This is not your grandmother’s enema.
In fact, it is not an enema at all. Colon hydrotherapy is the gentle cleansing of the large intestine, or colon. It is achieved through using warm, filtered water.
Rest assured, it is not uncomfortable either.
According to Cheryl Ciesa, who is board certified through the International Association of Colon Therapists, rather than having water pushed through the colon as a stimulant, as with an enema, colon hydrotherapy is a much gentler and more relaxed method for achieving a colon cleanse.
In the hour-long session, patients are covered in their gown, and a disposable speculum is inserted into the rectum. The speculum is connected to the gravity closed-controlled colonic unit. The client and the therapist do not smell the feces and toxins. The client can watch all the toxins coming out of the colon through an “observation tube.”
“The first time I go very slowly with the explanation, so it is a relaxed situation,” explained Ciesa. She said they generally recommend that people have two sessions in a row, but it depends on the individual needs each person is trying to achieve.
“It depends on how people use them. We have some people that come once a month. Some people come four times a year, as the seasons change. Every person’s goals are different. Just as some people would exercise daily and some weekly, this is an ongoing cleanse to tone and build the inner body.”
Ciesa said that most people report that they feel lighter and have more energy after a colon cleanse, which is understandable, since the average colon weighs four pounds. She also wanted to make sure that potential clients understand that colon hydrotherapy is not the same as using laxatives.
“The difference between colon therapy and laxatives is colon therapy does not destroy the gentle floor in the bowels and does not destroy electrolytes, which continued use of laxatives does,” explained Ciesa. She also noted that people do not become dependent on colon hydrotherapy as they might with laxatives.
Although some traditional medical doctors question the validity of colonics as a health benefactor, Dr. John Kellogg, a well-known doctor and founder of Kellogg’s cereal company was an early proponent of colon health and colonics before laxatives came onto the scene in the 1940’s and 1950s.
Kellogg wrote about how diet, exercise and regular colon cleanses can help people to rid their body of disease-creating toxins and avoid unnecessary surgery and achieve a healthier lifestyle. Also, Dr. Norman Walker, who lived to be older than 115, wrote many books about colon health and how it affects general health from cardiovascular disease to eyesight to colds to back problems.
Dr. Michael Gershon, a professor of anatomy and cell biology at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City, wrote in his book “The Second Brain” that the gastrointestinal system is the body’s second nervous system and about the importance of “taking care of your gut.”
“The brain is not the only place in the body that’s full of neurotransmitters,” wrote Gershon. “A hundred million neurotransmitters line the length of the gut, approximately the same number that is found in the brain...”
Ciesa said more and more people are researching colon health and how it affects their health as a whole. She said all societies have used colonics in some form in certain ways, and noted that colon hydrotherapy is a safe, effective method of removing waste from the large intestine without the use of drugs.
“It’s not the same as a colonoscopy, and it is not the same as an enema,” said Ciesa. “People have this fear that they will be running to the bathroom, which is not the case. Really, the importance is the release of accumulated congestion in the bowels and the feeling of cleanliness afterwards. The colon can govern the way you think. There is a mind/body connection. Once you’ve had it, you’ll know.”
A session with Cheryl Ciesa of Colon Hydrotherapy of Delaware, the only board-certified colon hydro-therapist in the state, costs $60 and lasts about an hour. For more information, call (302) 684-5423.