Your Body Knows How to Heal. Start by Removing Harm.

March 10, 2024

Healing may be as simple as making the space for systems to self-repair.

Dear Rosies,

What if I told you that in three weeks you could drop your cholesterol by 20%, bring all your inflammation markers and cortisol levels into normal range, improve your nutrient absorption, lose 15 pounds of retained toxins and excess fat, and be rid of all joint and muscular pain? What if I told you it wasn’t a pill or a quick fix, but really basic stuff: clean and balanced eating for your constitution, simple daily activities (meditation, yoga, vigorous walks, reading, drinking a lot of warm water, supplements, journaling, napping, getting some bodywork, doing 20 minutes of talk therapy), and the removal of stressors (less internet and no unpleasant people). Would you do it?

And for the record, that is how fast a body can repair itself when we just stop the siege of harmful things and amplify the healers (this is what happened to me when I did an Ayurvedic Pancha Karma, a kind of healing cleanse- an amazing process- and my results weren't even the best of the group). The body knows what to do!

In our search for instant cures, we can often overlook a basic principle that underpins healing: the removal of what harms.

Just by reducing pollutants like processed foods and eliminating toxins, a natural regeneration process called autophagy begins, removing damaged cells and leading to overall rejuvenation.

There’s also a kind of fasting for the mind and spirit as well, which allows the mental landscape to return to equilibrium. Severing ties with negative narratives and beliefs, or removing oneself from environments with people who behave in a toxic manner, is also a way of removing of what harms.

The parallel between the self-repairing mechanisms in nature and those within our own bodies is clear. This “just stop the harmful behavior and things will self-correct” concept extends to the healing capacities of our perfect Earth. Ecosystems, when relieved of pollutants and negative human interference, naturally regain balance and harmony.

For example, during the COVID-19 lockdowns, Los Angeles recorded its longest stretch of WHO-target air quality since at least 1995. From March 7-28, 2020, the city saw PM2.5 levels averaging 5.6 μg/m³, marking March 2020 as Los Angeles's cleanest air quality month on record.

Simply stopping pollution could even allow for nature’s clean up helpers- the fungi and mycelial networks - to enter into a process of “mycoremediation”. Given the space and time, these organisms break down a wide range of pollutants (including heavy metals, insecticides, pesticides, components of petroleum oil, dyes, and many other hazardous as well as toxic compounds). If we shift from dominion and exploitation to stewardship and reverence, the natural world will heal.

So here’s my message for this week:

Healing need not be an elaborate ritual or an intricate procedure; it can simply be a matter of stripping away the unnecessary or detrimental, and allowing the natural, inherent systems within and around us to repair, rejuvenate, and thrive.