Bowel “Movements”

Let’s look at the two words we typically use to describe the process of colon elimination – bowel movements. In order for us to release waste out of our bodies, we need to move our bowels. But guess what? That’s not all…for us to move our bowels we also have to move into health. What do I mean exactly? Moving our bowels, or our lymph, requires movement within ALL aspects of us, not just physical. Whenever we experience physical dysfunctions, we must address them on the physical level, however, we cannot make the mistake of addressing them solely on the physical. As human beings, we are much more than our physical body. We have intelligence, we have feelings and emotions, and we are spiritual beings (this is why there is more than one religion or spiritual beliefs, and they are all valid and helpful). To consider movement on all levels of our being, let’s consider the following:

PHYSICAL –

What are the obvious things that come to mind when we talk about physical movement? We think about exercise, breath work, and sometimes our lymph. Other types of movement are walking from place to place, working (some jobs are move active than others), shopping, having sex, helping others (house moving, taking care of their animals, etc.) and playing with our kids or pets. All these examples of movement contribute to, and aid in the movement of our bowels. Let me ask you something: Why do you think that elderly people sometimes stop moving as they age? If you’ve ever visited a home for the elderly you’ve seen them sitting in their wheelchairs or lying in bed. I believe the elderly stop moving because they stop moving. How many of you know elderly people that – once retired – sit around, watch TV, eat and not much else? Now think about elderly people that keep moving – I’m sure you’ve seen the 75 year old women on Facebook that participate in yoga or dance classes regularly, and we all collectively admire them and say to ourselves “That’s going to be me, one day!”

It’s a great goal to have and one that requires an intention to keep moving. Exercise and movement isn’t something that we should be putting off because we need to move our bowels everyday, 2 – 3 times if we possibly can – and this requires physical movement. We need to find fun ways to keep moving and we need to make a daily commitment to do so. Find ways to work movement into your everyday routine: take the stairs when possible; figure out the best time of day for you to work out; make the workouts fun and convenient (my husband and I watch TV shows in our home gym and because we enjoy what we are watching, we work out more!); take bike rides, walks on the beach or hikes on beautiful days; park further away from the grocery store and walk; carry the grocery bags (if there aren’t too many) to the car.

EMOTIONAL –

What does emotional movement look like? In my last blog I talked about us being energetic beings. Our different bodies (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual) all have energy and as such, need to move. When I engage in a Metaphysical Colonic with a client and we start to talk about their emotional body, many people reveal that they don’t like to feel vulnerable or sad so they ignore those feelings (or distract themselves). I understand there are many uncomfortable feelings that most of us would prefer not to feel. What happens when we don’t feel them, however, is that they stay stuck inside of us until our reactions to life force us to feel them (triggers, anyone?) and then they come out sideways at our partners, children, family, co-workers, boss, friends, the 7-11 guy, the Verizon representative, etc.

Instead of not feeling our feelings, taking our reactions out on our loved ones (or random strangers) and then have to clean up our mess with apologies (or worse – say nothing and create anger and resentment all around), wouldn’t it be easier on everyone if we allowed ourselves to sit in the discomfort of our feelings? After all, feelings are meant to move.

Feelings, or emotions, can also be explained as e-motion – energy in motion! This can be helpful information to encourage us because it means that our feelings are not permanent. When we feel them, they come up and out and we feel better…eventually. The key is to trust that we will eventually feel better. Doesn’t it feel better to share a problem with a friend? Just talking things out moves emotions. What about anger? If we keep it and just boil with anger, it doesn’t move and the anger just keeps building on top of itself – getting bigger and turning into resentment. Now instead of one feeling that doesn’t feel good, we have two! Allowing ourselves to sit in the discomfort of our feelings requires patience and courage. Don’t kid yourself – it takes a great amount of courage to feel.

There is another reason I encourage clients to talk about their emotional upsets or challenges during a session. When we share with another person or persons the emotional pain we feel and possibly carry within us, we become free! When we don’t talk to each other, we tend to blame ourselves and that can take us down a rabbit hole that can take a while to get out of. I’ve learned a great deal from clients who have shared what is going on with them, and it gave me the opportunity to offer compassionate listening and empathy. When people feel heard – really heard – they feel less alone and, from my experience, healing occurs.

MENTAL –

Often, when clients come in with physical constipation, what precedes the physical is the mental constipation. What is that, you ask? Have you ever felt stuck in your own head? In other words, have there been times in your life when you were stuck on a belief that you knew didn’t serve you or wasn’t really the truth but there was a part of you that held onto it, not knowing or understanding why? Or perhaps you had a belief that another person should behave a certain way towards you and instead of accepting the person for who they were, you were stuck on the idea that they needed to change? Maybe you are stuck in a cycle of dissatisfaction, unhappiness and judgment.

These are examples of mental constipation.

Mental constipation often leads to physical constipation. Just like having a physical bowel movement requires movement, so does having a mental movement.

A great way to test the current movement of your mental state is this:

If you are able to participate in this exercise without much difficulty and you can honestly look at your part in each situation or each interaction without blaming another person, chances are your mental state moves and you probably don’t get stuck internally too much. If, however, you are unable to follow this exercise either by not being able to keep your focus on you or by not seeing your part in your experiences, you might be suffering from mental constipation.

The truth is this: each person has the right to live their life the way they choose.¹ Further, each person has the right to hold boundaries and choose to have whomever they want to share their life with, as long as it is mutual. If we are happy, joyous and free, we lead our lives without judgment or blame of others and we accept that how others live their lives is 100% their business, not ours. If I am affected by how another person lives their life, it says more about my mental state, than about anyone else and theirs. When we see peaceful leaders such as the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa or Rumi teach about inner peace, we see that they collectively challenge us to let go of our judgments of others and bring our focus within. This makes sense because if we were healed and healthy within ourselves, we don’t worry about what another person does, says or how they live. This is because we offer self-compassion that automatically extends outward to others. When we have healed the internal issues that create “internal Velcro” within us, other people’s issues no longer stick within us and we have free flowing mental movement.

SPIRITUAL –

When speaking of spirituality, I am not necessarily talking about God or anything religious. There is nothing wrong with God or religion but for the purpose of this conversation, I want to simply things. Spiritual constipation can take many forms: feeling isolated and lonely; feeling disconnected from anything greater than ourselves; feeling fearful (fear is a normal human feeling – I’m talking about fear that shows up as worry, a need to control, tightness within, not allowing others to get to close to us); all types of addiction; feelings that we don’t have enough, aren’t enough, have money issues or worries; lack of joy.

How can we heal spiritual constipation? There are many ways but today I want to focus on one thing: GRATITUDE! Living our lives in gratitude is one of the most healing experiences we can practice daily that releases spiritual constipation. When we choose to start our day from a perspective of gratitude for everything in our lives, regardless of whether it reflects what we want or not, our general perspective shifts and we start to see the wonderful aspects of ourselves and our lives and less on what or where we are lacking.

A great way to practice daily gratitude is by writing a daily gratitude list. Write 5 things you are grateful for every single day. Throughout your day, notice the parts of your life that you can be grateful for. When interacting with your partner, children, parents, co-workers, boss, family or the general public, notice where you can feel and share gratitude for the countless instances of kindness, love and other gifts that you receive on a daily basis.

Gratitude can shift our perspectives and move our energy –
physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

I encourage you to come in a try a metaphysical colonic with me to practice these principals. You have nothing to lose except all the things that are causing you to suffer and stay in a place of unhappiness. It is your birthright to be happy and joyful. If you are interested in working with yourself on these and other issues but can’t get in for an appointment just yet, check out my book:

https://www.iyasucolonics.com/embracing-love-by-letting-go-a-metaphysical-cleanse/

Call today for an appointment – Stephanie (310) 207-7772

¹ I’m not talking about people that abuse, hurt or kill others or anyone who engage in criminal behavior or activities.