By: Hettie Basil Lighttower
This is a second publishing due to a request from a faithful follower to do so. Enjoy!! And I hope you will give it a try.
Brushing. What comes to mind when you read or hear that word? Perhaps……brushing your teeth, brushing your hair, brushing on paint, brushing someone off, or brushing it off(if you just had your feelings hurt or had things to go wrong in your day). But have you ever heard of dry brushing??? Interesting term isn’t it? What does DRY brushing mean? At first mention it sounds really useless.
Well, let’s take a look. A little backdrop information before we get started. You know me, I like to talk down winding paths and bring it all together to the same destination so we have covered all the ground and made all the connections using association and get to see the big picture. Our skin has many many nearly countless amounts of capillaries. Capillaries are those blood vessels so small that a hair from your head is thicker than they. These miniscule vessels provide communication to our skin and also our lymph nodes. As a matter of fact they help to activate the lymph nodes. Our skin also has tiny nerve endings. The nerve endings activate the capillaries.
Did you know that if you take a dry brush and brush it across your arms, legs, torso, and neck you will stimulate these nerve endings, that then stimulate your capillaries, that then stimulate your lymphatic system? Not just any type of dry brush, not just any direction and not just on the front of said body parts. And what in the world do you suppose the purpose of THIS ridiculousness and weird brushing would be? Do you remember that old smart-mouth come back…..“What do you think I’m doing it for, my health?” The answer would be “YES”. For my health. For your health.
The brush must be made with real animal hair(boar’s hair). There is a company that makes this special type of brush and it can be found in the bath or pharmacy sections of consumer traps… I mean stores. One company that I can recall and is on the name of the brush that I use is called “bass”. Like the shoe. It might even be the same shoe company. I don’t know, I’m not their spokesperson. With this boar hair brush you want to brush your entire body front and back beginning with your ankles and wrists all in the motion of going towards your heart. This creates a timely pathway of stimulation that helps your heart get the message as organized as possible to get things flushed out.
Dry brushing canvases a large variety of benefits for most illnesses and chronic battles. For instance, it increases circulation and blood flow and engages the lymph system to clean toxins out. This action is good for just about any person who just simply wants to feel better. Capillaries increase oxygen to the cells. When cells get an oxygen boost they repair themselves. So, your skin looks better, your muscles get more toned and your organs get nutrients. I learned about this dry brushing technique during my cancer journey. It was recommended to me since my cancer was inclusively in my lymph nodes. This helped my lymph system to cleanse itself and stay stimulated, which is super important. Our lymph system needs to be stimulated in order to work properly. Without stimulation, it can be dormant and dysfunctional holding on to collected toxins and free radicals that make us sick, diseased or non-vibrant. Capillaries when activated work hand-in-hand with lymph to transport all our yucky things on out the proper channels. Channels meaning you-know-whats you-know-where but also through our sweat.
That is why walking is always recommended. The bouncy movement of our stride gets it circulating. This is why trampolines are used for PT. This is why massages are so important and should be viewed as a health measure, not a leisure time pleasure. All these things stimulate our lymph system. Doing sports, even simple ping-pong. This is also why it is said that you live longer if you have a pet! Pets get you moving. Going for a walk with them, playing with silly toys with your cats, or playing fetch with either a cat or a dog. Some cats are more like a dog and some dogs are more like a cat. But yes, pets even help to stimulate our lymphatic system as they get us moving around more than we would without them. So, bounce that grandbaby on your knee! It will be good for them and you both.
If you have any questions and need elaboration on any of these points, just send them by email. I will do my best to help you. As always, feel free to send in your notions and comments to [email protected]. I will include them in the next available column as per their arrival relative to the publication deadline of Tuesday by 12 p.m. of the same week. If you wish to be anonymous let me know. Kindness is contagious~*