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Colon irrigation or colema, a newcomer in the field of alternative medicine in India, is an accepted and popular form of alternative therapy abroad. In fact, celebrities such as the late Princess Diana, John Lennon and Mae West have all patronized colon irrigation. Ever wondered why? "The colon is our body's most neglected organ," says Dr Raman Kapur, one of the pioneers in colema in India, "primarily because most people are not aware of its functions. When we eat, the small intestine absorbs the food required by the body. The rest is deposited in the colon or large intestine. Over time, this waste gets stuck to the intestine's walls and leads to flatulence and irregular bowel movements. In extreme cases, the result is cancer of the colon." To prevent this waste from accumulating, you need to maintain a well-disciplined bowel movement and keep the colon clean through colon irrigation. The ingredients of colema as practiced by Dr Kapur are exotic, to say the least. The main component is clay water—a product apparently extracted from volcanic lava! This is mixed with apple cider vinegar, coffee powder and lukewarm water. The resulting mixture is siphoned from a bucket through the rectal tube into the patient's colon where it helps dilute and excrete the encrusted waste. The recommended period of therapy is at least a week. There are certain conditions to colema. First, it can only be conducted on an empty stomach. Second, during the first four days, a strict liquid diet has to be followed. In the last three days, however, you can gradually shift to semisolid food such as soft-boiled eggs, mashed potatoes or porridge. Colema may sound like a close cousin of enema, but the two are significantly different. While enema is a treatment in which only the waste from the rectum is pushed out, colema cleanses 14 ft of the large intestine. Colema also does not disturb natural bowel contractions. All it does is help loosen the waste in the colon. But unlike enema, every colema session must be conducted under strict medical supervision as it involves the insertion of a special rectal tube . |
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Colema's efficacy is today being accepted by a number of naturopaths
in India, such as the Bangalore-based Institute of Naturopathy and Yogic
Sciences (INYS). The INYS uses a colon-hydro machine that flushes the
entire length of the colon with 125 liters of pure, filtered water.
The machine monitors the temperature and pressure of water. The treatment usually takes 40 to 50 minutes. "Generally," says K.K. Ghosh, deputy administrative officer at INYS, "three sessions are advised every six months or in a year. Initial treatment involves three to six sessions." The idea of having either water or an exotic mixture being pumped into your body as you lie, legs spread, on a special table may not sound attractive. But users of the therapy are all praises. Says S.N. Singh, a practicing Buddhist "It was a grand success. After the physical exhaustion of the first few days, all I felt was elation." |
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Singh goes to the extent of prescribing colema to every spiritual aspirant. "Colema is an excellent cleanser of the nadi (bowels)," he says. "Anyone seriously on the spiritual path would find his journey furthered with it. The therapy itself is a highly spiritual experience." According to Dr Kapur, one of the greatest reasons for waste accumulation in the colon is the excessive ingestion of non-vegetarian food, especially meat. "The human digestive system takes a long while to digest non-vegetarian food causing more encrustation of waste in the colon and increased visits to the friendly neighborhood colema man," he observes. He recommends drinking a lot of water. "All said and done," he says, "water still remains the best cleanser for our internal organs." So, wake up all you who considered the colon to be nothing more than a punctuation mark, because cancer of the colon is a deadly alliteration that routinely wipes out a significant number of people in the world. And colema, even if not an exciting therapy, has a straightforward and profound message—to evolve in life, you have to get the shit out of your system.
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