Living a Long & Healthy Cancer-Free Life: Detox Protocols for Body and Spirit
You may have heard about purging in relationship to psychedelic medicine ceremonies (i.e. letting go of what no longer serves us, to cause evacuation from, or to make free of something unwanted.)
It is often the part people are the most concerned about — understandably so.
Here is the rub: we cannot heal without release.
It’s physics. If what is IN your body is not equating to optimal, extraordinary health then something, somehow, must get OUT. Be it a virus that is using your cells to replicate, bacteria taking over your gut, toxic heavy metals, forever chemicals, microplastic molecules, pesticides, herbicides, pharmaceuticals (yes those are all toxic too - though they may be a ‘necessary’ toxin), benzene from gasoline fumes, styrene, xylene, chloroform, cresol, acrolein, acrylamide, or bromopropane….
You get the idea…. There are over 80,000 industrial chemicals Americans are exposed to. “Better out than in” is what I always say!
When confronting the realities of healing, it is most often the release, or purge, we try to avoid. Our cultural addiction to numbing out is literally the exact opposite of confronting the release.
Supporting the natural physiologic detoxification process (physically, emotionally, and spiritually) is one of the most critical missing components from the conventional medical approach that not only prevent the restoration of health but is the source of what we call ‘side effects’ that lead to the expansion of disease in the individual.
Purging is integral to any indigenous system of healing and it is what is ultimately the key to restore health.
There are many ways to purge. Notice when children get sick or emotionally overwhelmed they do a lot of puking, sweating, high fevers, crying, yelling, getting diarrhea and turning themselves into snot factories.
This is the way we are designed to eliminate and heal!
And if you think of the tribal ceremonies of drumming, chanting, singing, shaking, dancing and stomping the ground with our feet - THIS IS ALSO the way we are designed to eliminate and heal.
I have clients who are highly committed to major weight loss and they are eating well and exercising and seemingly taking the actions they need to take according to modern convention. I have been known to share with them my view: they could cry the pounds off. Here’s the thing: it’s not only about sadness and grief - we also are suppressed in our JOY! When is the last time you laughed so hard you peed a little? How many times a day do you break out into laughter?
This is something I have observed in the Shapibo healers in Peru. When I would walk past their house during the days between ceremonies, they are always laughing and singing endlessly.
In order to heal and live in our vibrant health fully, we must detoxify both the physical and emotional baggage we carry around with us. How can we practice this? How does this relate to cancer? Read more below.
It was almost two and half years ago that my father died of pancreatic cancer. To be honest, even as a doctor I never really thought a whole lot about cancer — and certainly wasn’t concerned that it would impact me directly. My grandparents all dealt with heart disease and that has always been the primary health concern within my family.
This shift of facing my dad’s cancer has had me get a lot more personally interested in what it means to live a life that is deeply aligned to radiant health and not aligned with cancer. This takes facing not just physical but also emotional detoxification.
Essentially, cancer occurs from the breakdown of three systems in your body:
The liver is no longer able to successfully remove toxins from circulation in the body.
Your immune system doesn’t detect or keep up with removing tumor cells, rouge cancer cells that do not have the off switch to die.
Your body is filled up with unprocessed emotional baggage from years of decades of suppression (conscious or unconscious).
Emotional health is about having access to the FULL range of human emotions we experience (for more on this, check out Brene Brown’s Atlas of The Heart) and to allow yourself to feel all of it fully as it moves through you, until you can let it go. Thinking we can get through this life by shortcutting emotional experience is just as harmful to our health as keeping heavy metals and toxins trapped in our bodies.
When it comes to physical toxins, unfortunately many of the most potent and impactful toxins hide deep inside our body in the nervous system and the bones which are two of the most difficulty systems to detoxify. There are naturopathic protocols and programs that work to get to these toxic roots.
I use biotherapeutic drainage a system of medicine based in homeopathic and low dose herbs and essential elements. As I have deepened my education of the shamanic medicines of the Amazon, I am finding they have incredibly powerful tools to reach in and extract the toxins in the most difficult to reach places. It is a lot of the power of their medicine and why working through their programs can be so intense.
Here are some other protocols you can start practicing NOW to purge and detox both your emotional and physical bodies, without a trip to the Amazon Rain Forest:
Emotional detoxification:
Giving yourself the time, space and PERMISSION to let yourself cry, yell, scream and pour your heart out
Read Letting Go: The Pathway to Surrender by David Hawkins
Hire a therapist.
Schedule a lunch, coffee or tea with a trusted friend and share what you are feeling and dealing with them.
Release resentments and regrets with practices like tapping and the Emotional Freedom Technique.
Explore Somatic therapy where the body is the starting point to achieve healing. This form of therapy cultivates an awareness of bodily sensations, and teaches people to feel safe in their bodies while exploring thoughts, emotions, and memories.
Consider Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR). A psychotherapy treatment that is designed to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories
Look into Biodynamic Breathwork a spiritual and physical growth process, focused on creating space and relaxation in the body, invites us to feel—really feel—our physical bodies, hearts, minds, spirits, and energy centers.
Physical detoxification:
Homeopathic and herbal Biotheraputic drainage. I have over 500 hours of training and 18 years of experience in this system of physiologic detoxification. Contact me for session.
Focus on a healthy gut microbiome with extra fibrous veggies and probiotics or home fermented foods
Support your liver with antioxidants (greens, green smoothies, juice or water fasts)
Eat sulfur rich foods to nourish your detox pathways like cabbage, collard greens, Brussels sprouts, leaks and garlic.
Eat fresh living food, focusing on 6 cups of veggies per day and protein at every meal
Move your body by walking 30-minutes a day for circulation and lymph health
Breathe more. Always breathe more.
Drink pure clean water, minimum of 64 ounces daily!
Get in the Sauna! 30 minute sessions, rotating with cold plunge or shower, 3 times a week
Use CASTOR OIL PACKS daily - learn more here
Participate in a sweat lodge or Temazcal Ceremony
Explore Kambo, Amazonian frog medicine therapy, non-psychoactive, see podcast with Juls Broadhead. Not a beginners practice, but could be a critical next step of healing.
This information is for educational purposes only. None of these are medical recommendations but opportunities to learn and explore. Always consult your physician first before committing to intense detox protocols.