Review by Reg Little
by Daniel Reid
The Tao of Detox uses traditional Eastern wisdom to inform the latest of Western thinking on a subject that should be of concern to everyone. . It offers a comprehensive range of information about detoxification practices designed to address the long-term damage done by the pervasive toxins and acid waste accumulated in everyday modern life
Its author, Daniel Reid, is an American with a Master’s Degree in Chinese language and civilisation, who studied Taoist practices for 18 years in Taiwan and 10 years in Thailand and recently resident in Byron Bay, Australia. He has written three equally remarkable previous books that enlighten the reader on the tradition of Chinese health and well-being practices. Guarding the Three Treasures, The Tao of Sex, Health and Longevity and Chi-Gung each introduce in clear and penetrating language important and distinct dimensions of that tradition.
In this reviewer’s experience a reading of any one of Reid’s books will leave an abiding and valued legacy, with an enhanced sense of daily life. A rereading, such as of The Tao of Detox for this review, can have an even more profound impact. It reminds one of how much is left that will repay further attention. It also reminds one of the extent of the chemically contaminated air we breath and water we drink as well as damage inflicted by toxins in low quality food, preservatives and additives and contemporary electronic innovations.
Moreover, experience from taking to heart the lessons offered by writers like Reid helps one understand that it is still possible to avoid or heal damaged organs, corroded joints and arteries, enervated nervous systems and inhibited immune systems.
The Tao of Detox is divided into two parts, Detox and Retox. The first, Detox, is comprehensive, covering The Protocols of Detox; Water: Hydration and Hydrotherapy; Physiotherapy: Massage and Soft Exercise; Air: The Breath of Life; Detox Diet and Supplements; The Fast Lane: Fasting and Colonic Irrigation; The Angle of Sunlight: Heliotherapy; The Eliminators: Herbal Detox; and High-Tech Electro Detox.
The above chapters display the author’s comprehensive mastery of a wide range of traditional and modern practices. The last, however, contains substantial practical information about the way in which human invention invariably poses new challenges to our health and well-being. Beginning with an explanation of the Human Energy Field (HEF), Reid outlines the human condition with words such as:
Internally, each and every one of the body’s 75 trillion cells functions like a micro-battery and has its own individual polarity and energy field. Collectively, the sum total of all this cellular energy determines the overall strength and radiance of Guardian Energy field and represents the net potential energy available to the whole system…..The HEF functions within the greater context of the earth’s and the sun’s electromagnetic fields and is strongly influenced by any fluctuations in planetary and solar energies.
Reid then explores the poorly understood hazards of electromagnetic pollution, a product of the industrial revolution and the subsequent electronic age. He notes that there are now 250 million times more artificially generated radio frequencies in the earth’s atmosphere than in 1930. From a variety of sources, this produces an ongoing onslaught against the balance and integrity of the HES.
Reid remarks that the mainstream medical industry clings to the chemical/mechanical approach of allopathic and surgical medicine. It turns a blind eye to the evidence of energy over matter as the most decisive factor in human health. He shows, however, that this has not prevented the development of new healing technologies based on recognition of the human body as a dynamic, inter-active bio-electric energy field. Wisely, he cautions about the challenges inherent in accurately replicating the precise frequencies, currents and wave patterns of human energy in reproducing such intricate pulses and complex rhythms. This caution applies also to introducing externally generated energies into the human bio-field. He, nevertheless, examines in a positive manner a number of advanced products that seek to address this challenge.
The Tao of Detox then moves from its high-tech explorations to the fundamentals of retox. It recognises that life on earth is toxic and that detox must move on to retox, which is inescapable in everyday breathing, eating, drinking and living. Even here, however, there is much profound and detailed guidance offered in developing sound approaches to diet and supplements, common drugs like tobacco and alcohol and medical and recreational drugs. After a passage on timing as it applies to detox and retox, Reid concludes with a chapter titled Don’t Worry, Be Happy, Feel Good.
While The Tao of Detox takes its reader on a journey to many areas concerning health and well-being that may surprise readers new to such matters, the book, in this reviewer’s judgement, fulfils the directive of the last chapter — don’t worry, feel good, be happy. It achieves this by explaining in a clear and knowledgeable manner the manner in which eastern and western health understanding is becoming mutually reinforcing. From a Western perspective he complements the contributions of an Eastern master like Mantak Chia. He equips the reader to address each day newly empowered with a sense of understanding about the complex of toxins and nutrients ever present in the modern jungle of high-tech living.
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