Ask Dr. Shiroko

Cleansing the spirit
I don’t know about you, but when spring comes around every year I find myself looking for a fresh beginning. Spring is the time of renewal in so many ways, every thing is coming to life in a new way. I realized one day that many of my friends are born in November and December, which means they were “made” in early spring! Another form of renewal.
Often times when we’re looking for a renewed take on life, we might try one of the following:
1) Go somewhere.
2) Do something we’ve never done before
3) Change our appearance.  
It’s less common, in my experience, for us to change our lives by deciding to treat our bodies — and ultimately ourselves — with more love, nourishment, and value, unless we are feeling physically ill, and then, we often do it with anger toward our bodies wanting it to behave better, or stop feeling so bad. Our attitude is almost never about loving ourselves more.
One way to reset your body is to engage in a cleansing or detoxification period in the spring and/or fall. Over the years, I’ve come to realize that it’s good to set aside 2-4 weeks in spring and sometimes fall, to reset your body’s system. In our every day lives, we tend to eat food that may not be optimal for us, we accumulate toxins from our environment, toxins from our negative emotions, and never really eat enough vegetables.
Starting on May 8, I am going to host a spring detox cleanse. We will intentionally create a new beginning – a new relationship with your body and health. Changing long-held habits and patterns can seem like a daunting task. Because we will be doing this as a group, you will have energetic company on this journey, which should make it easier. If you’re ready, everything can change as quickly as you are able to make a decision that you want something.
Cleansing in spring is so good because your body’s energy is moving in much the same way that you see in nature. Everything is waking up, your hormones are higher, your energy is flowing, you begin to feel more alive. Trying to cleanse in the dead of winter isn’t so good because you have much less energy then. The benefits will include, resetting your metabolism, cleaning out your intestines, detoxifying your liver, clearing out emotional junk, and fortifying your immune system. Cleansing is a popular thing for many people to do these days, so when you search for information, you will find countless sorts of cleanses.
Caring for yourself and your body is one of the main issues I’d like to address here. Approach your cleanse with love, and healing as your intention, rather than beating some part of yourself into submission.
The liver is the organ that is most active in spring time. It has to do with the emotions of anger and frustration. The best way to heal anger is to find that place of forgiveness inside of ourselves. In the 5 elements system, the liver leads to the heart, which represents the emotion of joy. To find joy, you need to find forgiveness. Try doing five minutes a day of meditation of forgiveness. One meditation I have found to be effective is the Hawaiian ho-opono-pono healing prayer. In it you repeat the words “I love you, I thank you, I forgive you, Please forgive me.” You can repeat that prayer over and over again as you hold your hands up in the air to open your heart. Whatever cleanse you choose, try adding this to your process as you heal your body, heal your spirit as well.
For more information about the Spring Detox Cleanse, please contact me.
Dr. Shiroko Sokitch’s belongs to the Heart to Heart Medical Center and her column appears monthly. She can be reached at: 707-524-9640, dr*****@ht***.com.