aim to shatter your self-confidence and self-worth. They are toxic to your growth. Cut them off from your life. If that isn’t possible, distance yourself from them. It will be difficult at first, but soon you will have a newfound respect for life.
Let me put it this way. You are a combination of people around you. You really don’t want to become the negativity that surrounds you. Do you?

5. Cleaning Your Room 

I know clean people, messy people, and the ones in between. I belong to the last category and I’d like to move on to the first. Here is why. On the days my room was messy, I was grumpy, gloomy and irritated. It took me a long time to notice this pattern. After every exam, I used to clean my room and there was a certain happiness I found when I walked into an impeccable, sweet smelling bedroom. If a neat place could give us so much joy, there will be prolonged joy when our room is always clean.

I know many friends who boast of their messy room. I used to do the same. I’d say it is because they haven’t observed themselves enough. They will know the difference once they start keeping it clean. There is always a difference. You need to look for it.

6. Declutter

Clutter is useless, space consuming crap that fill your room, table and wardrobe. Take the time to sort through your stuff, one area at a time. Put aside things that you don’t use at all. Even if they are in a good condition, if you don’t use them, they are useless to you. Stop preserving them (unless they have an emotional value). Getting rid of clutter is symbolic of freeing space in your mind, keeping account of things you have and making note of new things you will need.

By cleaning and decluttering, you are detoxing your surroundings. When you walk into a clean room, you will be able to think clearly. A messy room brings your attention to all those tiny objects laying strewn around and it messes up your thoughts too.

7. Digital Detox

Again something I covered in the previous post? Not quite. Here, I am asking you to do something bigger and better. Can you stay away from phones for 2 hours a day? This means no social media, no chats, no calls for 2 hours. Come on! That is easy.

As children, we never had any of these gadgets. Then why is it so hard for us to stay away from them now? Coming from a college where we didn’t even have access to Television or phones, I can say with conviction that it is possible. Simply find something else to do during that time – Meet a friend, read a book, exercise, go for a walk, talk with people at home, learn something, create art, go for a drive and so on. See? I just gave you a plethora of options and they aren’t exhaustive. So let us work on that digital detox, shall we? 🙂

I know I know! Today has been a bit harder than yesterday. But hey! You don’t have to start them all at once. Focus on one point at a time, get used to it and add the next. Let us own our life, make things happen and spread this positivity! So will you be joining me in this endeavor? What are your thoughts on Day 2 of the Self Development Programme? Did you like it?

This post is a part of the BarAThon hosted by Blog-A-rhythm.