Skip the juice fast and the deprivation! This half-hour flow cleanses your body, leaving you calm, focused and glowing all day. Your system is pretty great at clearing out icky chemicals and impurities in food, water and even the air, but sometimes your inner filtration process— aka the lymphatic system and liver—needs a boost. “The best way to aid your lymphatics is through exercise, because working your muscles makes the lymphatic channels move toxins from your cells to your liver, where they’re cleared out.
1. Child’s Pose
Sit on shins with knees together or slightly apart, then drape upper body over thighs, resting forehead on mat and hands behind you with palms up. Keep spine and shoulders soft and rounded, neck relaxed. Hold, breathing naturally, for 1 to 2 minutes. (Return to this pose anytime you need a break during the sequence.)
BENEFITS This warm-up compresses the abdomen and colon, bringing fresh circulation to those areas when you release.
2. Fire breath
Find a comfortable seated position with spine stretched tall (you may need to sit on a pillow). Begin to exhale forcefully through your nose in short, powerful, sneeze- like bursts, quickly pulling diaphragm in and up with each breath—you’ll be able to see your abdomen caving inward. (Inhales will occur automatically between these forced exhales.) Continue exhaling vigorously for at least 1 minute, then take a break for up to a minute. Repeat 1 to 3 times.
BENEFITS Quick, forceful breaths help to purify the lungs and strengthen the diaphragm for more efficient breathing and digestion.
3. Thread the needle
Begin on all fours. Pick up left hand and, with palm facing up, slide it under chest toward right side so that left shoulder and left ear rest on middle line of mat, neck relaxed. Tent right fingertips and “tiptoe” hands toward front of mat, turning elbow up toward ceiling. Hold for 30 seconds to a minute, breathing deeply, then plant hands on mat, slide back up to all fours, and repeat on other side.
BENEFITS The twist nourishes and warms up the muscles along your spine, flushes out internal organs and facilitates deeper breathing, bringing more oxygen to your entire body.
4. Boat twist
Start in boat pose: Sitting upright with knees bent, lean back onto sitting bones; keeping spine tall, hug backs of thighs to find balance, then hover shins parallel to ground. Bring hands to prayer, in hale, and on the exhale twist right, hooking left elbow outside of right knee. Keep knees together to avoid rounding your back. Inhale, come back to center on the exhale, inhale again, then exhale to twist toward left side. Repeat right-center-left sequence 5 to 10 times.
BENEFITS , A strong core helps abdominal organs like the liver work more efficiently. The twist compresses the abdomen and “wrings out” toxins in the digestive system, helping to purify the kidneys
5. Down dog twist
Start in downward-facing dog: Place hands shoulder distance apart, fingers spread wide, then press chest back toward thighs, lengthening hips up and back, rooting heels toward floor. Shorten stance slightly by walking hands 2 to 3 inches toward feet. Reach back with left hand to take hold of outer right ankle, using your exhale to twist torso toward right. Gaze underneath armpit toward ceiling. Hold for 3 breaths, return to shortened down dog position, then repeat on other side.
BENEFITS The twist brings circulation to your abdominal organs, and the inversion increases blood flow between heart and head, flushing your circulatory system when you return to standing.
6. Upward breath lock
Starting in a shallow squat with feet wide and toes pointed out, exhale completely and bend deeper, leaning upper body forward about 45 degrees with hands supporting you on thighs. With breath still fully exhaled out, draw your abs in and up toward lungs, hollowing out belly and bringing navel up toward spine (shown). Hold for 5 seconds or more, then soften, release, inhale and come up from deep squat. Repeat 1 to 3 times.
BENEFITS Purifies abdominal organs and intestines. Some say the compression of the stomach also helps regulate and decrease appetite.
7. Revolved head to knee
Begin in seated straddle: Bend right knee and bring heel in toward pelvis. Take left hand to inside of left knee, inhale to reach right arm up, and exhale to slowly lean over left leg, resting left elbow on the mat if you can (leaving left arm straight if not). Keep right sitting bone down and turn chest up toward ceiling, leaning back slightly. Hold for 5 to 8 breaths, return to straddle, then repeat on other side.
BENEFITS Creates space ¡n the quadratus lumborum muscle (in your lower back), which aids in deep breathing and is difficult to stretch on your own. Stimulates the kidneys and liver—the body’s “Brita filters.”
8.Plow pose and shoulder stand
Lie on back with knees bent and feet planted. Kick feet up and behind you, catching lower back with hands. Keep shoulders down away from ears and walk elbows in as much as you can behind your back. If your feet can touch the floor behind you, clasp hands behind your back (A). If not, keep hands supporting lower back as you bend knees and let feet float or let knees rest on forehead. Maintain length in neck and don’t turn head, since weight is sup ported in your head and neck. Bring hands to support back if they aren’t already there, pulling elbows close to each other, then reach legs slowly up toward ceiling (either bending knees to get there or reaching one leg up at a time).
Aim for hips over shoulders and feet over hips. Hold for 5 to 20 breaths, then slowly return to plow pose. From plow, plant hands on mat (using them like brakes) and slowly roll down to lying flat, one vertebra at a time.
BENEFITS The pressure in your throat helps compress and stimulate your thyroid gland, which regulates your hormones and cellular metabolism, prompting your body to process and eliminate toxins more easily.
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