Some version of colonics, also known as Colonic Irrigation or Colon Hydrotherapy has been used for millennia as a method to achieve greater health.  There is reference to enemas and rituals involving the washing of the colon with water as far back as pagan times.  The first recorded reference to colon cleansing is an Egyptian medical papyrus that dates back as early as 1500BC.  It shows that the early Egyptians used purgatives, enemas, diuretics, heat, steam and blood-letting to treat a diversity of diseases.  Colon cleansing both in ancient times and modern is one of the fundamental practices of yoga teachings.

Hippocrates, Paracelsus and Galen, collectively recognized as the founding fathers of Western medicine, described, practiced and prescribed using enemas to clean the colon.  The ancient Essene people are also now known to have used enema type methods to cleanse the colon as mentioned in the Essene Gospel of Peace by Edmund Bordeaux Szekely.

The difference between an enema and a colonic is that enemas have the ability to cleanse only a small section of the colon at a time whereas a colonic is able to cleanse the whole colon, depending on the initial condition of the bowel, in one appointment.  When you take an enema, you need to retain the water inside the bowel for as long as you comfortably can before making your way to the toilet to release, whereas, with a colonic, the water gently flows into and out of the colon without the need for retention.  Closed system colonics, which is the method used here at Macedon Ranges and Sunbury Colon Hydrotherapy, use a disposable waste tube to remove wastes from the body hygienically, free from odor and without the effort of straining.

The ideal transit time of food through the body is 18-24 hours.  On average in the UK it is now 60 hours for men and 70 for women!  The UK is the most constipated nation in the world – with 20 000 new cases of colon cancer annually.  Laxatives are the 2nd largest selling pharmaceutical drug worldwide and antacids the third.

Colon hydrotherapy is a fast developing complementary health practice.  It is believed that there have been over 6 million colon therapy procedures performed in the USA using FDA approved, disposable equipment and that does not take into account systems that are using non-disposable, metal equipment.  In England, it is believed that there are more than five to ten thousand colon hydrotherapy procedures performed monthly.

The statistics relating to issues regarding the colon are staggering.  At the end of 2007, it was estimated that there were 105,144 people in Australia who were diagnosed with bowel cancer in the previous 26 years, 45,763 of those in the previous 5 years.  Bowel cancer is estimated to account for between 12 and 13 percent of the burden of disease due to cancer in Australia.  It is not assumed that colon hydrotherapy can cure bowel cancer, but if the large intestine is functioning efficiently and the owner of the bowel is educated in proper diet and hydration practices, leading to efficiently frequent elimination and overall health, perhaps the trend in Australia will see a reduction in statistics relating to bowel diseases.

A healthy, strong functioning colon is essential to maintaining your health.  Your colon, together with the lungs, kidneys, lymphatic system and skin are responsible for removing wastes from the body.  Over time, however, your colon may lose its ability to properly eliminate all waste from the gastrointestinal tract due to a combination of improper food combining, poor diet, drug usage, dehydration and lifestyle.

If this happens, the colon may become overburdened with harmful toxins and autointoxication may occur.  Autointoxication is the process whereby toxic substances from the bowel can be transported into the blood stream where the circulatory system, the lymphatic system, the kidneys and the lungs are affected exposing you to some potentially serious health risks.

It is believed that Colonics were originally designed to hydrate the large intestine but it is now being perceived by many to have far wider benefits. Colon Hydrotherapy positively affects many existing conditions such as constipation, bloating, relief from some IBS symptoms, improving the condition and appearance of the skin, relief from bad breath and diarrhea.  Colon hydrotherapy helps us to learn more about our body, it can raise energy levels and help us gain more control over our eating habits.

Advantages often perceived by individuals include – the prevention against some degenerative diseases, helping to manage food, alcohol and cigarette cravings, helping with the release of emotional baggage, helping to manage some food intolerances, as an aid in detoxification programs, improving sleeping habits, helping to reduce stress, anxiety and uncertainty and helping to increase confidence.

Colonic irrigation can be beneficial in helping to restore health by:

• Restoring proper PH balance to the body
• Allowing increased nutrient absorption into the blood stream
• Increasing prevention of toxic absorption via healthy mucosa
• Promoting a return of normal, regular bowel movements
• Stimulating the immune system
• Providing a favorable internal environment for digestive bacteria
• Restoring bowel function by removing old, hardened waste materials and harmful toxins that are sitting in the colon.

Many Australians, who suffer a multitude of health problems, may never even consider that the cause of their problems is a sluggish and toxic colon.  Traditional treatment of health conditions, disease symptoms and disease management with the use of pharmaceuticals and surgery is prevalent but this may completely obscure the root cause of recurring health problems.

The colon is the most neglected and forgotten part of the body.  Colon health emphasizes prevention rather than cure.  It is the most important step in maintaining or regaining vital health.

– Norman W. Walker, D.Sc.

Our digestive system is a closed tube, we feed the top end with food which makes its way down the tube assisted by peristalsis (wavelike muscular activity).  As it travels, it is mixed with various acids, enzymes, digestive juices and bacteria which all enable it to be broken down into a form where fats, moisture and nutrients can be extracted from it.  What remains is pushed through the bottom end of the tube at a time of our own choosing, at least once every day.

Unfortunately, due to misunderstanding, improper marketing, unacceptable processing practices and food addictions, many of us unwittingly feed the top end of our digestive tube inappropriately.  The material we happily put into our bodies often carries unhappy side effects once subjected to the digestive process.  Often we find the food that tasted so good to our taste buds ends up being a sticky, toxic mess when it arrives in our large intestine.  Over time, this difficult to digest and difficult to move using peristaltic action, ‘toxic mess’, activates the body’s natural attempt to defend itself from toxicity – mucous.  A build up results leaving a thick residue on the inside of the colon wall which prevents the body from absorbing nutrients.  Added to this, the build-up which we call mucoid plaque, being highly toxic and the colon, being highly absorbent, result in toxins being reabsorbed back into the blood stream where all body systems are affected especially the liver.

The liver becomes overtaxed, unable to effectively perform the function of filtering the blood correctly, the blood stream becomes dirtier, the cells are affected, our body no longer vibrates with the high energy and vitality we hold in our minds to be the state we wish to function in or the state we remember ourselves to have been in when we were young.

Colon Hydrotherapy or Colonic Irrigation, over time, will help the body to remove the stagnation in the colon, creating a clean space for the liver to dump the byproducts of blood filtration to be removed.  As this process continues and if the colon remains clean, the toxins in the blood will clear.  As the blood stream clears of its toxins, the cells will begin to dump their rubbish into the blood stream for the liver to filter out and dump into the digestive system, which is now functioning more efficiently.

Constipation and intestinal stasis is the one thing where more money is made in the doctor’s office than any other complaint.  It is most universal and directly responsible for about 90% of human ailments today.

– Bernard Jensen D.C., Ph.D., Nutritionist, Author

The fact that many people are constipated without even recognizing the condition indicates that almost everyone needs colonics.  Many healers believe that most diseases begin in the colon.  Some experts report that the average person has 2 to 9 kilos of accumulated matter in their large intestine.  Although this is not a weight loss procedure, many people who complete a series of colonics report a reduction in their weight.

Colon toxicity has been reported to be the underlying cause of many of the following common health problems and may indicate the need for colonics:

Constipation
Arthritis
Bad breath
Depression
Frequent colds
Abdominal bloating
Menstrual problems
Prostrate trouble
Asthma
Skin problems
Hypertension
Diarrhea
Allergies
Haemorrhoids
Insomnia
Foul body odour
Irritability
Food cravings
Headaches
Chronic fatigue
Backaches
Abdominal distension  

If you have any of these conditions, you may benefit from a series of colon hydrotherapy sessions.  An unhealthy colon can affect all your body systems and lead to further complications such as:

Leaky Gut Syndrome:  Acidity in the body due to poor diet, improper lifestyle choices, stress and digestive disruptions causes inflammation, this can lead to tiny perforations in the gastro intestinal wall which allows toxins from the gut access into the blood stream.  These toxins can impair normal kidney, lung and liver function and have been said to be responsible for many allergic conditions.

Bowel Toxemia:   The colon is very sensitive to distension, years of built up waste material in the form of impacted faeces, accumulated toxic mucous, parasites and their by-products, worms, dead cells, bacteria and yeasts can inhibit muscular action which causes sluggishness of bowel movements, constipation, inflammation and disease.

Many of the above colon related health problems may be reduced or eliminated completely by adopting a high-fiber diet, using an appropriate intestinal cleanse and visiting your local Colon Hydrotherapist for a series of colonics

Colon therapy is not intended to be a cure-all, but is a valuable procedure for a wide variety of conditions of ill health.  Intestinal malfunctions are precursors of many illnesses.  The restoration of intestinal elimination, too often ignored, is an important preliminary course to the restoration of health. An inefficient colon is not always the cause of sickness, but it is believed to accentuate and prolong any and all diseased conditions of the human body.

– Dr. J.E.G. Waddington

When talking about colon cleansing, we often find that, as part of a detox, herbs are taken either in the form of herbal teas or in capsule form, that encourage the cleaning of the colon through an action similar to laxatives in that they stimulate (or irritate) the bowel wall.  The very action of detoxifying the body is generally thought of as a form of a colon cleanse.  The danger here, as with pharmaceutical laxatives, these herbs, when consumed regularly for a time, can become addictive to the colon in that the colon will not function properly without them.

When you consume more fibrous foods as part of a detox or healthier lifestyle, eating more fresh fruit, raw salads and vegetables, you increase the fibrous bulk in the colon which can also assist in colon cleansing.

Enemas are another method of cleaning the colon but they are not as effective as a colonic.  One colonic can be the equivalent of 13 enemas, or the equivalent to having 20-30 regular bowel movements.  Eliminations during subsequent sessions can be more substantial as older, hardened, impacted faeces are dislodged from the colon walls.  The enema generally manages to clear the bottom part of the colon, the Rectum and sometimes, a little of the Sigmoid Colon.  Over the counter suppositories and laxatives stimulate expulsion of the contents of the rectum but contribute to dehydration which may exacerbate the condition of constipation.

Colon Hydrotherapy has the ability to clear the whole colon in one session – Rectum, Sigmoid Colon, Descending Colon, Transverse Colon, Ascending Colon and Caecum.  An enema requires the recipient to hold water in the colon until being able to get to the toilet to release.  With the closed system colonics, water flows into the colon and waste gently flows out assisted by the body’s natural peristaltic action.  This peristalsis is further activated by techniques used by the Colon Hydrotherapist including massaging your abdomen.

A clean, strong, well-functioning colon is essential to maintaining optimal health.  

An unclean, weak and poorly functioning colon is a breeding ground for disease and ill health.  If the colon is not properly cared for, serious health problems can arise and based on the statistics, colon heath care in the U.S, England, Australia and many other countries has been seriously neglected.  In the United States alone, over 400 million dollars is spent annually on laxatives.  It is estimated that 130,000 new cases of colon and rectal cancer will be diagnosed yearly.

Colon cancer is the second leading cancer in the United States, second only to lung cancer in men and breast cancer in women.  At least two million Americans suffer colon related diseases including colitis, ileitis, diverticulitis and approximately 100,000 colostomy surgeries are performed each year in that country.  The Australian diet and lifestyle are similar to that of the U.S. which suggests that the outcomes will also mirror, statistically, their continuing demise.

Good colon health is as much a function of the quality of food we eat as it is our elimination status.  The typical Australian diet of refined, processed foods, high in fats, sugar, wheat, preservatives and low in fibre inevitably causes problems for the colon

“Ageing is not simply decay, it is accumulation of choices and consequences”
John Leonard

“Every tissue is fed by blood, which is supplied by the intestinal system.  When the intestines are dirty, the blood is dirty and so are the organs and tissues.  It is the intestinal system that has to be cared for before any effective healing can take place”.

– Bernard Jensen

Many experts agree that most disease begins in the colon.  If you are not having more than one bowel movement per day but eating more than one meal per day, then, by definition, you should consider yourself constipated.

Constipation is a state of the bowel in which evacuations are infrequent and difficult, or where the large intestine becomes lined with impacted, hardened faeces.  Undigested food and waste may remain lodged in the large intestine for days, weeks or even months to putrefy and produce toxic substances harmful to your health.

For some, waste may remain in the colon for longer than just months. Like the story of a man who, allergic to tomatoes, removed them from his diet.  20 years later, after eating a raw diet for 2 years, found tomato seeds in his stools.  Or the woman who, again, after eating a raw diet for a number of years, had a crippling pain in her abdomen.  This pain went on for many hours, moving as time progressed until finally, she passed a large mass in the toilet.  Upon further investigation (the hard mass was cut in half), it was discovered that the mass was, in fact, brightly colored and waxy.  She recalled having swallowed, as a young child, many crayons, some 25 years earlier!

Colon hydrotherapy, although not necessarily able to help these two individuals (unless the debris is in the large intestine, colonics will not be an effective method of clearing it from the body.  Colonics and dietary detoxification together, as shown, was the most effective method to cleanse the whole of the digestive tract in these cases), would be a very effective method to assist the body to detoxify old, stagnant material from the inside of the colon wall while also helping the body to rid itself of toxic, harmful substances, parasites and candida.  This will generally lead to rejuvenation and maintenance of overall physical health and well-being.

A healthy colon is vital to living a life free of degenerative disease! If optimum health is your aim, Colon Hydrotherapy could be an efficient and effective method of achieving just that.

Did you know that your intestinal tract is the largest immune organ in the body?

The immune system is located throughout the body in the form of the lymph system but about 80% of the defenses of the organism are found in the mucous of the small and large intestine.  That is why it is important to keep your colon healthy with the right food and bacterial levels.

More than 400 species of bacteria live in the intestines.  Researchers say that maintaining a positive balance of good bacteria in the colon crowds out the harmful, unfriendly bacteria, making it difficult for them to multiply.  Colon irrigation washes out much of the bacteria in the bowel which enables the positive or good bacteria to thrive.  Of course, attention to your diet will assist this process greatly.

Your digestive health may have more influence on your immune system than you realize?  Due to the bad eating habits and lifestyle choices of today, the large intestine is most affected and in consequence, many illnesses flourish worsening our quality of living.  Many of the foods we eat are difficult for our digestive system to process.  In fact, some of the ingredients we accept as edible are, in fact, so foreign to our digestive system, it is impossible to digest them without assistance from the immune system and without leaving large quantities of sludge or sticky, plastic-like substances behind that take many days, months or longer to be fully removed from our system. Colon hydrotherapy can help to remove this toxic sludge from the body quickly and effectively.

Some of the poor dietary choices made, often in innocence, can result in low level (or high, in some cases) intolerances which lead to, among other symptoms, acidity in the body.  This acidity usually leads to inflammation, inflammation of the joints, inflammation in the digestive system and inflammation in the cells and tissues.  Long term inflammation in the digestive tract can often result in slight perforations in the gut wall, also known as leaky gut syndrome. If this condition is present, undigested proteins and other matter, including opportunistic parasites and some bacteria can end up in the blood where it’s up to the immune system and the liver to attempt the process of removal.  Colon hydrotherapy encourages the large intestine to produce higher levels of healing mucous which feeds and nourishes the colon wall, assisting the body in its attempt to heal and restore balance and harmony.

“Nothing tastes as good as feeling well”
Tracy McCord