We are in the final days of our Spring Cleaning weekend and I hope many of you are taking some time for yourselves to cleanse in body, mind and spirit. I had much interest about colon hydrotherapy and wanted to share more information with you through my interview with Sheila Shea.

Sheila struggled with anorexia, bulimia and laxative abuse over the course of 40 years until she finally found recovery. This post will share Sheila’s experience – including her expertise as a certified colon hydrotherapist of 28 years.

Stuck In The Middle
Like me – and possibly like many of you – Sheila had problems with constipation since infancy. Sheila’s history with eating disorders started at age 17, when she entered college and developed anorexia. At the time, there was very little information on eating disorders, certainly not the studies that are being done today. Around the age of 26, she became bulimic – still suffering from constipation — unitl a nurse suggested she do enemas. The nurse said that chronic constipation could cause autointoxication, where the hardened feces could putrefy in the colon and be reabsorbed back into the body. Sheila found the enemas brought great relief. At the time, she did not relate nutrition and cleansing to eating disorders – that came later.

Enema Education
I would agree with Sheila about enemas being very helpful and I sometimes use them between colonics, if constipation becomes a problem. I recently learned how to do them from a certified colon hydrotherapist at my Certified Body Ecologist training. I think it’s important to educate yourself about the proper way to do enemas before trying them on your own. While there are risks, you can minimize or eliminate them by following the proper procedures. One thing to keep in mind is that enema abuse, like laxative abuse, can cause health related problems. While people claim that colonics and enemas help them lose weight, this is not about emptying calories from your system. Much of the digestive process has already taken place, so laxatives and enemas are not intended for weight loss — and if abused, can cause more harm than good.

That being said, enemas can be very beneficial for constipation, IBS and other issues of digestive distress. My recommendation is that they are part of an overall plan for healing, cleansing and recovery – talk to your healing professional for more information based on your individual health needs.

The Journey Continues
One thing to keep in mind is that enemas take time and energy. After a period of time doing enemas, while still engaged in disordered eating, Sheila turned to laxatives. It started as a way to save the time and effort it took to do enemas and turned into laxative abuse. It was her brother who suggested that laxatives may lead to long-term damage.

This is where I learned that eating disorders ran in Sheila’s family. Her mother had anorexia and two out of three of her brothers had eating disorders (one with bulimia & anorexia and the other anorexia). Sheila would agree with researchers that eating disorders run in families – and that they are a mind, body, spirit condition.

Releasing - in Mind, Body & Spirit
As Sheila overcame bulimia in 1991 and laxative abuse in 1996, she realized that recovery was more than just giving up the behavior. For many years afterwards – and still today, she recognizes the importance of working out psychological issues and blocks. Part of what helped her was to experiment with a multitude of modalities that helped to unblock her mind, body and spirit.

For example, she studied dance — and through her passion for having the energy, balance and power necessary to be a dancer — she overcame her 20-year struggle with bulimia. And it was not just the mechanics of a body dancing – it was Sheila’s realization of a connection between mind and body – a connection to nurturing the body to create strength and agility. She realized this strength and agility came from the core – the abdomen –which fosters our balance.

About Losing & Gaining Balance
It’s interesting that this core, this abdomen area, is the center of our energy – and is required for balance. From ancient wellness practices like Chinese medicine and yoga to many of today’s mainstream pilates, yoga and fitness centers – we are learning the importance of the core. And yet, it’s also the place many of us with eating disorders check every day – to see if it’s flat, to see how we can make it disappear. And as it does, we lose our will, our power, our balance. We barter them for fear and low self-esteem. We lock ourselves up, not realizing we shunned part of the key. How can we learn to respect and love our core? How can we release the fear? How can we move beyond it by doing something that reconnects us with its importance – as Sheila found in dance?

Colonics and enemas can be a part of the process of healing because they remove stuck energy and free blockages in our core. As mentioned in my previous post on colonics, they “awaken the sleeping dragon” and bring stuck emotions to the surface – where we can see and deal with them. This is where the psychology comes in – and it can be helpful to be working with a coach, psychologist or healing professional to continue releasing emotions that keep you stuck – thereby opening all of your energy channels and truly cleansing, healing.

Final Stages of Recovery
Sheila finally freed herself from laxative abuse in 1996, after her brother helped her see that they could harm her body — and that “water” or enemas would be better. She found that laxatives were addicting, created electrolyte imbalances and caused changes in her body. It was around this time that she learned that enemas were more conducive to relief of constipation because she would use them more judiciously and therefore, did not create the electrolyte imbalances that came from abuse of laxatives.

Looking back, Sheila now understands the complex interplay of constipation, nutrition, cleansing and eating disorders – along with the contributing psychological issues. From her own experience – and her 28 years as a colon hydrotherapist, she has a better understanding of the relationship between the brain and body. In her words, constipation creates a sense of being “blocked in the middle.” Overeating and bingeing on a regular basis, helped with constipation. But eating too much or too little, while a seemingly intuitive take-charge solution, only ends in pain and suffering. These things must and can be tended to – in ways that empower.

Things Sheila Sees Often In Clients

• More than 60-70% have some form of carbohydrate indigestion.
• Inflammatory bowel disease.
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome - IBS (25% of people come in with this) – Sheila said that based on her readings, IBS sufferers may need to start with shorter colonics (about 10 – 15 minutes) and build up. She suggests that colon hydrotherapists may want to start with hot water (100 – 103 degrees F) and stop as soon as the spasm begins (if spasm begins — they do not occur in all IBS cases. Many cases of IBS are thrown into that diagnosis as an umbrella of misunderstood or misdiagnosed conditions, like celiac disease).
• Benefits tend to be experience with between 5 – 10 colonics.

Colonics & Eating Disorders
While Sheila has not seen many clients with eating disorders, she told me that there are no contraindications for doing colonics if a client is actively engaged in an eating disorder. Most of Sheila’s clients – even those not suffering from an eating disorder — are already imbalanced with electrolytes (minerals). Sheila said colonics don’t affect the electrolyte imbalance when done periodically. There are some alternative eating disorder treatment centers that have used colon hydrotherapy as part of the recovery program.

Sheila did remind me that there are not a lot of studies on colonics, so it is important that each individual consult with a healing provider or colonic hydrotherapist to discuss the goal of any cleansing program.

Things That Helped Sheila In Recovery

• Accepting herself & accepting the feminine within her — This was really important in her healing. Through dance (ballet in particular), she learned to accept the once-denied feminine within her. Never really bonding with her mother, she felt that a large part of the eating disorder was a denial of the true feminine. Acceptance of herself & the feminine allowed her to heal at a much deeper level from the lack of bonding with her mother.
• Broke her addiction to sugar and removed it from her diet.
• Started juicing (raw, organic juices) and incorporating a lot of raw foods.
• Learned about and incorporated principles from the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (see my links section under “Body Repair Resources” for more information on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet).
• Removed gluten and soy from her diet.
• Dance and Yoga– learning to respect and connect with her center of gravity, her core.
• Colon cleansing – with a feeling of lightness that follows colonics, Sheila became more sensitive to the effects of food on her body and weaned out the harmful foods.
• Removed chemicals – used organic foods and natural beauty products.
• Removed all foods with additives and preservatives.
• Spiritual readings.
• Constantly developing her spirituality in a number of ways.
• Meditation
• Awareness of and work with her emotions

Check out Sheila’s website for book recommendations!

Final Words
Asked what she felt were most helpful in her life, Sheila had no one answer. In fact, her path was similar to mine in one way – we both tried many things – convinced that healing had to take place in mind, body and spirit. And we both still work to this day, to create a sense of health, balance and peace in our lives. This is not the side of recovery that says we live under the veil of an impending monster’s return – this is the flip side. The light side – which says, each day we get to experience the joy of living – as long as we are aware of how we choose to live.

Sheila is one more beacon of light on the path to recovery — and thankfully, she has entered a field where she can help so many others. If you live in the Tuscon, AZ area and would like to find out more about her services, visit her website.

More About Sheila:
With degrees in political science, history and dance – and a master’s in education, Sheila’s passion for health took her into the fields of massage therapy, colon hydrotherapy, nutrition and herbology.

Along with all of her other studies, Sheila learned Chi Nei Tsang (CNT) , a branch of Taoist medicine. CNT, related to Chi-Kung, works mainly on the abdomen with deep, soft and gentle touches, to train internal organs to work more efficiently. Unprocessed emotional charges are also addressed in this manner, as well as all of the body systems: digestive, respiratory, cardio-vascular, lymphatic, nervous, endocrine, urinary, reproductive, muscular-skeletal, and the acupuncture meridian system (Chi).

Want to Learn More About The Growing Field of Colon Hydrotherapy?
Sheila has a state-licensed school offering a 100-hour Certification Program in Foundations of Colon Hydrotherapy (Tucson, AZ). Colon hydrotherapy has become more known and more popular. Many health professionals and authors are writing and talking about it, which has prompted a great deal of interest. Sheila offers the training every month and includes Chi Nei Tsang abdominal massage techniques as part of the program. It takes 2 months from the process of application to program completion. For more information, contact Sheila at: info@sheilashea.com or call 520-325-9686.

For information on Sheila’s background, colon hydrotherapy, articles, book suggestions and more, visit her website.