The Big Clean - Shank Prakshalana

We can apply all the creams, and masks, and perfumes we like...but the truth is that if we're filthy inside, well, we're simply filthy.

As weird as this may sound, I devoured with great interest (in one day) a book on Intestinal Hygiene, by Dr Soleil (it's a group of French doctors who write on various topics). Now, I'm not sure what the title is in English because I originally read it in italian (translated from the French original)...I've leant it to my neighbor who still hasn't returned it. He might be getting a knock on the door later today so that I can post some other practical techiniques to keep our intestines and colon healthy.

I'm almost due for my second intestinal clean-out: the first went tremendously well (didn't that sound British!). I felt sooo light afterwards. You can really feel that whatever you eat is digested, absorbed and eliminated quickly and with great efficiency. I can say that I've never had problems with my intestines, and that I have always been regular. Well, after this clean-out I became even more regular! Like a swiss watch! It was like the time references around the world were the Big Ben, Greenwich, and my bowel movement! Even my skin looked fresher.

Before you go on reading, I just want to say that you do need strong will power to get through the 3 liters of salty water -- it becomes increasingly disgusting, but don't forget your final aim!!! CLEAN INTESTINES! CLEAN INTESTINES! (That's what the cheerleaders are calling out here on the right).

Back to the intestinal cleansing: here's a simple way of getting a clean intestine (or at least it's a start towards a clean intestine): we drink a large quantity of salty water until the water that is eliminated from your anus comes out clean. It's a very cheap technique, but you do need to dedicate two to three hours if you want to do it properly. The drinking of the salty water is probably the most unpleasant part of the whole process, but hey! Beauty has it's price (inner and outer).

Technique:

Choose a day in which you know you won't have running around to do and people to see: it's a day that you are going to dedicate to yourself. Make sure you have a light meal the night before, so that you digest properly and get a good night's sleep.

When you wake up in the morning, prepare 3 litres of salty warm water (the salt should be sea-salt, and you need 6 grams for every liter of water).

Put on some nice music...and drink your first glass. You will then do the 4 exercises (I will put them down below)....then drink your next glass. You will probably feel the need to evacuate...so go. If you don't need you, that's fine...drink the next glass, and do the 4 exercises again (these exercises must be done after every single glass -- they help the water move out of the stomach and into the intestines).

Once you've started evacuating, you will continue until all the water has been eliminated from your intestines and colon (and it will become clearer every time).
Once you've finished, resist the urge to drink fresh water (I really felt like drinking a sweet herbal infusion!), and put some brown rice on to cook. Dress it with some olive oil and fresh herbs.

On that day, abstain from sports and alcoholic or acid beverages. For the following three days, abstain from animal products.

The 4 Exercises:

1. Stand erect with feet hip-width apart. Stretch your arms up above your head and interlace your fingers. Bring your trunk from left to right (repeat three times per side).

2. Stand with your legs slightly open, and twist with your trunk from side to side: let your arms swing with your trunk (repeat a few times).

3. Come down to the floor: the position is like the one to do push-ups, except that your arms are straight and you're not keeping your body in the plank pose...you relax your legs and buttocks, and let the hips come down towards the ground. From this position you turn your head as though you were trying to look at your heels.

4. Squat down, and place your hands on your knees. Now twist the upper body from side to side: as you twist to the left, your right knee comes towards the ground and your right arm straightens (or almost) -- as you twist to the right, the left knee comes towards the ground and the left arms straightens.

Advantages of practicing this technique:

It helps get rid of temporary problems, such as pimples, constipation, head-ache, insomnia, lack of appetite and concentration, etc, as well as bigger cronic problems. This exercise helps to clean the inner walls of the intestines of the crusts, making the intestine a much happier place! Assimilation of nutrients definitely improves becuase of the greater surface of contact between the food we eat and the regenerated mucous walls (the authors describe of people who actually eliminated crusts and mucous which contained traces of antibiotics that they had taken up to 20 years before!! Imagine that!!)

Risks and Contraindications

There is a minor risk of not eliminating the water from the anus. In this case, you will patiently have to wait for it to be eliminated via the urinary tract. This is very rare, but can happen on occasions. There may be meccanical or physiological obstacles: a slight hypothryoid condition, a big mass of gas int eh colon, a mass of encrusted "garbage" in the intestines/colon, a lazy colon, the water not warm or salty enough....or even fear of the unknown or of failure -- basically a psychological block that doesn't allow the body to eliminate properly.

There are some things that can help in these situations:
- the Yoga candle pose (Sarvangasana)
- jogging on the spot

- belly dancing

- vigorous massage

- or an intestinal clean-out!

Contraindications: DO NOT DO IF YOU HAVE AN OPEN ULCER, HYPERTENSION, OR KIDNEY PROBLEMS.

Frequency:

You can practice this technique 4 times per year (especially good during the change of season). If your first experience has tired you out a lot, it means that the effect has been deep and that you should probably repeat the second one after 1-2 months. With practice, this disintoxication becomes more and more gentle.

Why Salt?

Once upon this time, this technique used to be done with sea water. Salt makes sure that the water remains INSIDE the digestive tract, and does not allow it to be absorbed by the intestinal walls. The concentration of the salt in the water has to be similar to that of the blood plasma, so to avoid any loss of minerals due to osmosis. Salt is also a great disinfectant and killer of bacteria! Furthermore, salty water is a great way of softening the waste products that have hardened into crusts and that stick to the delicate intestinal walls.

IF you do have severe kidney problems, the same technique can be practiced by boiling a good amount of leek in 3,5 litres of saltless water, and then use this water to do the intestinal clean-out.