How To Detox and Cleanse Your Body Naturally?

Cleansing the body periodically is an essential part of making it available for greater possibilities. It’s always best to detox your body naturally, and this can start right at home. Yogi and mystic, Sadhguru, gives us simple methods to cleanse the five elements of the system and looks at how to detox and cleanse your body naturally.

Sadhguru: Essentially, the body is a play of the five elements – water, earth, air, fire and space. It is very common in India to refer to the body as a puppet made of five elements. By composition, the body is seventy-two percent water, twelve percent earth, six percent air, four percent fire, and the remaining six percent space or akash. Bhuta shuddhi is a basic sadhana in yoga to transcend the limitations of the physical and to become available to a dimension beyond the physical.

How these five elements behave within you will determine just about everything. “Bhuta” means elements; “bhuta shuddhi” means to become free from the taint of the elements. It means to become free from the physical. Bhuta shuddhi is a basic sadhana in yoga to transcend the limitations of the physical and to become available to a dimension beyond the physical.

There are some simple things you can do to do bhuta shuddhi in a very natural way. It is not the ultimate type of bhuta shuddhi, but you can do some cleansing of the five elements.

Water – Among the five elements, our biggest concern is water. You must take enormous care about water because it is seventy-two percent and it has tremendous memory. One thing you can do is just put some neem or tulsi leaves in it. These will not remove chemical impurities but they will make the water very vibrant and energetic. Another thing is to store water in a copper vessel so that the water acquires a quality from the copper which is beneficial.

Earth – Earth is twelve percent. How food goes into you, from whose hands it comes to you, how you eat it, how you approach it, all these things are important. Above all, the food you eat is life. Other forms are giving up their life to sustain us. If we can eat with enormous gratitude for all the living things which give up their life to sustain our lives, food will behave in a very different way within you.

Air – Air is six percent. In that, only one percent or less is your breath. The rest is happening in so many other ways. It is not just the air that you breathe that affects you, it is the way you keep the air within you. You must take care of that one percent too but if you are living in a city it may not be in your hands what kind of air you breathe. So go for a walk in the park or along the lake.

Especially if you have children, it is important that you take them out at least once a month – not to the cinema or somewhere like that because the limited air in that hall gets affected just by the sounds, intentions, and emotions that are happening on the screen and reflecting in people’s minds. Instead of taking them to the cinema, take them to the river, teach them how to swim or climb a mountain. You needn’t go all the way to the Himalayas. Even a small hill is a mountain for a child. Even a rock will do. Go climb and sit on one of them. Children will enjoy it immensely and will become fit. You will become fit, your body and mind will function differently, and above all you are in touch with the Creator’s creation which is the most important thing.

Fire – You can also take care of what kind of fire burns within you. Get some sun on your body every day because sunlight is still pure. Fortunately, nobody can contaminate it. And what kind of fire burns within you – is it the fire of greed, fire of hatred, fire of anger, fire of love or fire of compassion. If you take care of that, you needn’t worry about your physical and mental wellbeing. It gets taken care of.

Akash – Akash is an intermediary situation between that which is creation and that which is the source of creation. If we keep the other four elements well, akash will take care of itself. If you know how to get the cooperation of akash into your life, this will be a blessed life.

Source: http://www.ishafoundation.org/blog/lifestyle/health-fitness/5-ways-to-detox-your-body-naturally/

Nothing Happens to You!

Everything happens within you. Nothing ever happens to you. You are the non-dual consciousness that is experiencing the words on this page, and yet that consciousness is so empty and spacious that nothing ever happens to it. Just as a thunderstorm passes through the sky but does not happen to the sky, every thought, feeling, desire, sensation and event happens in awareness, but does not happen to it.

This is more obvious when it comes to an external event that doesn’t take place near you. A bird flying high above you or the distant sound of traffic obviously happens within the field of awareness, but it doesn’t feel like these events happen to you. Yet if that bird flew right in front of your face, or that traffic was slowing you down on the highway, there is a tendency to think something is happening to you. And anything that arises within your own body and mind feels even more like something that happens to you. If a strong experience of fear or desire or confusion arises, we tend to think it has happened to us instead of within us.

The sky is unharmed by the thunderstorm, and that is why we would say the storm happened in the sky instead of to the sky. What about your experiences, thoughts, feelings, and desires? Do they harm your awareness? Or do they eventually pass like a summer rain-cloud? Is your awareness damaged by them, or is awareness still empty and awake, awaiting the next experience after a sensation, feeling, or thought passes?

Your body is within awareness. Because of its physical nature, something can happen to it that leaves a relatively lasting effect, but what about the awareness that is experiencing the body? Every sensation comes and goes in awareness. The sensations in your body are always changing and shifting, and then your attention also moves to other elements of your experience. Even a chronic painful condition is not in your awareness every moment. So even physical events or injuries do not happen to you, they happen within you. What would it mean if a sore muscle or a stomach ache was not happening to you, but just within your field of awareness? What if everything that happens within your body is just another event within the open sky of consciousness?

The most surprising thing is that this is even true of your deepest and innermost feelings and desires. There are feelings of unworthiness and intense longings that can arise deep within your chest or abdomen. It can almost seem like they are a part of you. And yet even they are happening within the field of awareness, and not really to you. What would it mean if a deep feeling of sadness or an overwhelming desire for true love was not happening to you, but just within your field of awareness? What if everything that moves within your heart and mind is just another event within the open sky of consciousness?

All experience passes like a rain-cloud and leaves behind the fresh, open space of endless awareness. The source of awareness is always here. You are always here. Everything else happens within awareness. Everything else comes and goes. There is not even a separate you within awareness because you are the source of awareness. And so, nothing happens to you; everything happens within you.

– Nirmala

Source: http://endless-satsang.com/nothing-happens.htm

Human Body – 96 Basic Principles

Siddhars or Siddhas the spiritual scientists of Tamil Nadu (ancient South India) are the pioneers of this scientific system. Siddhas fundamental principles never differentiated man from the universe. According to them, “Nature is man and man is nature and therefore both are essentially one. Man is said to the microcosm and the Universe is Macrocosm, because what exists in the Universe exists in man.” Siddha system trusts that all objects in the universe including human body are combined of five basic primordial elements, namely earth, water, fire, air and space.

Siddhas defined 96 principles as the constituents of Human Being. They comprise Physical, Physiological, Mental and Intellectual mechanisms of a person. They are nothing but the materialization of the “Five Basic Elements “.

The human body is composed of 96 Tattvas (Thathuvam) or basic principles. They are…

Elements – 5
1. Earth
2. Water
3. Fire
4. Air
5. Space

Sense Organs – 5
1. Eye
2. Ear
3. Nose
4. Tongue
5. Skin

Functions Of Sense Organs – 5
1. Vision
2. Hearing
3. Smell
4. Taste
5. Touch

Motor Organs – 5
1. Hands
2. Legs
3. Mouth
4. Rectum
5. Sex Organs

Perception Of Senses – 5
1. Smell
2. Taste
3. Sight
4. Touch
5. Hearing

Intellectual Faculties – 4
1. Mind
2. Intellect
3. Subconscious mind
4. Ego

Arivu – 1 (Wisdom Of Self Realization)

Vital Nerve Force – 10
1. Idakalai
2. Pinkalai
3. Sulumunai
4. Siguvai
5. Purudan
6. Kanthari
7. Atthi
8. Allampudai
9. Sanguni
10. Gugu

Vital Life Force – 10
1. Pranan
2. Abanan
3. Uthanan
4. Samanan
5. Vyanan
6. Nagan
7. Koorman
8. Kirukaran
9. Devadhathan
10. Dhanenjeyan

Visceral Cavities– 5
1. Stomach
2. Small Intestine
3. Large Intestine Especially Rectum
4. Urinary Bladder
5. Seminal Vesicle

States Of The Human Body Or Sheath – 5
1. Physical Sheath
2. Mental Sheath
3. Respiratory Sheath
4. Intellectual Sheath
5. Blissful Sheath

Stations Of Soul – 6
1. Moolatharam
2. Swathistanam
3. Manipooragam
4. Anakatham
5. Visuthi
6. Aakinai

Regions – 3
1. Fire Region
2. Solar Region
3. Lunar Region

Impurities Of The Soul – 3
1. Egoism
2. Karma
3. Maya (Delusion)

Three Humors – 3
1. Vatham = Air + Space
2. Pitham = Fire
3. Kapham = Earth + Water

Physical Bindings– 3
1. Material Bindings
2. Offspring Bindings
3. Worldly Bindings

Cosmic Qualities – 3
1. Sattva (Pure)
2. Rajas (Passion)
3. Tamas (Ignorance)

Acts – 2
1. Good Acts
2. Bad Acts

Passions – 8
1. Desire
2. Hatred
3. Stingy
4. Lust
5. Pride
6. Internal Conflict
7. Mockery
8. Ego

States Of Consciousness – 5
1. Wakefulness
2. Dream
3. Sleep
4. Repose (Tranquil Or Peaceful State)
5. Insensibility To Surroundings

Next to the Tattvas the human body exists of 72000 blood vessels, 13000 nerves and ten main arteries. 4448 diseases can be caused by the imbalance of the three humors. Hope we learned something about our body! 🙂

Reference

http://www.siddhaquest.com/concepts.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Body_%E2%80%93_96_Constituent_principles_or_Tatwas_of_Siddha_Medicine
http://www.squidoo.com/siddha-medical-system

The Original Tree?

The body (the total body and the individual body are of the same composition) may figuratively be called “the original tree.” From this tree, which fully depends on the ground of material nature, come two kinds of fruit—the enjoyment of happiness and the suffering of distress. The cause of the tree, forming its three roots, is association with the three modes of material nature—goodness, passion and ignorance. The fruits of bodily happiness have four tastes—religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation—which are experienced through five senses for acquiring knowledge in the midst of six circumstances: lamentation, illusion, old age, death, hunger and thirst. The seven layers of bark covering the tree are skin, blood, muscle, fat, bone, marrow and semen, and the eight branches of the tree are the five gross and three subtle elements—earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego. The tree of the body has nine hollows—the eyes, the ears, the nostrils, the mouth, the rectum and the genitals—and ten leaves, the ten airs passing through the body. In this tree of the body there are two birds: one is the individual soul, and the other is the Supersoul.

– Srimad Bhagavatam

Know your Senses?

Sister Senses

Nose and anus are sister senses born of Earth principle. These two senses are the least mischievous. The olfactory sense and the olfactory nerve do not trouble you much. They can be controlled very easily. Tongue and genitals are sister senses born of Water principle. Eating strengthens the reproductive senses. It’s most difficult to control them.

Eye and feet are sister senses born of Fire principle. Eye likes to see ‘sights’. Her sisters, feet, say, “We are ready to take roam around the world. Be ready.” Skin and hands are sister organs born of Air principle. Skin says, “I want silk and other smooth articles for my enjoyment.” Her sister, hand, says, “I can feel through my tactile corpuscles. I shall get for you fine soft silk. Do not be afraid, my dear sister.” Speech and ear are sister senses born of the Ether principle . They help each other in the economy of Nature.

In a bungalow you will find two gates, one for entrance, another for exit. Our body is also a nice bungalow for the Lord. Eyes and ears are entrance gates for the reception of forms and sounds. These are avenues of sense-knowledge (sight and hearing). Organ of reproduction and organ of excretion are exit gates.

Tongue, The Most Difficult To Control

The most mischievous and troublesome sense is the generative organ. Then comes the tongue. Then comes speech. Then comes the ear. Then comes eye. Control of the organ of taste is far more difficult than control of the genitals, because you have been enjoying delicious articles of food even from your very birth. Lust manifests itself just before eighteen. You indulge in sexual pleasure only for a short period in every birth. But, you have to take food even in advanced senility. Control of tongue means control of all Senses.

Music, cinema, sight-seeing are enjoyed in human births only. Ants and rats do not enjoy cinema-show. The sense of sight is not so powerful as the tongue. The organ of sight serves as a loving comrade to the organ of taste. The mind is at once tickled at the sight of a yellow color of the mango. The eyes see a beautiful mango and the different dishes that are served on the table. At once, the gloss o-pharyngeal nerves are stimulated. You get good appetite and relish. The food is rendered more palatable. A blind man may not have as good a relish as a man with sharp sight has.

Object of Meditation – To Prevent Externalization

The three organs of eye, ear and tongue externalize the mind and make a man altogether worldly. Eyes and ears are the avenues of sense-knowledge. Close the eyes. Shut the ears either with balls of cotton or with the two thumbs. Now you have destroyed two-fifths of the world. Do not allow anything to enter the mind through these two doors of sense-knowledge.

The object of meditation is to internalize the mind by introspection and to realize the Truth within yourself. Control the three organs of eye, ear and tongue. Then you can bring the mind under discipline and prevent the mental energy from flowing externally. These organs are the main causes of making the mind restive. Control over them helps the purpose of concentrating the energy internally.

He is a real Warrior who wages internal war with the mind, who fights with the senses, the moral, through Viveka and will-force and obtains absolute mastery over the mind. He is a real Warrior who fights with the host of evil Impressions and evil thoughts, the Passionate and Impure, by awakening and increasing the Pure Nature. He is a real Warrior whose protection is Will, and weapon is Viveka, whose battle-field is within, whose band is chanting of Pranava (OM) and whose coat-of-arms is the three qualifications, viz., Viveka, Vairagya and intense yearning for liberation .

Reference

Mind – Its Mysteries and Control by Sri Swami Sivananda