Rolling forward: a case of Sinapis alba

A thirty year old woman comes for a consultation on the 24.7.08[1]

Patient (P): "I have felt for a long time that my body isn't working properly. A year ago, I changed my eating habits and started exercising; in the beginning I lost 8 kilos. I do my best but I feel like I am not getting the right response from my body. I am constantly bloated, I feel full. I go to the toilet irregularly. Lately, I have diarrhea. I have no appetite but I try to eat. I exercise four times per week but I don't feel energized by exercise. Something is not processing properly (HG). I don’t know if I have gone into a shock."

She makes the same hand gesture repetitively but it is not yet the time to ask about it.

Vivienne Nov (VN): Tell me more.

P: "I feel frustration, anger, disappointment. I am not in competition with someone, and I am not trying to lose weight for a date, but for being healthy. My outside doesn't match my inside; maybe I am lacking minerals or some natural element (she talks more about her eating habits). I don't feel things are moving (HG) at a normal pace."

She repeatedly made a hand gesture, a rolling forward kind of gesture, so I asked her about this gesture.

P: "I am a forward-moving person; I don't like being stuck, I move a lot. I have been in Israel 2 1/2 years, and have moved 4 apartments in 2 years. It’s a jump, it’s in leaps. It’s smoother when it’s like this (HG: one hand over the other). Rolling forward, moving ahead, getting somewhere, going places, getting on with things, not getting stuck with them. Making it happen. Moving, walking, fast, getting things done, looking on to the next thing, making sure you are not stuck. HG: leaping boundaries, getting over them. Everything's right and happy. My friend does this a lot (HG).

This HG is the complete opposite situation.

P: "It means you are wiped out, (HG); it is negative, closed, very single-minded. There is no action, it is finished, dead. I don't do things like that. I do this HG (round), ‘what goes up, comes down’, because it'll be ok. Things are round, good times and bad times, not final. You can't talk about something negative, and do this HG (rolling gesture)."

VN: Please do this hand gesture, and describe what you experience as you do it.

P: "It feels like getting ahead, leaping over challenges; there is a barrier and you get over it. It's generally a very positive thing; it's about continuity and moving on."

VN: Tell me more?  

P: "Juggling movement, nice, fun".

VN: Tell me about getting ahead.

P: "It’s a sense of achievement, satisfaction, getting what you want, positive, moving ahead. My friend doesn’t move forward, she is stuck. I believe in ‘give it a go, you have tried’. They believe that if there's a chance they will lose, they don't bother trying. That feels bad: stifling, uncomfortable, choking, final, but nothing is final."

Here, she very nicely gives the sensation and the miasm.

VN: Choking?

P: "It’s like there are no options and you are stuck (crying). You can't breathe, you’re dead. We are supposed to make the most out of life; I don't like to be with a partner who is not moving forward."

VN: Tell me more?

P: "When you are open, things can come into your life; you feel lighter and carefree and you can move (HG), that’s how life happens. As opposed to mundane (HG) stifling, boring, can't breathe, when you can't be who you are."

VN: Tell me about this last hand gesture?

P: "It feels stuck, monotonous, dead-end, choking, like I can't breathe. You are buried, not being in control. I would never put myself in the position of being stuck. I am moving forward (HG). Something in my body is not functioning right, I can almost see it, all clogged inside. It’s bloated, like the blood is not flowing properly (she draws a picture and explains it’s a blocked pipe).

VN: How does it feel?  

P: "Stuck, (crying), choking, I can't breathe, it’s disgusting. The opposite of a sunny day with a blue sky, where you can breathe, fly, do anything, where it’s hopeful, happy, calm, nice. That feels good, as opposed to being stuck and not moving, where you can't breathe."

VN: Tell me about “I don't breathe well, I am stuck, choking, being in the wrong place, not belonging."
P: "If you are in the wrong place, you need to move, which I do very well. I don't stay where I am not comfortable; I am very good at saying 'I am going'.”

She is asked to make a doodle of her feelings.

VN: What is your experience?

P: "(HG: hands rolling over the other). Flowing, rolling forward movement, not rolling like tumbling."

VN: tumbling?

P: "Unpleasant, it has bumps. This is slipping forward."

VN: What is the experience? 

P: "There is air and I can breathe, blue sky and sunshine. There’s freedom, it’s open and I can breathe. I need to breathe. I don't like feeling choked, told what to do, judged, having a boss."

VN: What is the experience?  

P: "Stuck and out of control, choking".

VN: Food?

P: "I don't like fruit, bananas. I do eat stewed apples, it’s smooth. I will drink orange juice but no pieces of fruit because they are stifling and disgusting. They make me choke. I can't breathe and I feel poisoned, frothing at the mouth. It brings associations from movies. If I can’t swallow, I feel choked: I can feel food there, horror. With bananas, I can feel it in my throat and I want to vomit. I don't like tomatoes, I only eat them if they are cooked and mashed; if there is a whole piece of tomato I push it aside."

VN: Plants?

P: "I like plants very much, but I’m not good at taking care of them. I feel that I have a relationship with sunflowers and gerberas, especially sunflowers. They have movement, they follow the sun; they know what they want and they have a personality.

VN: Animals?

P: "I am not a big animal person. I had a past life experience where I was buried alive. I was either stuck or moving forward desperately. Eventually, I accepted my fate. I always wanted to leave, to see what was beyond, but I never had the chance.

Again and again, we see both sensation and miasm.

P: "I have never really been in a closed space, I don't stick around. I like flying, free, exhilarating, but I don't like bungee jumping, falling. I’ve got no interest in the adrenalin rush. If I was an animal in a past life, I would have been a bird because of the freedom, space and lots of air. I must have been choked.  I need air, open spaces. I don't breathe properly, my nose is always blocked. If I could breathe better everything would flow better. I don't feel oxygen in my blood, and my blood is not flowing properly, it’s stuck.

VN: Tell me about feeling bloated?

P: I"t feels like my insides are stuck. For someone who moves so much, I feel very stuck. I feel stuck in my business; I want to build something more on-going, doing something and then moving onto the next thing."

Observation: ‘stuck’, and the opposite is ‘moving forward, flowing’.

VN: What is your experience of a blocked nose?  

P: "Blocked, stuck, not moving forward or flowing; the oxygen is not getting through. I can breathe till here, like a cut. It doesn't fill my lungs; the air doesn't penetrate (HG: she shows that it flows to a certain point, and from there, it is blocked, closed).

VN: What are your expectations of the treatment?

P: "I would like to feel better in my stomach, with no bloating. To have an appetite, eat healthily, see results at the gym, and not feel stuck in my body."

Past medical history: enlarged tonsils, purulent.  Unable to breathe, as though something is in the throat, blocked, lasting up to four days. Able to swallow and eat.

VN: What was your reaction to not feeling able to breathe?

P: "I panic, but am learning not to. I feel sadness, hopelessness, sluggishness, and at some phase, I fight it and I move on."

At this point the remedy is clear.

Analysis

The patient came with the main complaint of slow metabolism and the body not working properly (a 4th column issue in Michal Yakir’s Table of plants). She constantly made a hand gesture every time she tried to explain how she felt.

When asked to tell the experience of the hand gesture, she described being stuck, not moving, choking, clogged, hindered movement, and its opposite: moving, moving ahead, flowing, going over barriers, being able to breathe, clearing the flow. She experienced the sensation globally, explaining how she has the same experience in her whole being.

Her attitude to this experience was one of trying to overcome, and then giving up, "It’s not the end of the world."

So, there is only sensitivity, which indicates the Plant kingdom. The specific sensitivity is the sensation of stuck, not moving, not moving forward, and its opposite: going over barriers, moving forward, flowing. This brings us to the Brassicaceae / Cruciferae family, and the ringworm miasm. Please refer to Dr Sankaran’s book “Insight into Plants volume 3” for further explanation of the family Brassicaceae / Cruciferae.

Prescription: Sinapis alba 200C

Follow-ups

16.9.08

After two months: "Things were stuck when I came. I have lost weight; I am hungry, like a normal person. It feels like movement; my body is working, moving. I am eating and going to the toilet. I don't visualize bloated red lumpy things, things are starting to flow. I can visualize my blood vessel with clumpy bits: imagine a pole, a blood vessel, with big chunky bits, and now its becoming less lumpy and more floating, less bloating. Now there is more room in the pipe to flow. It’s still a little bit there, but the pipe is more than half clear now. I feel less stuck, everything is starting to move. Regarding work, it’s a relief, I’ve realized what I am good at. I breathe better.

VN: What is the change in the sensation?

P: "Something has opened. It makes me feel alive, healthier. My body is processing now, not bloated, and exercise is easier, bearable. Before, I was constantly having to make this hand gesture, but now I can move slowly and it’s OK. There’s no pressure to move and go forward because it’s moving forward on its own. It will happen because there is movement; I don't feel stuck. I can just be, with less stress."

VN: What is the experience of the relief?

P: "It feels lighter, a nicer way of being, released. It’s like flying, or floating down the river. It’s nice, the water is steady and there is movement. I don't have to work at it, I am in the water and it’s carrying me along. Before I was choking, now I can breathe and relax."

1.2.09

P: "My body is functioning differently, and I can feel that. I feel that it’s moving. My metabolism is unbelievable. I used to not go to the toilet for 3 days. Now I feel that things are moving.  I am no longer stuck (laughs), I am moving forward, which I like. Everything has changed, moved. I look at things differently. I just feel like things are moving; things move slower, easier, HG, but they move."

VN: Before?

P: "I felt stuck all the time. In the past, I had the vision of being clogged, the blood didn't flow, mentally and physically, now it does. Generally, things are all more relaxed; there is movement and things are happening in my life and in my business."

VN: How is that thing that you drew, clogged?

P: "That's 90% cleared. I realized it had been clogged for 30 years, but it’s definitely happening."

1.1.10

P: "All is good!"

She has taken one single dose of Sinapsis alba 200C, after the first interview, and until now, nearly 5 years later, she has not needed another dose.

[1] This case has been edited for publishing purposes.

Photos: Wikimedia Commons
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Sinapis alba; Abrahami