Our Herbalist

How I Found and Used Colon Cleansing

An article by Martha Volchok, AHG, Herbalist and Co-founder, Blessed Herbs

Some twenty-five years ago I gave birth to the last of my children, Shalom. Immediately afterwards, I experienced a physical collapse. Along with complete exhaustion, I was unable to eat anything without stomach pain or intestinal pain as the food traveled on down. Medical doctors wanted to do the barium studies on my GI tract. What I knew and they didn't was that the introduction of barium to my system would have made me incredibly sicker than I already was or even worse been the cause of my death. The doctors were totally frustrated with me and needed those diagnostics to figure out what my problem was. I elected instead to study and research everything available about healing myself; especially my digestive system.

That decision was totally intuitive. How was it possible to ever prove who was really right about the barium studies on me? Back then I went forward with faith in my own intuition and I did totally recover without outside medical intervention. It was not until many years later while staying at a health clinic (not for a digestive problem) that I met a woman (in her early thirties-the same age as I was when I chose not to do the barium studies) who had the same type of digestive problems that I had. Only she had gone ahead with the barium studies and immediately became much sicker for doing it. So much so, that she had to have someone with her at all times because of how much weaker she had become and found digestion even more difficult. Even after several months at the clinic, she had not improved much.

I was very grateful to receive this confirmation and living proof of what might have happened to me; if I, too, had decided to go for those barium studies. I would like to point out that I am not against medical diagnostics or medical care or barium studies for that matter. I have used their services and had my life saved, but I have also opted against not using their services and saved my life. It is so important to be in touch with your true self and learn to recognize that "small, still voice" that speaks its advice just when you need it the most. It is also important to learn about what constitutes real health and how to get it and maintain it. Remember also that what worked well one time, may not be called for this time. There is no substitute for attention and awareness. After all who is living in your body, but you. You are the one who most needs to know what is going on in there and you can!

In order to heal my "digestive problems" back then, I chose to go on an all raw juices and wheat grass juice for some eighteen months; along with colon cleansing, before I completely regained my digestive ability and felt better than ever.

During those eighteen months, I observed all of my bowel movements and studied them as a scientist would. After my first cleanse, I got out just what Dr Jensen showed in his book, Tissue Cleansing through Bowel Management. Not only that, but popcorn kernels came out and I hadn't eaten any popcorn in years! Having something come out after all those years, gave me more faith in Dr. Jensen's work. I reasoned that if the popcorn was that old, how old was the rest of the stuff coming out? Surely some of it was from that same time period.

I understand even more, now, after years of observing the material that comes out whenever I do colon cleansing. I have observed that the material coming out now has become progressively lighter, less smelly, and of a consistent texture; rather than initial dark, hard, rubbery, foul smelling stuff. There was time when I would see some chunks of the hard rubbery stuff mixed in with the type of stuff I see today. Whenever I do my yearly cleanse now, I see clearly the striations on the outside of stool that reflect the same indentations from different parts of the intestinal wall; both small and large (colon). Could this be an actual thin layer that had accumulated directly on the intestinal lining? These markings are never present on my everyday bowel movements. The stool from my colon cleanse has a thin, outer layer that is decidedly a different, deeper color than the inside of the stool. It is also much firmer and cannot be pulled apart; whereas the inner portion of the stool looks remarkably like the Toxin Absorber drink and it is possible to pull apart easily (see photo).

My conclusion is that I am lifting off the intestinal wall a thickened layer that has accumulated, quite like what happens to the plumbing in our homes. Over time any tube/pipe/intestine that has material going over it daily begins to have a build-up. Only we need our intestines to be as free of that as possible for the best, healthy functioning. Of course, I cannot say for sure just exactly what is happening, but I can judge by the resultant great feelings that I get after colon cleansing that in fact I have done something truly positive for my health.

I have tried many different herbal formulas for colon cleansing over the years, but it wasn't until I decided, as a professional herbalist, to create my own formula that I got everything that I wanted -strength of action combined with gentleness- to make colon cleansing as thorough and comfortable as possible.

Besides my yearly colon cleanses, I do not hesitate to cleanse whenever I see that my health is definitely suffering a decline. Usually when I get past day one of the liquid fast/cleanse, I am already feeling better and by day five, all my symptoms of decline are gone. Then there are times that I have been in extreme pain from a migraine or from some other part of my body. I do a cleanse along with a colema, which is an enema that is taken lying down on a "Colema board" that sits over the toilet. One doesn't have to jump up to get to the toilet as one is already lying over it. There is a five-gallon bucket of water/herb teas that flow gently and steadily through your lower bowel, which cause multiple evacuations that are quite gentle. It has taken me from extreme pain back to normality in thirty minutes and oh, how grateful I am!

Whenever I have had a problem, I always like to hear from someone who has really dealt with that same situation in their own life. Then I read all I can from both alternative and mainstream sources about the situation and weigh the issues. Lastly, I listen to my own inner self and life experience and make the best choice that feels right for me. You know, it works!!

*This testimonial does not reflect everyone's experience. Although the Colon Cleansing Kit™ does come with a satisfaction guarantee, individual results may vary from the testimonial shown here.

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Formulations of Intuition

by Shalom Volchok

Just how does the Internal Cleansing Kit work?
Every time I ask my mom how her formulas work she says,

"oh, don't ask me that! I have no idea."

Does that mean she doesn't know how herbs work? No. One could pick any herb and for hours she could go on talking about how it's used, why it's used, where it comes from, and countless other things one would never even think to ask! Yet ask her to write about her formulas and she hates it; because, she could never write on paper everything that she feels about a formula. To her a formula is a whole. It's an entity of its own. It no longer has pieces. It just "feels right" and she knows it is a formula. That's just the way herbs work. Sure it doesn't give one's mind anything concrete to hold onto, but trying to hold on is often part of the problem.

It was well over 5 years ago that Martha started to put together our Internal Cleansing program. To her this was the ultimate formula. It was a chance for her to put everything she has ever done into one product.

All the formulas balance each other and there are herbs to make it as smooth as possible. Martha spent eight months formulating the Internal Cleansing Kit. Eight months of constantly pondering and feeling: twelve formulas, over a hundred herbs, dosages, and the effect of each herb on someone's body.

She drew from her experiences and the experience of others. She pulled from every resource she had available to her, used as food for her intuition and as building blocks to create one master program.

It was designed to show oneself his or her own body. To allow one to feel himself or herself, for some this will be a first time. For others it will be a re-birth, and for still others it will simply serve as a source of strength and inspiration to find themselves and their health. Martha gave all of herself to this kit. If you know her at all you know what this means.

Martha has an incredible innate sensitivity that permeates all she does. It allows her, I should say forces her, to feel the pain of any person she is around or of anyone who asks her for herbal help. It is this sensitivity coupled with an equally incredible appreciation for pain, which allows her to intuitively create a formula.

Her appreciation for pain comes from a life that has been filled with numerous ailments and conditions. At age twelve she was run over by a horse and underwent operations for torn and lacerated liver and intestines. She has given birth to four children: one birthing broke her tailbone, and two led to uterine infections. At age 35 she suffered from extreme digestive pain and used raw food liquids and wheatgrass therapy for a year before recovering. In the last ten years she has been naturally cured of two life-threatening diseases: Sarcoidosis in her lungs and, most recently, T-cell lymphoma in her blood.

She is also extremely sensitive to artificial substances and modern medicine usually makes her sicker. In fact, she has had several root canals without Novocain or pain killers because of this sensitivity! Ouch!! She "knows" what pain feels like. I mean she REALLY knows what pain feels like. (I'm sure she just smiled from reading that).

She also knows what relief feels like and when she begins to make a formula it is for this relief that she searches. Over the years she has created formulas for herself, her family, friends, workers, and complete strangers. Her formulas are always made for a real person, with a real discomfort. When my mom hears a person's problem, she takes it upon herself: as if it was her own. She feels them and this is often at a cost to her own health. But it hurts her more to ignore them so she takes it on herself.

Deep within her body and far below her mind: she dwells on their problem. Their pain becomes her pain and the process begins. It may take days, it may take months, or it may come immediately. She does not match a symptom to an herb that she "thinks" is good for that symptom. She knows the problem is a whole and she goes through a process to make a formula that is also a whole.

As my mom tries to find the right herbs for a formula she tries to match the way each herb feels to that feeling, within herself, of the person's ailment. She consults with every resource she has: well over two thousand books on herbs, natural healing, and the human body, plus everything already in her mind from years of experience and her own suffering.

For her to make a formula, it's something like trying to put together a puzzle. She can feel, inside herself whether an herb fits her formula or not. If it's close she will make a note. Sometimes the note is just internal and sometimes it is on paper. When she finds an herb that fits, she has a beginning for the formula.

In herself she can feel the relief, but she still knows there is more to add: so she continues to search. She goes to bed. Perhaps in the middle of the night she will awaken with a flash and know she has found another herb.

Slowly the pieces begin to balance the pain she is carrying. Only when they have balanced each other completely, does she really begin to feel the formula. However, even after choosing all the herbs, she still has to find the right proportions. Finding these proportions could take just as long as finding the herbs.

It may seem strange but there are levels, within her intuition. Her feelings about a formula start broad and narrow themselves down. In trying to find the right proportions Martha needs to be even more "ultra-sensitive" to her feelings. At this stage even the smallest changes can affect the final formula and she can feel all of these changes.

Internally and without thought, she instinctively starts to test different proportions. She can imagine, inside herself, the creation of an exact formula: the herb, the alcohol, and the water. She can blend it, brew it, decide on which herbs are fresh and which are dry. Then she can "feel" what that formula would be like. Now she can test it on the pain she is still carrying. She can judge the results and try a different combination for the formula. Changing several things or perhaps just one.

All this, still inside herself!!

Eventually, she will come to a place of peace within herself. When she feels this peace she knows the formula is complete. It is only then she allows the formula to come into tangible existence. After the formula is produced she will try it before she sends it off. In trying it she can check that the way it turned out matches the way it feels within her. Only if there is a match does she send it along. Definitely a labor of pure love.

I hope that by taking any one of these kits you can be touched by the love of someone truly special: Martha, both my mother and a mother to many others.

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I Have But One Desire

by Martha Volchok, Herbalist and Co-founder of Blessed Herbs

I have but one desire
That everyone might know true health
Of body, mind and spirit.

To be completely well and whole
Is the journey of a lifetime,
But like all journeys it begins
With the first step.
Before one can be filled with new life
One must empty of the old.

The Internal Cleansing Kit was
Created in response to a request.
Every formula I have ever made
Was always because someone
Was in need and asked me to help them.

Two years ago, that someone
Was a number of holistic practitioners
Whom I felt crying out to me
To give them a cleansing program
That would clear away the interferences
That were keeping their people
From getting well.

At first I underestimated the fulfilling
Of this task, thinking it was simply gathering
Together some formulas I already had.
But that idea lay dead in my mind and
I wondered why.

Then they came, each of them
that perhaps I will never meet in person.
With their burden of pain and suffering
And their desire for health.
Their suffering was real in my soul.
I knew what they needed
For they were no different than myself.

I have known deep pain and unrelenting
Suffering and I have experienced
The energy that comes
When one cooperates with their bodies
In natural ways.

For nine months, I lived, breathed,
Slept and meditated and studied for
them.

As a mother wants only the best
For her child, so I burned with
The desire to give them everything
They really needed.

More than 100 herbs came to offer
Their services. They gathered
Together in formulas with harmony
comfort and power.

As gently as a mother tends to the
Care of her newborn
So did the formulas interlink to
Slowly and surely complete
Their task for one's inner cleansing.

I knew how pressed one is to live
Their daily life and one doesn't need
Any more complications.
The Internal Cleansing Kit is so
Simple. Its only goal is to
Unlock one's power
And to set their awareness
Free to discover who they
Truly are.

Starting right where one is
One doesn't have to make any
Lifestyle changes
The Kit will meet one where
One is and lead one to their
Next level.
It is one's individual choice, the Kit will
Work with one in any dimension
One wishes to go.

Whatever has been stuffed, suppressed,
Or stored in one's body that has been
A burden for them, will
Find release.

As a friend, it looks out for one
And has already anticipated
One's needs.
The power within one
Has only been waiting
For this moment to arrive.

With great cooperation, the Kit
Will help one to become
More aware of themselves,
Body, mind and spirit.

Within one already
Are all the directives
For leading a healthy life

My only desire for anyone
is to make that journey
Joyful, simple, and comforting,
A feeling of coming home
To oneself and
Finding that place again
As though for the first time.

Touching here,
One is whole, healthy, awake
One is themselves
And now my joy is complete
My task is done

I have made a boat, a bridge,
A way to the other shore
For all those who so desire it.
True health.

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My first experience with herbs

by Michael Volchok, President & Co-Founder of Blessed Herbs

I didn't really know much about natural healing until I met up with Martha. She has worked with herbs and healing since she was a little girl picking up every stray dog and cat in Boston and mending their ills.

My first real experience came over twenty-five years ago when a friend of ours, who was a carpet layer, came home with a very large infection that had started in his knee and was running down his leg. It was red, inflamed, filled with puss and looked awful. He was in a lot of pain.

Martha knew about poultices. (Poultices are herbs that, when made into a paste and put on the skin have the ability to pull the bad stuff out of the body.) Anyway, back to our friend. We took him to the emergency room, because he didn't know if he believed in the power of the poultice. The doctor on duty said the poultice would work, but it would just be slower than his lancing.

The carpet man decided to go home and let Martha help with his leg. The short story: over the course of the day, in and out of hot baths, and the use of the poultice, the discomfort left his leg and his knee, the wound drained naturally, and the situation cleared up. I became a believer, when I got to see the natural and mellow healing take place right before my eyes. A very ugly and infected wound could not withstand the power of light.

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