The Benefits of Dry Brushing

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What is Dry Brushing?

Dry Brushing is exactly as the name states. To brush the body and skin all over with a dry brush. You can do this before or after a shower or bath when getting ready. It only takes a few minutes. Dry Brushing has helped me clear up cellulite many times in the past. Here’s why…

Why Dry Brush the Skin?

2 main reasons; it helps to detoxify our bodies and helps in reducing unwanted fat.

We hold a lot of our toxins in the fatty tissue of our body. Our body tries to protect us from the toxic material that it doesn’t recognize. If it has too much and can’t naturally eliminate through the body’s elimination pathways (Ie. the kidneys, liver, lungs, etc.) they will then be stored away in these fatty areas. Ones we commonly see showing up in areas such as; our love handles, belly fat, etc.

When dry brushing you are allowing circulation to get into these ‘hard to reach areas’ and then the body can help flush these out. You may have noticed after exercising that these fatty areas may be cold to touch. This shows a lack of circulation in the areas. This is where coupling the 2 has its benefits.

Many know that the skin is the largest organ of the body and majorly assists with helping the body to detox. How does it do that?

The skin has sweat glands all over which help it with the eliminating of toxins. You’ve likely noticed this after a heavy sweat with possibly a foul smell what came out or you may have seen the yellow ‘pit’ stains left over on your shirts over time. These are toxins leaving the body. When we sweat, this allows some toxins from our blood vessels and lymphatic vessels to get excreted out.

I recommend to exercise before dry brushing, as that greatly increases the circulation in the skin. Which then amplifies the dry brushing detoxification process. Typically around 30% of our blood supply is in the blood vessels near the surface of the skin, but by excersizing, that can increase up to 60%! (I do recommend wiping off any sweat with a damp towel though before starting your dry brushing)

Thus by coupling our exercising and allowing more blood flow into our skin’s surface, with dry brushing to follow that, our elimination of toxins will be heightened.

When we sweat, we can lose up to about 8 lbs of fluid per hour! Imagine the toxins being excreted then with that!

Besides the fact that exercising strengthens our heart and the muscles in our body, it can then add to helping in excreting toxins from our body. Very helpful to out bodies.

(It’s well known in the natural world of therapies that detoxification methods are one of the best and healthiest ways to reduce fat and lose weight. Because if you don’t lose what the fat is clinging to and protecting the body from, if you lose the fat but not the toxins underneath, that fat will inevidebly come back.)

Other Benefits to Dry Brushing

Your skin will love it! Your skin helps regulate body temperature, and helps in the absorption of oxygen and nutrients as well as elimination of toxins. Thus by dry brushing you are exfoliating and sloughing off dry dead old skin. This allows way for better absorption and elimination through the skin’s cells!

Dry brushing helps increase the blood and lymphatic circulation. Did you know that the Lymphatic system doesn’t flow on its own like the Circulatory system does? The heart is the pump for the circulatory. However the lymphatic system doesn’t have a pump. By dry brushing you are helping to pushing the lymph fluids along.

Stimulating the skin will then benefit the circulatory system which then of course benefits the rest of the body and its organs with increased blood flow.

Dry brushing creates softer skin because it exfoliates the dead skin cells and helps in the regenerating of new skin cells.

Helps reduce cellulite.

Helps to detox the body, thus people often find they are more mentally alert after this type of natural detoxification therapy.

How to Dry Brush

It’s important to remember to always brush towards the heart.

For instance start at the fingertips going up and towards the armpits/shoulder and into the chest. And then starting at the feet, working the bottoms of the feet and working inside/outside and again always upwards pelvic region and hips. When working on the abdominal area, it is best to start with your right hand on your right side and do in a circle clockwise around (up following the bottom of the ribcage) and down to the left side then to the pelvic area. (This is in the direction and flow of the large intestines.) This thus is going in the direction of the lymphatic flow to allow proper release and detoxication in the lymphatic system. When doing the chest and heart area, simple short brisk brushing towards the heart from each angle.

Tips for Dry Brushing

Find a natural bristle dry brush like this one..

I prefer to do dry brushing before a warm shower as the body will heat up with increased circulation throughout and help release and move the toxins through the natural elimination pathways after.

Be brisk while dry brushing.

When dry brushing the body. Always brush towards the heart. Short and brisk, even circular motions… but remember to always brush in the direction towards the heart. Be gentle, no need to cause pain, but pressure is welcome.

By adding exercise beforehand and/or warm showering into the mix, this will add greatly to the increase in faster effects and benefits in your detoxication journey!

Always check with your health care professional to see if natural therapies and remedies such as this one are beneficial to you and your specific needs.

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