You are what you eat, drink, breathe, and think…

AND what you don’t eliminate! 

Well, here it goes! J If this is your first time, the idea of an enema may make you feel really uneasy and awkward, and rightfully so. You also may not be confident in the purpose of it.  Truth is, it may not be something you would choose to do if you were at a day at the spa, BUT you may feel just as good when you’re done!! At first it will be awkward, but it will become more natural and easier in a very short time. It’s only water… give it a try! J 

General Information

1.   Purpose: The purpose is to internally wash your colon (large intestines).  The general American diet involves highly processed foods that do not promote colon health.  The foods become sticky and thick, line the colon walls, and impede healthy peristalsis movement (wave-like contractions).  Excessive mucous thickens the waste also causing it to move through sluggishly. As a country, we have advanced in digestive difficulty, and increased in colon disease.  Because of this, we have to take some extreme measures to keep our colons functioning properly. Some choose to change their diet to mostly whole grains, veggies, fruits, and to do some cleansing programs and enemas. Others have medical colon exploration and testing, life-long prescriptions, and surgeries.  This may be you one day.  Hopefully you’ll choose the former. J

2. Reasons for an enema: 

Constipation: If you are not going daily (preferably as many times as you eat a meal), then it’s time to make some changes. If you can imagine the bulk of food you have eaten in a day, pretty much that same amount should exit your body.  If you have ever done juicing, that is the best example. Your body is a juicer, and it spits out the fiber. — You need to be sure that you are eliminating or you will find serious problems down the road. Enemas can help get things moving.  You will also need to focus on hydrating yourself (with water), changing your diet, increasing fiber and probiotics, and maybe even use safe herbal laxatives as necessary until you are going frequently and thoroughly.  Once you start seeing a change, you will amaze yourself!

Stomach aches/gas cramps: As stated above, these signs are often caused by some level of constipation, a reaction to food, or a common symptom of detox as your colon attempts to break loose and remove old fecal matter, mucous, and toxins.  A series of enemas can give almost immediate relief to these symptoms if they are caused by your diet or cleansing.

Headaches:  Sometimes a series of enemas can help with a headache, depending on the cause of it. Just helping to release some pent up toxins and hydrating the bowel can be helpful.

Children and High Fevers:  This process is especially helpful for children. An enema can reduce a high fever by at least one degree if not two… and can be done every time the fever begins to spike again.  You want the fever to do its job, but not to get too high, whether for comfort sake or for danger.  It also will help hydrate though the colon while the heat of the body might cause dehydration.

  Use an adult sized Fleet (or generic) bottle …emptied and then filled with warm water.  Even infants can hold about a cup of water in their colon. (Don’t worry, you can’t put too much… they will just start going on you if they’re done taking water!)J  Lay them on the floor on a towel. If it’s a baby, also put a clean diaper underneath, so that as soon as they start to go, you can quickly close up the diaper to catch any output.

Keep them calm by talking, singing, and smiling while gently, but quickly getting the water in them with a lubricated nozzle. (They may cry because of the slight discomfort, but will quit as soon as you are done giving the enema. Just try to be quick!) If they are little, you can massage their tummy in a clockwise motion. If they are older, you can teach them to do it themselves, if they’d like. If the water does not come back out within about 20-30 mins, it probably means they were so dehydrated, they absorbed it through their colon, and you will likely need to do another one.

If you are concerned about keeping bacteria balanced in your child, just empty an acidophilus capsule or two into the enema or in their juice later. You can take it for yourself as well.

During a Cleanse: When you give the body an opportunity to purge, it will release toxins into the body, bringing them to the surface. The goal is to eliminate these as quickly as possible. If you don’t, these now exposed toxins will absorb back into your body through your colon wall (or wherever they happens to be) and potentially now make you sick.  Your body had them hidden, buried in fat or some sort of tissue, until it was able to get rid of them safely, or until they cause you trouble. To put it simply, if you don’t ever get rid of these poisons, they are your potential for getting diseases or cancer later on as the immune system becomes weaker.  Occasional cleanses aid the body, but only while doing regular enemas to keep toxins moving out quickly and safely.  Also, building your immune system with large amounts of Echinacea as well (1/2 oz – twice a day) will be very helpful during a time of cleansing.  If anyone is doing any type of cleanse, you MUST be willing to do enemas, or I personally would not recommend doing a cleanse AT ALL! 

3. Enema types: There are two basic types of enemas, a regular enema and a high enema.  The first only cleans out the rectum.  These would be the Fleet sized enemas you can buy. —  A high enema means that you wash the length of the large intestines… sometimes adding something to the water for stimulation, or for a deeper cleanse (such as herbs, raw vinegar, probiotics, coffee, etc).  You can add to your enemas later on if you desire, but for now, only use warm pure water.

You’re on Your Own Now!: J

    What to buy: You will need to buy an enema bag system. Enema bags are usually sold as a combination enema/douche kit. The bag is the same, the only difference is the nozzle that you use. You will also need some lubricant for inserting the nozzle rectally. You can use either natural oil-based products, even pure Olive Oil, or a water soluble lubricant.

Preparing your equipment:

1. Clamp: Enema bags come with a clamp that fits over the tube near the nozzle end. Clamp the tube shut.

2. Warm Water: AFTER hose is clamped (or you will have a mess while attempting to fill it up!) J … Fill the bag with lukewarm water. The water should be around body temperature (95o to 100oF). You can test it on your wrist. You do not want to have the water too hot. You cannot hold the water in you very long when it is too hot, and it is uncomfortable when exiting. Don’t have it too cold, or your rectum will contract/close up, and won’t accept the water. Please be sure your water is as purified as possible. You will absorb some of the water through your colon. Clean water is important!

3. Hang it up: Place the enema bag about 3-4 feet above the floor in your bathroom. The kit comes with a hook or hole of some type. The bag must be placed at a point where you can easily reach and insert the tube when you are laying flat on the floor. Hooking the enema bag on the doorknob or towel rack is usually about the right height. The higher the bag is above you, the stronger the flow of water.  Individuals may vary on preference as to whether they like a slow or quicker flow. We actually attached a hook permanently on the wall and leave our emptied and rinsed bag hanging there, covered with a towel when not in use.

4. Clear air from tube: You’ll need to clear the tube of air bubbles.  Hold the nozzle over the toilet and open the clamp to let the water flow a couple of seconds until the air has been released from the hose (you can hear it clear out)… then quickly clamp shut again.

5. Prepare your spot: Place a towel over the spot where you will lie flat. This is usually best position (as you will read later), but if necessary, you can get on your knees, or even do it while sitting on the toilet (just be sure that your hose doesn’t kink, and that your bottle is much higher for better water pressure, to get it in the colon as far as possible).  This may help if you have back issues or other difficulties that would make it complicated getting up from the floor and to the toilet. 

6. Lubricate: Place some lubricant on the nozzle and on you to make it easier to insert.

Prepare yourself:

1. RELAX and Breathe!  Granted, this isn’t the most pleasant thing you could be doing right now, but it is going to be profitable for your health and cleansing. Play some music, listen to a speaker, read your Bible, a book, this wonderful enema reading material J, or just take advantage of some quiet time to think and pray!

2. What to expect:  You will feel the water entering your colon. It will slowly start to build up a pressure feeling, and may even cause some cramping.  These can be small twinges, or extremely painful.  You have either hit fecal matter, or gas bubbles in your colon.  If you clamp it shut and relax or move side to side a little and massage, it will often move things around and pass it so you can continue to get more water in.  If the pressure is just too uncomfortable, go ahead and leave it clamped, remove the nozzle, and move to the toilet and release. Afterward, go back and do your second enema to get water farther up into the colon. It will likely be easier the second time around… and even more so after several days of enemas.  It is not uncommon that the first time or two you ever do an enema that nothing but water comes back out.  Eventually after the first couple, you should start to see a mixture of water and fecal matter as things loosen up a bit.

**You are now ready to begin:**

1. Position: If on your back…Lie on your LEFT SIDE, not your right, always start an enema on your LEFT SIDE.  If you look at a diagram of the intestines, you will understand. If looking down at yourself, your colon (or large intestines) goes up a short distance and quickly makes a 90o turn to the left and then goes up the left side of the body, then it crosses over at your ribs, and goes down the right side of the body. If you started an enema on your right side, it will make it more difficult for the water to work its way through. That is why it helps to do an enema beginning on your left side.

2. Begin: While laying on your left side, gently insert the nozzle being careful to go straight in to feel comfortable and get good water flow. The instructions with the bag will indicate how far in to place the nozzle. Usually an inch or two is as far as it needs to go.

3. Water flow: Open the clamp on the nozzle and let the water flow. (If it doesn’t seem to be flowing properly, look for kinks in the hose, and adjust the nozzle in you, being sure it’s not pressed up against the wall of your rectum and cutting off flow.) The first time you take an enema, the water flowing is a rather odd experience. You become used to it after a few times.

4. Massage: As the water flows in, gently yet firmly, massage your abdomen. This does two things. It helps to break up and release as the water flows. It also releases trapped air as the water flows in.

5. Roll with it:  Guess-timate when you are 1/3 through the bag then turn on your back, flat. You sometimes can even feel about where the water is, depending on the temperature. After another 1/3, turn to your right side. Hopefully the water has travelled through a majority of your large intestines.  On occasion, I have been able to get up, add more warm water to my bag, and continue until I can feel I’m filled to the max.

6. Wait: Remember, the water is washing the inside of a dirty tube. You  should try to learn let the water stay in you for 10 to 15 minutes. Initially, you may not be able to hold the water in that long. Often the urge to go becomes intense after the water has gone in. Your first few times, you might just want to go to the toilet and release until you become more familiar with the feeling of it.

7. Move and groove:  This may be too much for you, but it is recommended by some that when you stand up to go, shake your stomach from side to side, back and forth, and round and round. You will often hear the water sloshing inside you. The more you can shake and slosh the water, the more cleaning you get, and the more sludge you will break loose. Some also suggest that you should lie there while the water is in you and roll from the left side to your back, then to the right side.  Others suggest to slosh while lying down. While lying on your back, raise your hips off the floor and slosh.  That will help the water get evenly distributed throughout the colon. Just beware of sudden urges that take over you. Don’t want to create more clean-up for you! J 

8. Release!:  Finally!… When the urge becomes too strong, or your 10-15 minutes is up, just sit on the toilet and release… a very watery bowel movement will eliminate quickly.  Sometimes after a few minutes, you will feel a second… and  maybe third… urge as more water and fecal matter works its way out. Message your colon in a clock wise motion for best elimination results. — Occasionally you may get a painful cramp as a gas bubble tries to work its way through and exit the body.  Just bend over, and continually message your colon to help it exit as quickly as possible.

9. REPEAT: I recommend that you do the enema three times at each session. This helps to be sure you have a thorough cleansing.

10. Clean-up:  Quickly scrub and wipe down toilet, it is easier to do so immediately afterward. Sometimes, old fecal matter that you eliminate can stick to the sides of the pot like cement if left to dry. (Aren’t you glad it’s out of you now?!) J  Empty remaining water that’s in the bottle, and wash the nozzle thoroughly with hot water and soap, and hang it all to dry. You are now prepared for your next session!

11. Great work!  You have done a great service to your body, aiding it in its constant effort to keep you clean and healthy!  Keep up the good work by continuing in a diet of pure food and water for a heathier more energetic life!! 

This article authored by Breanne Fariss