The Pandora's Box of Healing (Problem - Solution, Pt. 2)
The Pandora’s Box of Healing (Problem – Solution, Pt.2)
Hello everyone! This followup blog to the one dated October 27 (Problem – Solution, Pt. 1), is long overdue.The original post explored how we mechanically rush to solve each thing that comes along. Only to move to something else. Why is this so important? Because it is the fulcrum of what we call stress. Why would we continue to live in a way that only promotes and adds to our daily burden? I don’t know. So, I asked Pal. His reply?“Because we don’t like to see how we really are, even with any situation.”This same ingrained and neurotic attitude lies to us. It deludes us into believing we understand everything about each life situation. Even in the dimension of healing:
Don’t be obsessive for perfect health. Acquiring perfect health there is greed and wanting. So an ancient said, “Make good medicine from the suffering of sickness.”
-Pal Pandian
If you have read my book, Rivulets of the Absolute, then you will be familiar with the Siddhas viewpoint of each illness having a particular mind fixation. But, how does good medicine come from the suffering of sickness? Through attending to people with chronic illness (sickness), I have come to learn that each illness has its own message. It has come to us and wishes to speak something vital; to inform us about ourselves and how we have been meeting our life.Take for instance a man that came to me suffering from chronic hypertension. For years he could find no relief and even taking multiple medications proved unsuccessful. Since high blood pressure is often easy to reverse, I confidently began healing sessions.However, after two weeks I found that even though the blood pressure would reduce significantly after our sessions, it returned after a day or two. The methods I had used so successfully in the past with other people were not working for this man. Puzzled by this, I had to admit that I had failed. I reached out to Pal Pandian and explained my bewilderment at the lack of good results.“Never allow your mind to cheat you”, Pal began, “never let yourself have the feeling, ‘Yes, I understand this…’. Re-question everything! Each time you are with someone in a healing mode you must never allow yourself to feel you understand the situation.” Before ending the conversation, Pal offered me the most succinct advice in order to guide me further:
“Immerse yourself in the problem. There is hidden the medicine.”
Deeply contemplating his words, I realized that I had concentrated on the term hypertension alone. The man wanted perfect health. In turn, I had matched his grasping attitude and fell into searching for a perfect solution. This means I encountered the situation with the common approach of assuming that the problem needed to be fixed, rather than truly being with the problem in all its nuances. Dropping this self centered stance, I searched within for how to proceed.This search began with the simple consideration of, “Why hypertension? Where is the problem originating in this man; how is this created in him? Why should the blood move fast in him? ”Then I remained silent. After some time the message came. It is his breathing…The man had other seemingly unrelated issues throughout his life, namely nasal blockages and now apnea. The insight unfolded further. Due to prolonged sinus blockage his intake of oxygen was less than normal. Since he was taking in less oxygen, his body compensated by forcing the blood to move faster. This was the causative factor that resulted in his chronic hypertension.In order to digest food the Siddhas tell us that there should be a proper amount of what they call agni, or digestive fire. This fire breaks down food into an assimilable form and then it separates nutritive substance (rasa) from waste (ama). When the agni is low, food is not fully digested, remains in the digestive tract, and accumulates there as waste. Then it circulates in the channels that are connected with the seven tissues (Thatus). Its deposition here is what affects the circulation.The man’s diet further contributed to this condition as he ate hard to digest foods like eggs, yogurt and lots of meat. The progression of the man’s suffering in his sickness began in the digestive tract and then affected the sinus cavities. This in turn altered his breathing capacity. Hypertension was merely the end result.This same progression is much like throwing water on a campfire. The fire is dampened coupled with the rising of fumes. In much the same way with our digestive fire it is like throwing water on a campfire. Poor food choices further dampen our digestive abilities so the fumes rise and settle in the nasal cavities. This in turn inhibits our ability to breath properly compromising the body’s oxygen needs. The reduced oxygen will force the blood to compensate and move faster and with more force. This resulted in the man’s hypertension. In a reductionist fashion it appears something like this:
Digestive -> Sinus -> Apnea -> Hypertension
From this refreshed insight I altered my approach in the healing sessions by attending to both the nasal and digestive issues. Following this portion of our sessions, I gave the man Amritha Kalai (nectar healing). The results quickly followed. His ability to breath easier and sleep better gave him more energy. His blood pressure reduced and stabilized in the normal range, all without any need for medication. The actual medicine that resolved the man’s illness lay hidden within the suffering of his sickness. The suffering he experienced was begging him to look at his mode of living. When he sought relief from the hypertension, the outermost layer of suffering, they all failed him. This is because both he and those attending to him could not hear the message that his suffering was speaking. This is true of all disease, save genetic and congenital disorders.Without exception this message speaks to our fixed perceptions of life, as well as our habitual patterns of living. It seems that as we age, we somehow, in some way, forget to grow. Sickness knocks on the door of our life to tell us that the time has come to outgrow these perceptions and patterns. The time has come to evolve. It is only when we come to understand the message behind the chronic illness that we outgrow the sickness. Only then do we inherit the rewards of this growth beyond the limitations. We have the opportunity to realize for ourselves that we are not merely a body. This is the doorway for authentic and lasting Health and is the divine gift to the world from the Tamil Siddhas, known as Siddha Vasi Healing.
Stephen Grissom