The Sensation in Homeopathy and Hypnotherapy

The Vital Sensation (Briefly).

In his book of the same name Dr. Rajan Sankaran started a long journey of discovery by asking, "Where in the symptomatology do we find the type of sensitivity best described? The answer lay in the sensations, the type of pain."

Boeninghausen was the first to use physical particulars as general symptoms. Further, Dr. Rajan's research revealed that remedies from a particular family shared a common sensation, e.g. in the Cactaceae the common sensation is of being crushed or squeezed in a vice.

This helped Rajan recognise that the core issue pervades the entire constitution. He went on to describe finer and finer levels of sensation and awareness... of name or fact, feeling, delusion, sensation and energy. This is worth comparing with Arron Becks (C.B.T.) paradigm of situations or challenges which cause a cycle of: Altered Thinking > Altered Feelings > Altered Behaviour > Altered Sx. It looks like the area of altered thinking corresponds to Rajans' concept of the "Central Delusion".

He developed a new approach to case taking in order to lead the Client through all the levels to the deepest expression of the sensation. He says, "for awareness we have to put the mind away. We need to side-step it." He accomplished this by dissociating out of the experience, and just experiencing and watching the phenomenon without judgement of analysis. This sounds like a form of meditation, and also very close to N.L.P. and Hypnotherapy.

Starting with the chief complaint he follows it as far as far as he can go. Say we have a case of rheumatism that manifests mainly as a painful and stiff Achilles Tendon, we can prompt the client to talk about it more, to describe what exactly is happening. It may feel like being stretched to breaking point or cutting . If asked to describe the cutting or breaking you might well get an image such as "being stabbed by a knife". When you ask what it is like being stabbed by a knife you might get a response such as "When I walk too far it feels like hot needles". This clarifies the physical sensation.

The Ranunculales and Voilales have physical sensations of cutting, stabbing and stitching, whilst the Rutaceae have sensations of constricting, squeezing and breaking. You would normally think of Ruta for tendonitis, but it is the patients return to the same images that confirm stabbing is more important than breaking. To get any further confirmation at this level it is necessary to explore the modalities.

When this has been done we can move to the next level, the emotions. The emotions may be of irritation and brooding resentment. The feelings at this level bring us back into scope the Ranunculales family. The sensation and feelings may pervade the level of delusion. A feeling of being in a fight confirms the Ranunculales again, and also gives some indication of the miasm.

To go deeper into the energy of the sensation we need to explore a different realm. Rajan says, "The language of this world and its energy are so different and incongruous with the outside world they seem almost bizarre".

According to M. Eric Wright*, it is well known that we can carry some kind of mental image of our pain within ourselves as part of our perception of pain. We can make this image accessible by encouraging the person to describe it while in hypnotic trance. He says "Submerged memories of a pain free period can be recalled, along with the concomittant physical and emotional feelings of well-being".

The session may begin with deep relaxation and an age retrogression to recall the feelings of well being. The next step is to invite the client to recall the beginning of a typical pain episode and observe and describe all the associated sensations and modalities without experiencing distress, (these discomforting images and sensations can, perhaps be analysed Homeopathically). The pain episode is then supplanted with the sensations of well being, as in the N.L.P. 'swish' technique.

Another technique in Hypnotherapy is to suggest healing images which moderate pain perception . Debilitating sensations such as "crushing" can be re-framed as "squeezing" or "pressing", which offer a more hopeful prognosis and may therefore act to reduce the fear and anxiety associated with the sensation.

There is little doubt that a more hopeful outlook will help the client make the most of the Homeopathic Prescription.

*Ref: M. Erik Wright - Clinical Practice of Hypnotherapy.