Are you suggesting I brush my skin?

Yup.  I sure am!  Stay with me, it might get a little technical at first!

Our skin is a complex system.  It's made up of nerves, glands and cell layers that when healthy, serves as a buffer that help protect our body from extreme temperatures.  It also shields our body from the toxins it comes in contact with.  It produces antibacterial substances to protect us from infection and enables our body to produce Vitamin D when exposed to the sun.  Our skin even contains densely packed nerve cells that act as messengers to our brains.  

It's amazing what our skin can do!

Unfortunately, if it's overrun with dead skin cells, our it won't be able to eliminate waste from our body efficiently.  

This is where Dry Skin Brushing might be helpful.  It's a method I learned from Dr. Bernard Jensen years ago.  His "claim to fame" are his tissue cleanses.  (I never did these types of cleanses......if you ever read about them you might figure out why....lol....but he always said that the root of all disease was a toxic bowel.  I know, I know too much information, but I tend to agree with him....along with a toxic kidney.)  

Anyway, that was a side note....back to skin brushing. 

Dr. Bernard Jensen said that our skin is actually meant to be releasing two pounds of toxins each day.  If the skin isn't breathing properly it puts additional stress on our liver and kidneys to detoxify what could otherwise be directed out of the body through the skin.

The action of skin brushing brushes away dead skin cells which opens up this method of elimination for the body to fully utilize. Done regularly, skin brushing may improve circulation, brighten our complexion, and stimulate our lymphatic system - which is another system the body uses to detoxify us. 

It is a great way to keep the skin free of skin tags too - which are little bumps and growths that pop up on the skin.  

My husband had a little whitish looking growth on his skin that erupted rather quickly a number of months ago so he rubbed it with a dry skin brush for a week or so and it went away almost as quickly as it showed up. (please have suspicious tags checked by a health care professional)  

So how do you do it!

First you need the right brushes - a dry skin body brush and a smaller facial brush.  The body brush looks like a bathing brush with stiff natural bristles.  The facial brush has softer bristles and the head is much smaller so you can brush around the nose and smaller curves of the face.  These brushes are meant to be used only on dry skin - so there's no need to get it wet before using.  (If you want to wash them in between uses you can.  Just let them air-dry in a sunny location to prevent mold buildup.  

So before showering on dry skin:

1.  Start with the bottoms of your feet and brush in a circular motion.  Brush in an upward motion stroking toward the heart - this facilitates detoxification. 

2.  Move up your legs and then brush your back and stomach, again brushing towards your heart.

3.  Then brush your arms and upper body, using strokes toward the heart.

4.  After you've brushed the whole body, which should take anywhere between 3-5 minutes, take the brush designed for the face and in a circular motion gently cover all the areas of the face and neck.

5.  Shower off. 

Just a few tips:  You'll want to brush hard enough so that your skin turns slightly red, but not hard enough to cause pain or irritation. Be sure to be gentle on areas with thin skin, like your face and neck and avoid brushing areas with rashes or broken skin.

Although there are more intense ways to detoxify, skin brushing is a gentle and easy way to get started!