Toxins In Our Environment and What We Can Do Stay Healthy
The terrible air pollution last week was a reminder that we need to take extra care of ourselves to stay healthy. Despite my best efforts to leave a small footprint, I cannot control the world outside. The only thing I have true control over is how I react to external stimulus. There are toxins in our environment and we need to do better to preserve our planet. In light of this fact, what can we do to stay as healthy as possible when our environment is polluted?
This past week I was wearing a mask outside and drinking a strong brew of Tulsi tea throughout the day. Tulsi is a lung ally. It works on the Prana Vaha Srotas, Channels of Vital Breath & Energy in our body. As an adaptogenic herb, Tulsi helps our body deal with stress. Tulsi is also an anti-poison. It helps the body reduce toxicity. I also ate amla, which is a rasayana. Rasayanas are medicines and techniques that increases vitality and lengthen lifespan. Amla is high in antioxidants that help our body combat cellular damage. In my personal yoga practice as well as my classes, I did poses that helped to open the lungs. Stress naturally constricts the lungs so I did lots of side stretches, backbends and openers for the back of the lungs to counter that. I usually walk and garden a lot but avoided going out unless I needed to. Instead, I did more yoga and even danced by myself in my living room.
The more balanced we are, the more our body can handle stress, including environmental stress. The science of Ayurveda is all about increasing longevity and overall health. It goes into detail on how to deal with toxins and poisons. Here are some suggestions for staying healthy:
Eat a simple, organic diet with lots of fresh foods. Make sure your diet is high in anti-oxidant fruits and vegetables.
Avoid processed food, food coloring and FLUNC (Frozen, Leftover, Uncooked, Nuked and Canned foods.)
Reduce sugar, caffeine, alcohol and drug intake. (Yes, this includes Cannabis in all forms.) All these items accelerate the aging process.
Avoid drinking from plastic bottles and storing your food in plastic containers. Plastic breaks down and we are ingesting micro-plastics. Bottled water has been tested to have high amounts of micro-plastics.
Take a shower to rise off pollutants.
Have a good air filter in your home.
Make sure you have a full bowel movement daily. Anything else is a sign that your digestive fire (agni) is imbalanced. Without proper agni you cannot digest and assimilate nutrients properly.
Go to bed by 10pm. Our bodies detox during Pitta Time which is 10-2. If you regularly awake during this time your body won’t offload toxins properly.
Walk daily or several times a week. (When the air quality is better.)
Do some gentle yoga or other exercise daily.
Practice relaxation or meditation techniques. Stress ages our body more than anything else.
Do activities that give you joy.
Have some fun! Spend time with people you care about.
If you need stress support, try some Adaptogenic Herbs. Read my article on Adaptogenic Herbs.
Eat some Rasayanas like Amla or Chyavanprash.