Colon hydrotherapy

In busy life your colon’s working over time to process your food. What should take 24 hours takes 3 days. This can lead to symptoms like bloating, lethargy, acne, allergies – you name it. Colon hydrotherapy is an ancient primarily Egyptian practice to make your body work better…

I’d been thinking for a while about colon hydrotherapy. I had the sort of chronic symptoms that colon hydrotherapy (also known as colonic irrigation – if only they would stick to one name or the other!) is meant to be quite good at treating. My crappy symptoms included food cravings for naughty foods, bloated stomach (thanks to my wheat intolerance I’m a skinnyish girl with a pot belly, and SO tired of people kindly giving me a ‘pregnancy’ seat on the bus). Oh, and poor circulation, caused by a smoking habit that’s hard to kick.

These tiny things were beginning to weigh me down. A spot of colonic hydrotherapy (the cleaning of your colon, all five feet of it) would, I thought, make me feel lighter, fresher and de-toxed – then maybe I could get the energy to tackle the other stuff properly. Did you know that it’s meant to take around 24 hours for the colon to process your waste properly, but a heavy urban lifestyle has upped that to around 70 hours? I wanted to give my poor colon a chance. I thought – if I do this one little thing for my digestion, maybe all the other problems will behaving themselves.

It’s quite easy to find a colon hydrotherapist in your area if you live in a larger town or city. Just google it. I googled “London colon hydrotherapy” and found a bunch of folks – but I spent my time researching the first few pages of results. It was partly a question of the price, but mainly because I wanted to find someone who sounded like they knew what they were doing.

Eventually I was lucky enough to chance upon Chali Harding (Email: chalikharding @ yahoo.com), an accredited colon hydrotherapist (GBCCH., MGCH., RT) in Balham. All those letters are quite important, actually. Anyone can do a weekend course and claim to be a qualified hydrotherapist, then they’ll stick a tube up your bottom and not know how your body works well enough to tailor the experience for each patient properly. Good colonic hydrotherapists in the UK need to have time with ARCH (The Association and Register of Colonic Hydrotherapists) under their belt. ARCH is the only organisation that demands lengthy training that’s topped up on a regular basis, so its practitioners are always up to date and true professionals.

The Treat Balham practice rooms were very pretty, with an emphasis on natural design. I found myself in a treatment room that was cosy and warm and smelled of heavenly essential oils. I spied a tank of slightly warm purified water, and two tubes coming out of it that ended in one little tube. After a consultation, this tube was going to go into my bottom – yes, really! Natural, gentle gravity would pass the purified water into my colon. My tummy would be massaged to pass the water through as much of the colon as possible, and then the waste would pass out of the other tube. This ancient method of gently introducing warm purified water into the colon – used by the Egyptians originally – is safe and sanitary. I’m not squeamish and had no problems with the whole tube thing, which I was told would last an hour. In fact, Chali was happy to arrange a mirror so I could see all the rubbishy waste in my colon leave my body – a hugely liberating experience!

One thing I can promise you is that colon hydrotherapy practitioners have seen it all before. The only person who stands a chance of being embarrassed is you – so why not just tell yourself not worry about it and enjoy the novelty and healthiness of the experience? My colon hydrotherapist Chali was absolutely brilliant, to be honest. As about 60 litres of warm filtered water passed through my colon, she carefully controlled the water pressure and made sure I was comfortable, as well as offering me loads of information on the importance of the colon.

The benefits of colon hydrotherapy

• Colong hydrotherapy will cleanse the colon by removing impacted material
• Aids detoxification by stimulating the liver and lymphatics
• Tones the abdominal area through exercising the colon muscles
• Clears and removes toxins from the lower intestines and helps in the reconstruction of its intestinal flora
• Strengthens the immune system
• Improves metabolism and aids the absorption of nutrients
• Improves circulation and digestive problems
• Improves mental clarity

What symptoms can be treated with colon hydrotherapy?

• IBS
• Constipation / Diarrhoea
• Candida
• Bloated stomach and flatulence
• Headaches, earaches, sinus problems and allergies
• Bad breath
• Poor appetite, food cravings
• Weight problems
• Sore joints
• Poor circulation
• Menstrual or prostrate problems
• Acne and skin problems
• Persistent colds
• Anxiety, depression

The experience was a little unusual, but not in any way painful, and it was remarkably easy to get used to in the first five minutes of my hour-long session. One thing I learned is how ridiculously dehydrated I am. It’s true, I’m like a camel and barely ever drink water – but the waste coming out of the tube looked like little rabbit droppings! Utterly ridiculous! Chali gave me some sage advice on how to tailor my eating habits in a manageable way (everyone – warm water and squeezed lemon, a handful of nuts and a fibre-filled apple are a great way to start your day). I’m also dedicated to drinking more water now – I plan to go back in six weeks to check up on my bowel movements and prove to the world – and my colon hydrotherapist – that I am as hydrated as they come!

After the session I came out feeling pleasantly tired (buh-bye toxins!) and about a stone lighter. I felt the colon hydrotherapy had been of both physical and psychological benefit – I felt I’d given my digestive system a new engine, and was ready to do the training needed to take regular improved health to the next level.

Visit Chali Harding at Treat Balham or find a local colon hydrotherapy practitioner through The Association and Register of Colonic Hydrotherapists.

Colon hydrotherapy will make you feel like this

The treatment rooms at Treat Balham. You will look like the lady lying down. You will probably get your tummy massaged and feel a bit like a fireside cat.