Cleansing and Detoxifying Your Lymphatic System
An understanding of the lymphatic system should be an integral part of everyone’s health education. Instead, most people barely know it exists. It could be suggested that the cleansing and detoxing of your lymphatic system will be the most important thing you ever do on your health journey. Let’s begin with a basic explanation of what the lymphatic system is, so we can understand why detox is such a crucial part of reaching optimal health and wellbeing.
The lymphatic system can be easily understood as the body’s sewerage system. It is a network of tissues and organs that helps to rid the body of toxins and waste. The primary function of the lymphatic system is to transport lymph, which is a fluid that contains infection-fighting white blood cells, throughout the body.
Lymphatic vessels are to the lymphatic system what veins and capillaries are to the circulatory system. While veins and capillaries transport blood, lymphatic vessels transport lymph.
These vessels are connected to lymph nodes, which is where the lymph is filtered. We all have hundreds of lymph nodes, spread throughout our bodies. You can find them around the lungs and heart or under the arm or groin, for example.
The tonsils, adenoids, thymus and spleen are also part of the lymphatic system. The spleen, which is located on the left side of the body just above the kidney, is the largest lymphatic organ. If the spleen detects potentially dangerous bacteria, viruses, or other microorganisms in the blood, it, along with the lymph nodes, will create white blood cells called lymphocytes, which act as a line of defense by producing antibodies that kill the foreign microorganisms, and stop infections from spreading.
To be in optimal health the eliminative organs, which are your kidneys, colon & skin, have to be detoxing your body effectively. If they are compromised or overloaded, and are no longer filtering, then how do you move your lymphatic system? You don’t! Then, acid waste from the cells starts to back up and stagnation occurs. This is when you begin to see a myriad of health complications, either immediately or down the line.
What is Stagnant Lymph?
A stagnated lymphatic system is extremely common in today’s society. If your eliminative organs are not filtering your body’s waste effectively, which is so often the case because of our S.A.D diets (especially a high consumption of dairy), and lack of exercise, then your lymphatic system will slowly, but surely become increasingly backed up. The lymph nodes swell, the tissues surrounding them start to swell and you experience acidosis, which then breeds dehydration. An easy test to see whether your kidneys are filtering, is to test the pH of your urine. If it is alkaline, then you are losing your electrolytes and you’re not moving the acidic waste out of your body.
How Can I Get My Lymph Moving?
The golden key to health is detoxification, which is what your body, in it’s natural state, is more than capable of doing. All you need to do is give yourself the environment that will support healing and strengthen your body’s natural detoxification process. Proper nutrition, adequate sleep and movement are all important lifestyle changes, but the addition of powerful herbal formulas will further elevate the process.
The first step is to add in an herbal formula for each of the eliminative organs. This means beginning with the Kidney and Bladder I tincture as well as the GI Broom to begin detoxifying the colon. These two will help to get your kidneys, colon and lymph nodes filtering again and greatly assist in the cleaning process of your sewer (lymph) system. Remember, if your lymphatic system has been stagnant for a long period of time, there will be a lot of acid waste backed up which will take some time to drain.
Secondly, but just as important are the Lymphatic Systems Tinctures. Lymphatic Systems I and II are superb formulas that were created to cleanse (detoxify) and strengthen the lymphatic tissues and nodes of the body, as well as enhance the immune system. III, IV and V have been created to address lymphatic stagnation and congestion in the lymph nodes as well as within the lymphatic system.
Tonic III has been scientifically found to destroy C#nc#r cells and/or inhibit C#nc#r cells from growing. Tonic IV is a unique formula which focuses on nature’s strongest astringents. Tonics IV and V were designed to help those with chronic lymphatic problems.
If you can feel that your lymph nodes are hardened, or swollen (you should not be able to feel them), rubbing a little Healing Salve will be beneficial. This can be a good alternative to castor oil packs, as the herbs in the salve will be absorbed by the skin in to that area and help to soften the swollen or hardened lymph node. They will filter more efficiently as the swelling reduces.
In cases of C#nc#r or other stagnant lymph conditions, you may want to use two or three lymphatic or lymph node formulas together with the rest of the lymphatic protocol.
So, in conclusion, I hope this has helped to inform and inspire you on your health and detoxification journey. Please leave any comments or questions you may have in the comments section below, we’d love to hear from you!
Love, Hannah
