Do spinal twists detoxify you?
If you’ve practiced yoga long enough, you’re bound to eventually hear a teacher describe how a twisting posture will release toxins from your body. It’s almost like a family story passed down from one person to the next, but is it really true? Let’s dive in.
For starters, any movement is better than none for helping your body function properly. Sweating, bending, twisting, and balancing (all things you may see in a yoga class) are assuredly better than spending your days stagnant. And it is true that when you twist your body in a pose, this has been shown to move venous blood through your organs and shuttle oxygen-rich blood into the organs once you release the twist (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3193654/). But still, does this translate to toxins being released?
Let’s dig deeper. Your body has an incredible waste management network known as the lymphatic system; your lymph flow cleans out an abundance of byproducts from tissues in your body, allowing your kidney, liver, and intestines to better dispose of the things you don’t need. Think of it as your body’s natural housecleaner. The number one way to keep lymph moving through you is with movement; rebounding on a trampoline has been popularized as a great way to stimulate your lymph, but running, dancing, lifting weights, and, you guessed it, yoga, are all perfectly fine ways to keep things moving. We want things to be flowing in one way or another; stagnate lymph is a breeding ground for various health problems to surface (“The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga” by Bernie Clark explores this deeper, along with Dr. Perry Nickelston of Stop Chasing Pain). So does this mean you’re detoxifying every time you practice?
There is really no evidence that on a healthy individual, a twisting pose will have any special cleansing benefit that another pose wouldn’t. This is not to say that those poses don’t support a well-functioning digestive system, but there isn’t any literature stating you’ll twist extra toxins out. A few research studies have shown that for people with digestive issues, a yoga practice in general (along with added liquid supplements beforehand) have helped get things moving, but this is certainly not equivalent to the normal yoga practice scenario. Does this mean that your yoga practice has all been a lie?!
No, of course not. One of the most powerful ways to “detoxify” yourself is simply through your breathing; exhaling is the process of releasing carbon dioxide, one of the main metabolic byproducts of the body’s internal processes. And between moving, breathing, and sweating, you are absolutely helping to cleanse your insides. Your twists may not have the magical powers that they’re claimed to possess, but movement in general surely does.
