This is an excerpt of Marion’s new book to be published soon – so stay tuned!
That’s how it began
It’s 2005 I’m in Mexico, riding my bicycle on my way to teach the regular morning yoga class. The sun has just risen into a crystal clear blue sky, the birds are singing, Iguana sitting like stones and I have to avoid riding over them as they wait for the sunlight to warm them enough so they can move! The turquoise Caribbean water is gently lapping against the bright white sides of the rows of yachts and boats neatly lined up in the marina. I greet many happy and familiar faces emerging from cabins, “Buenos Dias!”… I can see a few hung-over faces crawling from the boats as this next beautiful October day begins.
I feel a familiar rumbling as my belly begins to awaken, preparing for the day and I stand up on the pedals to let some of that awakening movement release… But what happens next is far from familiar! I sit back down onto the bicycle seat and feel and hear a very unfamiliar squelch! “Oh shit!” I mean literally oh shit – I’m in shock! “What’s happened – oh shit – oh my god!” I’m riding past people and my face is still smiling and friends waving “Morning Marion! Nice pants… What’s the rush?”
I’m wearing my brand new, bright red yoga pants! The voice in my head is screaming “Oh my god oh my god oh my god DON’T stand up – don’t move – ride faster!”. The image in my head is of a huge brown stain as big as my bum, on the bum of my beautiful new red yoga pants…
At the gym I rush in carrying my bag behind me which is fortunately big enough to cover my bum, it feels like I’m moving in slow motion… I finally get to the gym and then the toilet – I breathe again – thank god it’s empty!
For the next few months this disgusting set of symptoms followed me around! There was lots of blood and mucous in and around my poo, and sometimes hardly any poo at all, but still lots of mucous and blood, there were also bouts of constipation and diarrhoea. I also began to notice abdominal bloating and the amount of farting I was doing was incredible!
It was disgusting, exhausting and so inconvenient!
Every time I felt a fart brewing I had to get to a toilet as quickly as possible because I had no idea of the amount of fall out that would follow through, sometimes it was a little, sometimes a lot but hardly ever did a fart arrive alone!
I was also having problems with the owners of my accommodation, they were from the U.S. and this happened during a time when Bob (looks like a short version of Bob Geldof) had a television in every room all blaring Fox News and support for Bush just before his 2nd term elections… I would enter a room and switch the TV off, and he wandered around putting them back on!
So I jumped at a chance to flat sit for my lovely friend Macarrena, a Jazz singer from Chile who looked like Cher and sang like Ella! I arrived at her place and ran to the toilet for the now usual noisy, smelly, prolonged toilet performance – emerging red-faced I told her what was going on in my body… “Oh Dharlink it’s just parasites – we all get them! There’s a herbal pharmacy on the corner will know what to do. I’ll come with you.”
The medication was all natural, woodworm, black walnut tincture and ground cloves – it took about 4 weeks to do the treatment course and worked a treat I felt so good…
In August 2010 the symptoms returned, I found the same herbal remedy online, I’d been living in India for a couple of years and so assuming parasites seemed logical… Only this time the treatment didn’t work, I did it twice in fairly quick succession, but none of the symptoms changed. So I went to my last resort, my GP who suspected the symptoms were caused by IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) or was it IBS (irritable bowel syndrome).
I felt let down by my body
Being a yoga teacher and therapist, I thought I was taking good care of myself and so when I began to get these symptoms, I felt let down by my body. The most distressing symptom for me was the flatulence, which was frequent, regular and voluminous. Now this caused some serious “complications” in yoga classes, as if you know anything about yoga, then you’ll be aware that passing wind happens as if spontaneously during some of the postures! And as is my want to see the positive in every situation – it did however force me to be much more mindful in my own practice.
As if that wasn’t bad enough this flatulence always carried a bloody, mucous discharge, so I had to be on the toilet every time I wanted to pass wind to prevent the discharge going into my clothes, in the bath or in the bed – thankfully I was single! The quantity of flatulence was incredible, especially through the night and first thing in the morning. My sleep was very disturbed and then when it came to leaving the house in the mornings I would go through this yoyo routine from front door to toilet – front door to toilet – some mornings it could take an hour before it felt safe to actually leave! Thankfully I now get a good nights sleep and have the freedom to fart in bed without panic – and according to my partner, sometimes without even waking!
My GP, who suggested a colonoscopy to discover “what was going on in there” and then depending on the findings she went through the possible follow-up procedures all aimed at symptom management. But I didn’t want to manage the symptoms I want to get rid of them, cure my poor belly! I asked about the cause of the symptoms I was experiencing, and she described some of the possible changes that may have taken place in my large intestine but when I asked about the cause of those changes, she told me that it was simply classified as a functional disorder, and there are no apparent physiological causes.
No apparent causes!
I was shocked that modern medicine could have such a limited view. She did go on to acknowledge that there is definitely a link between the onset of IBS and stress, and the fact that IBS often flares up during stressful periods. But until now, the specific cause and meaning of IBS remains a mystery. I was shattered, a mystery, so she’d basically admitted that they didn’t know. I wanted to know! I wanted to understand what caused the IBS and not to just hide the symptoms. I decided that I would spend some time and work on understanding this issue myself, before allowing the medical world to start probing me with “intimate” medical procedures and then invariably dishing out medication or surgery.
I attempted controlling the symptoms with dietary changes (no gluten and no dairy products and lots of pre- and probiotics). While this did have some effect and symptoms improved, I was unable to stop them recurring. It was obviously not just a reaction to foods, so I then began to explore physical, psychological and emotional triggers. Through my training in yoga and various therapeutic and healing modalities I understood that we are affected by all inputs, so food, drink, information, emotions, beliefs, thoughts, attitudes and values – all of them – they all impact us in some way. And I now know that it was emotional and behavioural re-programming that was required and that was the ultimate solution that eventually resolved these issues completely. My desired outcome was to clear all of the symptoms, to be free of my “where’s the bathroom panic attacks” and return to the freedom of my previously unrestricted diet, unrestricted yoga practice and the most liberating of all – unrestricted farting!
Since the onset of my own symptoms I have come to discover just how many other people are suffering!
Irritable bowel syndrome and inflamed bowel conditions are so common and I now know that some or all of my own symptoms occur to many people at some time. I find it fascinating that there is such a high rate of incidence and also how it becomes chronic so often for so many people, and they are told, by the medical profession, that they will have to live with it for the rest of their life. The IBS till death syndrome!
The condition known as IBS is estimated to affect up to 1 in 5 of us at some point in our lives. It is viewed as a chronic (ongoing and incurable) condition, although it’s not infectious. There is said to be a higher chance of developing it if you have a close relative who has the condition.
In my wanting to improve my understanding of the condition, to support me in my quest to become free of it, I have also been able to help many more people avoid the harsh treatments, medications and surgery that so many feel they have to undergo. We really are led to believe there are no options, so in this book I want to explore what options we do have and what has worked for me and my clients.
Summary
My book explains how the symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease are (mis)interpreted by current medical thinking to be any number of diseases of unknown origin, and yet the same symptoms, processes and diseases are very clearly understood by META-Health as part of an intelligent biological process to assist in the meaningful and developmental adaptation that leads to significant evolution of the being, of the person, so you can deal appropriately and intelligently with new challenges.
The medical view is that IBD/IBS is a “stand-alone” disease of the digestive system. They admit to not understanding the cause of this disease but assume and hypothesize that the symptoms are an incorrect bodily function – so the body has made a mistake and strive to override these changes to the functioning and reactions of the body by medication or removal by surgery.
META-Health recognizes any disease or symptoms are not exclusive to a single discrete disease but that symptoms are an intelligent part of a biological programme which was triggered to start with a shocking experience. This shock is a specific type of shock, that is Unexpected, Dramatic, Isolating and there was No strategy to deal with it (UDIN). The content of this shock is perceived as a threat to life, to the environment or sometimes to the family of the patient. Each individual symptom that happens to different tissues in the bowel, will have a well-defined theme that helps to reveal why it is happening, which part of the programme it is currently in and how to achieve completion of the process and return to full health.
Conclusion
Because you can discover and understand why the disease programme is there with all of its symptoms and phases, and the appropriate adaptation needed to be made in attitude, behaviour or belief, you can now find a course, strategy or intervention to deal with it. So any future occurrence of the shocking event or any reminder of it will no longer trigger the programme to restart, at which point there will be an automatic resolution of all the symptoms or diseases, and the biological programme can complete its process, returning the patient to wellness, and enabling the evolution of all levels of the patient so that particular programme can never be run again.
Medical Model
The two main types of IBD are Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and Crohn’s Disease.
Ulcerative Colitis affects the rectum and the colon (large intestine). Inflammation and many tiny ulcers develop on the inside lining of the colon resulting in some or all of the following symptoms:
- abdominal pain
- abdominal bloating, loud rumbling and flatulence
- mucus and / or blood in stools
- urgent and bloody diarrhoea sometimes with with mucus
There may also be: tiredness and fatigue, loss of appetite and weight loss, anaemia, fever, dehydration, weight-loss, a constant desire to empty the bowels (known as tenesmus).
The condition varies as to the location, the severity of inflammation and how much of the colon is affected. For these reasons, doctors often classify ulcerative colitis according to its location.
Ulcerative proctitis: Inflammation is confined to the area closest to the anus (rectum), sometimes with rectal bleeding and other times with rectal pain and a feeling of urgency. This form of UC tends to be the
mildest.
Proctosigmoiditis: This form involves the rectum and the lower end of the colon, known as the sigmoid colon. Bloody diarrhoea, abdominal cramps and pain, and an inability to move the bowels in spite of the urge to do so (tenesmus) are common.
Left-sided colitis: Inflammation extends from the rectum up through the sigmoid and descending colon. Symptoms include bloody diarrhoea, abdominal cramping and pain on the left side, and unintended weight loss.
Pancolitis: Often affecting the entire colon, causing bouts of bloody diarrhoea that may be severe, abdominal cramps and pain, fatigue, and significant weight loss.
Fulminant colitis: This rare, life-threatening form affects the entire colon and causes severe pain, profuse diarrhoea and, sometimes, dehydration and shock. It carries a risk of serious complications, including colon rupture and toxic megacolon, in which the colon rapidly expands.
Crohn’s Disease can affect anywhere from the mouth to the anus but most commonly affects the small intestine and / or colon. It causes inflammation, deep ulcers and scarring to the wall of the intestine and often occurs in patches.
The main symptoms are pain in the abdomen, urgent diarrhoea, general tiredness and loss of weight.
The symptoms of IBD indicate the patient is in the restoration phase of a disease process of the intestines, so below is information on the complete process from beginning to end.
Affected tissue
Inflammation of the intestinal tissues belong, as far as their germ layer relation is concerned, to the endoderm or inner germ layer. All organs and tissues that originate from the endoderm consist of adeno cells.
The corresponding control centre is in the brainstem, which is why the tumours (adeno-cell type) grow during the conflict active phase and inflammation and cell minus processes occur during the restoration phase.
Theme and examples
Organs and tissues controlled by the oldest part of the brain, the brainstem, correlate to the oldest biological conflicts all concerning basic survival. More specifically in the intestines, colon and rectum the theme relates to chunks that need to be digested – but can’t so there is a conflict.
Symptoms in the organs of the intestine are biologically linked to “Indigestible chunk conflicts”. In the case of colonic tumours this biological conflict is either an ugly, indigestible anger (colon) or ugly, insidious, dirty “shit conflict” (rectum) or ugly, mean “shit conflict” (sigmoid colon).
These conflicts can be seen as “not being able to get or not wanting to absorb or digest a chunk already taken in.” All are linked to the digestive organs, including the small intestines, the colon and the rectum, these are all the organs associated with IBD.
Biologically this is about real chunks of food and an animal would only experience these conflicts in real terms, but as humans we interpret some other objects or information as if they were food.
Biological conflicts apply equally to man and animals, when we can’t ingest, swallow, digest, or eliminate a ‘CHUNK’. Undomesticated animals still experience such conflicts in real terms when the chunk is a real piece of food, whereas we humans often suffer them in a transposed, ‘cultured’, or even in a paranoid manner. We perceive all sorts of things as a chunk and suffer a biological conflict when we lose them. In a natural context, bank notes would be considered as completely worthless.
An example of the undomesticated behaviour is, if an animal gets a splintered piece of chicken bone stuck in its intestine this causes colic. At the same time a “disease process” is activated with an intestinal increase in function and a cauliflower-like compact growing tumour, that is growing towards the mouth (“upstream”, against the digestive flow).
Cultured biological conflicts can be likened to an “anger-chunk”, or one which is subjectively unable to be “digested”, we could not “catch”, an offending remark we could not “digest”, “chunks” we want to possess, “chunks” that were taken away from us, or “chunks” we cannot get rid of.
Theme Foundation
Powerlessness (especially children), victimized, morally and ethically wronged, mortally wounded by being judged negatively by your community or an “authority”, you were robbed of what felt rightfully yours, concerned by your reputation, your status or standing in your society, keeping up with the Jones’s, your life depends on your reputation and what others think of you, your life and your health depend upon the medical professions, you are powerless to disease and sickness, not fast enough to get what you need, not clever enough to survive…
Thoughts values and viewpoints
These are all presumed threats to our survival, to go against them would make it impossible to live in this world.
Therapeutic Plan
Working alongside and as a compliment to any medical treatment a client is undergoing, META-Health therapeutic and treatment plans offer support and assistance in developing the therapist and clients understanding of their own symptoms. This can be significantly improved with the help of the superior diagnostic information provided by the great technology available to the health care system.
Mental / Emotional areas
Focus on wellness rather than illness. Working on supporting them in changing their values and setting appropriate goals.
Therapeutic intervention that will allow complete release of the emotion from the stressful event that was the conflict shock and total resolution of the underlying cause and structure of the pattern.
Clear all the emotional energy around the content and reframe it, ensure that all tracks and triggers are resolved – work with the Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic, Olfactory and Gustatory aspects and triggers. Resolve the underlying mental structures, beliefs and patterns.
Informing the client of the positive aspects of pain, inflammation and swelling and any other symptoms that occur during the healing process, can reduce anxiety and build a sense of positive acceptance when these signs appear.
Creating new and beneficial habits and practices like meditation, relaxation techniques, visualization, affirmations and belief changes.
Take up new pastimes like yoga, qi kung, tai chi or anything that soothes the soul and helps develop and create new and more positive states of mind.
Physical areas
Support the body in its healing – working with the body to assist in speeding up or slowing down the healing to maintain balance and prevent further shocks and conflicts.
Nutritional areas
Identify any food intolerances and allergies, these can also be cleared if we can find the original trigger for that particular allergic response.
If it is possible and appropriate, work with a nutritionist to ensure the client is eating an ‘alkaline’ diet especially during the restoration phase.
Make sure the client can stomach the change in diet. Explain that the diet change is only during the healing. Use techniques to reframe all stress inducing food and drinks.
Through all phases including pre- and probiotics may assist digestion and help improve the uptake of all the goodness from their diet and assist in detoxification. Also supporting natural functioning with relevant supplements like omega oils and any vitamins identified as deficient.
Working with kinesiology will help in identifying the best diet and supplementation at that time but must be reviewed regularly, since as the body moves through the different phases these requirements will change.
Spiritual and Recreational areas
Reconnecting to nature and finding our place, our purpose in life, in this totally supportive and benevolent universe which is more than capable and so willing to feed and nourish the body and the soul.
Learning to trust in and surrender to nature (or God, or what ever belief system is supportive to that individual) and regaining trust in our own intuition, can help to lift our vibration, so we can begin to connect to much finer aspects of our world and tap into the intelligence of our biology.
Life is to be enjoyed, fun and happiness are our innate rites as beings of this wonderful world.
Practical areas
Social interactions can trigger the disease process. Creating supportive and healthy relationships is crucial, relating is what we do, understanding that how we relate affects who and what we are and that includes our health. A great book on this is The Bond by Lynne McTaggart.
Study how biological programming impacts mental and physical health, and become a pathfinder to well-being!
META-Healthy Life articles are created by professionals and friends of META-Health International CIC, supporting individual and global health by deepening and sharing our understanding of how resilience and well-being are achieved.