Living Wholy

One of my daily morning practices right before jumping into the shower is to indulge myself with a total body brushing.  This ancient Ayurvedic cleansing technique called “dry brushing” uses a soft natural bristle brush to gently remove dead skin cells, stimulate your circulatory system, lymphatic system, nerve pathways and organs. I highly recommend daily dry brushing to all my cleansers on the 21 Day Wellness Cleanse because it assists with toxins exiting easily out of the body.

Your skin is the largest most important organ of elimination in your body and it’s responsible for removing one-fourth of the toxins your body filters out each day.  In order for your skin to do this task, it needs to be kept healthy and free of congestion.  Dry brushing is a simple, quick and cost effective method of self pampering and kindness toward yourself.  Try giving your skin a little brush up, you just might find yourself completely hooked.

How to Do the Dry Brushing Technique:

Dry brushing is done right before you shower or bathe preferably in the morning but anytime works.  To start, you’ll want the brush and your skin to both be dry.  When brushing, apply 7 to 14 quick short brush strokes in an upward direction toward your heart as you cover each of the areas.
Start with your hands and upper arms:
Brush each one of your fingers, palms and backs of your hands.  Move up to your forearms, elbows and then upper arms.  In the arm pit area use circular strokes, 7 times in each direction.
Toes, Feet and Legs:
Brush the entire bottom surface of your foot with back and forth strokes 7 times, repeat that on the top of your foot including the sides and ankles.
Brush from the ankle to the knee stroking in an upward direction toward the heart.  Work around the entire surface of the lower leg including the knee.  Brush from the top of the knee to the hip using upward strokes.  Give this area a little more attention if you run into any cellulite situations.
In the groin, circular strokes 7 times in each direction.
Neck/Base of Head:
Holding the brush at the base of the skull brush side to side 14 times.  Next, brush from your the back of your neck, below the ear, gently down along the jaw bone and ending below the chin for 7 times each side.
Side and Front of Body:
Brush up and down 14 times from the upper thigh to under the arm.  Repeat on the opposite side.
Brush back and forth across and the waistline 14 times.  Brush in a circular motion at the solar plexus (navel area) 7 times in each direction.
Back:
Brush up the spine starting at the coccyx (tailbone) and reaching as high up as you can.  Reaching down as far you can from the top of the spine brush in an upward direction to the base of the skull.
Brush the buttocks in any direction covering the entire area.  Brush up the sides of your back from the hips to the bottom ribs (kidneys).
This entire process should take between 5 – 10 minutes and should only be done once per day. Always begin by brushing gently and  don’t over brush to the extent of irritating your skin.  After brushing take a shower to wash away dead skin residue and enjoy the glow.  You can find good dry brushes at health food stores like Whole Foods, beauty supply stores or check out this link on my site.You can find good dry brushes at health food stores like Whole Foods, beauty supply stores or check out this link on my site.

You’ll soon find out that dry brushing is an invigorating way to start the day (excellent caffeine substitute) and has a great rejuvenating effect on the skin and body.