One day, I suddenly understood the difference between 解毒 and 排毒, although the common English translation of both is detoxification. In the past, I sometimes came across in Chinese literature these two concepts, though I didn’t differentiate their meanings in my head.
I came to that realization one day only because I was beginning to sense the molecular properties in my body, and hence was able to perceive the chemical activities of 解毒 and 排毒. After perceiving them for myself, I came to a cerebral or intellectual understanding that the former is a disintegration or break down of toxin molecules while the latter is a clinging to and flushing out of toxin molecules.
These two processes would need to be handled by different parts of the body.
. . .
One day I decided to boil dried licorice roots to make tea. After drinking some, I noticed that the tea was stripping off some stubborn water retention mostly in the interstitial cells by molecularly disintegrating those sluggish water molecules clinging to my body.
It has a different effect from green tea, which is promoted with detoxification ability, but molecularly green tea is only better at grabbing the freely circulating toxins in the body, and then bring them to the kidneys for release. It does not break down stubborn water molecules or toxins that stick to the body.
. . .
On the topic of detoxification, I had experienced another food that cleanses the blood, although with a different chemical effect than the above two ingredients. I’m talking about garlic.
One day, I bought a 1kg bag of garlic for $4, because the alternative was three bulbs for $1. With that many garlic, I must eat lots! So I ate two bulbs a day, cooked. At such high dosage, for sure you can notice its effect. The biggest difference for me was that my blood felt thinner, cleaner, and flowed more efficiently. Prior to that, my blood viscosity was higher, and there was a slight resistance in moving my blood. But after a couple of days, my body felt light, and not only that, I did not feel so eager to eat so much garlic anymore. So I intuitively scaled back on my dosage.
Another observation that surprised me was that the garlic thinned out my blood so much that I didn’t have blood clots in my menstruation.
I tried to tune my perception to the chemical activities from the garlic in my body, and it seemed to have its effect in my blood, not in the water molecules throughout my body. My blood had the tendency to cling on to toxins but not very good at dislodging them, so garlic helped to detach the toxins from my blood.
. . .
Of the four elements–fire, water, air, earth–water and earth have a strong sense of memory. The memory of water element in my body is very sticky, viscous, sluggish, and heavy. I cling on to emotional charges easily, both good and bad ones, but I don’t disengage from those memories easily. So when I do emotional healing, which requires emotional release, those charges just don’t fall off me easily despite all the different methods I use.
According to the Indian mystic Sadhguru’s book Karma, cleansing the elements is the „most fundamental level at which we can cleanse karma (p.139).”
Detoxification is not just cleansing the body. In its broadest sense, it means cleansing your life.
