Hi my name is Brigida and I have just finished a degree in Complementary Healthcare. I have a little business which is up and running and I am building in confidence slowly.
Leaving behind the security of tutors, I am now looking elsewhere for help and support and stumbled across this site. It seems to be exactly what I am looking for as everyone seems so kind with their help and advice.
So I have a question if maybe any other therapists can help me? Some of my reflexology clients are suffering quite badly with their healing crisis which is now beginning to worry me. I have one client who had her first session and then reported that she had been unwell for 3 weeks after. Another client was ill for 2 consecutive weeks after 2 sessions but thankfully this happen d happened since. Howerever another client who suffers from MS has reported feeling very lethargic and down after each session, she comes every two weeks and has had about 5 sessions so far. All clients are eager to come back as they enjoy the treatment itself but I am beginning to wonder if I am making them worse instead of better. This never happened when I was training and now I am beginning to feel rather insecure about the situation.
I would be really grateful if anyone has any advice they may be able to offer.
Thank you so much
Brigida
Are you advising your clients that they might have a healing crisis, or do you believe that this is something which often happens with healing???
Sometimes the natural order of healing is to make things worse before they get better. The concept of the 'healing crisis' is something I encountered during my homeopathy studies, and as part of my reiki training. The most easily understandable analogy is that of food poisoning. The natural healing response makes you feel REALLY ill! But I am never sure why we as healers should expect our clients to run off into a golden sunset of feeling wonderful. Life isn't like that. Since your clients are coming back to you, I presume they are NOT linking feeling ill with the treatment. Or if they are linking it, they don't mind. So why are you worried?
As a complementary therapist I feel we assist the natural healing processes; that all healing comes from within. I also recognise that I have NO control over how my clients chose to act between appointments....and how easy it is for them to undo all the good work that was done during the session. As long as you are working within the limits of your competence and doing what your were trained to do (and are insured to do!) you cannot go far wrong.
With my scientific head on MS is a notorious disease for relapsing..In fact there is a type called 'relapsing and remitting MS' So this may well be normal for your client.
If your other clients are not experiencing problems it is unlikely to be anything you are doing.
.
Are you advising your clients that they might have a healing crisis, or do you believe that this is something which often happens with healing???
Hi Paul...thanks for your reply.
Yes I always explain to my clients about the healing process. I can't say that things always have to get worse before they get better with regards to healing but yes it can be a part of it. I am not sure if this answers your question or not. I did not come across this very adverse effect during training so for it to happen to a number of my clients started to make me feel a bit insecure. I am beginning to understand the process a little more as time goes on but it has taken me by surprise that reflexology can be as powerful as it is in terms of the Healing Process.
Sometimes the natural order of healing is to make things worse before they get better. The concept of the 'healing crisis' is something I encountered during my homeopathy studies, and as part of my reiki training. The most easily understandable analogy is that of food poisoning. The natural healing response makes you feel REALLY ill! But I am never sure why we as healers should expect our clients to run off into a golden sunset of feeling wonderful. Life isn't like that. Since your clients are coming back to you, I presume they are NOT linking feeling ill with the treatment. Or if they are linking it, they don't mind. So why are you worried?
As a complementary therapist I feel we assist the natural healing processes; that all healing comes from within. I also recognise that I have NO control over how my clients chose to act between appointments....and how easy it is for them to undo all the good work that was done during the session. As long as you are working within the limits of your competence and doing what your were trained to do (and are insured to do!) you cannot go far wrong.
With my scientific head on MS is a notorious disease for relapsing..In fact there is a type called 'relapsing and remitting MS' So this may well be normal for your client.
If your other clients are not experiencing problems it is unlikely to be anything you are doing.
.
Thanks Tashanie for your reply.
I really liked the analogy of the food poisoning. I think that is a great way to explain and understand the healing response in a simple and easy to understand form.
My clients always leave feeling calm and relaxed during and after treatment and I think they do associate their unwellness to the reflexology treatment but not to something I am doing wrong. I suppose it is my lack of experience in the real working world of therapy that was making me unsure, that maybe I was being too over zealous in my treatments and working too sternly over reflex areas ?
I am hoping that I will soon see some reflection that reflexology is having some impact in my MS client in the near future other than that of the healing crisis. I also realise that, as you say I don't have any control over what clients do in between sessions and this is a good reminder. Thank you.
I also have not come across 'relapsing and remitting so I will look into this further so I can understand MS more fully. So again thank you for this information.
It's always good to chat things through as other people's ideas, help and support often come from a different angle which helps to see the bigger picture of a situation.
Hi Paul...thanks for your reply.
Yes I always explain to my clients about the healing process. I can't say that things always have to get worse before they get better with regards to healing but yes it can be a part of it. I am not sure if this answers your question or not. I did not come across this very adverse effect during training so for it to happen to a number of my clients started to make me feel a bit insecure. I am beginning to understand the process a little more as time goes on but it has taken me by surprise that reflexology can be as powerful as it is in terms of the Healing Process.
Hi Brigga, experience is something which can't be taught in a classroom, it is something we gain over many years of doing something.
I my experience healing is given to instigate and restore the balance and harmony with the being, this requires both the healer and the healee to be singing from the same song sheet, if they are singing from different song sheets (the healer wants one outcome and the healee wants a different outcome), then instead of an outcome of balance and harmony, we end up with disharmony and unbalance, which is what is described as a healing crisis.
If people (healers and healees) are told that something might or will happen, then they will often focus upon that and our thoughts create our realities, so you might find it helpful to set the focus upon what you actually want to happen and emphasise that to your clients, i.e. you should feel a lot better after that, please do not forget to drink lots of water for the rest of the day, I will look forward to an update the next time I see you.
You might find it helpful to remember that healing (unlike us) only has one purpose and focus, which is to create a healing change, the only side effect of healing is healing. 
Brilliantly put Paul
Hi Brigga, experience is something which can't be taught in a classroom, it is something we gain over many years of doing something.
I my experience healing is given to instigate and restore the balance and harmony with the being, this requires both the healer and the healee to be singing from the same song sheet, if they are singing from different song sheets (the healer wants one outcome and the healee wants a different outcome), then instead of an outcome balance and harmony, we end up with disharmony and unbalance, which is what is described as a healing crisis.
If people (healers and healees) are told that something might or will happen, then they will often focus upon that and our thoughts create our realities, so you might find it helpful to set the focus upon what you actually want to happen and emphasise that to your clients, i.e. you should feel a lot better after that, please do not forget to drink lots of water for the rest of the day, I will look forward to an update the next time I see you.
You might find it helpful to remember that healing (unlike us) only has one purpose and focus, which is to create a healing change, the only side effect of healing is healing.
Thanks again for your reply Paul. You have given me some wonderful advice and I will try to rephrase what I am saying in the future as well as the last sentence above. Thank you.
I must be missing something here. Why should a person getting healing feel worse. If I had a headache and took an aspirin then I should start to fell better as soon as that aspirin starting to take effect.
So many methodologies seem to be employed in complimentary medicine, maybe the designated approach used may not be completely ideal for the condition being challenged. Maybe an unwanted secondary effect is being inadvertently triggered and the body then has to overcome that.
I must be missing something here. Why should a person getting healing feel worse. If I had a headache and took an aspirin then I should start to fell better as soon as that aspirin starting to take effect.
So many methodologies seem to be employed in complimentary medicine, maybe the designated approach used may not be completely ideal for the condition being challenged. Maybe an unwanted secondary effect is being inadvertently triggered and the body then has to overcome that.
I believe that all complementary therapies work by providing an optimum environment for the body to heal itself. Having said that natural healing can be brutal....and my food poisoning analogy is a good example of this. Also someone who had arthritis in the hip would have pain, and might have a hip replacement. The idea being that the new hip will not hurt BUT the act of cutting them open and inserting a foreign body triggers the bodies healing response to the injury......and as a result in the short term they may have even MORE pain.
Your aspirin analogy doesn't work because the aspirin takes away the pain....but does not deal with the cause of the headache. It has suppressed the symptoms......that is not healing.
Your aspirin analogy doesn't work because the aspirin takes away the pain....but does not deal with the cause of the headache. It has suppressed the symptoms......that is not healing.
How do you know that the aspirin hasn't caused a healing. Do you know what actually causes a head ache or how aspirin works on the body.
What actually causes headache pain. If it is the compression of say an artery wall resulting in reduced oxygen supply to a part of the brain which then triggers a nerve responses identified as pain, and the aspirin relaxes the artery wall letting more blood through then that is a healing. The headache may occur again at some later date but it has had a healing.
A different medication may thin the blood allowing more blood to get through thus helping to reduce the headache pain being generated but the thin blood may cause problems in other areas of the body.
How do you know that the aspirin hasn't caused a healing. Do you know what actually causes a head ache or how aspirin works on the body.
What actually causes headache pain. If it is the compression of say an artery wall resulting in reduced oxygen supply to a part of the brain which then triggers a nerve responses identified as pain, and the aspirin relaxes the artery wall letting more blood through then that is a healing. The headache may occur again at some later date but it has had a healing.
A different medication may thin the blood allowing more blood to get through thus helping to reduce the headache pain being generated but the thin blood may cause problems in other areas of the body.
Aspirin is a non steroidal anti-inflammatory drug . It is an inhibitor of Prostaglandins - and this is what is responsible for its anti-platelet activity. Thats why it gets given to people at risk of a stroke. It thins the blood and prevents clots forming. That is also the action responsible for the stomach bleeds because it also reduces the protective coating on the wall of the stomach making ulcers more likely,,,,and since the blood is thin bleeding is more likely as a result. Thats why Proton pump inhibitors that reduce acid production are very often given with aspirin and similar drugs like Ibuprofen. In case you haven't realised I am a pharmacist (check my signature) so yes I DO know how aspirin works.
Having worked a pain control team and in a hospice I am familiar with the physiology of pain as well.
When you talk about what causes a headache, yes aspirin will make the physiological change to reduce the pain.....but my interest is in what caused that physiological change in the first place. A headache can happen because you are tired,stressed, hungry, dehydrated, hungover, had a concussion, have raised intracranial pressure, have eye strain, have been a noisy atmosphere, have triggered a migraine by eating the wrong food, are suffering the side effects of a drug like GTN or Nifedpine........and in every case aspirin will relieve the pain, but unless you get some sleep, have some water, eat something etc etc etc.....there will still be 'dis-ease' in the body the comes through as pain. Thats why chronic pain due to cancer or arthritis is hard to get on top of.....the pain pathways are always being stimulated because you cannot 'heal' the cause of the pain.
Irrespective of how or why aspirin works the question has still not been answered as to why a condition should get "worse" before it gets better. If the "correct " medication has been administered then it is not plausible that the condition should worsen.
Unfortunately there is no correlation between the application of allopathic medicine and healing, they are quite often the opposite of each other, this is the problem with attempting to make healing fit in with medical science so that it can be classified as complimentary therapy to the modern mainstream medicine.
I can certainly see the possibility of conventional medication giving rise to the statement that things may get worse before they get better, because of some of the adverse side effects attributed to drugs.
I can also accept that physical manipulation may cause additional aches etc as lazy muscles are brought back into play.
Maybe treatments like Acupuncture and Reiki etc also induce effects which could be mistaken as hostile whereas they could be are indicators that a part of the body is complaining about being woken up from a dormant state.
It is possible for a soul retrieval to make things uncomfortable for a while. Nothing that would make the presenting symptoms worse, but, since it is in effect 'taking you back' to a time when the soul part left (the soul part's memories of that time are likely to be far more clear than yours), this can rake up uncomfortable memories. However, these are memories. The power of them to hurt you has gone. This passes in a few days, as the part reintegrates.
If the shamanic practitioner is not good, there is potential for you to be a lot worse off. This is not a healing crisis. It is incompetence.
Sadly, many shamanic practitioners do not believe in the enormous power that they are calling on. They will, therefore, advise you that you 'may feel worse before you feel better' in order to hedge their bets and avoid criticism. However, most clients don't expect any change either, so possibly no harm done!
This is an interesting discussion. I believe our physical reality is a reflection of our inner consciousness and if we believe our clients will have a crisis, then it is likely to show up, especially if we have told them to expect one - as a hypnotherapist I am well aware of the power of suggestion, even in the waking state.
Try asking "what must I believe about myself for my clients to react in this way?" and notice what answers bubble up - there may a limiting belief to release. Beliefs have a strong effect on reality in my view, but many are unconscious. If we can get them to the level of the conscious mind they are easily released and replaced with more empowering ones.