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Seeds for Change Wellness
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Understanding the Healing Crisis
The Road To Better Health May Begin with a Healing Crisis
You may feel worse before you begin to feel better...
As you move toward better health with natural healing programs and better nutrition, healing begins to
occur. As part of the healing process the body will begin to discard toxic residues which have built up
in your body over the years. The healing process usually does not occur without repercussions. During
the initial phase of healing, as your body begins to clean house, (detoxify) and your vital energy begins
to repair and rebuild internal organs, you may experience headache, uneasiness, flu like symptoms
and fatigue. It is important that you adequately rest during this time. These symptoms will pass as your
body begins to normalize to a new level of health. As you continue to improve, you may begin a
process called retracing. You may feel worse before you feel better. For example, if you used to get
skin rashes, the rashes may reappear or get worse for a period of time as your body eliminates toxins
through the skin. You may also experience an initial increase in urination, or you may feel more
nervous. In actuality, you are not getting worse, you are actually getting better. Eventually you will reach
a plateau of better health. During the healing crisis, it is important to not suppress these temporary
symptoms with drugs or the healing process may become interrupted.
Understanding The Healing Crisis
Ginger Chalford, Ph.D
The body has an inherent desire for perfect health. We have the ability to earn our way back to that
state, no matter how "normal" or bad our health is now. But in the meantime, the body must go through
an elimination process to achieve good health. The elimination process is often referred to as the
"healing crisis." Once the healing crisis starts, reactions may be mild or severe. Expect ups and
downs as it takes awhile to get good health back.
In a healing crisis, every body system works together to eliminate waste products and set the stage for
regeneration. Old tissues are replaced with new. A disease occurs when the body cannot make it
through its natural healing crises for one reason or another. The body is "locked" into a destructive and
shut down place, physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.
Symptoms of the healing crisis may at first be identical to the disease it is meant to heal. But there is
an important difference: elimination. A cleansing, purifying process is underway and stored wastes are
in a free-flowing state. The body, mind, and spirit are no longer "locked." Sometimes pain and
symptoms during the healing crisis are more intense than that of the chronic disease, but it is
temporary and necessary.
The crisis will usually bring about past conditions and personal issues. People often forget the
diseases, issues, or injuries they have had in the past, but are usually reminded during the crisis so
that they can heal their unfinished business. This arises in whatever order the body is capable of
handling at that time.
Physical reactions could include skin eruptions, nausea, headache, sleepiness, unusual fatigue,
constipation, diarrhea, head or chest cold, ear infections, boils, or any other way the body uses to
loosen and eliminate toxins. An initial healing crisis usually lasts around three days but if the energy of
the patient is low, it may last a week or more.
Your body needs juices, and especially water to help carry off the toxins. This is a time for rest. Be kind
to yourself --- mentally, emotionally, and of course physically.
One crisis is not always enough for a complete cure. The person in a chronic "locked" disease state
will often have to go through cycles of healing crises, with each one improving the condition some. It
has taken time to develop a chronically diseased state, and time is required to let go of the "locked"
energy, piece by piece. It's like peeling the layers off an onion.
Often the crisis will come after one feels their very best and most energized, setting the stage for the
elimination. The whole body gets into action. Most people feel an energy boost at the beginning until
the toxins start dumping into the blood stream for elimination. Go as slowly as your body needs so
your elimination is gradual and comfortable.
With a more serious condition, there may be many small crisis to go through before the system can
become healthily balanced. Everything must be considered and given its proper place in the build-up
to a healing crisis. One should expect it and work with the body, not resentfully against it.
A healing crisis is also known as the Herxheimer Reaction which occurs when the body is detoxifying
too rapidly and toxins are being released faster than the body can eliminate them. A healing crisis can
result from any holistic/natural therapy such as homeopathy, naturopathy, improved diet, etc.
The reversal process is another part of the healing crisis. It is necessary to revisit each step the body
has been through that brought it to its current state of dis-ease. People learn from an early age that
symptoms are bad and should be stopped or suppressed. They take all kinds of drugs to stop their
bodies from eliminating catarrah and waste. This is very confusing to the body! Mucus production is
the body's perfect mechanism for taking out the garbage! If that process is suppressed, the immune
system is compromised and the next time it doesn't work quite so well. The body has it's own memory
and it remembers all the injuries and all the times it was suppressed. In the reversal process these
memories are brought to light in reverse order from which they happened and people re-experience
illnesses and traumas in a phenomenon known as retracing. The difference this time is that the
symptoms come and go quickly and there is an underlying sense that the whole process is not
threatening, that it is natural and health promoting. The healthy changes people feel after a healing
crises remain as long as a health supportive lifestyle is embraced, as long as one continues to honor
the remarkable and extraordinary intelligence of the body. Give the body what it needs to constantly
create strong new tissue and the reward will be wonderful health and vitality.
Hering’s Law of Cure
Constantine Hering, M.D. (1800-1880) observed that healing occurs in a consistent pattern. He
described this pattern in the form of three basic laws which homeopaths can use to recognize that
healing is occurring. This pattern has been recognized by acupuncturists for hundreds of years and is
also used by practitioners of herbalism and other healing disciplines.
According to the first of Hering's laws, healing progresses from the deepest part of the organism - the
mental and emotional levels and the vital organs - to the external parts, such as skin and extremities.
Hering's second law states that, as healing progresses, symptoms appear and disappear in the
reverse of their original chronological order of appearance. Homeopaths have consistently observed
that their patients re-experience symptoms from past conditions.
According to Hering's third law, healing progresses from the upper to the lower parts of the body. For
instance, a person is considered to be on the mend if the arthritic pain in his neck has decreased
although he now has pain in his finger joints.
As the symptoms change in accordance with Hering's Law, it is common for individual symptoms to
become worse than they had been before treatment. If healing is truly in progress, the patient feels
stronger and generally better in spite of the aggravation. Before long, the symptoms of the aggravation
pass, and leave the person healthier on all levels.
Sadly, most conventional medical doctors treat each symptom as a unique and unconnected
phenomenon. A person's skin rash generally would be treated with cortisone, thus suppressing it,and,
possibly, reactivating the person's asthma. The mentally ill person's new physical symptom is also
suppressed, leading to a relapse of the mental illness.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A HEALING CRISIS AND ILLNESS?
There are symptoms during a healing crisis that may be confused with illness but the difference is that
these symptoms are short in duration and move from one part of the body to another, from inside out
and from top to bottom. There is usually a lack of appetite and may be a fever. Illness is a very different
scenario where one or more of the organs are not working well, causing toxic build up of waste
material that can't get out. There is fear during illness, a feeling of being out of control as opposed to
the prevailing feeling during a healing crisis that underneath all the symptomology everything is
working just the way it should and everything is really OK. The reversal process is another part of the
healing crisis. It is necessary to revisit each step the body has been through that brought it to its
current state of dis-ease. People learn from an early age that symptoms are bad and should be
stopped or suppressed.
You may feel worse before you begin to feel better...
As you move toward better health with natural healing programs and better nutrition, healing begins to
occur. As part of the healing process the body will begin to discard toxic residues which have built up
in your body over the years. The healing process usually does not occur without repercussions. During
the initial phase of healing, as your body begins to clean house, (detoxify) and your vital energy begins
to repair and rebuild internal organs, you may experience headache, uneasiness, flu like symptoms
and fatigue. It is important that you adequately rest during this time. These symptoms will pass as your
body begins to normalize to a new level of health. As you continue to improve, you may begin a
process called retracing. You may feel worse before you feel better. For example, if you used to get
skin rashes, the rashes may reappear or get worse for a period of time as your body eliminates toxins
through the skin. You may also experience an initial increase in urination, or you may feel more
nervous. In actuality, you are not getting worse, you are actually getting better. Eventually you will reach
a plateau of better health. During the healing crisis, it is important to not suppress these temporary
symptoms with drugs or the healing process may become interrupted.
Understanding The Healing Crisis
Ginger Chalford, Ph.D
The body has an inherent desire for perfect health. We have the ability to earn our way back to that
state, no matter how "normal" or bad our health is now. But in the meantime, the body must go through
an elimination process to achieve good health. The elimination process is often referred to as the
"healing crisis." Once the healing crisis starts, reactions may be mild or severe. Expect ups and
downs as it takes awhile to get good health back.
In a healing crisis, every body system works together to eliminate waste products and set the stage for
regeneration. Old tissues are replaced with new. A disease occurs when the body cannot make it
through its natural healing crises for one reason or another. The body is "locked" into a destructive and
shut down place, physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.
Symptoms of the healing crisis may at first be identical to the disease it is meant to heal. But there is
an important difference: elimination. A cleansing, purifying process is underway and stored wastes are
in a free-flowing state. The body, mind, and spirit are no longer "locked." Sometimes pain and
symptoms during the healing crisis are more intense than that of the chronic disease, but it is
temporary and necessary.
The crisis will usually bring about past conditions and personal issues. People often forget the
diseases, issues, or injuries they have had in the past, but are usually reminded during the crisis so
that they can heal their unfinished business. This arises in whatever order the body is capable of
handling at that time.
Physical reactions could include skin eruptions, nausea, headache, sleepiness, unusual fatigue,
constipation, diarrhea, head or chest cold, ear infections, boils, or any other way the body uses to
loosen and eliminate toxins. An initial healing crisis usually lasts around three days but if the energy of
the patient is low, it may last a week or more.
Your body needs juices, and especially water to help carry off the toxins. This is a time for rest. Be kind
to yourself --- mentally, emotionally, and of course physically.
One crisis is not always enough for a complete cure. The person in a chronic "locked" disease state
will often have to go through cycles of healing crises, with each one improving the condition some. It
has taken time to develop a chronically diseased state, and time is required to let go of the "locked"
energy, piece by piece. It's like peeling the layers off an onion.
Often the crisis will come after one feels their very best and most energized, setting the stage for the
elimination. The whole body gets into action. Most people feel an energy boost at the beginning until
the toxins start dumping into the blood stream for elimination. Go as slowly as your body needs so
your elimination is gradual and comfortable.
With a more serious condition, there may be many small crisis to go through before the system can
become healthily balanced. Everything must be considered and given its proper place in the build-up
to a healing crisis. One should expect it and work with the body, not resentfully against it.
A healing crisis is also known as the Herxheimer Reaction which occurs when the body is detoxifying
too rapidly and toxins are being released faster than the body can eliminate them. A healing crisis can
result from any holistic/natural therapy such as homeopathy, naturopathy, improved diet, etc.
The reversal process is another part of the healing crisis. It is necessary to revisit each step the body
has been through that brought it to its current state of dis-ease. People learn from an early age that
symptoms are bad and should be stopped or suppressed. They take all kinds of drugs to stop their
bodies from eliminating catarrah and waste. This is very confusing to the body! Mucus production is
the body's perfect mechanism for taking out the garbage! If that process is suppressed, the immune
system is compromised and the next time it doesn't work quite so well. The body has it's own memory
and it remembers all the injuries and all the times it was suppressed. In the reversal process these
memories are brought to light in reverse order from which they happened and people re-experience
illnesses and traumas in a phenomenon known as retracing. The difference this time is that the
symptoms come and go quickly and there is an underlying sense that the whole process is not
threatening, that it is natural and health promoting. The healthy changes people feel after a healing
crises remain as long as a health supportive lifestyle is embraced, as long as one continues to honor
the remarkable and extraordinary intelligence of the body. Give the body what it needs to constantly
create strong new tissue and the reward will be wonderful health and vitality.
Hering’s Law of Cure
Constantine Hering, M.D. (1800-1880) observed that healing occurs in a consistent pattern. He
described this pattern in the form of three basic laws which homeopaths can use to recognize that
healing is occurring. This pattern has been recognized by acupuncturists for hundreds of years and is
also used by practitioners of herbalism and other healing disciplines.
According to the first of Hering's laws, healing progresses from the deepest part of the organism - the
mental and emotional levels and the vital organs - to the external parts, such as skin and extremities.
Hering's second law states that, as healing progresses, symptoms appear and disappear in the
reverse of their original chronological order of appearance. Homeopaths have consistently observed
that their patients re-experience symptoms from past conditions.
According to Hering's third law, healing progresses from the upper to the lower parts of the body. For
instance, a person is considered to be on the mend if the arthritic pain in his neck has decreased
although he now has pain in his finger joints.
As the symptoms change in accordance with Hering's Law, it is common for individual symptoms to
become worse than they had been before treatment. If healing is truly in progress, the patient feels
stronger and generally better in spite of the aggravation. Before long, the symptoms of the aggravation
pass, and leave the person healthier on all levels.
Sadly, most conventional medical doctors treat each symptom as a unique and unconnected
phenomenon. A person's skin rash generally would be treated with cortisone, thus suppressing it,and,
possibly, reactivating the person's asthma. The mentally ill person's new physical symptom is also
suppressed, leading to a relapse of the mental illness.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A HEALING CRISIS AND ILLNESS?
There are symptoms during a healing crisis that may be confused with illness but the difference is that
these symptoms are short in duration and move from one part of the body to another, from inside out
and from top to bottom. There is usually a lack of appetite and may be a fever. Illness is a very different
scenario where one or more of the organs are not working well, causing toxic build up of waste
material that can't get out. There is fear during illness, a feeling of being out of control as opposed to
the prevailing feeling during a healing crisis that underneath all the symptomology everything is
working just the way it should and everything is really OK. The reversal process is another part of the
healing crisis. It is necessary to revisit each step the body has been through that brought it to its
current state of dis-ease. People learn from an early age that symptoms are bad and should be
stopped or suppressed.