Dry Body Brushing 101

[Pat Robinson]

[Guest blog post from Kelli Caballero Doussan & Jennifer Caballero of Sprout New Roots.]

Dry Body Brushing 101

 

Hello again!

 

So were you starting to think this blog was solely about recipes? Fear not, there’s much more to a happy healthy lifestyle besides amazing nutritious food!-although that’s a huge fun part! I want to know- have any of you heard of body brushing or dry brushing?

 

I hadn’t until I started reading Kris Carr’s blog. She’s amazing by the way-you should check her out. (crazysexylife.com). You’ll be inspired to make a healthy change in your life! You might remember her from Oprah’s show or from her TLC documentary “Crazy, Sexy, Cancer”-which I totally, completely, and infinitely recommend. Kris’ spirit and attitude are incredible as she goes on a journey to health after being diagnosed with a rare Cancer that has no known cure.  On her website she has an entire community that you can join in and discuss life/love/health/food related things with her and others seeking a similar kind of positive energy!

 

This leads to my topic-dry brushing! She dry brushes her body and swears that your skin will glow like never before! First-buy a loofa/shower brush/shower gloves or mitt etc. and you basically exfoliate your body in the morning before you shower. Here are some body brushes: here.

 

The technique is to start at the bottom of your right foot and work your way up with your gloves/mitt/brush in a circular motion towards your heart. Then you move onto the left leg up. Then your right arm, left arm, and in a figure 8 around your breasts (don’t brush your nipples! lol) and finally your belly button out in a circular motion, finishing off in stokes up towards your heart. Also, don’t brush too harshly on your skin-it’s supposed to be a comfortable amount of pressure and brushing-so if you’re skin is sensitive, take it easy-especially at first!

 

There are books and techniques on this that seem to get very specific about how you are supposed to do this–but I basically do as I’ve told you and as Kris talks about in her article on it (http://crazysexylife.com/2008/dry-brushing/). The main idea is to have fun, get funky with your naked self, and get your brushing groove on!

 

Some people put coconut oil on their skin afterwards and swear by it. I haven’t tried this yet but it sounds heavenly! Here’s another very helpful, detailed blog post by Vegalicious! (http://www.vega-licious.com/health-nutrition/benefits-of-dry-brushi...)

 

 

I’ve definitely felt the amazing benefits after starting this around a month ago!

 

Dry brushing basically wakes you up (better than that coffee!) by stimulating your circulatory system and lymph nodes and therefore gets your immune system going! It removes the toxins that your body unloads each and every day off of you-hence the glowing smooth skin! This also opens up pores and allows your body to breathe!

 

My skin has never felt naturally softer and I definitely notice a difference in my alertness in the mornings! I try to dry brush around 3-4 times a week to keep a consistency of removing toxins off my skin.

 

All I can say is that every year I catch a cold when the weather changes but so far this Fall season at work, there have been 3-4 major colds that have swept threw our office in the last few months and I have yet to catch one of them! This is actually a goal of mine this year–to NOT catch the cold I usually do! So, I’m arming up my immune system through nutrition, dry brushing, and also this magic little Echinacea Goldenseal Propolis throat spray! Any time that I have felt any slight change in my body that signaled I may be catching something, I immediately sprayed this in my throat a few times that day as instructed. And so far so good!

 

Let me know if any of you dry brush or if you try it!

 

Thanks, guys and gals!

 

-Kelli


Read more about Kelli and Jennifer's plant-based diet journey at Sprout New Roots.