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March 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
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Honoring the Colon
I have had to do so much stuff to help my colon get back to normal lately, and it has given me an opportunity to think more about this amazing part of the body. It takes a bit of daring and courage to talk about one's poop so openly, Goddess knows. Our society has not been known for much honoring or appreciation of this part of us, or even much awareness. We tend to be unconscious of our bowel functions unless they get disturbed in some way, even embarassed to discuss them. Or, we learn to treat colon matters as a joke. We forget how essential and crucial this part of us is for our health and survival. "Death begins in the colon" is a phrase I have heard, and it sure is true, as I've been learning for some years now.
I saw a writing somewhere that said some scientists believe our bodies actually have three brains; in the head, the stomach, and the intestines. Some folks are discovering how intelligent our colons are! So much goes on in the colon I once never knew. I thought it was just a kind of garbage chute, you know, simply for eliminating "waste." But I've learned that a lot of the digestive process goes on in the colon, and our ability to absorb nutrients is involved... as well as our immune system! And gees what an emotional organ. Realizing this has helped me to understand my health issues better.
The colon can be understood as a facilitator of our body's ecosystem. Just as we've had to learn to tune into the ecology of our environment and of Mother Earth... to pay more attention to what we do with those plastic baggies...those packaging leftovers... the impact we make when we dump pollutants... we need to understand the inner workings in this regard as well as the outer.
Growing up I was given a fairly enlightened view of the body's eliminations. My mom never made me feel ashamed or dirty or embarassed about my body's functions. She was always very respectful of nature and biology, and taught this to me and my sisters. I felt lucky and enlightened about it all and sad that more people didn't seem to get it.... though times have changed since then, and there is more awareness and acceptance now; at least I have found this to be so among healers.
But oh how much more I have had to learn.
So now I am doing what I can to honor my colon. Not only with physical care, but emotionally and spiritually too. When I'm on the "throne" going through the extraction process - sometimes challenging and difficult and scary - I have begun to incorporate prayer. I speak inside me to my colon and tell her how much I appreciate her. I wonder who the colon deity may be, and send out a prayer to them even as I still search for them. Sometimes I apologize to my colon for my years of unconsciousness and ignorance. For the dreadful insults she has had to endure from surgery...from chemo...from old grief and sorrow...from wrong eating and other emotional habits that stem from life's traumas... I can feel now how sensitive she is and how profoundly she feels things, how vulnerable and wounded. And I am astonished at how she has been able to recover and what a wise and savvy organ she can be. I think about how my inner ecology is connected to the Earth's ecology and how it's all part of the same continuum. She is the body of the Goddess... ours are the bodies of little God/desses... :0) Our bodies are amazing instruments, are they not? They may seem flawed and imperfect to us, subject to all kinds of rejections and judgements, but look how wise they are and how much they teach us. They surely deserve our cherishing, respect and love.
shekhinahmoon at 2:15:00 PM EDT Blog about this entry |
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12/16/07 1:07 PM