An excerpt from one of the plant cases in the book:

What do you do to relieve the pain?

I press on it. I find pressure is helpful. I studied shiatsu so I use it on myself when I am in pain. In shiatsu we believe that pain is caused by energy imbalance. There is excess energy in some parts of the body and deficiency at another. I, for example, have excess gallbladder energy and deficient long-intestine energy. The idea is that the energy is flowing along the meridians and at certain places blockages occur. The pain arises because of the blockage. After pressing on these points of blockage, my system eventually releases. My breath releases, I feel I am letting go.

I ask her to tell me more about the physical sensation.

 I feel tightness in the muscles of the back. It is tight and there is pressure. It is like a rope that tightens up. There is no energy there. Along with this I have weakness in the lower back.

I ask her to describe it. I note that she has mentioned the word “flow” several times. When someone uses a phrase or word repeatedly, it places emphasis on it. Once we arrive at it from different complaints and perspectives, we know this is the core sensation.

At this point of the interview, while describing this flow, she uses another sensation-describing word: tight. So I inquire further: either she will describe the tightness as flow or the flow as tightness. There is always one core sensation to which all other sensations boil down to. In plant remedies this core sensation is experienced along with its opposite pair. Daphne mentions the sensation “flow” with its opposite of having blocks in the way. If she comes to the sensation “tight” as the underlying sensation, she will describe its opposite as well. Let’s see what she says.

It is like when you have a tight muscle.

I ask her to describe this more.

It is condense in place. There is no space to breathe, to relax. It is blocked. The whole system is blocked. There is no flow inside.

So it is not the tightness but the block to the flow that is the sensation! Interesting to note how she describes the “no space” in the tight muscle and rope. It is very similar to the way she describes her complaint in the right side of the body and the hip socket. This means that in two areas of the body she feels a similar sensation, which makes the local sensation a general one and thus confirms its importance.

I ask her to say more about the flow. If she keeps describing the flow and its opposite, the blocks, we know we are at the core sensation. If she leaves the flow behind and describes a different sensation, we will have to follow that to see what is at the core.

 I am aware of energy flow. Generally, there is flow in my body. When I am in pain everything gets stuck in my upper back, neck and head. The rest of the body is weak because the energy is stuck.

What is the opposite of this stuck energy and weakness?

When everything flows. I get an image of channels, meridians. When there is no block the breath flows, movement flows. It is a peaceful feeling, a sense of balance. There is energy available to walk, play and work.

When I am in pain it feels as if someone put some stuff in my head that should not be there. It feels as if it is going to explode if you keep stuffing it. The container of the head is too small. There is no space in it.

No space?

 I have an image of the head with bubbles popping up in it. Just pressing them back does not help. Things will pop up again, somewhere else. All the energy goes up towards the head. It helps to ground myself. A hot bath can bring all that energy down. Once it goes up it gets stuck in the head.

Describe this going up and down.

It is flowing. It is fast. This energy is fast like a brook. Not like a river; it is faster than that. It can flow fast because there are no blocks in it. If I press on my feet it removes the blocks. In a similar fashion if I put my lower back in hot water the energy can flow back down. I have weakness in my back. I wish I had more energy flow. When I have a headache the head empties itself out of energy. That is what improves with hot water. It is relaxing. I can breathe. It is calling the energy down. It retracts the energy back, sucks it back. A slow, soft process of sucking it back.

Even though these processes occur in our body, we usually are not aware of them and do not discuss them during everyday conversation. In the homeopathic interview these sensations unfold in a graceful manner, and even though some people are taken back by the “nonsense” they are describing, it is often eye-opening to point out these inner sensations that feed our body awareness and our view of reality. Once the person feels it is a safe environment to talk about these processes, they are more open to discussing them and are not surprised by my interest of details regarding the nature of this inner reality.

 What do you mean by calling the energy down?

It is a soft bubbling. In the large intestine meridian I sense popping, bubbling and releasing. The energy that was stuck up in the head finally releases. Empty places start to fill up. As a result there is less pressure in the head. It cannot pop up anymore. I picture the body as a vessel. There is a certain amount of energy or liquid it can contain. In imbalance there is too much in one area, another area is empty. When there is balance it evens out.

This image is clear and specific and contains other sensations that Daphne describes before all boil down to the sensation of flow. Therefore, at this point we can move on to another area and bring that down to the same sensation.

I ask her to describe her menstrual cramps.

I have always thought everyone had cramps; it was so natural for me. It is awful,  so much pain. I lie in bed in pain. I would put a hot water bottle on my belly and take Ibuprofen©. It is a nightmare. I cannot function; I have no energy. The feeling is that something is shrinking inside. It is tight and then it releases. It contracts. Every time it contracts it hurts.

Please tell me about your hobbies.

We ask about hobbies because the energy of the vital sensation manifests clearly through them. People seek the opposite of their core sensation, which they create in their hobbies. It is the same energy manifesting in two polarities. If a person experiences pain with a sensation they usually seek the opposite in their work, leisure activities, dream-vacation, favorite movies and books. It is not only useful for us to see what the opposite of the core sensation is, it also brings a pleasant energy to the interviewing process as the person can describe and re-experience something they truly enjoy. 

I like playing basketball and hiking, and I love reading. I have done different kinds of martial arts. My favorite is Contact Improvisation Dance. It is about sharing your weight with a partner and flowing with it. It creates balance. I work as a movement therapist. The aspect of it I enjoy the most is that people connect with each other. I love moving myself. I feel the body opens and there is more connection. I am very much a moving person. I love running, dancing – I love any movement. I put all my heart into it. I like action and flow: movement, momentum, motion. When I throw a basketball I put my whole body in it.