Deep down enveloped in darkness and safe in hiding, somewhere a seed has released its inner workings towards a slow ascent into the life giving warmth of the sun.
Soon it will break the soft surface of nutrient earth and reveal a tender shoot, pure potential reaching skyward to its destiny.
Whether it will be a tall pine ready to sprinkle green needles high into the air or a tiny flower poking its way out from under a rock, after a winter of waiting, spring is ready to reveal its renewal on life.
Though Newporters are spared the harshness of ice and snow, our own melting begins with those tiny shoots springing out everywhere, trees popping out new bright green leaves, and birds singing their morning aria into a crisp atmosphere popping with excitement.
It’s the time where the old is shed and the new steps up to take its place. We translate it into a cleansing of mind, body, and soul so we can begin again to collect and ingest all that life has to give. We sweep out our houses, clean up our yards and pass on our old unwanted possessions elsewhere. And we begin to ferret out the old, the dank and the stagnant that’s been slugging around inside our bodies, our mind and our heart to bring the physical body into sync with all the renewal taking place this time of year.
Greens are synonymous with cleansing, and so spring is synonymous with green. We look to greens to detoxify and renew the liver so the blood can process through it like a carwash and find itself clean and pure and alive with nutrients. Get those juicers spinning with lovely green pouring into your glass filled with chlorophyll laden liquids. With their ability to bind with unwanted chemicals, chlorophyll grabs and dumps toxic messes out of the body through the liver. So drink your kale, slurp your spinach and chug your parsley in a toast to spring.
Along with the greens, give the digestive system a rest. Take a week off of eating meat and heavy fatty foods such as cheeses and butter. Eat light. Eat sparingly.Avoid alcohol. Let the body flush itself out and start anew. Fill yourself with herbs such as a drink of dandelion tea that stimulates the production of bile, another toxin remover produced by the gall bladder. Swallow capsules of milk thistle with its active ingredient silymarin to protect the liver and help it make new cells. And add a handful of chopped cilantro into your favorite salsa or guacamole to chelate the body of the heavy metals mercury, cadmium, lead and aluminum.
With spring come the rains drenching life into the earth. So you too must drench yourself and hydrate with pure spring water, adding several slices of lemon for an alkalizing treat. Water is vital to flushing toxins and always a part of every cleansing diet. If the toxins are not sent through the kidneys into urine or out through the intestines, the skin will likely take the hit with rashes and breakouts, and detox headaches lingering longer than usual.
Breathing also cleanses, and pranayama yoga – the art of breathing control – is another tool to bring the body into balance and reduce oxidative stress, a killer of all cells. Allow your lungs to fill deeply with the wonders of air and its transformative healing.
It’s all about treating the body right with juices, herbs, breathing and water to bring the renewal of life into action.
But there is also the aspect of mind and heart where this center of the soul is often forgotten and left heavy with burdens. Rid yourself of unwanted regrets and hurts and forgive yourself and others. Let the light of the spring sun pierce your heart and bring a bounty of renewed compassion with every step you take in this world.
It’s the birds singing their songs, the sky awash in blue and the sun in prime shine where there is no better moment to renew your self than within the joyous explosion of life that springtime brings.
