Health, Life, 'etc.

I've been rather quiet for the last week and a half. Last Friday, February 17th, I posted how wonderful things were going. And they were. Friday I got up, had a lovely lunch with a friend, did a bit of shopping, and was preparing to drive to my Mom's to meet up for a movie when CRASH! I got in my car after hitting up Old Navy and suddenly I just crashed. I felt every ounce of energy just run out of my body and I could barely keep my eyes open. I called my Mom, sent my apologizes for the movie, and drove home. It was a 20 minute drive and I swear I didn't think I would make it. I finally got home, walked in the house, threw done my coat and crawled into bed. This was around 4pm in the afternoon. I woke up several hours later, and had some juice. I made it about an hour and crashed again. Several hours later, woke up for more juice, then crash. I have literally been sleeping since then.

Friday the 24th I broke my juice fast, had some roasted root veggies (along with some juice). Slept some more, had a little bit of Indian food, and Friday night I was up from 4:30 to almost 2am, the longest period of awakeness in over a week. I slept on and off through the night, getting up for coconut water, raw nuts, and juice a few times. Around 7am I could no longer sleep. so I got up, and went out to get some more juice and intended on hitting up Trader Joe's for some salads and good food to transition out of my juice feast. I got the juice, about half of what I normally had been doing, but was too tired to tackle Trader Joe's. I ended up having some  juice and fresh aloe and then went back to sleep. I woke up again early afternoon, and managed to stay up for 3-4 hours, took a short 1.5 hour nap, and had some more Indian food and watched Merlin and managed to stay up for another few hours. I then slept through most of Saturday night. Sunday morning I got up around 9:30, because my Dad called and said he and his posse (explain in a minute), were on the way. They spent about an hour or so with me, then I spent about another hour talking to my Mom on the phone. I went back to sleep for about two hours, and have been up ever since, although I suspect I'll be ready for bed once I finish this post as it's nearly Midnight. I am still fatigued, but doing much better, and tomorrow (Monday) my Mom and her friends are coming to clean and get some Trader Joe's for me.

So what happened?

1. I hate juicing with a fiery passion, but after getting out of the hospital, I knew I needed to give my body a break, get cleaned out, and let it focus on healing. Juicing takes all the work of digestion out, therefore allowing the body to focus on other things. So instead of doing it personally, we would buy juices from a local establishment, 80 oz, daily. While this seemed like a perfect solution, upon reflection I realize that while tasty, most of the juice were high in fruit and the vegetables used were sweeter veggies such as beets, carrots, cucumber, etc. There weren't a lot of dark leafy greens. So while it helped tremendously at first, after awhile my body felt like it was missing something, which it was.  
2. Also, initially my body was doing an awesome job moving "stuff" on out. However, this past week that has slowed, and I started having pain when going to the bathroom. Low and behold, I developed hemorrhoids! Ugh! I've never had them before, so it took me a few days to figure out what was wrong. I've been taking a couple different treatments for the last several days, but they are stubborn bastards and don't seem to want to go away. Besides intense pain, one of the effects of hemorrhoids is constipation. So I'm hoping the colon cleanse will help. It turns everything into pure liquid, so should be easier to release. But since I'm having problems in that area, my body has because a bit toxic, so I need to get stuff out!

So as of now, I'm transition from juicing to solid foods again. I plan on having a superfood smoothie for breakfast, a nice salad for lunch, and something like a Buddha bowl, soup or gluten free pasta for dinner. I'm  going to get some grapes and raw nuts for snacking. This should keep me back in balance. 

Well, I have some life updates as well, but as this post is long enough already, I'll save them for my next post. 

Detox: My Week of Cleansing

It's been over a week since I've posted, and that's because I'm gone through some MAJOR detoxing. This past weekend I basically peed and slept. I didn't really eat, or do anything else. The thing is, I felt just fine. I've been through fatigue phases before where it usually is not the greatest sign. But this was definitely my body going through some serious changes. I lost almost 15lbs of the water weight (woot!) and am nearing my regular weight. My tumors continue to drop, and my body is healing like no crazy.

 

Things I've learned this week:

• Sleep is incredibly healing, especially with an awesome bed and cozy pillow
• I missed drinking green smoothies. Somehow I got out of the habit, probably when I was hospitalized, but I restarted this week. Peach, blueberry, spinach anyone?
• Coffee enemas are really important. My initial experience were really horrible, but after reading some tips and getting everything set up right, it went fairly smoothly this time. And while I initially didn't get a lot of releasing, that night I seriously released up a storm. This is definitely part of my daily routine now. 
• Detox baths are heavenly. Lavender essential oil, don't bathe without it. So calming. 
• Meditation is very healing, especially when going through emotional detox. Keep the MP3 player close at all times.
• The Vibe machine is also a great way to heal, and all you do it sit there, for six minutes, and let the energy raise your frequencies. 
• It's important to also get your veggies in, but know that you can't always be perfect. 
• Going out with friends is a really important part of healing. It's important to have amazing, supportive people in your life. 
• Sadly, I also learned that some relationships, even with family members, are not always healthy. Sometimes we have to eliminate or at least temporarily break from these situations in order to protect ourselves and continue healing. 

I am feeling so much better. I've been more awake, getting my clarity back, and loving that I can wear regular clothes again!! I also have gotten back to reading fiction. My mind has been so back and forth that I've had problems focusing on reading, plus with all the water weight I could NEVER get comfortable. Now, I can cozy up in my reading nook and enjoy a good book.

I plan on catching up on some blogging this week and continue to focus on healing.

Getting Down With Colonics

One of the most important pieces of the healing process is releasing toxins from the body. Anything our body does not release, is returned to the blood stream. Colonics are a great tool for cleaning out the colon and releasing years of buildup. Here's some information from my wonderful colonics practitioner Caroline: 

Colon Hydrotherapy (also called Colonics, High Enema, Colon Lavage) is the safe, gentle infusion of warm filtered water into the rectum using no chemicals or drugs. It is a restorative, painless procedure which is both relaxing and effective. The individual lies comfortably on a custom treatment table and the therapist gently inserts a small speculum into the rectum. The therapist then monitors the temperature and pressure of the water infused into and out of the colon (large intestine) without any assistance on the part of the individual.

This will induce peristaltic contractions in the colon, and the patient will begin to expel fecal matter thru the colonic hose which leads back to the colonic machine and through a clear glass viewing tube. It is quite interesting to see what is expelled during a normal colonic treatment. One may see mucous, parasites and very old feculent material (noted by its dark black color) pass through this tube. This old feculent material may have been lying in the patient’s colon for years. In addition, the patient may experience sensations of warmth due to the presence of toxins in the feculent matter. While the patient is receiving the colonic treatment, the colon therapist lightly massages various parts of the abdomen to help loosen and dislodge areas of fecal impaction.

Colon therapy cleanses the entire colon without stressing the individual and provides a closed system in which waste material is eliminated through the instrument and out the drain line, avoiding any offensive odor and maintaining the dignity of the individual. Colon therapy is an extended and more complete form of an enema. The enema’s cleansing activity is limited to the area of the rectum and to shorter periods of time due to the body’s natural wish to expel any material from the rectum. The colon therapy method extends beyond the rectum to cleanse the entire large intestine and offer greater cleansing and therapeutic benefits. Enemas or laxatives may precipitate dehydration in the individual, but colon hydrotherapy, in effect, would improve the hydration status of the individual. 

You can find out more on her website Caroline's Colon Health Care. I have had several colonic sessions over the past few years and always feel lighter, my bowels seem to move better, I have more energy, and over all just feel better. I highly recommend looking for a Colonic's practitioner in your area.

Have you ever had a Colonic? What was it like for you? Would you do it again?

Fighting Fatigue

I feel like I've been living in a bit of a fog these last few weeks. Two weeks ago tonight I started my Reiki III training, an experience that is clearly kicking my ass.  Each level there is a cleanse, as your body attunes to the new energies. Level I is a physical cleanse, II an emotional cleanse and III a spiritual cleanse.  During my first week, in addition to the cleanse (which lasts 3 weeks), I also contracted the oh so popular flu bug. Luckily, my dandy flu tips helped me ward that sucker off, but I've still been majorly fatigued for the past few weeks, which I'm attributing to the Reiki cleanse. I've been sleeping quite a lot, in fact last week I slept right through Tuesday, missed it completely, quite a bizarre experience. I've watched over 40 hours of Buffy and really done little else. It's bizarre, I have absolutely no motivation, strength, energy, etc. and I have to ask, "how is this spiritual?"

I realized last night that I've allowed myself to "rest", to just do nothing, to lose myself in Buffy, and maybe that's the problem. This morning I made myself do my energy routine and bounce on my rebounder, and what do you know, I have a teeny bit of energy, enough to put this blog entry together. It also occured to me last night that maybe my body is encouraging me to take a physical break, and maybe a mental break, but not necessarily an emotional or spiritual break. Meaning, how much physical energy does it take to meditate, pray, read poetry, contemplate, do some spiritual reading?

In the past, when the going got tough, I always turned to Buffy. The lessons, the friendships, and comfort I experience while watching that show is like no other. But maybe that's the problem. Maybe I should be turning to myself, my inner guidance or ~ing, developing my own lessons, building my own friendships and finding comfort in my spirit guides and the Universe.

I know it's not a physical ailment that I'm experiencing, even though I have physical symptoms. I know what's it feels like for your body to start shutting down, what tumors feels like when they are growing, spreading, when your organs stop working and the process of dying begins. This is not the same. There is no pain, just intense fatigue, which probably will improve as I continue to push myself just a bit, do some spiritual work, and detox, detox, detox!

Watching TV, sleeping, numbing life away seems like the easy path, but really, what fun is that? Sure, we all need our chill days, but there is more to this life than being an observer, I want to be a participant. So yes, I still have a week of cleansing, and likely will continue to experience unbearable fatigue, but this is the time to break out that enema kit, do some yoga, and get started reading "A Course In Miracles."

And of course, learn psychic surgery in my Reiki class tonight....