What is a Healing Response?
Photo by Christina Rumpf on Unsplash
Before undertaking a cleanse, it is essential to understand better what a healing response is and why it happens. Without an understanding of the healing response, or someone to guide us through it (a health practitioner willing to educate and offer support during this critical stage), there’s a chance that we may give up and revert to our old ways after facing our first challenges. When experiencing the unpleasant symptoms of detoxification, we may blame the natural remedy or our new dietary regime for the way we feel, or we may say to ourselves, “this cleanse is too much,” or “I don’t want to be healthy,” etc. We may begin to ask ourselves, “If I am eating better food now than ever before, then why am I feeling worse?” Even those familiar with healing responses sometimes find it difficult to accept the symptoms they are going through. Only when the episode is over do they realize what has occurred and why.
A healing response is a natural consequence of removing toxins from our bodies. The toxins are dumped into the bloodstream for elimination via the liver, kidneys, spleen, skin, bladder, and colon. The symptoms of a healing crisis may include nausea, headache, sleepiness, fatigue, diarrhea, colds, ear infections, boils, or skin eruptions. These symptoms can last from a few hours to a few days and can even last 1 to 2 weeks in sporadic cases. The length of the healing response will depend on the amount of toxins the body needs to eliminate. The healing response can occur at any point during the detoxification program, often at a time when we have regained some vitality and begin to feel better.
There may be several “plateaus” in the healing crisis. After each one, the symptoms of health problems suppressed in the past may resurface. After going through the first plateau, we feel much better until we reach the next level of healing. In a healing response, the body goes through what is known as “retracing.” It’s like going through a movie in reverse. Whatever symptoms we have suppressed through the use of antibiotics, surgery, unresolved traumas, etc., will reappear again for a short time. Often the focus of conventional medicine is only to relieve symptoms and the accompanying discomfort. The root of the problem is typically overlooked and can develop into a chronic problem if suppressed over a prolonged period. With a healing response, we should focus on the fact that everything will be okay and that it’s necessary to go through the “cloud” to get to the sunshine on the other side.
Knowledge, patience, and perseverance will all pay off when going through a healing episode. A good analogy is an ocean diver wearing flippers on his feet. When he touches the bottom and stirs up sand all around him, he doesn’t race up to the surface in fear. Although his vision is blurred for the moment, and it can be scary, he waits until the sand settles and everything becomes calm and clear around him.
Body cleansing is a good starting point on the journey to better health. Many people can benefit from a good cleanse if done correctly. Even for the healthy, it can be a preventive measure. And remember that a good body cleanse should be accompanied by a better diet and an emotional and mental cleanse. To one degree or another, all diseases are manifestations of suppressed traumas in the past. Loving yourself, facing fear, and letting go of anger, jealousy, self-pity, denial, and attachment will bring a much faster recovery.
