Positive Health Online

Introduction

Self-cleansing or detoxification is one of the body's natural processes which, when unimpeded, allows the removal of toxic substances and waste products from the body through its various elimination channels: the colon, kidneys, skin, lungs and via the liver and lymphatic system.

Symptoms of 'dis-ease' arise in the body when the its natural processes become blocked. This leads to toxic build up and nutritional deficiency resulting in lesser functioning or efficiency of tissues and cells. We can consider our body as a biological engine, which needs fuel as input to generate energy and to build tissues, with an exhaust or waste system for the removal of metabolic and digestive by-products. Blockage in the delivery of nutrients to the tissues and elimination of wastes results in general under functioning and lesser efficiency of that engine over time. Those of us who own cars understand this principle, which is why we get our cars serviced. We can apply the same principle to our biological engine. Periodic internal cleansing of our bloodstream, liver, colon, kidneys, tissues can accelerate our healing path and keep us in good health for longer. We could pursue a lifestyle which allowed continuous cleansing to take place uninhibited, thereby maintaining us in excellent health permanently. Sadly, the optimum lifestyle of organic natural whole and mostly live foods with fresh juices to supplement is only attractive to a small percentage of the population; so instead we will look at the principles and methods of 'putting the body in for a service' periodically, which has a wider appeal.

On the author's Detox and Relaxation retreats in Normandy, clients enjoy time
and a supportive environment for cleansing, optimum diet and emotional healing

Energy Blockages, Emotional Cleansing

On an energetic level, we have a similar model to the physical body. We take in energy from our environment, what we see, hear, from people, from things and we process it, take something from it and release the unwanted parts. It's a form of 'energy nutrition' as discussed by Silvia Hartmann in her article in the preceding issue of Positive Health.[1] Blockages in this energetic flow arise when, for instance, energy is being received faster or in larger quantities than can be processed or handled and a build-up happens. The channels that carry this energy through and out of the body get blocked. The energy gets stuck. We physically feel this energy build-up in our body. For instance, when someone criticizes us, a partner leaves us, we witness or experience an accident, we get a sensation in our chest, abdomen, or throat which is where the energy block is located. With it we feel an emotion such as fear, hurt, loss, sadness. The discovery that all negative emotions are caused by these disruptions or blockages in the body's energy system is the foundation upon which the rapidly expanding field of Energy Psychology is based. This field has brought us tools such as Roger Callaghan's TFT,[2] Gary Craig's EFT,[3] Tapas Flemming's TAT,[4] Silvia Hartmann's EmoTrance,[5] all of which release these energy blocks from our system resulting in negative emotions dissolving away.

Unless diffused, this pattern of blocked energy gets attached to the trigger or original thought henceforth, and now every time we think that thought or trigger it brings up that sensation in the abdomen along with that emotion. Emotions are the side effect or symptom of this blocked energy. Energy blockages like this build up in our system through life's experience. Unless diffused they can get denser and can eventually effect the physicality, i.e. actually effecting flow on a physical level resulting in symptoms in that part of the body. As these energy blocks are dissolved and this energy released from our system, depending on which releasing technique we are using, we may experience the emotions simply dissolving away (EFT), or the energy actually flowing out through our arms, legs, eyes ears via channels that we are only just discovering exist (EmoTrance). Where blocked energy was affecting us on a physical level, the release can result in changes in our physical symptoms (see case studies below).

Thus there is a need for cleansing on an emotional level, to release the underlying energy blocks which effect our physicality and also to cleanse our physical or biological engine, to enable its processes to function more freely and efficiently. In other words a truly 'top down – bottom up' or wholistic approach.

Physical Cleansing

Lets' now look at how we cleanse on a physical level now. The principles underlying this approach have been practised by Dr John Christopher, American Master Herbalist of the last century, and his most prominent and successful student Dr Richard Schulze, who set up the College of Herbs and Natural Healing, and who applied these principles successfully for decades on chronic degenerative disease.

The body needs energy to cleanse. Of all the body's functions, digestion is one of the most demanding, using up to 70% of our energy. We know this as the sleepiness we feel after a big meal with unnatural foods or combinations of foods that are difficult to digest. As our energy gets diverted into digestion, there is less energy available for other processes, such as detoxification and repair. This results from the lack of enzymes in our food. The enzymes, or life force, in fresh live food, contribute to the digestion of the foods, which contain them. For example, there are enough enzymes in a fresh apple to digest the apple, but in a cooked apple, there are none, which then requires the body to find enzymes for digestion. Cooking, processing, refining, storing foods all result in loss or total destruction of enzymes and other micro-nutrients in our food. This causes the body to use more of its own digestive enzymes for that meal, which is then an energy drain to us.

To enable detoxification and repair we therefore need to eat in such a way as to make more energy available to these processes. In other words, eat enzyme rich foods and refrain from foods which are harder to digest. This simple principle means we eat more raw foods, fruits, vegetables and fresh raw juices. Fresh juices are in fact are the fastest way to deliver nutrition to our system. They are rich in enzymes and micro-nutrients and have already been digested effectively by the juice machine. Juicers grind down the plant cell walls and separate out the juice i.e. micro-nutrients, from the fibre. This is maximum nutrition for minimum energy expenditure. Periods of one to three days or more on juices alone and no solid foods is therefore the fastest way to facilitate detoxification. I would add here that caution with detoxification is required with some health conditions and constitutions, and that periods of longer than one day of juices only should be carried out under guidance of a practitioner.

We create the energy for detoxification by nourishing the body through juices and raw foods and the body starts to release toxins and wastes into the blood stream from its cells and tissues, which the body's elimination system then carries out. It is therefore important that the body's elimination channels are working efficiently; otherwise, detoxification can be an uncomfortable process. Attention should thus be made to cleansing the colon, kidneys and the liver as part of the detoxification process to speed up the release of toxins from the system.

Cleansing the colon of old accumulations of toxic faecal waste and mucus is done through herbs and can be helped by colon hydrotherapy. This allows metabolic wastes from the bloodstream to be more easily released into the colon through the colon wall, and reduces toxic re-absorption back into the bloodstream.[6] Gravel and crystals, which have precipitated out from over concentrated urine into the urinary tract, can be dissolved and flushed out with herbs. A blend such as gravel root, hydrangea root and diuretics like juniper, cornsilk and dandelion in a tea blend can dissolve stones and disinfect the urinary tract. Gallstones, which accumulate in the bile ducts of the liver, as well as the gall bladder, can be naturally flushed out via the intestinal tract thereby improving digestion and absorption and having an impact on improving the general functioning of the liver.

A holistic health improvement programme would therefore include:

Focus on intake: Better quality fuel, a shift back towards nature, fresh, whole, organic and to increase micro-nutrients, a high raw content and juices together with some whole food supplementation;

Circulation of those nutrients around the system through movement, exercise or hydrotherapy;

Focus on Elimination of wastes by colon, kidney and liver cleansing. Skin brushing and lymphatic exercises would also help for elimination;

Healing the emotions through releasing the underlying energy blocks that are causing them and which may also be effecting the physical system.

Sometimes simply removing the physical blockages are sufficient to improve symptoms and health e.g. cleansing the colon or the 100s of stones from the liver. Sometimes simply removing the emotional or energy blocks are sufficient, e.g. Case Study 1. Sometimes we need to do both to make more progress, as in Case Study 2.

In the absence of an optimum lifestyle, adopting a lifestyle where, once or twice a year, or with the change of the seasons, we 'cleanse' internally is good practice for maintaining free flow of the body's natural processes. Healing our emotions, past traumas and stresses is a very important part of restoring the even flow on an energetic level for better health, now and in the future.

Case Study 1

Subject: Female, age 38.

Symptoms: Large ringworm patches on front of her left leg on and off since childhood, age 7. Largest patch had been 11/2 inches in diameter, red and itchy but was now reducing due to present treatment.

History: Follows 70-90% raw mostly vegetarian diet, does regular detoxes, good energy and overall health and vitality, strong immune system. Goes 'off path' in dietary practices when emotional, with comfort eating. She had tried natural anti-fungal remedies with no success. Resorted to clotrimazole antifungal cream with some success when applied thickly 4-6 times a day. Missing applications caused itching and re-growth of the fungal patch. The common view is that ring worm can be cleared up quickly with fungicidal creams but this was not happeneng.

Treatment objectives: to explore why this was such a chronic problem and to clear it up more quickly.

Observations and treatment given: The interesting points were why the patient's immune system was so weak in that area when it was so strong otherwise. Using muscle testing with one of the patient's fingers on the patch of ringworm, the muscle tested extremely weak, indicating a general weakness in that part of the body. The physical location of the ring worm patches now and historically were on the shin bone, on the path of the stomach meridian (see Figure 1). We considered the various 'emotional symptoms' of imbalance of the stomach meridian, and the client resonated with 'needing to feel noticed, appreciated and loved'. We used EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) focusing on the emotions of needing love and appreciation whilst stimulating the meridian system by tapping 13 major meridian points. This brought up a massive upsurge of emotions of loneliness which then subsided and cleared. After this release, muscle testing of the ring worm patch was strong indicating the energy blockage had been removed.

Fig 1. Diagram showing path of the stomach meridian (above).
Meridan Points tapped in EFT for releasing negative emotions (below) 

Results and outcome: Within the next week, the remaining ring worm patch cleared up on its own, without further applications of fungicidal cream. The revelation to the client caused her to examine on an emotional level how this meridian may have become to be blocked in the first place. The emotional patterns associated with imbalance of the stomach meridian must therefore have set up in childhood, as she'd had it since aged seven to eight. A month later we had a second session looking at the relationship between her and her Father which was detached, shielded and as she realised, had always been this way. Using EmoTrance, we took down the energetic shield towards her Father allowing her to be able to accept her Father and his energy, leading to feelings of 'fullness' and a new 'love' for her Father never experienced before. Over the next two weeks, the subject noticed her eating patterns changed, now not needing to eat to fullness, and her relationships with men changed, the neediness she felt having now disappeared.

In the grounds

Case Study 2

Subject: Female, age 43.

Symptoms: Multiple Sclerosis, dizziness, numbness, tingling in the feet and heaviness in legs, wobbly on her feet, weak bladder control, low energy levels, sluggish bowel movements only once every 3-4 days.

History: Taking Regurin for bladder control and multi vitamins. The subject felt that there were several emotional issues which might be having an effect on her overall health. Her MS symptoms had started around the time that she was having fertility treatment five years earlier. She also had other emotional stresses in her marital relationship during the last two years.

Treatment objectives: Improve overall health and symptoms and emotional healing.

Observations and treatment plan: We set up a programme of detoxification, an animal-free diet of non mucus-forming foods, increased water intake and stopped alcohol intake, and colon cleansing and a wholefood supplement of 17 raw fruit and vegetable juice powders, JuicePlus+, as opposed to multi-vitamins. This supplement delivers high anti-oxidant levels into the bloodstream with a subsequent 75% reduction in the free radicals which cause oxidative stress,[7] a known factor in the progression of MS. We also set up some sessions to look at emotional factors. Some sessions took place in the clinic but I encouraged the subject to come on my Detox and Relaxation retreat in Normandy where we would have lots of time and a supportive environment for cleansing, education on optimum diet, yoga, meditation and emotional healing. We also tried EFT on the numbness in the legs and feet directly i.e. some of the physical symptoms of MS.

Outcome: The detoxification and cleansing resulted in increased energy, and a reduction in symptoms of heaviness in the legs and tingling in the feet. We used EFT and EmoTrance to free up the emotional issues present around her current marital problems, her infertility and related emotions. It was interesting that a lot of this energy released through her legs and feet, resulting in further reduction in symptoms and much better strength and feeling in the legs and feet. It was interesting that when we tried using EFT, directly on the numbness in the legs and feet, this too resulted in a reduction in the numbness. Although we haven't cleared the symptoms completely, we have managed to reduce the numbness, tingling and heaviness in the legs as far as the toes, where some numbness remained. The subject continues much happier, content, with more energy, vitality, reduced symptoms in the legs and continues to use EFT and EmoTrance to control her emotional and physical symptoms if and when she feels that her symptoms are regressing rather than progressing.

References

1. Hartmann S. Starving Amidst the Oceans of Energy. Positive Health. 85. February, 2003.
2. Callaghan R. Tapping the Healer Within. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-8092-9880-5. 2002.
3. Gary Craig's website for EFT www.emofree.com
4. Tapas Flemming.TAT. www.tat-intl.com
5. Silvia Hartmann's website and articles www.emotrance.com
6. Jensen B. Tissue Cleansing through Bowel Management. Avery Penguin Putnam. ISBN 0-960836-07-1. 1981.
7. Blum K et al. Changes in Plasma Carotenoid, Alpha-Tocopherol and Lipid Peroxide Levels in Response to Supplementation with Concentrated Fruit and Vegetable Extracts. Current Therapeutic Research. 56(6). 1996.