Spring is traditionally the time of the liver in Chinese medicine. What does that mean? According to ancient Chinese healing principles of energy balance, spring is the time of renewal and growth. Flowers bloom, trees reach to the heavens, and the part of you that wants to renew and grow also gets activated. Spring is associated with the Wood Element; the organs and meridians/energy pathways associated with Wood and Spring are the Liver and Gall Bladder.
What do we know about the liver? Physically, the liver is our largest organ, after our skin. A clean and healthy liver is essential for optimal health because it serves the functions of filtering toxins out of our blood, regulating hormones and digestion, supporting our immune system and more. Furthermore, the liver is one organ in the body that regenerates rather quickly.
In truth, you don’t need to be obviously sick to have an overworked and sluggish liver. Congested livers can result in:
- Fatigue that doesn’t let up
- Lack of clarity / Brain fog
- Hormonal and thyroid imbalances
- Digestive complaints / Continual bloating
- Sleep issues
- Skin Ailments including Acne & Eczema
- Irritability and emotional up and downs
What do we know about the gallbladder? Physically, the gallbladder is a small but powerful organ that stores and concentrates the bile produced by the liver. Bile is needed to break down fats and support digestion. When your gallbladder is healthy, bile is released smoothly and efficiently, helping the body process food, absorb nutrients, and eliminate waste. The gallbladder is like a pump attached to your liver’s filtering system. If that pump becomes sluggish or congested, bile doesn’t flow properly and digestion becomes heavy, toxins are not cleared efficiently, and the whole system starts to back up. Just like a clogged pipe in your home, when the gallbladder isn’t functioning well, everything downstream is affected.
So when we talk about doing a liver cleanse, we are actually cleansing both the liver and the gallbladder together. By cleansing the liver, the gallbladder receives and releases cleaner, smooth moving bile and is affected positively. It’s not just eating oily and greasy foods that creates a poorly functioning gallbladder that sometimes creates radiating pain; the culprit is also a sub-optimally functioning liver.
How Do I Even Know if My Liver Needs Cleansing?
In the world of holistic healing, we recommend a liver cleanse 1-2x a year. The cleansing cycle is similar to the air conditioning cleansing cycle. When you turn your A/C off for the winter, before you intend to use it again in the spring, you really need to clean the filter. If you don’t clean the filter before you turn it on, then dust basically flies through the air and moreover, the air doesn’t get very cold; it can’t function very well. The same is true of the liver. As a filtering system, if we don’t clean it, then it basically sends toxins floating through our bodies and doesn’t do the many jobs we need it to do.
A Liver Detox is Not Just About Juicing
When you hear “liver detox”, most people think it’s just about the physical level of our being. Drink green juices for 9 days and it cleans your liver, right? Not exactly. What we ingest is only part of what is important, because we are actually detoxing on many levels simultaneously:
- Physically – with herbs, green drinks and water
- Emotionally – processing stuck emotions
- Mentally – letting go of stress and overthinking
- Spiritually/Energetically – are we in alignment, so there is not stagnation?
This is why the best liver detoxes will include practices to downregulate your nervous system and deepen your breath. Breathing is one of the greatest detoxifying activities we can partake in. When you approach cleansing the liver from multiple levels with various practices, you will FEEL the difference compared to simply drinking juices on your own…many people do this and don’t feel much different, so they assume that liver detoxing is a lot of hype.
Emotionally and energetically, we can’t step into a new season in our lives if our system is still carrying the residue of the old. So physically, emotionally and energetically, in my line of work, liver detoxes are not optional, they are essential. With the recent global stress that everyone is experiencing, we have felt the toll on our bodies and minds. Some people have been eating bad foods, some have been drinking more alcohol, and others have simply been in a bad mood.
The Power of a Group Detox Experience
The first time I led a group liver detox with my acupuncture mentor, I didn’t exactly understand the point of leading people through it. They could easily do a liver detox on their own, couldn’t they? “Yes”, my mentor agreed, “people CAN do this on their own…but DO they?”, he asked. No, they did not. In the 13 years I had recommended them to my acupuncture patients, only 2 patients had done a liver cleanse on their own, one of them was my mother. I thought she would take to it easily, because she was a good cook and liked making things in the kitchen. But not this. I was so surprised when she called me to complain 2 hours into it! After our first liver detox, which had about 15 attendees, I was pleasantly surprised to find that so many of my patients experienced the same results doing a one day cleanse together, as if they had done a 3-5 day liver cleanse on their own! As I reflected on it, I realized that detoxing together in a group amplified the net result exponentially.
Collective healing helped people feel supported. On their own, they probably would want to sneak other types of food. Together as a group, people didn’t feel hungry, weren’t mourning their lack of caffeine, and were not bored. The shared energy made it much easier for people to let go of things they knew they were holding and things they didn’t even know they were holding. Five hours of straight practice, interspersed with meditation, chanting, and yoga was all stacked to make an exceptional experience on all levels. People reported skin clearing, joint pain releasing, emotional attitude elevated.
Once I brought the Liver Detox Retreats to Ohm, we included breathwork and yoga nidra (guided relax around the body) and ended with a sound bath. It was magical. The deep breathing oxygenates the body well and stimulates the lymphatic system to work effectively. The sound baths help release stored emotions and energetic residue and let the participants leave feeling peaceful and calm.
And for those of you curious about how we do the cleanses: this is not the epsom salt liver flush that leaves you chained to the toilet for a day or two. That one is great to do if you have the willpower and discipline to do it on your own, and you need a “quick and clean” strategy. The one we do uses herbs, teas, green drinks, and all the above practices I have mentioned, which includes some combination of meditation, mantra, breathwork, gentle stretching, yoga nidra/guided relax and sound healing. We also start you out with 10 acupuncture ear needles to detox the major organs. So you end up with a full-system reset.
Detox as a Spiritual Practice
What you experience over the course of the cleanse, and for a period of time afterwards, is that detoxing is about letting go. You let go of toxins, you let go of emotions that don’t serve you, you let go of stored stress and you let go of anger and frustration. You leave feeling rejuvenated because you have released enough to let in something new! Detoxing from this perspective becomes an experience not of restriction, but of growth and transformation.
If you feel ready to reset, to release, and to reconnect with your body on a deeper level, this is the time. the next Liver Detox Retreat at Ohm is Sunday April 19th, 10am-2:30pm. Join us if you can!
By Suzanne M. Hill, M.Sc., L.Ac., Ohm Center Founder & Teacher
The OHM Center was founded in October 2019 and is dedicated to helping advance their spiritual training and understanding. Classes 7 days a week, join us sometime!
OHM Center, 1143 First Avenue, NYC, NY 10065 – 212-557-6216 – www.ohmcenter.com
