February Cleansings
What else to do while we have the opportunity to do nothing?! Internal spring cleaning. We had been so well
fed at Akash’s, and Nisarga had taken to extra eating as a source of pleasure in his immobile and difficult state, and as a way to numb the feelings that were comming up. The morning he decided to participate in a Gurdjieff movements class he also stopped eating. I followed 3 days after, the day we were leaving Akash’s. I do not have the will power in me to not eat if it’s being cooked around me, the smells, seeing it, knowing others i’m interacting with are eating, etc. But if i can avoid restaurants and other eating places then i can manage, especially if i feel like i’m going to burst at the seams.
Having done it once before, about half a year ago, i was hoping i could last 5 to 7 days. I figured it would be easier this time since my body had some previous experience and it wouldn’t be a total shock like that time, and since this time we were in a warm environment where hunger is not as strong anyway in comparison to a cooler place. But i knew i needed Nisarga to con
tinue fasting in order to sustain my fast. We drank water and fruit juice, freshly made as well as from a box but with as few preservatives and without sugar as we could find. And to my suprise, it was easy! I made it to a week without much effort. Sure there was some hunger the first 2 days but i knew a bit of what to expect this time so it was ok. I got emotional (angry, sensitive, sad, etc.) but i knew it was part of the process so i just accepted it.
On my day 4, Nisarga’s day 7, we did a liver cleansing; again, my second. This time it was harder actually. I was discussedted by the oil after a point. This time, since i didn’t throw up, it actually had an effect. The next day i had sharp cramps, diarhea, and small stones coming out. Amazing!!! Since this was the first time i could SEE results from the cleansing i was i
nspired. I wanted to do a colon cleansing. We went to a couple of small health centers and asked if they provided such a service, they all said no but that i may be able to get a do it yourself at home kit (a bucket and a hose to shove up my butt basically). I figured i could do it on my own or with Nisarga’s help. We went to 4 or 5 pharmacists but none had the material. We even tried at aryuvedic centers but they said they only do such cleansings under a progressive therapy regime, not a one time full intestinal cleansing; we had a massage anyway. I resolved that it wasn’t meant to be for me this time around.
Well, not really i guess because when we went back that night i did a web search for “colon cleansing goa”. 3-4 options popped up, only one clearly mentioned it was with a machine and it seemed that there they were dedicated solely to colon hydrotherapy unlike the others that included herbal solutions, yoga, nutritional information and other stuff that added up to a lot more money and a longer process (which was out of the question since all the options were a minimum of 2 hours north by car, we were staying at the very south of Goa). Nisarga could not drive a scooter on the highway 2 hours each way for the commute, his leg was still in a cast. That meant we’d have to take public transport there and back, basically spending the whole day involved in this pro
cess. Ajay, the thetherapist, surprisingly gave us quite a discount and it was the right time to do it regarding our fast so we went for it. Initially Nisarga thought he’d just have 1 session but since it was my first time it is suggested to have 3 sessions, with one day break between each session. Now that math worked out to extending the fast by quite a few days. That was not something i was sure i could do, but he said it didn’t matter, we could be eating normally and still get the benefits of the cleansing; the great majority of people who go are eating regularly. We made an appointment for the next day.
We rented a scooter and drove it to the bus station 10 kms away. I sat on the back seat holding the crutches, one on either side, and Nisarga went slowly ensuri
ng the need to use his left leg did not present itself. We waited until we could board a bus where we could sit in the front, so that there would be enough space for Nisarga’s giraffe legs. An hour on one bus, another hour on another bus. then a rickshaw to Ajay’s office. Almost 3 hours after leaving our beach hut heaven, we had reached. The same awaited us on the way back, but under much hotter circumstances. So we would treat ourselves to fresh coconut water before boarding the first bus back, and make it back in time to catch the sunset with some juice on the beach.
Ajay was great. Funny, sincere, humble, warm, patient, understanding. I was a patient from hell. He says it’s a normal reaction for a person receiving colon hydrotherapy for the first time but i think i was absolutel
y hellish. It was painful, and i had not expected that. It felt so weird. Usually when you feel like pooing or farting you push, even just a little. But in this process you can’t push at all. A tube covered in lube is put into your anus and it’s connected to a plastic transparent hose which is connected to the machine. So if you push you end up pushing out the tube and everything from inside spills out onto the table where you are laying. The machine the hose is hooked up to is also connected to the water source, which is twice filtered before going into you. Water is first pumped into you, when you feel like you are going to burst you say stop, the pumping is stopped and water comes out carrying with it stuff from your intenstines. For a better and more complete explanation of the process and it’s benefits visit Ajay’s website: http://www.vecare.in/
When the water is not being pumped inside you, Ajay massages your intestines in a circular motion, pretty deeply, in order to help loosen things up and help the process. Nisarga said that he had gone for this procedure three different sets of times, all in Poland, and that this was the best expereience because of the massage. Most people don’t touch you or slightly touch y
ou. So it’s all left to the water but it doesn’t work as well. As things come out you see them pass through the transparent plastic tube and then through a “viewing glass” on the machine. It’s very cool! Ajay, who was trained in Singapore by the company he bought the machine from, would tell us when he thought something passing was a recent guest and pointed out the ones that looked to him like they were guests from at least 15 years ago!!! Small dark half moon shapes. They were the by-products of bacteria... the poop of organisms living in my intestines! That aint fair, i thought to myself; i’ve got to worry about getting rid of my own poop and other’s too? This is not a dumping ground! And these peices were stuck to the intenstines so that’s why they were that shape. Wow!!!
The second session was a walk in the park in comparison to my first one, but for Nisarga it was dreadfully painful. Ajay sugg
ested we start eating because by then we had not eaten in 9 and 12 days and had no fiber in us to help push stuff out so the stuff which remained was too solid and had nothing to help push it out. We didn’t really feel like eating, so we just had some grapes. We both agreed to a third session. So much came out! Incredible!!! I had to stop him in the middle of the session, disconect myself from the tube, go to the bathroom and push because there was soooo much! I guess my intestines had absorbed water and it had all been soaking for those previous days and it had loosened up enough to come out.
That was my 11th day of fasting except for the grapes the day before, and by then i was hungry! Hunger would come up much more when we would travel up to have the sessions with Ajay because i would see and smell food, and because i was exerting much more energy physically, emotionally and psychologically. But it would settle by the evening. On this 11th day i w
as feeling nauseous, dizzy, and i had a splitting headache. It took all my effort and consentration to stand and walk. I was in a foul mood. Nisarga was still in a cast and with crutches. I think i experienced what i have heard others describe as a migraine from not eating on time. My brother gets that and i’ve never understood how a body which was already fed that same day could have such an extreme response if it doesn’t get fed again on time. But it does! And mine hit that threshold on day 11! I had not had any juice the night before, only water, so i think my sugar level must have been quite low. If it had not been for the cleansing appointment i would have had a massive plate of whatever food i could find, but i couldn’t eat because the stomach should be empty for the process, so no eating within 3 hours beforethe session. I drank crap juices filled with sugar which gave me temporary relief only. I felt better after the session but i needed food!!!
Nevermind this ea
sing into food by having fruits first and then soups or something like that. We went for mexican!!! I had ceviche and a burrito. The next day i had a whole fish with fries!!! I actually wasn’t very hungry but i knew that my body needed food once a day at this point for at least a couple of days.
The most interesting observation about myself during this fast was that it helped me overcome cravings. During the first fast, which only lasted 4 days, i had cravings throughout. And i talked about food endlessly. About what specific food i would want and plan to eat when i’m off the fast. Not this time. I joked about it a few times but i was not really having cravings. I am a big time taste eater, meaning i eat based on my mouth/ palate not my stomach needs. So this fast helped me shed that a bit. And even once i started eating again, i did not have strong cravings. I don’t know that i’ve ever experienced that before, at least not in a conscious way. It was a lovely, empty, peaceful feeling. Not only did i not need food, i didn’t need it’s taste either. To be neutral and not craving and salavating at the thought of different foods. How nice it was.
When i told my mother about the 11 days without any food she was amazed. A friend asked if i had lost 10 kilos during those days... and you may be wondering the same. Nope! Just a 2.5 kilos, 6 pounds. Not much for not eating for so long. And for having overeaten for a while before that. And you may be wondering if we were just sitting doing nothing trying to conserve energy. Nope. I would do yoga or go for a 30 minute jog along the beach. We read, layed out, played games, i went swimming. We were active, and had fun!
What else to do while we have the opportunity to do nothing?! Internal spring cleaning. We had been so well
fed at Akash’s, and Nisarga had taken to extra eating as a source of pleasure in his immobile and difficult state, and as a way to numb the feelings that were comming up. The morning he decided to participate in a Gurdjieff movements class he also stopped eating. I followed 3 days after, the day we were leaving Akash’s. I do not have the will power in me to not eat if it’s being cooked around me, the smells, seeing it, knowing others i’m interacting with are eating, etc. But if i can avoid restaurants and other eating places then i can manage, especially if i feel like i’m going to burst at the seams.Having done it once before, about half a year ago, i was hoping i could last 5 to 7 days. I figured it would be easier this time since my body had some previous experience and it wouldn’t be a total shock like that time, and since this time we were in a warm environment where hunger is not as strong anyway in comparison to a cooler place. But i knew i needed Nisarga to con
tinue fasting in order to sustain my fast. We drank water and fruit juice, freshly made as well as from a box but with as few preservatives and without sugar as we could find. And to my suprise, it was easy! I made it to a week without much effort. Sure there was some hunger the first 2 days but i knew a bit of what to expect this time so it was ok. I got emotional (angry, sensitive, sad, etc.) but i knew it was part of the process so i just accepted it.On my day 4, Nisarga’s day 7, we did a liver cleansing; again, my second. This time it was harder actually. I was discussedted by the oil after a point. This time, since i didn’t throw up, it actually had an effect. The next day i had sharp cramps, diarhea, and small stones coming out. Amazing!!! Since this was the first time i could SEE results from the cleansing i was i
nspired. I wanted to do a colon cleansing. We went to a couple of small health centers and asked if they provided such a service, they all said no but that i may be able to get a do it yourself at home kit (a bucket and a hose to shove up my butt basically). I figured i could do it on my own or with Nisarga’s help. We went to 4 or 5 pharmacists but none had the material. We even tried at aryuvedic centers but they said they only do such cleansings under a progressive therapy regime, not a one time full intestinal cleansing; we had a massage anyway. I resolved that it wasn’t meant to be for me this time around.Well, not really i guess because when we went back that night i did a web search for “colon cleansing goa”. 3-4 options popped up, only one clearly mentioned it was with a machine and it seemed that there they were dedicated solely to colon hydrotherapy unlike the others that included herbal solutions, yoga, nutritional information and other stuff that added up to a lot more money and a longer process (which was out of the question since all the options were a minimum of 2 hours north by car, we were staying at the very south of Goa). Nisarga could not drive a scooter on the highway 2 hours each way for the commute, his leg was still in a cast. That meant we’d have to take public transport there and back, basically spending the whole day involved in this pro
cess. Ajay, the thetherapist, surprisingly gave us quite a discount and it was the right time to do it regarding our fast so we went for it. Initially Nisarga thought he’d just have 1 session but since it was my first time it is suggested to have 3 sessions, with one day break between each session. Now that math worked out to extending the fast by quite a few days. That was not something i was sure i could do, but he said it didn’t matter, we could be eating normally and still get the benefits of the cleansing; the great majority of people who go are eating regularly. We made an appointment for the next day.We rented a scooter and drove it to the bus station 10 kms away. I sat on the back seat holding the crutches, one on either side, and Nisarga went slowly ensuri
ng the need to use his left leg did not present itself. We waited until we could board a bus where we could sit in the front, so that there would be enough space for Nisarga’s giraffe legs. An hour on one bus, another hour on another bus. then a rickshaw to Ajay’s office. Almost 3 hours after leaving our beach hut heaven, we had reached. The same awaited us on the way back, but under much hotter circumstances. So we would treat ourselves to fresh coconut water before boarding the first bus back, and make it back in time to catch the sunset with some juice on the beach.Ajay was great. Funny, sincere, humble, warm, patient, understanding. I was a patient from hell. He says it’s a normal reaction for a person receiving colon hydrotherapy for the first time but i think i was absolutel
y hellish. It was painful, and i had not expected that. It felt so weird. Usually when you feel like pooing or farting you push, even just a little. But in this process you can’t push at all. A tube covered in lube is put into your anus and it’s connected to a plastic transparent hose which is connected to the machine. So if you push you end up pushing out the tube and everything from inside spills out onto the table where you are laying. The machine the hose is hooked up to is also connected to the water source, which is twice filtered before going into you. Water is first pumped into you, when you feel like you are going to burst you say stop, the pumping is stopped and water comes out carrying with it stuff from your intenstines. For a better and more complete explanation of the process and it’s benefits visit Ajay’s website: http://www.vecare.in/When the water is not being pumped inside you, Ajay massages your intestines in a circular motion, pretty deeply, in order to help loosen things up and help the process. Nisarga said that he had gone for this procedure three different sets of times, all in Poland, and that this was the best expereience because of the massage. Most people don’t touch you or slightly touch y
ou. So it’s all left to the water but it doesn’t work as well. As things come out you see them pass through the transparent plastic tube and then through a “viewing glass” on the machine. It’s very cool! Ajay, who was trained in Singapore by the company he bought the machine from, would tell us when he thought something passing was a recent guest and pointed out the ones that looked to him like they were guests from at least 15 years ago!!! Small dark half moon shapes. They were the by-products of bacteria... the poop of organisms living in my intestines! That aint fair, i thought to myself; i’ve got to worry about getting rid of my own poop and other’s too? This is not a dumping ground! And these peices were stuck to the intenstines so that’s why they were that shape. Wow!!!The second session was a walk in the park in comparison to my first one, but for Nisarga it was dreadfully painful. Ajay sugg
ested we start eating because by then we had not eaten in 9 and 12 days and had no fiber in us to help push stuff out so the stuff which remained was too solid and had nothing to help push it out. We didn’t really feel like eating, so we just had some grapes. We both agreed to a third session. So much came out! Incredible!!! I had to stop him in the middle of the session, disconect myself from the tube, go to the bathroom and push because there was soooo much! I guess my intestines had absorbed water and it had all been soaking for those previous days and it had loosened up enough to come out.That was my 11th day of fasting except for the grapes the day before, and by then i was hungry! Hunger would come up much more when we would travel up to have the sessions with Ajay because i would see and smell food, and because i was exerting much more energy physically, emotionally and psychologically. But it would settle by the evening. On this 11th day i w
as feeling nauseous, dizzy, and i had a splitting headache. It took all my effort and consentration to stand and walk. I was in a foul mood. Nisarga was still in a cast and with crutches. I think i experienced what i have heard others describe as a migraine from not eating on time. My brother gets that and i’ve never understood how a body which was already fed that same day could have such an extreme response if it doesn’t get fed again on time. But it does! And mine hit that threshold on day 11! I had not had any juice the night before, only water, so i think my sugar level must have been quite low. If it had not been for the cleansing appointment i would have had a massive plate of whatever food i could find, but i couldn’t eat because the stomach should be empty for the process, so no eating within 3 hours beforethe session. I drank crap juices filled with sugar which gave me temporary relief only. I felt better after the session but i needed food!!!Nevermind this ea
sing into food by having fruits first and then soups or something like that. We went for mexican!!! I had ceviche and a burrito. The next day i had a whole fish with fries!!! I actually wasn’t very hungry but i knew that my body needed food once a day at this point for at least a couple of days.The most interesting observation about myself during this fast was that it helped me overcome cravings. During the first fast, which only lasted 4 days, i had cravings throughout. And i talked about food endlessly. About what specific food i would want and plan to eat when i’m off the fast. Not this time. I joked about it a few times but i was not really having cravings. I am a big time taste eater, meaning i eat based on my mouth/ palate not my stomach needs. So this fast helped me shed that a bit. And even once i started eating again, i did not have strong cravings. I don’t know that i’ve ever experienced that before, at least not in a conscious way. It was a lovely, empty, peaceful feeling. Not only did i not need food, i didn’t need it’s taste either. To be neutral and not craving and salavating at the thought of different foods. How nice it was.
When i told my mother about the 11 days without any food she was amazed. A friend asked if i had lost 10 kilos during those days... and you may be wondering the same. Nope! Just a 2.5 kilos, 6 pounds. Not much for not eating for so long. And for having overeaten for a while before that. And you may be wondering if we were just sitting doing nothing trying to conserve energy. Nope. I would do yoga or go for a 30 minute jog along the beach. We read, layed out, played games, i went swimming. We were active, and had fun!
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