Dry Skin Brushing: How and Why to Do It…
When your body experiences chronic stress, it hoards fat. Metabolic Intervention Exercises (MIEs) reverse that response. MIEs also stimulate your circulation, increase blood flow and lymphatic flow, and facilitate waste removal. On top of all that, they feel great, so don’t skip them!
Dry skin brushing can play a phenomenal role in lymphatic drainage, brain and immune function, and definitely increasing blood flow to shake loose hard-to-get fat cells. And it can really make an impact on your Fast Metabolism Diet journey!
For best results, do your dry skin brushing without clothing. (Naked out in the sunshine is even better, if you can do that, but you might need to get your neighbor’s permission.) :) I’m doing this today fully clothed for you guys.
I usually use the brush we sell on my website. It has a nice, long handle and a removable head for convenience, and it’s my favorite. (Watch my website for the next sitewide sale or free shipping offer. That’s the perfect time to get one!)
There are all kinds of ways to stimulate the physical body, like massage, acupuncture and acupressure. Dry skin brushing stimulates our senses, which has a soothing effect in the brain and can elevate our mood. Triggering lymphatic drainage is also a great way to help release toxins stored in fat cells, so that they can be excreted.
You always want to start at the bottom with the feet, and work your way up. Go from large joint to large joint, brushing toward the heart. There are a lot of stimulus points in the feet, especially along the sides. If you don’t sleep well, do that area, and the arches of the feet.
You don’t want to brush too hard, but you do want it to be stimulating. If you have a skin condition or skin irritation, just apply and release some pressure there to initiate blood flow and get that lymph pumping.
If you have any trouble areas like I do, spend a little more time on those areas to enhance blood flow. It would be even better if you did the brushing several times a day, so I recommend throwing your brush in your bag and carrying it with you. More sessions is better than one long session.
There’s lots of lymphatic congregation behind the knees, and also in the area of the inguinal nodes around the groin, so do some extra brushing there. Individuals with lower GI stress, gas and bloating after eating, or those prone to ovarian cysts should spend time on this area. Really get the belly for constipation, too. Do swirls clockwise and then counterclockwise to stimulate motility in the GI tract—and then brush back upward toward the heart.
Don’t forget the kidney and adrenal area in your back! The long handle on my brush also helps you reach the fat-burning, thermogenic brown fat between your shoulders.
Do the front of your hands and your palms too, and don’t miss the area on the underside of your upper arms or crux of your elbow.
You may start to feel a warm, thermogenic effect. I can break a sweat doing this, without having to put my track shoes on and run around the block!
Make sure to do a really good job in the armpit area. We all know there’s a lot of lymphatic tissue that drains the breasts and the head/neck area. (Watch the video below for my technique in this area.) With all that lymphatic tissue, we want to go all around the breasts, under them and in between. I go all around my neck, and even do my face too, being very gentle around and below the eyes. It feels sooo good!
When you notice a nice, pink color on your skin, know that you are enhancing delivery of micronutrients to your tissues. Drinking your Metabolism shake or eating something like egg whites and spinach right before you start is a great way to make sure nutrients get drawn into your tissues. You’re also stimulating collagen and elastin production—our natural Spanx—tightening everything up and making you look even smoother.
Dry brushing is even more effective when you are eating according to one of my plans, so why not visit my Events calendar and sign up for my next challenge right now? You’ll be glad you did!
When your body experiences chronic stress, it hoards fat. Metabolic Intervention Exercises (MIEs) reverse that response. MIEs also stimulate your circulation, increase blood flow and lymphatic flow, and facilitate waste removal. On top of all that, they feel great, so don’t skip them!
Dry skin brushing can play a phenomenal role in lymphatic drainage, brain and immune function, and definitely increasing blood flow to shake loose hard-to-get fat cells. And it can really make an impact on your Fast Metabolism Diet journey!
For best results, do your dry skin brushing without clothing. (Naked out in the sunshine is even better, if you can do that, but you might need to get your neighbor’s permission.) :) I’m doing this today fully clothed for you guys.
I usually use the brush we sell on my website. It has a nice, long handle and a removable head for convenience, and it’s my favorite. (Watch my website for the next sitewide sale or free shipping offer. That’s the perfect time to get one!)
There are all kinds of ways to stimulate the physical body, like massage, acupuncture and acupressure. Dry skin brushing stimulates our senses, which has a soothing effect in the brain and can elevate our mood. Triggering lymphatic drainage is also a great way to help release toxins stored in fat cells, so that they can be excreted.
You always want to start at the bottom with the feet, and work your way up. Go from large joint to large joint, brushing toward the heart. There are a lot of stimulus points in the feet, especially along the sides. If you don’t sleep well, do that area, and the arches of the feet.
You don’t want to brush too hard, but you do want it to be stimulating. If you have a skin condition or skin irritation, just apply and release some pressure there to initiate blood flow and get that lymph pumping.
If you have any trouble areas like I do, spend a little more time on those areas to enhance blood flow. It would be even better if you did the brushing several times a day, so I recommend throwing your brush in your bag and carrying it with you. More sessions is better than one long session.
There’s lots of lymphatic congregation behind the knees, and also in the area of the inguinal nodes around the groin, so do some extra brushing there. Individuals with lower GI stress, gas and bloating after eating, or those prone to ovarian cysts should spend time on this area. Really get the belly for constipation, too. Do swirls clockwise and then counterclockwise to stimulate motility in the GI tract—and then brush back upward toward the heart.
Don’t forget the kidney and adrenal area in your back! The long handle on my brush also helps you reach the fat-burning, thermogenic brown fat between your shoulders.
Do the front of your hands and your palms too, and don’t miss the area on the underside of your upper arms or crux of your elbow.
You may start to feel a warm, thermogenic effect. I can break a sweat doing this, without having to put my track shoes on and run around the block!
Make sure to do a really good job in the armpit area. We all know there’s a lot of lymphatic tissue that drains the breasts and the head/neck area. (Watch the video below for my technique in this area.) With all that lymphatic tissue, we want to go all around the breasts, under them and in between. I go all around my neck, and even do my face too, being very gentle around and below the eyes. It feels sooo good!
When you notice a nice, pink color on your skin, know that you are enhancing delivery of micronutrients to your tissues. Drinking your Metabolism shake or eating something like egg whites and spinach right before you start is a great way to make sure nutrients get drawn into your tissues. You’re also stimulating collagen and elastin production—our natural Spanx—tightening everything up and making you look even smoother.
Dry brushing is even more effective when you are eating according to one of my plans, so why not visit my Events calendar and sign up for my next challenge right now? You’ll be glad you did!
