Clutter Clearing Questions

Dear Karen,

Is there a specific brand name available in NZ for colon cleansing?

- L.G.

Karen's reply:

In my experience, colon cleansing products generally available are pretty weak and ineffectual. I have only ever visited New Zealand once and have no information about herbal resources there but you can purchase the herbs I recommend by mail order from England. They ship within 24 hours and you can order over the internet. Go to the Links section of my website for contact information.

Or you could find a local herbalist who works with Dr Christopher remedies. It really is better to work with a herbalist than to do colon cleansing by yourself. Most people get half way and give up without a professional to consult when they get into uncharted realms, as you are very likely to do if you have never done colon cleansing before.

Dear Karen,

I read your book, Clear your Clutter with Feng Shui. While talking to friends, one mentioned that colon cleansing was not part of Chinese Medicine, so it is interesting that you mention it in your book as part of Feng Shui. If my friend is correct, is this form of colon cleansing a part of traditional Feng Shui or have you expanded your interpretation to include this? As well as including clearing out emotional, mental and spiritual clutter? All this is a leap beyond organizing your furniture. Warm regards,

- Tom Cooper, USA

Karen's reply:

Your friend is correct that colon cleansing is not part of traditional Chinese Feng Shui. Neither is clutter clearing, come to that. But the fact of the matter is that all Feng Shui is only minimally effective if a place is cluttered, simply because of the stagnant energy that collects around clutter. This has become a particularly dire problem in our materialistic western world at the present time.

None of my books are actually written from the standpoint of Chinese Feng Shui. China is just one of many traditional cultures that has evolved a form of these arts, which are all based on understanding the workings of the unseen realms of energy. By studying these unseen realms for so many years, I have been able to access a form of Feng Shui that is universally applicable and does not contain the superstitious elements of local versions of Feng Shui. I have also been able to extend it to other aspects of life, such as colon cleansing, which is a form of inner clutter clearing). This practice will make a lot more sense to you if you also read my first book, Creating Sacred Space with Feng Shui.

Dear Karen,

Q1: You say in your book that you should ideally cleanse for 1 month for every year you have been eating sugars, etc. Does this mean that I have to undertake colon cleansing for 33 months?

Q2: I have tried to undertake the colon cleanse program and find I have no energy if am unable to eat meat. What would you suggest to move thru this?

- M.L, Australia

Karen's reply:

Q1: There was an editing error in early versions of Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui. The corrected text reads:

Allow three to nine months, depending on how long you have been eating sugar, mucus-forming or other junk food.

Q2: If you find you cannot do without animal protein, reduce your consumption to once a day and eat fish or poultry rather than meat. See also my reply to the question about Diet & Colon Cleansing above.

Hi Karen,

I don't know if I'm able (willing, more like it) to eliminate all the things from my diet that cause the mucous to build up, like meat, dairy and soy (I'm a recovering compulsive overeater and go to Overeaters Anonymous and it's very difficult for me to "control" what I eat!). I know you said it's best to stop eating these things and do the cleanse, but do you think it's possible just to do the cleanse? Would it be of some benefit at least to clear out what's already in there, even if it may build back up again?

- E.F., California, USA

Karen's reply:

Colon cleansing is of benefit, no matter what your diet, but if you eat junk food whilst doing it then all it will probably help with is clearing out what you eat as you do it, rather than the toxic residues that have built up over years. At least cut down on, or better still, eliminate sugar while colon cleansing (read Sugar Blues by William Dufty to put you off sugar for ever!).

In my books I recommend that anyone doing colon cleansing seek out the advice of a qualified herbal practitioner, and this is especially vital for someone with an eating disorder. Please do not use long-term colon cleansing as a substitute for improving your diet - that's not the idea at all, and can be harmful.

Finally, be sure to read up on the subject before doing colon cleansing. The book I recommend most often is The Colon Health Handbook by Robert Gray. It's short, simple and very informative.

Hi Karen,

I have just read your Creating Sacred Space with Feng Shui book and I would like more detail related to colon cleansing and how I can do this.

- S.V., Brazil

Karen's reply:

There was such a huge response to the colon cleansing information in my first book that I included a whole chapter about it (a long one) in my second book, Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui. You can buy it at bookstores worldwide or from Amazon.com.

For up-to-date contact details of suppliers of colon cleansing herbs, go to the Links page of this website, and for further information, also read my reply to the next question below.