Janice Heie: Cleansing from the inside out

A few years ago I overheard a heated debate between a buddy of mine and his brother about which was better: great sex or taking a humongous No. 2. Both made excellent points. But the discussion might have ended in an instant if either of them had walked into Natural Heie, an Aspen outfit that offers colon hydro therapy. It takes roughly a half-hour to cleanse the entire large intestine, but the benefits can last much longer.

“It’s a shitty business, but someone has to do it,” said Janice Heie, a certified colon therapist who owns Natural Heie and has a Shih Tzu named Poopsie. “I make it a funny subject for people. I want people to relax, it’s a letting-go process.”So, what is colon hydro therapy?Basically, it’s like inserting a miniature hose up the anus and gently turning on the water. The client lies on what looks like a chaise lounge with a hole in the middle where the tube goes in and the poop comes out. “Sometimes you might panic in that first colonic because you feel like, ‘oh my, I need to go to the bathroom,'” said Heie. “You just lie there, let it fill up, release, let it fill up, release.”

Though Heie may help with any stage of the process, it can also be a solo thing, whereby the client goes through the process in private. So, what does it feel like?”At first it feels uncomfortable when you’re getting used to the tube,” said Cheri Keeler, a friend of Heie’s who recently had a colonic. “I don’t really like things up my rear.”Afterwards, however, Keeler said she felt wonderful. Benefits of the therapy can include weight loss, increased energy and mental clarity, according to Heie.

But there’s more to the therapy than just a good feeling. For Heie, learning how to live healthily and cleanse from the inside truly helped to turn her life around.”I was so ill, I can’t even tell you,” said Heie, who suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome. “I was flat on my back, couldn’t move. I’ve seen so many lives change because of cleansing.”Though Heie offers colonics for $85, they are usually part of a larger, five-day cleansing. The $949 treatment includes preparation of natural, raw foods, three colonics, full detox body treatment and use of an infrared sauna. She says that many of the customers – mostly women – who do it are repeat clients.”I get a lot of women who want to feel better and want to look better,” said Heie. “It’s good to cleanse your body of toxins every so often.”