Resonating From The Inside-Out With The Patient
Normally, the goings-on inside the consult room are strictly confidential, and for good reason — to create a context which allows the patient to feel safe in their process to let go, and reveal things about themselves which they normally keep hidden. While writing these blogs, of course, the veil of confidentiality is still held firmly around every patient, but the impressions, dynamics, and principles of various real-life cases can be put forward for educational purposes.
The intimacy which develops in a real life case is difficult to reproduce in text, particularly with the principle of confidentiality in place, however, my aim is to deliver enough of these images so that you, the reader, can start to recreate that feeling of intimacy inside the consult room of your own mind’s eye.
Participation is something we’re all familiar with in our personal life, in terms of our close or intimate relationships, where we literally “take part” in the living flow of life energy of the other. This is in stark contrast to the “objective”, cold, detached form of observation we reserve either for business transactions, or the Western mode of science. As in our romantic love relationships, we stretch ourselves to empathetically see and feel the world as our beloved does, from their point of view.
Women traditionally do this more than men, who often feel at a loss as to how to find this way of relating, as they are more deeply incarnated into the physical realm, and by definition, more identified with the reality of separation than inter-connection.
Once, after a few minutes upon meeting a new patient, she remarked that my mode of “participating” her (this wasn’t exactly the word she used) was very different than other practitioners she’d previously been to, who were more in a Naturopathic or Allopathic mode of “observation”. It was notable that she did notice this, as most patients don’t necessarily realize that something different from the usual mode of interaction they are used to in healthcare is taking place (at least not intially).
All of this makes sense, once it is realized from a true understanding of disease that its diagnosis and treatment ultimately has to work at the depths, which can only be attained through participation, rather than the mere information at the surface available through normal observation.
The practitioner must be sufficiently healthy to be in contact with their own inner contact, in order to fully resonate with the patient’s, and to be able to diagnose at this level. The graduation requirement of the HCH to complete up to a certain point in treatment aids in this goal of allowing the practitioner to begin to see at this level, and then the continuing requirement of the CIHA (professional association of Heilkünstlers) for ongoing treatment and education further expands this capacity.
I find it really interesting that you say, ‘men are more deeply incarnated into the physical realm.’ I had gained the opposite impression from some of Steiners writings in ‘From Comets to Cocaine’ where he talks about the differing effects of alcohol on the blood of women and men. Not sure where I could learn more about this topic…?
HI Tess – I haven’t got my hands on that Steiner book yet, so I’m not sure exactly in which context these comments come. The thing with Steiner is that his writings can be difficult to interpret, particularly in terms of his writing or lecturing style which was intentionally dense, designed to bypass the intellectual mind, and invite the etheric mind to wake up and join into the living context. I’ve added this book to my wish list!