Get a naturopath or herbalist onto the topic of the importance of a healthy bowel and you could quite easily be there all day…. Suffice to say, if your lower bowel (colon) is all clogged up, it isn’t good for your health. In the simplest terms, your digestive tract is one long tube. The top half (stomach and small intestine) allow you to absorb nutrients from your food. The lower part (the large intestine or colon) reabsorbs water from the undigested mass of food left, ahead of you eliminating the waste products. Food is supposed to pass through our body in eight hours, with a bowel movement after each meal being a sign of ideal bowel health. Even if you “go” every day, you might be excreting a meal from several days (or weeks) ago. A sign that this may be the case for you is if your tummy gets quite bloated after you eat.

A good way to find out your “transit time” – how long food takes to pass through your digestive tract – is to do this: Eat a meal containing corn. Note the time and date of this meal. Don’t eat any more corn until the corn you ate reappears at the other end. Count up how long since you ate it. This is your transit time. Eight hours is excellent. If your transit time is more than this your bowel could do with cleanse at least once a year. Anything over 24 hours is worriesome and you need to take action to get it back on track. A long transit time leaves waste products in your bowel too long, and can lead to toxins being reabsorbed into your bloodstream – with your liver, kidneys, lymphatic system and skin left with the job of getting rid of them.

If your colon is not emptying properly, eventually this will affect the small intestine too. Low grade nausea and indigestion can be a symptom of this. Imagine a long narrow pipe. What happens if the bottom end gets clogged up? Does the top end start backing up too? If your small intestine, where you absorb nutrients, begins to clog up, no matter how much organic food or how many supplements you take, very little of the goodness they contain can be taken up by your body. This can lead to tiredness and lethagy.

In days past we used to eat a lot more wholegrain foods, which moved through our bowel better. We also were in the habit of regular fasting, something quite out of fashion these days, which is a shame because fasting gives your bowel a rest from digesting food, and gives it an opportunity to clean itself out. Fasting also allows the rest of your body to cleanse itself. It takes a lot of energy to digest food, and while you are fasting this energy can be used for cleansing and healing. Simple practices like fasting and cleansing are extremely powerful and we all need to be doing them more often.

Autopsies have shown that the average adult in western society has 6kg of undigested meat in their colon. Meat that is not grown organically often contains quite a bit of synthetic oestrogen. It goes without saying that this has the potential to disrupt your hormones if it sits in your body for any length of time. I call oestrogen dominance “the root of all (hormonal) evil”. Irregular, painful, heavy and absent periods can often be traced back to this single cause. As can a lot of fibrocystic breast lumps, prementrual breast tenderness, PCOS, fibroids, endometriosis, early puberty, bad menopause and infertility. Much of my clinical practice involves reversing oestrogen dominance. A good bowel cleanse is always part of the solution.

A top of the line cleanse involves some fasting. Believe me when I say, its not as hard as you think it will be (and well worth the effort). Most of my clients have reported  glowing skin, improved vitality, a tendency to eat less (and more nutritious) food, reduced cellulite, and ongoing weight loss after doing this program.

My favourite bowel cleanse is ‘The Colon Cleansing Kit’ which contains Digestive Stimulator herbal capsules (to get your bowel moving three times a day), Toxin Absorber (to remove mucoid plaque build-up and old hardened faeces from the bowel wall), detailed instructions, a FAQ booklet, and a calender telling you exactly what to do each day. This makes it really easy follow, even if you have never done anything like this before.

BUY Colon Cleanse

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ARIES March 21 – April 20

Each Sun Sign can be roughly equated to a life phase, and Aries is the baby of the zodiac. In the Northern Hemisphere, where western astrology originated, the 21^st March is the Spring Equinox, the official start of the solar year, as Mother Earth stirs from her long wintery sleep. It is a time of new beginnings and new life – green shoots, blossoms, birth. Everything is fresh, shiny and new. There is an air of optimism, renewal and hope – an awareness of all the possibilities contained by this new year, and in the new life that we see all around. Such is also the energy of Aries.

POSITIVE QUALITIES

Fearless, pioneering, honest, energetic, enthusiastic, independent, generous, confident, inspirational, passionate, decisive and idealistic. Natural leaders who get the ball rolling.

NEGATIVE QUALITIES

Impulsive, naïve, arrogant, impatient, bossy, aggressive, violent, bloody minded, extravagant.

If you study ancient Roman mythology you will see these traits embodied in Mars, the God of War, and ruler of Aries. According to Carl Jung, myths are archetypes; stories reflective of actual personality types – their strengths,  weaknesses and challenges, and the way to resolve these. Myths can be viewed as therapeutic stories – stories as medicine.

Equally, the Bush Essences, as medicines for the emotions, can be used to help heal and bring into balance the negative traits of any sun sign, allowing the positive traits to be more easily expressed. For each sign, there are certain flowers that are frequently needed, and these can be viewed as constitution remedies.

Black-Eyed Susan is a very important flower for Aries. It is very useful for rushing, something Aries are renown for, so it helps them to slow down (and smell the roses). Unchecked, this tendency to speediness can become impatience or impulsiveness and can further escalate into frustration, anger and aggression. As the mind goes, energy flows. An imbalance in the thoughts and emotions will ultimately be reflected in the physical body, in a very predictable manner. Physically, rushing can manifest as hyperactivity, clumsiness, stress, burnout, aggression, violence or accidents.  Bolting down one’s food leads to indigestion. Black-Eyed Susan addresses all these issues at a causal level. Antarctic Essence is also very appropriate.

Mountain Devil too, is very high on the list of Essences for fiery Aries. If impatience has progressed into anger, aggression, violence or hatred, Mountain Devil is called for. It is also very good for the Aries tendency to become overly ambitious and overly competitive (they like to win). With fire comes passion, and at times jealousy – which Mountain Devil will also help soothe. In western herbal medicine, anger is held in the spleen; in Chinese Medicine anger is held in the liver. Either way, I have found Mountain Devil very useful for assisting restore health in these organs. In medical astrology, the spleen is ruled by Aries, and is vulnerable under stress, so therefore needs to be especially supported. Mountain Devil supports the spleen energetically, and therefore physically.

Aries natives are at risk of burnout. They have so much natural energy that, like children, they go and go and go and then suddenly they drop. Usually, following a good sleep they awaken refreshed – and off they go again. However, as with the young, Aries can take this enormous vitality for granted, and get into a habit of burning the candle at both ends. They’ll get away with this for quite some time, especially in their youth. Sooner or later though, it will catch up. Down they go in a flaming burnt out heap of squandered energy. Macrocarpa is the flower they need to get back up again (Aries always gets back up again). Better still, give Macrocarpa before they crash and burn (prevention is better than cure). Macrocarpa also brings with it the wisdom to ‘eat when you are hungry, sleep when you are tired’ – to leave something in reserve, to husband your energy well. Macrocarpa is specific for balancing the adrenal glands, another of the vulnerable organs in Aries.

It has to be said that Aries is not naturally the most elegant of signs. Like children, they can be socially inept, gauche and naïve. Kangaroo Paw is very beneficial for helping them develop and grow in this direction. The tendency to rush can bring physical clumsiness no matter what their age. Apart from Black-Eyed Susan to slow down, try some Bush Fuchsia to help improve their physical co-ordination.

Fortunately we have Mulla Mulla to help Aries with their tendency to frequently burn themselves – on the iron, cappacino machine, stovetop, oven, kettle…  you get the idea. Put it on the outside and give it on the inside. Leave a bottle in the kitchen. Aries often have a reddish tinge to their hair, courtesy of their ruling planet Mars. This can bring the temper to match, and a tendency to sunburn. Try Mulla Mulla before, during and after sun exposure.

There are several other Essences that deserve a quick mention – Gymea Lily if they have become bossy or domineering, Isopogon to learn from their mistakes, and Wedding Bush to help them complete their projects (not just start them). And of course Emergency Essence – this enthusiastic, fiery, loyal, adventurous, clumsy trail blazer, with an appetite for life and the exuberance of youth, is going to need it. Oh, and some Calm and Clear + Mountain Devil for when they are driving.

More Information on the Astrology & ABFE workshop

Linn’s Workshop Schedule

Copyright  Linn Wiggins.

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