Quick version:
Why: Oil pulling helps your teeth, liver, and sinuses, and it boosts your energy.
How: Choose an oil. Put one tablespoon in your mouth and swish it around for 15 minutes. Spit it out in the garden or flush it down the toilet. Start with a small amount and increase gradually.
Benefits:
Let’s break it down.
Swishing oil in your mouth cleans your teeth and gums, removing bacteria and food bits.
It also relaxes your jaw, which can ease tightness in your hips.
Oil pulling cleans your liver. Here’s how: When you swish oil, your tongue tells your body that oil is on the way. This prompts the liver to make bile, which helps digest the oil. This process cleanses the liver by releasing toxins.
If you feel a bit off after trying oil pulling, it might be because toxins from your liver are being released. Drink lots of water, eat greens before oil pulling, or try psyllium to help your body get rid of these toxins.
Longer Version:
Why: Cleanses your teeth and liver, stimulates/soothes, helps drain sinuses, energizes your brain (marma point).
How: Choose an oil. Place 1 tablespoon in your mouth and swish for 15 minutes. Spit it out as an offering to your garden or flush it down the toilet, as it can leave a mess in the sink. Start small and work your way up.
Benefits:
Let’s start from the top.
The physical action of swishing in the mouth reaches into cracks and crevices on the teeth and gums, cleaning out bacteria, food particles, and creating a protective layer.
The swishing action can activate and relax the jaw, stimulating a facial connection to the hips. If you experience hip tightness, this practice can help.
Cleanses your liver. To understand this, let’s have a quick run-through of how the digestive system works. It starts in the mouth. Our tongue sends messages to the liver, pancreas, and stomach, letting them know what enzymes and gastric juices are needed to break down what’s in our mouth. For example, thinking of something sour makes you salivate, and this reaction occurs further down your gastrointestinal tract as well. So, as you swish oil in your mouth, the tongue signals the digestive tract that oil is coming, prompting the liver to prepare bile. This bile is then sent to the gallbladder for refinement and deposited into your gastrointestinal tract. Why is this cleansing? The liver usually receives the message after a quick chew and bite, but swishing for 15 minutes signals that a significant amount of oil is on its way. The liver gets busy preparing and produces enough bile to aid in breaking down all the oil. One way the liver detoxifies is through its secretions, namely bile. So, when you stimulate the liver, it has an opportunity to release toxins.
If you’ve never done oil pulling, pay attention to how you’re feeling. You may experience a cleansing reaction because toxins from your liver are being reabsorbed. The best way to counter this is to drink plenty of water. Consume greens before oil pulling to catch and usher the toxins out, or consider psyllium.
