What’s the best way to detox?

Getting rid of toxins has been all the rage over the last 20 to 30 years with all the makings of a trendy fad. The only thing is that detoxification is no fad because clearly, it’s here to stay; there is a new product or service that comes out every day bragging about how many toxins it can rid your body of.  You won’t hear on your targeted Instagram ad that you can enhance detoxification, and it’s available to you every moment with diaphragmatic breathing, also known as the correct form of breathing.  Using the diaphragm to commence a cleansing breath exercise is an ancient breathing technique. 

Most people know the lymphatic system has to do with detoxifying, but that’s about it, but they don’t know how breathing exercises for the diaphragm can enhance this process.  This under-appreciated system works by draining fluid into lymph vessels called capillaries. The fluid is then pushed along when muscles contract or we respirate. The lymph capillaries are very thin and have many tiny openings that allow water, gasses, and nutrients to pass through to the surrounding cells, nourishing them and removing waste products.  The National Cancer Institute posted an article about the Lymphatic system that beautifully captures how we are directly responsible for powering it via proper breathing, stating,

There is no pump in the lymphatic system like the heart in the cardiovascular system. The pressure gradients to move lymph through the vessels come from the skeletal muscle action, respiratory movement, and smooth muscle contraction in vessel walls.  

Not one but two factors of mechanically proper diaphragmatic breathing are essential in powering detoxification with the lymphatic system, skeletal muscle action, and respiratory movement;  being a skeletal muscle, the diaphragm’s movement alone pumps the lymphatic system as well as the respiratory movement that comes with it.  When we take shallow breaths that do not engage our diaphragm, we are not taking in enough oxygen with each breath and are therefore failing to power the pump of our lymphatic system.  This is a rare case of something too good to be true being legit because the truly best way to detoxify is by simply breathing the way you were supposed to breathe.