Ayurvedic Practices For A Healthy Liver

From processing the food that we eat to removing harmful toxins, our liver does most of the work to keep us healthy. This is why, Yoga and Ayurveda Practitioner, Life Coach and Founder of Yogi Fuel, Mel Singh believes that it is important for us to take care of the organ. While acknowledging the same, Mel Singh suggested four yogic and ayurvedic practices to keep the liver healthy. Explaining where the liver is located, which is beneath the rib cage on the right side, Mel mentioned that it is responsible for over 500 jobs to do within our body. Some of these are as follows:

• It is the primary organ which helps detoxification
• Essential for digestion and bile flow
• Involved in protein synthesis
• Supports the production and detoxification of hormones

The Ayurveda expert also claims that besides supporting the transformation and Agni within the body, the liver is said to be the seat of emotions like anger, hate, irritability, judgement, resentment, envy and impatience.

She further mentioned that due to our modern lifestyle, our liver gets overburdened. As a result, it gets difficult for it to remove the toxins from the blood properly. Following this, it allows them to accumulate and re-accumulate throughout the body. When this happens for a long time, the toxins reach the brain and negatively impact cognitive functioning and memory. Moreover, it fogs the brain and leads to anxiety and depression.

Here’s what you can do to prevent it:

Asana + movement:

Right movement: This movement is done without too much force. It supports the liver through gentle stimulation of the organ.

Herbs and food: Bitter and astringent foods as well as herbs such as beets, bitter gourd, bitter greens, etc, tend to clean the liver.

Lifestyle: Adopting a healthy lifestyle that is pitta-pacifying such as being gentle to yourself, noticing anger and giving yourself space to release emotions can be helpful.