The Importance of Squatting

This article is a chapter excerpted from a book called “Tissue Cleansing Through Bowel Management” by the late Dr. Bernard Jensen. Dr. Jensen was a chiropractor and iridiologist who focused on nutrition and cleansing. This chapter was written by a chiropractor named William Welles, who followed in Jensen’s footsteps. It is reprinted with permission from Welles Enterprises.

It is my sincere belief that one of the bowel’s greatest enemies in our civilized society is the ergonomic nightmare called the toilet. “Uncivilized” societies have always squatted. In a natural squatting position, the bowel is supported and aligned by the thigh’s contact with the abdominal wall, and many significant health benefits result.

The toilet first became popular in England in approximately 1850, and its use soon spread throughout the civilized world. It spread quickly because it came on the scene at the same time as plumbing, which allowed for clean disposal of what had previously been embarrassingly stored in chamber pots or dumped into the street.

The toilet was originally designed by Joseph Bramah, a cabinet maker, and improved upon by Thomas Crapper, a plumber. These were not men of medicine, and did not recognize the mechanical advantage that squatting offers the body. Nor was the general public aware, which is why using the toilet became the norm before we knew it.

It was not until the early 1900s that wise doctors, faced with dramatically increased incidence of disease, questioned conventions of the time—and the convention most suspect was the toilet. In one book written in 1924 called “The Culture of the Abdomen,” the author quotes leading medical authorities of the time who were very outspoken about the toilet’s faulty design and ensuing health consequences. He states, “It would have been better that the contraption had killed its inventor before he launched it under humanity’s buttocks.” Constipation, hernias, varicose veins, hemorrhoids and appendicitis were all attributed to use of the toilet. A solution to the dilemma was offered in the form of a footstool used to elevate the feet to approximate the squatting posture.

At one point this footstool was so popular it was being sold at Harrods of London. Reading “The Culture of the Abdomen” altered the course of my life and inspired me to pursue a study of the dynamics of elimination. Let me share with you my discoveries about the disastrous impact of the toilet on our health.

The Dynamics of the Toilet
All of the undesirable consequences of using the toilet result from the simple fact that sitting and bearing down robs us of the support to our abdominal wall and colon normally afforded by squatting. When we bear down without our thighs physically supporting the ileocecal valve (ICV), its mechanical dynamics are compromised. The valve is “blown out” and unable to perform its function of preventing the reflux of fecal contents into the small intestine. As a result, fecal bacteria proliferate and travel up the small intestine, and fecal toxins are absorbed into the bloodstream. The toxins put a dramatically increased burden on the bloodstream, which negatively affects all other organs. The phenomenon of fecal bacteria and contents entering the small intestine is so commonplace that the ICV is now being described as inherently incompetent in modern-day medical texts. This viewpoint, however, stands in direct opposition to what anatomists teach us, and what great physicians have stated.

Major symptoms of ileocecal valve dysfunction are low back and hip problems caused by reactive weakening of muscles in the lower right quadrant of the abdomen. Alternating consistency of the stool with a tendency toward diarrhea, and dark circles under the eye are also symptoms.

The majority of all bowel problems are located in two areas of the bowel—the cecum in the lower right quadrant, and the sigmoid in the lower left quadrant. These two areas are the very ones which are normally contacted by the thighs in a squatting position. When we use the toilet we apply no mechanical pressure to these areas, which allows fecal matter to stagnate there. Bowel problems place an additional toxic burden on the bloodstream, and assert a negative reflex effect on corresponding parts of the anatomy.

It is interesting to note that Dr. [Denis] Burkitt, the same medical researcher who discovered the importance of fiber, also made observations about the squatting posture when he was attempting to learn why traditional African societies have little or no bowel cancer. Perhaps for the same reasons it took decades to disseminate his discoveries on the importance of dietary fiber, his observations on the posture of elimination were never publicized.

Strictured Area in the Sigmoid Rectal Area of the Bowel
In his book The Prevention of Diseases Peculiar to Civilization, Sir W. Arbuthnot Lane states that many of our most pressing concerns, i.e., cancer and heart disease, result from a toxic burden on the bloodstream secondary to a dysfunctional bowel. Dr. Lane was an English surgeon of great renown who operated on bowels to remove diseased sections. When he did so, seemingly unrelated symptoms often miraculously disappeared. Dr. Lane eventually discovered a strictured area in the far end of the bowel which acts as a plug in the drain, backing up fecal contents through an incompetent ileocecal valve. He stated that this strictured area results from reduced fruit and vegetable intake, and from restraining normal elimination. He suggested drinking more water, eating fresh fruits and vegetables, and doing abdominal exercises to regain our heritage of one bowel movement after every meal, “by which alone health, happiness, and freedom from disease can be assured.” This standard for bowel function was originated by Hippocrates, the father of medicine.

My own research indicates that the strictured area results from reactive tightening secondary to weakness created by a malfunctioning ileocecal valve. As previously stated, when we bear down on the toilet, the ileocecal valve is blown out, causing the lower right quadrant of the abdomen to weaken. The lower left then picks up the slack, thus contributing to the strictured area.

As for abdominal exercises, for over a year I did approximately an hour of abdominal exercises daily with limited results. I then discovered squatting as an exercise, and in five minutes a day of squatting my abdominals strengthened more in two months than they had in a year of abdominal exercising! This is because squatting realigns the pelvic geometry so that the abdominal muscles are brought into use throughout the day.

Squatting as an exercise is the supreme yoga posture for increasing energy in the body, and for encouraging downward currents of elimination. As a posture of elimination, it supports and aligns the bowel to produce complete bowel evacuation.

By adopting the squatting posture, we allow the bowel to resume its function as nature intended. However, because we have been using the toilet, many of us have developed a tightened area in the lower left bowel. To release this tightened section of the bowel, the technique of acupressure is very helpful, and the best two points to use for this purpose are stomach 37 and 25. Stomach 37 is found two hand widths down from the knee and one thumb width to the outer side of the tibia. The tibia is the bone you feel on the front of the lower leg. Stomach 37 is naturally stimulated by tightening of muscles in the squatting position. To manually stimulate it, I recommend sitting on the toilet with one knee at almost a right angle, feet on the ground. Encircle both hands around the leg, with the thumbs overlapping on top of Stomach 37. Now push deeply on and massage the most tender spot in this area. Treat both sides for approximately a minute, but pay more attention to the left side.

Stomach 25 can be treated with your feet up on a footstool, and is found two thumb widths out from the midpoint of the navel. This point can also be treated by using deep pressure to locate sensitive points on both sides (but especially the left) and massaging firmly. The middle finger can be used with the other hand offering support.

Both of these points should be treated for one minute once a day until they are no longer sensitive, and then monitored at one-week intervals. If you have a history of a spastic bowel, start your treatment more conservatively. I have found these acupressure techniques to work wonderfully in my practice, and recommend them highly for normalizing bowel function.

[Ed. Note: There are a few devices on the market that are placed around the toilet and that allow you to elevate your feet in the proper manner. You can also place a footstool or other item in front of the toilet, although ideally, your feet should be on either side of you rather than in front. This would require something to be placed on each side of the toilet.]