By Jane G. Goldberg, Ph.D.

(first published in Epoch Times)

Some years back, I heard Bernard Jensen, one of our country’s great nutritionists and author of over 50 books, tell the story of Samson, “the Saxon Giant.”

One of the most wonderful things about our bodies is that its largest organ—the skin—is on its outside. We can, and do, automatically and continuously both nourish and detoxify our bodies through the skin. 

The ability of the skin to accept substances and deliver them to the bloodstream is well-known. The skin serves as a direct link to all the other organs. Contemporary physicians have revived the age-old practice of delivering medicine through the skin. Heart patients use nitroglycerin patches; cigarette smokers try to break their addiction through the use of nicotine patches.

So great, in fact, is the ability of the skin to absorb substances that one drop of essential oil placed on the fingertip will show up in hair analysis 10 minutes later.

The skin’s ability to excrete toxins, however, is not as well emphasized. In natural health circles, the skin is referred to as the body’s third lung or third kidney. It aids tremendously in throwing off all toxins from the body. We absorb more impurities, and eliminate more waste through the skin than any other organ in our bodies (including the colon).

Two pounds of waste are eliminated every day through the skin. The skin works hand in hand with the kidneys. On hot days, we do a lot of our elimination through our skin, and our kidneys don’t have to work as hard. Conversely, on cold days, our kidneys take over this function of the skin because the skin is not eliminating as much.

The body organizes itself, in part, through a continuous dance of creating new while simultaneously shedding old, and it does this process especially efficiently with skin cells. 

The skin is often the first place that biological imbalance appears. When the other systems are overloaded in dealing with too many toxins, the skin is utilized as an additional organ of detoxification. Sometimes old cells can cling to the surface of the skin, trapping pathogenic microorganisms like bacteria within. As well, new cells are inhibited from breathing.

Eruptions, blemishes, odors, and colors may appear as the skin tries to do overtime in ridding the body of waste. 

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“ Improper lymphatic drainage is one of the main reasons that so many women are plagued with cellulite. ”

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Toxicity can gather just beneath the skin’s surface from a variety of everyday habits. Improper pH levels can result from an accumulation of toxic body soaps, skin creams, and anti-perspirants. Even synthetic fibers worn next to the skin can contribute to the absorption of toxins into the skin.

Lymphatic Cleansing

Skin brushing is especially useful for lymphatic cleansing. Cleansing the lymphatic system is essential because the lymph glands serve as one of the body’s primary defense mechanisms. The lymphatic system cleanses out cellular debris that the bloodstream has not been able to take care of, such as viruses, bacteria, and dust. 

The lymphatic system is like the circulatory system: It moves a fluid—which makes up about 80 percent of total body fluids—throughout the body. This lymphatic fluid picks up debris as it moves along its path. Normally, excess lymphatic fluid is excreted through the skin, the kidneys, and other eliminative organs. 

Unlike the circulatory system, which has a pump—the heart—to keep the fluid moving, the lymphatic system has nothing to keep the fluid moving other than your own movement. When there is toxicity from improper diet or elimination, clothing worn too tightly, or not enough exercise, the lymphatic fluid gets blocked.  

Improper lymphatic drainage is one of the main reasons that so many women are plagued with cellulite. The dimples that form on the thighs and buttocks are due to the accumulation of fats, proteins, and other waste products that are not being excreted from the body efficiently.

These unwanted products are usually carried out of the body by the lymphatic system. Dry skin brushing helps to kick-start the lymphatic system by stimulating the lymph canals, which helps detoxify the blood and reduces the toxic buildup that causes cellulite.

Dry skin brushing has a wide range of benefits:

• Tightens skin
• Improves digestion
• Aids in diminishing cellulite
• Stimulates circulation
• Increases cell renewal
• Cleanses lymphatic system
• Removes dead skin layers
• Strengthens immune system
• Improves exchange between cells
• Stimulates the glands, thus helping all the
  bodily systems to perform at peak efficiency

Jensen himself was testimony to his own theory. When he was 88, he appeared at a conference I was attending. He rolled up his shirt sleeves and pulled up his pants legs, showing us the skin on his arms and legs. There was not a single wrinkle, line, or blemish anywhere on this man’s body that we could see.

Jensen, like Samson, attributed the beauty of his skin—its tautness, smoothness, and elasticity—to his daily regimen of skin brushing.

How to Do Skin Brushing

1. Buy a natural bristle brush with a long handle (available at most health food stores).
2. Brush skin before showering or bathing, at least once per day. Do not wet your skin first, as this stretches your skin.
3. Always brush toward the heart.
4. Brush the soles of your feet first because the nerve endings there affect your whole body. Next brush your ankles, calves, and thighs.
5. Brush across your stomach and your buttocks, and lastly brush your hands to your arms. Do circular, clockwise strokes on your abdomen—going up the right side, across the belly, and then down the left side. This is the same direction of movement that waste passes through the colon.
6. Do lighter strokes over and around your breasts, and do not brush the nipples.
7. Repeat the whole process. Brush each part of your body several times vigorously.
8. Take a warm bath or shower, which should always be followed by a cool or even cold rinse at the end. One good practice is to gradually change a warm shower into a cold shower, and tolerate the cold water until your body starts to create its own internal heat to meet the challenge of the cold water. This helps renew the cells in your body.
9. Wash off your brush every few weeks in water and allow it dry completely.

Respectfully submitted by: La Casa Spa – and – Jane G. Goldberg Ph.D. *Licensed Psychologist *Certified  Psychoanalyst *Stone Carrier Medicine Woman, Native American Traditional Organization

Jane is now a featured writer for both The Epoch Times — available online and in news boxes all over New York City — and The Truth About Cancer.

Breathe Deeply Northeastern University immunologists have found that a new therapy that floods tumors with supplemental oxygenation can shrink them and dramatically improve the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy. The findings — published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, founded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science — are being hailed as potential “breakthrough” that could dramatically increase the survival rate of patients with cancer, which kills some 8 million people each year. “This discovery shifts the paradigm of decades-long drug development, a process with a low success rate,” said lead researcher Michail Sitkovsky, an immunophysiology expert at Northeastern. “Indeed, it is promising that our method could be implemented relatively quickly by testing in clinical trials the effects of oxygenation in combination with different types of already existing immunotherapies of cancer.” Sitkovsky and his colleagues found shows that inhaling air that is 40-60 percent oxygen — two to three times the concentration in the air we breathe — helps arm and “awaken T cells” in the body’s immune systems, making them more effective in destroying tumor cells. Oxygenation also weakens tumor cells’ ability to outwit the body’s natural defenses. The research caps 30 years of work, involving a dozen doctors and researchers at some of the country’s most prestigious universities, hospitals, and medical schools, including Northeastern University’s Barnett Institute of Chemical and Biological Analysis, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where Sitkovsy holds an appointment as a presidential scholar. “Breathing supplemental oxygen opens up the gates of the tumor fortress and wakes up ‘sleepy’ anti-tumor cells, enabling these soldiers to enter the fortress and destroy it,” Sitkovsy explained. “However, if anti-tumor immune cells are not present, oxygen will have no impact.” Sitkovsky said the effects of supplemental oxygenation might be even stronger in combination with a synthetic agent that he calls “super-caffeine,” which blocks the tumor-protecting effects of cancer cells. “The anti-tumor effects of supplemental oxygen can be further improved by the natural antagonist [tumor-suppressing cell activity], which happens to be the caffeine in your coffee,” Sitkovsky said.

Who Knew? An early inventor of colonics was John Harvey Kellogg. He was the chief physician for the famed Battle Creek Sanitarium, operating in the late 1900s and through to the 1950s. Kellogg was an early proponent of vegetarianism as well as enemas. He devised a machine that gave patients a series of non-stop enemas. He lived to 91, and my guess is that he availed himself of his machine. He happened to also formulate  a cereal, which he named granola. The name was ultimately changed to Corn Flakes. (Yeah – he was from THAT Kellogg family. So next time you enjoy your granola, you have Dr. Kellogg to thank for its first formulation.)

Another great review from one of La Casa’s customers: “It’s everything they say it is and more. After my colonic I felt lighter and my back felt better than it had in years. Then I had a blissful massage. I’m planning to make both colonic and massage part of my stay-well regimen.” – Betsy F.