I feel like I’m in the middle of a Life Enema. I’ve been having a bit of a clear out. If you’ve seen my social media posts lately, that much will be abundantly clear! Since 2017 began there have been some celestial energies available to us that really support this process on every level.

My elimination process started years ago with the external and very tangible. Over the time we’ve been living in our current home I have accumulated much, mostly related to my line of work (yoga and therapies) as well as crafty hobbies, books and interesting objects that make my heart feel warm (vintage suitcases).

It’s not as though this stuff isn’t useful but much of it, I use only a fraction of the time. Some hobbies I am enthusiastic about for a short burst until the associated paraphernalia sits neglected. It comes down to experimentation and deciding what I really love. The things are not the enemy, but rather this tendency we have to keep an ‘inordinately complicated show on the road’ that steals our joy.

I love to move my body. Over the years this has seen me dancing, skating, doing martial arts training, attending the gym and of course yoga. I don’t have time for all that shit, despite the inherent value of each. More importantly I don’t have the physical energy! Each of these is a discipline, a path.

I love to work with my voice. Gone are the days of being paid to play music. I’ve been a member of choirs (short-lived), dabbled with musical theatre, been in a couple of girl bands, one really awesome musical collective and performed solo. Why don’t I do this any more? Well, I’m a mum, so that’s one reason.

One of the things I love (although I struggled with it at first) is the opportunity to raise my beautiful child, so that took priority. The second reason is that I am definitely a morning person rather than a night owl! Most gigs take place at night and that is not something I want to do all that much of. These days my voice has found its place in my teaching practice, where my yogis appreciate the inclusion of mantras and channeled song during the class. So that’s pretty much still yoga!

I love spiritual practice, study and contemplation. In all phases it transpired that for me Meditation and the channeling of spirit are the most valuable practices for me. So… well we are still under the umbrella of yoga.

The word yoga means ‘union’ and I begin to see how much the daily practice of yoga embraces all that I love and benefit from in life. It has form and function, the two elements I require in anything I ‘have’ or ‘do’. My sincere hope is that this extends to everything I am.

My ultimate aim? To be a beautiful Source-fuelled being, bringing abundant benefit to all those around me. In order to let that true self goodness out of hiding, some clearing always has to be done.

Thanks to Marie Kondo and Fumio Sasaki I am coming to understand that focus, clarity and simplicity can be obtained materially even in this materialistic maelstrom that is western society. They are teaching me that

Whatever you think your needs are, those aren’t your needs, they’re your wants ~ Burgs

and how my needs have already been met. My physical, creative and emotional needs cannot be met by physical objects. So I’m clearing that shit out. I’m only keeping what is useful to me in the now. The things that support what I love and feel called to do. I know that being able to do everything doesn’t mean that you should. There is an account balance out there in the field of energy, and multi-tasking is not the life-skill it’s been made out to be. Aim for enriching in a few areas, and jettison the rest.

I am not an idiot. I know that all this physical clutter is loaded with emotional crap. It’s always the inside that needs transformation. So believe it or not, this physical de-cluttering takes a toll on my emotions. I wish it didn’t but I’m grateful nevertheless that by addressing the discarding process holistically I can moderate it and address mental and emotional hiccups as they arise.

I don’t need any of this baggage! I can let go and release resentments, fears, grasping and desire for things and people who are not of benefit. You know how exhausting this can be! My best tips for this are meditation and a physical discipline to help work out the emotions held in the body. I like yoga (obv), my partner likes punching things (we call that martial arts), whatever works for you!

It’s clear that the ‘enemy’ is not the stuff. The enemy is not even our selves. The enemy is the very act of holding onto the crap that weighs down the process of transformation. Of late, things have got unexpectedly physical for me.

Last year I was diagnosed with a chronic condition called fibromyalgia (chronic pain disorder). The news came just before I attended a 7-day silent meditation retreat and the timing was perfect! It was a time of complete letting go and allowing the process to happen. Read about my experiences on retreat here. This condition has been with me for many years, walking hand-in-hand with food intolerances, severe fatigue, nerve pain throughout the body, brain fog, depression, anxiety, injury, IBS symptoms, and most lately, severe constipation.

Imagine my surprise (not) during my discarding frenzy, that I am

LITERALLY HOLDING ON TO MY SHIT.

Having been on a low carb diet that excludes many vegetables and all fruits and grains in order to help with the pain, I had inadvertently shot my bowel in the foot by eating insufficient fibre. That was my first port of call. Rebalancing my body’s needs in terms of what I am taking on nutritionally, however, isn’t enough. Then I remembered my friend Natalie telling me about her success with coffee enemas.

This practice has long been used to cleanse the bowel, specifically the ascending, transverse and descending colon for many years now. It is used in alternative cancer treatments with a great deal of success. It helps stimulate the release of bile and increased motility (natural movement of the bowel to squeeze waste out of the body).

The reports are so good that I purchased my first enema kit and brewed a batch of organic coffee. Doing an enema is an intense experience. The sensations of movement in the colon can be surprising and alarming. A bit of yogic breathing really helped remind me not to panic. It takes a little practice to be able to hold the enema in for the suggested 15 minutes with all that movement going on inside you. Massaging the abdomen does help with the process.

It did give me the opportunity to see the interlinking patterns of life unfolding before my eyes. I’ll probably never know be able to prove which clutter came first, but I firmly believe that these things start in the mind. Letting go in one area will have a knock-on effect in the others. This allows us to approach things from several angles so that no stone is unturned in the quest for peace and clarity.

There’s still a long way to go in terms of minimizing and clearing out both physically and emotionally, but I feel lighter already in the knowledge that I am letting go of crap on all levels. Surrender is a process that can’t be rushed, but we do need to keep at it, gently yielding to the beautiful flow of life.

Enema that enemy. Just let go.