Colon Therapy: Its Role In Health

You probably already know that a big part of health is efficient elimination. The colon's role in health and in healing can often be overlooked and underestimated. Your body’s ability to repair, regenerate damaged/diseased cells, and tissue depends on efficient assimilation of what you take in AND full daily elimination (detoxification). The body is made up of roughly 30 trillion cells that take in nutrients and excrete waste, it is essential that the detox pathways are open (lungs, liver, colon, skin, and kidneys) to channel all the debris out of the body. If or when we can’t fully detoxify, it impacts the multi layered living system that is the body. You can imagine it as garbage piling up in the cells, in the organs, and in the blood. If this cycle of accumulating toxic burden continues, it can lead to a breakdown in the system. This breakdown can look like the inability to lose weight, gain weight, skin issues, mental/emotional imbalances, digestive issues etc. Supporting the body’s essential need to detoxify by using colonics, helps the body keep the tissues, blood, and organs clean and well oxygenated. Colon therapy can make a difference for our health in all aspects of being.

How It Works: The Woods Gravity Centered Method

As you might guess, this method of colon hydrotherapy relies on gravity to facilitate the movement of water in and out of your body. This method does not use motors or pumps that force water in and out of the colon. A five gallon tank is positioned on a shelf a few feet above the foot of the treatment table and only gravity is used to permit the water to gently flow. The body's release of waste/water is created through the positioning of the waste tube below the table, the abdominal massage of the therapist, and the gentle pulsing that the therapist does to the waste tube - all of which helps to wake up the colon's natural peristalsis to move on its own. The natural forces of gravity are working for you and the therapist is working with you.

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Your body's release of water and waste depends on:

1) your colon’s natural peristaltic action which is prompted once the water enters your body

 2) abdominal massage given by the therapist

 3) the therapist's pulsing of the waste tube that carries out water/waste/gas

 4) the positioning of the waste tubing below the table that you are lying on during the session

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  The session begins with you lying down on the treatment table on your left side in the fetal position. A protective disposable underpad is under you and the lower half of your body is covered with a disposable drape sheet throughout the session for privacy. The therapist performs the entire colonic and is with you through the whole session. A stainless steel speculum is lubricated and inserted into the rectum no more than two inches. Two separate rubber surgical tubes are attached to the speculum: one to bring clean water from the 5 gallon tank into the body and the other to transport waste/water out. The clean water tube is small (width of a pencil), and the waste tube is wide. The water is kept at body temperature 98.5 degrees, or a little hotter/cooler depending on what is needed. There is a continuous simultaneous in and out flow of water in/out of the body which allows the colon to release when it is ready without causing stress to you/your body. After evacuating the left side of the colon, you are then turned onto your back to get the rest of the colon to empty.

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  Sometimes the therapist will need to have you do a retention of water. This means that they close off the water from exiting through the exit tube so that the water can move more deeply through the colon without exiting. Retentions help to provide a much more thorough treatment. This is always done to your comfort level and you tell the therapist when you need to release the retention. To end the session and make sure everything has exited the colon, the therapist will ask you to turn back onto your left side. You will then sit on the toilet to eliminate anything else that needs to leave before getting dressed.

  Most people tend to feel lighter, clearer, more relaxed and refreshed after a colonic. Some people do feel a bit tired which is normal as the colon has been working throughout the whole session. And then it would be best to rest if possible.