HEALING CRISIS

The Road to Better Health

by Walter Last
I routinely recommend to my patients to adopt a high-quality, low-allergy
diet right on their first visit. When they come back two or three weeks later,
they often say that they feel much better now but a week ago they had a
cold. When I ask about the symptoms they turn out to be mainly a profuse
mucus discharge, sometimes also diarrhoea, but rarely are there signs of a
real infection. In fact, these patients just experienced their first healing crisis
on their long path to better health.
This concept of a healing crisis clearly shows the opposite perceptions that
drug medicine and holistic medicine have of health and the healing process.
In drug medicine it is assumed that a patient who is free of disease
symptoms is more or less healthy and the aim of drugs is to achieve this
condition by removing any disagreeable symptoms. Frequently alternative or
complementary medicine is used in the same way, instead of more or less
toxic drugs just more benign remedies are being used. This is what most
patients want and according to their beliefs they either use drugs or natural
remedies for this purpose.
However, holistic medicine, following in the footsteps of the old nature cure
movement, aims much higher. Here, health is regarded not just as a
temporary absence of disease symptoms, but as a state of profound physical,
emotional and mental wellbeing so that we simply cannot develop or catch a
disease.
Animals living in an unspoiled natural habitat in the wild commonly display
this kind of health. If we want to come close to such outstanding health, we
have to work for it by consciously minimising the multitude of negative
influences on our health and maximise positive factors instead.
However, experience shows that we do not follow a straight line of either
health improvement or health deterioration. Similar to periods of illness
interspersing times of relative wellbeing on the common road to chronic
degenerative diseases and death, so we have also ups and downs on the
road to superior health. The main difference is that the road to deteriorating
health on average is sloping downhill while the other road on average goes
up in health. Travelling downhill is easy, we do not need to do anything about
it, but improving our health requires consistent effort.
Contrary to the often-lengthy periods of ill health on the downhill road, the
dips on the uphill road are usually short and sharp. They are called 'healing
crisis' although I prefer the less dramatic name 'healing reaction', also
'cleansing reaction' or simply 'reaction'. After each reaction we advance to a
higher level of health than before the reaction.
Holistic therapists realise that the road to better health follows a definite
pattern. The old school of nature cure called it
HERING'S LAW OF CURE:

"All cure starts from within out, from the head down and in reverse
order as the symptoms have appeared."
Dr John Whitman Ray has developed a method specifically designed to help
us travel the long road to superior health. He called it Body Electronics, using
nutrition as well as press point therapy to facilitate emotional release and
expansion of consciousness. Out of this work Dr Ray found it necessary to
modify Hering's Law to the following
LAW OF HEALING CRISIS:
"A healing crisis will occur only when an individual is ready both
physiologically and psychologically. The basic foundation for all
healing is nutritional preparedness. A healing crisis will begin from
within out, in reverse order chronologically as to how the symptoms
have appeared, tempered by the intensity of the trauma. The
individual will have the opportunity to re-experience each trauma,
both physiological and psychological, beginning with the trauma of
least severity. It must be recognised that traumas involving
emotions, which include all traumas, will be released in order,
beginning with unconsciousness, then apathy, grief, fear, anger, pain
and eventually enthusiasm (love), in conjunction with the
appropriate word patterns for each emotion and thought pattern
(sensory memory) which are accessible at each level. Unconditional
love and unconditional forgiveness are the keys to apply and
transmute any resistance at any level, once these resistances are
brought to view through the application of the laws of love, light and
perfection.
With this definition Dr. Ray emphasises the importance of the emotional side
of our health problems. Each disease, accident or surgical intervention
contains a strong emotional component which needs to be re-experienced
during a reaction, otherwise the healing will remain incomplete and the
problem will present itself again at a later time for healing at a deeper level.
This also means that the body selects the kind of healing crisis that is most
appropriate at the time, taking into consideration its needs and abilities to
have a certain area healed or improved. We can consciously influence this
choice by working on a particular problem. I also noticed that the body self
tries to select a timing, which does not disable us during important events
coming up. I have no doubt that we are guided on our healing path by our
inner intelligence, which has our best interest at heart.
In the beginning our healing reactions will be mainly on the physical or
biological level, but more and more we will experience the release of
emotional blocks and changes in consciousness, preparing us for greater
activity on the spiritual level.
PATTERNS OF HEALING
In every real healing, the sequence of our health deterioration will
automatically be retraced. This means that old, long-forgotten disease
symptoms may suddenly flare up again in the form of a healing crisis. The
reason for this is based on the very nature of disease.

At first, when the body is still vital, it will react forcefully against invaders;
the resulting battle causes fever and inflammation. If the body is not strong
enough to win completely, the acute battle symptoms will eventually subside,
with the remaining invaders leading a somewhat subdued existence in a
weakened gland or organ. Repeated attacks will result in the degeneration of
this body part, causing chronic disease.
At some stage on the road towards health, the body will feel strong enough
to start the fight again for healing the diseased organ, and inflammation will
result. Such healing reactions are usually short lived, but can be rather
violent. If one supports the body during this period with rest, cleansing diets
and so forth, then the organ will eventually acquire a much better health
than before the flare-up. If, however, drugs are used to suppress the healing
symptoms, then the inflamed organ will return to its subacute, chronic
condition and wait for another opportunity to heal itself
The healing pattern of other health problems that are not related to
immunological processes and infections follows a similar line to that outlined
above. Healing takes place on many different levels: at the biochemical level
within the cells, in the blood circulation, the nervous system and especially in
the flow of bio-energies. Healing activity will be increased on all of these
levels
At the bio-energetic level, the increased energy flow may cause congestion at
various places, in the weak body part itself as well as in related acupuncture
points and zone reflex areas. Excess energy in such places may be noticed as
pain, heat or tension: the common symptoms of inflammation. In time, the
body itself will clear the obstruction in the energy flow.
One may support this process with specific healing methods or just by
healthy living in general. However, trying to suppress any inflammation may
leave the body part permanently weak Inflammation in itself is a healing
energy release and it may be best overcome by removing the blockage in the
energy flow.
SKIN REACTIONS
Another common form of healing reaction is the development of a rash or
other skin problem, especially over a weak body part, for instance at a hip or
shoulder. This skin reaction signifies that the energy that had been bound
internally in this area in the form of muscle armouring, stiffness and
accumulated metabolic wastes, is now surfacing and dissipating. Thus the
affected joint or limb will become much freer and stronger. However, if the
skin reaction is interfered with and made to go prematurely, then the
suppressed energy and metabolic waste will remain in that body part,
keeping it in a state of pain or weakness.
Thus there usually is no need to interfere directly with skin diseases or other
healing symptoms. On the contrary, that may only drive the problem
'underground' to affect internal organs and body structures. Natural healers
have noticed that by artificially producing a rash over an arthritic joint, the
joint greatly improved, but when a rash over a joint was artificially
suppressed, then arthritic symptoms may appear in that joint.
You may actually learn much about yourself, your body, your health problems
and your emotional reactions by patiently observing the healing process

instead of rushing in to do something about it. What you should do, however,
is live healthily in general, cleansing the body, helping the suppressed energy
to come out and dissipate and to be optimistic about it all.
Frequently, boils and increased mucus discharge (colds) may appear during
the initial stages of the healing process, sometimes starting already one or
two weeks after improving the diet and beginning to take supplements. This
indicates that the organs of elimination are congested. During Such times
take little food, but generous amounts of herb teas, fresh vegetable juices
and water. Preferably go on a cleansing diet.
You may notice an advance warning of an approaching healing crisis in the
iris, when a formerly grey or brown reflex area becomes whitish. At the same
time, the reflex points underneath the feet and on the hands, as well as
pressure points related to the activated organ, become more tender and
should be pressed. Such healing crises may appear from time to time
separated by weeks, months or even years bringing us ever closer to our
distant goal of superior health.
LISTEN TO YOUR BODY
Some further problems may develop during health improvement. Formerly,
the body responses may have been dulled - it did not react to harmful foods
or drugs - but now the reaction is often immediate and forceful.
Foods that you may have eaten habitually before going on a cleansing diet
may suddenly cause a gastro-intestinal upset, making you feel sick and
miserable for days. However, such reactions do not need to happen if you
take proper precautions: find out to which foods you are allergic and try to
avoid these as well as foods that may be a problem for you. If you eat out
and do not know what to expect, take plenty of digestive enzymes and
lecithin during the meal, and try to eat foods in correct combination; if
allergy symptoms appear, use alkalisers together with calcium ascorbate.
Basically, one may say that your body now trusts that you will not hurt it any
more in the old ways. But if you do, your body is very offended and lets you
(your mind) know about it in no uncertain terms. This is the most effective
language that your body has. However, if you learn to listen, your body will
first try to tell you about its requirements in a more subtle way - an intestinal
rumbling, an itch, a slight muscle weakness or a passing pain. There are
numerous ways a body expresses its needs and each one has its own
language of symptoms.
Furthermore, if you are honest and persistent in your desire to become a
friend of your body, it will eventually let you know its needs by intuition, by
its likes and dislikes, you will rediscover your lost body instincts. This is what
we really should aim for: to become independent of outside expert advice
and just do what our body tells us is right for us to do, not only in the field of
nutrition, but in everyday living and with important decisions as well.
While one can usually gain relatively quick relief from distressing disease
symptoms, rebuilding a strong and healthy body is a slow process and takes
a long time. It requires a great deal of experimenting in order to find our
individual conditions for healing, and it also needs solid determination to
carry through with a program for many years.

Generally, recently acquired chronic weaknesses are the first to flare up and
become healed, while our oldest and most persistent health problems are the
last to yield. Thus there appears to be an orderly sequence in our health
improvement. Healing proceeds in a wave pattern with an upward slope. On
the peak of a wave we feel much improved, while in a trough we experience
cleansing activity or a healing reaction and feel down. The overall movement,
however, is towards greater wellbeing.
Just looking at the symptoms of a reaction, you will not be able to distinguish
a healing crisis from a disease crisis -a flare-up on the downhill road to
degenerative disease. In fact, the symptoms are the same because the
underlying process is the same.
The body always tries to heal itself and an acute inflammation is an
important tool for this purpose. An inflammation makes the walls of the blood
vessels porous to allow an increased flow of lymph fluid to move in immune
cells and remove accumulated toxins. At this stage it is just an acute
inflammation and we can choose to turn it into a healing crisis by supporting
the body mentally and nutritionally or we can choose to suppress the acute
condition and return to a chronic degenerative condition.
Therefore, anything that suppresses an acute inflammation prevents healing
of the affected area. This includes not only anti-inflammatory drugs and
remedies, but also strong alkalisers that reduce the release of histamine. The
pain and heat in the inflamed area is the price we have to pay for it being
healed.
However, anti-inflammatory agents and alkalisers have their place to ease
the discomfort of a chronic inflammation until the body has been nutritionally
and mentally prepared for a healing reaction. Furthermore, the symptoms
during a reaction may either be too severe or come at an inopportune time.
Then you can lessen or temporarily stop them by adding cooked food to a
raw food cleansing diet or by alkalising the body and using anti-inflammatory
remedies.
Usually we can select a suitable time for a healing crisis by starting a strict
cleanse on raw food only, especially fresh vegetable juices or fruit, possibly
also vegetable salads. A fruit cleanse is more suitable for insensitive
individuals and vegetables are much better with an over-acid and sensitive
body.
One of the main factors reducing the severity of any symptoms is a clean
bowel, regardless whether the reaction was triggered deliberately or
involuntarily. The easiest way to do this is by taking a tablespoon of Epsom
salts (more or less according to bowel reaction) in water at bedtime or on
rising. If no solid food is used then take a teaspoon of psyllium hulls several
times daily in a glass of unchloriated water. Too little water can cause
constipation.
Another way to ease or shorten a reaction is press-point therapy: strongly
press into tender points on the feet and body related to problem areas until
the points lose their tenderness. This may take hours or days with some key
points. You can further support your body with light, enjoyable outdoors
activity. Also prayer and meditation or guided imagery are recommended.

As you can see, there is no simple path to completely avoid health-related

suffering. We can only choose in which way we want to suffer. We can either
deliberately and cheerfully endure the unpleasantness of repeated healing
crises with the promise of better health to follow, or we can expect to suffer
involuntarily and in an uncontrolled way from chronic-degenerative diseases
as we get older. The choice is ours.

Hello all,
I am also unable to speak to the presence or absence of the concept of
healing crisis in the literature of Traditional Chinese Medicine. I have seen
what I call a "healing crisis" in the clinic many times though. How do we
assess whether the arising symptoms are from a healing crisis or a
manifestation of our patient getting worse or responding to faulty treatment?
Through this experience I have developed my own guidelines for evaluating
this. I inquire whether the symptoms meet the following criteria:
1. If the patient was feeling noticeably better relative to the main complaints
before the new symptoms arose.
2. If the new symptoms are on a more superficial level than the improved
main complaint.
3. If there is a subjective sense for the patient that the main complaint is still
better and/or that the new symptom subjectively feels as if it is what the
body needs to do.
4. if the new symptom passes quickly and leaves the patient with a sense
that they are better than they have been for a long time.
The new symptom has to meet all of these criteria for me to call it a healing
crisis. A few of the cases in which I have seen this area woman with severe low back pain developed severe but temporary
dizziness after her back felt better
very deficient patients getting a really bad cold - especially when they have
reported not getting "really sick" for many years. I've seen this a lot with
cancer patients and see it as a very good sign.
Patients often feel much better after working through the cold.
Very commonly patients feel better from their main complaint only to go
through a period of deep sadness or even fear. As per my criteria, they feel a
sense of getting to the truth of something and they move through it quickly.
These are just a few of the instances in which the concept of "healing crisis"
has been helpful to me. The criteria really help me and they help my patients
because they can frame the new symptoms in a healthy way and evaluate
them for themselves.
If patients don't meet the criteria then that is a wake up call for me to
seriously evaluate my diagnosis and treatment. Hope this helps, Sharon
Sharon Weizenbaum