UNDERSTANDING A HEALING CRISIS
Sandra has quit drinking coffee and feels like she has the flu: nausea, vomiting, headache and joint aches in her body, all of which disappear by the end of the week. "I got a touch of the flu bug," she says.
Harry has been in for a Reiki session where he has cleared a lot of mental and physical pain and he feels great afterwards. However, the next day he feels like crap and hurts in other places that haven't bothered him for years, also a lot of old issues have surfaced to agitate him. He thinks the Reiki session has really done nothing. "I thought I was better physically and mentally but I'm not really - that quack really did a number on me and I'm not going back there again."
Vicki hasn't been in for awhile to see her chiropractor and when she does go in and have her neck adjusted she finds her neck hurts more after than it did before the adjustment. However, a couple of days later she feels great and is better than before the appointment. "I don't think that doctor knew what he was doing. I'm lucky I heal so quickly because he only made it worse."
Karen decides to change her diet and by the end of the week she is no longer her own sweet self. She is angry, moody, depressed, argumentative & irritable, and fights with her husband George constantly. "It's the pressure of raising kids and money worries" she states.
These four people look like they're experiencing different problems but all in fact may be experiencing the same thing - a healing crisis. A healing crisis can cause a wide range of symptoms during the course of the healing. Though one may think the treatments are not working or making the client's condition worse, these symptoms actually indicate that a healing is taking place. Symptoms can include any of the above or the reoccurrence of old injuries or illnesses, emotional upsets, cold-like symptoms, or previous traumas. Yet when these symptoms have passed the client feels better than before the crisis.
None of these people were adequately prepared to understand what they were going through and they attribute the results to bad health care or events in their lives. Holistic and traditional medicine both can evoke these reactions yet practitioners of either hesitate to tell someone ahead of time that they may feel ill before feeling better. Those who operate with an understanding and knowledge of a healing crisis do so as a result of their education in other realms [like alternative health care].
What many practitioners of alternative health care know is that, "everything is connected to everything else". The mind / body connection is coming to be more and more recognized. Illnesses may appear to start on the outside and move in, but all begin with thought.
Clients are encouraged to discuss their problems with their practitioner so that they know what's going on. Keep an open line of communication between you and the practitioner - visit or make a phone call. The practitioner is concerned with reducing a client's pain and suffering and has no wish to see the client experience more stress than is tolerable. It often takes an outside observer to see what is really going on, one with a different view. It is often very difficult for the individual experiencing the crisis to see clearly if they are feeling ill, or in pain.
You can do a number of things to help yourself if you are undergoing a healing crisis that will not interfere with the healing or increase suffering. In realizing that it is a crisis you already have an edge on it. Medication is not highly recommended although it may be necessary in some circumstances. Herbs can be very helpful, sufficient rest is vital and sometimes another treatment is recommended to help the crisis to pass as quickly as possible. You can stimulate toxin release through a soak in a hot tub, use a loofa to promote blood circulation, or soak in a warm bath with Epsom Salts. Attitude is very important and if the healing crisis is seen as a positive event it means the client has started on the road to better health. Exercise is very helpful especially is the crisis is of an emotional sort. Do not add any undo stresses to the body by deciding now to change your diet or make abrupt changes in your lifestyle as this puts more demands upon an already stressed out system.
The greatest challenge of the healing crisis is not to become discouraged. Learn what the experience has to teach and understand the crisis as it relates to your life, both past and present. View your symptoms as an ongoing reaction in a chain of events. From this perspective you can learn how your health and well being are affected by your thoughts over the course of your lifetime.
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