Chronic Constipation
We continue with our discussion of constipation. While some may feel this is a problem for the elderly and unfortunate few, the truth is that it may affect everyone at some level. Since it is essential to eat regularly to supply energy to live, we must also eliminate regularly to prevent accumulation of toxins. As soon as this cycle is disturbed, even slightly, the mind and body both may suffer. In the beginning of the treatment it may be necessary to lubricate the lower bowel so that the hard stool can be moved out. This is accomplished by instilling about four ounces of olive oil or flax oil into the rectum. At the same time the same amount of the oil is taken orally. When the urge comes, sit and concentrate even visualize that the movement will be successful. Do not strain but keep the mind upon the duty at hand. It may sometimes be necessary to use the aid of an enema. In this case instill 1-2 quarts of hot water into the bowel while lying on the left side. Slowly turn to the back and then to the right side as the water progresses along the bowel. Hold the water for awhile before eliminating it. If this does not clean all of the feces out, repeat it. Do not add soapsuds to the water, as this retards the movement and irritates the mucosa of the gut. Use this technique usually for about three days while instituting the diet and exercise changes. Overcoming the lethargy of the body may take a considerable time depending upon how soon the doshas balance. Do not give up. Remember, maintain a persistent routine. Begin each day with a “tune up.” Drink a cup of hot water into which has been squeezed the juice of one half a lemon, sweetened with about a teaspoon of honey, and also add a pinch of salt. Do this faithfully, every day, even for the rest of your life. This is to be had at least one half hour before any food is taken. Break the fast with a vata-pacifying fruit juice followed by grains and appropriate spices. The yoga postures may be done before breakfast and the walking after breakfast. At the first urge to move the bowels, sit and concentrate on the process. As soon as we put food into the stomach and digestion starts, there is a natural reflex called the gastrocolic reflex which starts the normal peristalsis of the colon to increase. This is the time to sit and concentrate, breathing deeply and regularly, upon the process of moving the food throughout the cycle. For the first few days it is also advisable to ingest a teaspoon of castor oil in the afternoon. Do this for three days. At the same time one can carry a slice of ginger root in the mouth or chew on whole lemon peel. To get the agni really burning and pushing the air forward it may also be helpful to massage the lower abdomen externally with castor oil in a clockwise circular motion for about five minutes a day or until a warmth is felt in the area. If further help is needed internally, the use of triphala is suggested. This may be taken in the form of pills (Ayush Herbs). The dose is 1-3 pills daily in order to further liquefy and propel the stool. If necessary, this can be repeated weekly for a month. As the body begins to understand that you are really serious about having a regular and complete bowel movement, it will respond to the loving care and treatment. The body responds by feeling more alive and radiant, and because of the increased exercise and better digestion you will be moving the prana better and better.§
Conquering Constipation
We conclude our three-part series on constipation with more information on how to conquer this serious and troublesome condition. In order to supply more bulk to the bowel contents, psyllium seed husks can be used daily. Flax seed husks may also be used and are preferred by some. A daily dose of one or two teaspoons is mixed with a full glass of water and consumed. It is important to follow this with another full glass of water. If sufficient water is not drunk, the gelatinous mass produced may cause a lower bowel obstruction. This mass gives something for the bowel to contract against and assures movement of the stool forward. After a few weeks of this therapy, the amount should be decreased and eventually discontinued-even this product may become habit forming. Of course, all drugs should be stopped as soon as possible to allow the bowel to recover. In some stubborn cases, a castor oil pack may be advisable. A wool flannel cloth is saturated with a good quality castor oil and placed upon the lower abdomen at bed-time, and a hot water bottle is applied. Never use an electric pad for the heat as the oil may soak into the pad and cause a fire. In constipation due to vata disturbance it is essential to institute a routine of behavior and meals, with set times for eating and also set times for evacuating. Great amounts of water are needed to keep the stool soft so that some remaining nutrients can be absorbed in the lower bowel. Feces is not all waste products. There are some nutrients and chemicals that must be reabsorbed for physical health. Pitta constipation is sometimes seen after a long febrile illness. It is characterized by heat and the tongue being red with a yellow coating. There is perspiration with an offensive odor. This may also be associated with some degree of liver dysfunction. Treatment emphasizes cutting back on oils and sweets in the diet. A bitter laxative usually stimulates the bowel to act. Aloe vera gel is helpful and can be taken daily until balance is returned. Strong evacuants are usually not needed. Purgation using 1-3 tablespoons of castor oil taken at night in warm milk and a little ginger will move the pitta from the small bowel and help to eliminate the heat and toxins. Kapha constipation gives a characteristic bloating and heavy feeling with mucus often seen on the stool. The tongue may be coated white or with mucus. There is lethargy and sluggishness. The treatment is an anti-kaphic diet-eliminating heavy unctuous foods, wheat and rice, all dairy products and sweet, sour and salty tastes. The kaphic fruits-banana, avocado, pineapple, orange, melons and coconut-are to be eliminated. Fasting is helpful in this condition. However, a fast should last no more than three or four days. The bitter herb laxatives such as rhubarb and senna are useful and the hot spices like ginger, cayenne and black pepper are needed. An enema with ginger in the water may also be helpful. Preventing constipation is easy by regulating the diet and taking into account the natural prakriti. This keeps the three doshas in balance. Plenty of exercise and drinking adequate water are necessary. It is far easier to prevent than to treat, especially the vata type. A meditative lifestyle with love and concern for the body will assure a healthy, happy life.§
It’s a Girl! Thanks to Dad
Large numbers of women in India suffer cruel indignation (at best) and physical and emotional abuse and even murder (at worst) for bearing a female child. These atrocities are perpetrated by men (and women) who believe that it is the woman who somehow determines the gender of the child. This gross misconception has also contributed to polygamy and its subsequent abominations. If one wife could not bear a son, the thinking goes, maybe another wife could. Perhaps we can help alleviate some of this inhumanity with the hard scientific fact: the baby’s gender is entirely determined by the man. In the human cells there are 23 pairs of chromosomes, with one pair expressly called “sex chromosomes.” The sex chromosomes are made up of X and Y chromosomes. If an embryo has two X (XX) chromosomes, its sex is female. If the chromosomes are an X and Y (XY), then the baby is a male. Since the female always delivers an X chromosome to the fertilizing egg and the male delivers either an X or Y chromosome to the sperm/egg combination, we see that the only thing that determines male sexuality is the Y chromosome received from the father. If the father gives an X chromosome to the combination, the offspring will be female. So the natural law is that the father is the sole determiner of the sex of the offspring. The mother has no part in this determination. The Y chromosome carries primarily genetic material that produces the maleness and masculine secondary characteristics. There are some diseases that are carried on the Y chromosome that will manifest only in males. And there are some sex-linked diseases that are also carried on the X chromosome, carried by the mother, but they do not manifest in the daughters for the Y chromosome is usually also required to be present to have the disease manifest. In each ejaculation there are 200-400 million sperm cells with a random distribution of X and Y chromosomes. The psychoelectromagnetic forces that bring a particular sperm and egg together are only vaguely understood. There is, however, a theory that allows the conscious determination of gender. Ancient yoga texts like the Tirumantiram, by Rishi Tirumular, say it is possible to influence the gender of the child at the time of conception. This theory is based on understanding birth as the process of bringing a soul into the physical plane from the subtle plane. It is also based on the knowledge that both men and women have a masculine nadi (current), called pingala, and a feminine nadi, called ida. It is a subtle and sensitive process. There must be consideration given to the precise time of conception, precoital diet of both parents, postcoital diet of the mother, expanded consciousness and awareness of both parents and many other factors for the determination to be successful. This process must be under the guidance of a very advanced Vedic yoga scholar. It is a complicated partnership effort that is often denied by the Western scientists. The knowledge of this fact places a new responsibility upon the father and brings him into a closer partnership with the mother in the creation of the offspring. He should be in an excellent state of health, be aware of his part in the great miracle, and especially more aware of his duty to mother and the offspring-male or female.§
The Nicotine Fit: Fit for No One
It is the middle of the night. He wakes up coughing and gasping for air. There is a thick, tenacious mucous covering the inner walls of his breathing tubes. His foul breath is stale and offends even himself. He must sit up and use all of the accessory chest muscles to try to loosen the obstruction to his breathing tubes. He feels his eyes bulging from the pressure of the cough. There is no relief. He thinks he is going to suffocate. With increasing weakness, he reaches for his inhaler, the magic substance that will open his bronchi. Finally, after another prolonged coughing spell, he feels a small amount of air enter the deeper portions of his lungs. He now tries the second inhaler, containing a corticosteroid, and takes four intermittent whiffs. Slowly the swelling of the inner mucosa recedes a slight bit, and more air enters the deeper lungs. He tries to get out of bed to expectorate and to take his regular medicine; but he is light-headed and short of breath and falls back upon the elevated pillow asking, “Why me?” Sleep is gone for the rest of the night. This story is all too common and happens in more or less degree to everyone who smokes cigarettes. It is a natural and unavoidable reaction to the irritation that the tobacco smoke makes on the linings of the lungs and bronchi. After years of irritation and damage, scar tissue sets in which narrows the caliber of the air tubules. With coughing, the delicate membranes that separate the air sacs, alveoli, break down, forming larger sacs that will transmit less life-giving oxygen-a condition called emphysema. The constant irritation of these membranes produces a chronic bronchitis that adds to the breathing problems by forming copious amounts of thick, tenacious, yellowish, smelly mucus that tends to fill the smaller bronchi. Is there no hope for this man that has succumbed to the temptations of tobacco? If he stopped soon enough, before much damage had occurred, there could be some repair and little morbidity. However, if one waits too long, and it is a matter that varies with each individual, the changes are irreversible and medications can do very little to help. An adequate antioxidant diet and a change in climate may be helpful to a minor degree. The condition may become cancerous. In spite of what the tobacco industry says, smoking tobacco does have a causative effect with cancer of the lung as well as emphysema, bronchitis, asthma and susceptibility to pneumonia. The industry says there is no proof of this, but they are merely protecting their income. There is, and has been for many decades, a known causative relationship between smoking and these dreadful diseases. Death because of cancer of the lung is one of the most prolonged, painful and difficult ways of dying that we see clinically. Each of us who has smoked has always felt, “It cannot happen to me. I will quit before it gets me.” That kind of thinking is delusional. It does happen to everyone eventually. The nicotine, and probably other factors as well, in tobacco is addictive. Accept no information to the contrary. It is very difficult to stop this dirty habit because of its addictive nature. Smoking is a no-win situation, especially for the young. Also, we now know that second-hand smoke is almost as dangerous as the primary, especially to infants and children. The easiest way to quite smoking is to never try it nor start! The only smart smoker is the non-smoker.§