As of recent I’ve been addressing the central nervous system with more holistic intention. In doing so I’m seeing more emotions releases and healing crisis symptoms. Today, one of my patients forwarded me this article which just about sums up everything. Hope you enjoy the read:

By Nicole Cutler, L.Ac.

Any person receiving bodywork can experience what is known in the industry as a “healing crisis”. Such an occurrence can be frightening, both for the client and for the therapist. Learn how to identify the symptoms of a healing crisis and what steps for prevention you can suggest to clients.

Also known as the “Herxheimer Reaction”, a healing crisis occurs when the body tries to eliminate toxins at a faster rate than they can be disposed of. The more toxic one’s bodily systems are, the more severe the detoxification experience, or healing crisis. This reaction signifies that the bodywork received is working and that your client’s body is going through the process of cleaning itself of impurities, toxins and imbalances. While a healing crisis is temporary, it can occur immediately, within several days or several weeks after a bodywork session. Symptoms usually pass within several days, but can persist for several weeks. Often the crisis will come after a client feels their very best.

A healing crisis is a reaction to previously sequestered toxins being systemically released. Such poisons can be stored in all kinds of tissues, primarily muscle, fascia and adipose. During manipulation, whether it’s deep tissue massage, energy work or reflexology, these poisons are squeezed out of the holding body tissue into the bloodstream. This sudden increase in blood toxicity causes a toxicity reaction, until the body is able to effectively process and eliminate the poisons. While not a pleasant experience, a healing crisis signifies that a cleansing and purifying process is underway.

While cleansing can be physical, emotional or spiritual, a true healing crisis typically involves all three of these aspects. Due to the body’s fascinating ability to store memories and emotions in the tissues, their recollection or release can accompany the manipulation of those tissues. Most practitioners refer to the surfacing of memories or emotions without physical symptoms as an emotional release. An emotional release is a typical component of most healing crises.

Emotional Releases

Most people have some emotional issues or traumas occurring sometime in their life. Whenever an emotional trauma or situation happens it is stored in the nervous system. Though we may think we are over it and not even remember it, the mark or impression could still be there and negatively affect our health and psychology. During any form of bodywork it is possible to release these stored issues or traumas. An emotional release may give rise to feelings of anger, grief or another emotion. This release is indicative of a healthful body transformation, where the body clears itself of the negativity previously stored within.

Learning to suppress our feelings typically causes them to go into our physical bodies. The tensing of neck muscles will prohibit frowning, holding one’s breath can replace crying and jaw clenching may stifle yelling. When these patterns are repeated, emotional suppression becomes a habit, the unconscious mind takes over, and the body becomes a storehouse for unexpressed, unconscious feelings.

Suppressed emotions and traumas are a key factor in the development of muscular tension, high blood pressure, heart disease, immune weakness and other diseases. Most practitioners agree that real healing begins when this suppression is released, freeing the body to heal at the deepest level.

What are the symptoms of a healing crisis?

While each individual’s body is unique, there are some common symptoms typical of a healing crisis. Below is a list of Herxheimer Reaction symptoms most often experienced after receiving bodywork:

• Dizziness and light-headedness
• Fatigue
• Nausea and vomiting
• Low-grade fever
• Joint and muscle aches
• An odd or metallic taste in the mouth
• Muscle cramps
• Skin eruptions
• Intense emotional states
• Increased sweating, urination or defecation

For more info: http://www.integrative-healthcare.org/mt/archives/2006/10/how_to_prepare.html

How long have you been running and what got you into ultra running?

Been running since I was about 12.  It was mostly just to get out of the house and suburban Ohio in the 80′s was quite boring.   That and I enjoyed the dynamic aspect of swimming so much when I was younger; running offered a dryer and more social alternative.

Tell me about your experience at the Copper Canyon race with the Tarahumara runners?

That was one of the more epic of my adventure explorations.  It was unique to be an obvious minority among one of the most interesting, and peaceful, cultures I’ve ever experiences.  Similar to the Indians of ‘back woods’ Costa Rica I met during The Coastal Challenge.

The Tarahumara and Raramuri really honor the concept of ‘korima’ which is essentially karma.  They’ll give and give and be extraordinarily polite, expecting nothing in return, but knowing it will come back to them if they are in need.

Quite a concept that I haven’t witnessed anywhere else in my global treks and certainly diametric to the standard in developed countries.

I hear that the Tarahumara runners use the mythical Chia seed, have you used it?

Yes, Chia seed is the same as the Cha- Cha- Cha- Chia pets we all (or was it just me) had when we were younger. It’s quite high in essential oils like Omega 3, and also contains a lot of energy in form of those oil and carbohydrate.  They are quite high in vitamins and minerals.

How does one qualify to Badwater?

There is an entry form in which you basically qualify in one of a few ways.  The most common is having a lengthy background in endurance sports and also more specifically one has to finish 3 100 miles runs, one within the same year as Badwater.   There is still no guarantee you will get in as there is a committee that selects you.  Doing ok, like top 10, in those 100 mile races will increase the likelihood of acceptance.

Tell me about your fitness routine and how you prepare for the Badwater race.

It’s dynamic throughout the year.  Running is my staple as you need the volume and nothing can replace that. I also through in quite a bit of swimming, Bikram yoga, cross-fit and cycling.  Cross training is essential and keeps things interesting. I’ve found that just running can be boring.

What kind of supplements do you take during an ultra race?

Primarily only Vitargo.  It is the ONLY University proven effective fueling and recovery fuel.  It is quite superior to any form of maltodextrin or simple sugars (mono or di sacharides).  Once I was introduced to it I use nothing else.

What time are you going for this race?

I’d sorta like to finish before midnight of Day 2 but I’ll take 2 am on Day 3 as that is 40 hours.
What motivated you to start running ultras?

I got bored and burnt out with the monotony of triathlons.  Ultra’s offer miles and miles of exploring far off and secluded trails that most people don’t get to see, including mountains, swamps, beaches and even rainforests.

What keeps you going at mile 92?

I don’t know, probably just something inside that says keep going.  I mean if one isn’t severely injured, only a real woose would drop due to plain ole fatigue, because they’re not winning or some similarly lame excuse.  If you start something, finish it.

Please share you best and worst experiences during a race

Worst experience was around mile 38 when it was 125 degrees, I thought I was on another planet and reports have it people were asking me questions like what I wanted to drink and I answered in numbers like “oh, 6:30″.  I also couldn’t fathom 100 or so more miles but figured I’d get there someday.  Time really really slowed down and it felt like  I ran those few miles over  few days.

Best experience was cresting Towns pass and not only have a down hill but also a temp drop of 30 degrees. It was literally night and day and my mile pace went down nearly 80%.  Both my pacer Jamil and I were maxed out doing nearly sub 6′s.  That feeling lasted nearly 30 miles so we also ran the whole way up Father Crowly grade.

Another low point was going up the Whitney portal road.  For some reason I thought I had 8 or so people a 1/4 mile behind me (they were over an hour) and I kept swearing and running! That paranoia probably cut a mile off my pace as I only walked when I absolutely couldn’t run. My pacer Dean ‘reminded’ me that I was walking every time I stopped running which was another motivating (if not irritating) factor,  but that’s what pacers are for.  Like a verbal cattle prod.

Finishing was an insane feeling of accomplishment, looking out east over the desert and that long black strip of pavement we traversed for 135 miles and just under 28 hours.
Best race you’ve run?

I’ve had a few good triathlons and stage races but I’d have to say this was my most grueling and well executed race of my life. It will never be forgotten.  My crew was a big, if not THE most integral part of that experience!

At 135 miles with 120 plus degree heat and 20,000 ft elevation gain, why Badwater?

It doesn’t get any harder. I mean really, what’s next?

Editors note: This was Marks 1st time racing Badwater. He completed the race in the very fast time of 27 hours 48 minutes, and finished in 6th place. Crewing Badwater has exposed to me the awesome power of the human spirit and our ability to accomplish unfathomable acts of athleticism. When there is a will, there is a way!!

Check out this article I found on NPR:

Some scientists say we are natural-born runners, that our body has evolved to run. Now, the leading proponent of the so-called human runner school concludes that we do it more efficiently without shoes.

NPRs Christopher Joyce has this story on barefoot running.

CHRISTOPHER JOYCE: Anthropologist Dan Lieberman says human ancestors needed to run well – away from big animals and after small, tasty ones, for example. He based that view on fossil bones.

Lately, though, hes been studying runners, living ones. It started at a lecture he gave before the Boston Marathon. A barefoot runner – someone who runs long distances without shoes – peppered the professor with questions he couldnt answer. So Lieberman took him to his lab at Harvard University. He had him run over a flat, metal plate that measures the collisional force of a footfall. Lieberman says runners generate a lot of collisional force.

Professor DAN LIEBERMAN (Anthropologist): Most runners, when they land and they heel strike – they land on their heel – they generate this sudden impulse, this sharp spike of force. So its like somebody hitting you on the heel with a hammer about one-and-a-half to three times your body weight.

JOYCE: Lieberman was surprised by the extremely low force readings made by the barefoot runner.

Prof. LIEBERMAN: He ran across the force plate and he didnt have it. And I thought, gee, thats really amazing and it kind of makes sense because that spike of force hurts, and I wonder if other barefoot runners do that.

JOYCE: So Lieberman tested several groups of runners: Kenyans whod been walking and running barefoot all their lives, and Americans who grew up walking and running in shoes, and some who switched from shoes to running barefoot. He found that runners in shoes usually land heel-first. Barefoot runners land farther forward, either on the ball of their foot or somewhere in the middle of the foot, and then the heel comes down. That spreads the impact force across the foot, ankle and lower leg muscles. There’ s less sudden vertical force shooting up the leg that way.

Also, people who switched from shoes to barefoot running eventually, without prompting, adopted the barefoot style. Lieberman, who runs marathons himself, says the reason is simple.

Prof. LIEBERMAN: Its pain avoidance. Its very easy to do. And your body naturally tells you what to do.

JOYCE: Running shoes dampen the shock of a heel-first landing. So, Lieberman says, thats probably why shoed people run that way. But is that the most efficient way to run? Lieberman thinks not.

Prof. LIEBERMAN: Turns out that the way in which barefoot runners run seems to store up more energy.

JOYCE: To understand how that works, I talked with anthropologist Brian Richmond at George Washington University. He points out that the human foot has an arch with ligaments inside that stretch and contract with every footfall.

Professor BRIAN RICHMOND (Anthropologist, George Washington University): It allows the arch of the foot and the calf muscles to act as a better spring and to store up energy, and then give it back in the beginning of the next step.

JOYCE: Think of a compressed mattress spring pushed down and then released. Richmond agrees with Lieberman that the front-first landing of barefoot running probably capitalizes on that spring mechanism more than heel-first landing – it gets more spring out of the spring.

Richmond, in fact, has discovered fossilized footprints dating back a million and a half years. Those human ancestors who left them had an arch. They were walking when they left the prints. But Richmond now suspects that when they ran, they landed front-first.

Prof. RICHMOND: It looks like this is how our ancestors have been running for a million years or more. Its only been in the last 10,000 years weve had any kind of shoes, really.

JOYCE: Lieberman published his findings in the journal Nature. He received research funding from a company that makes minimal shoes, which mimic barefoot conditions. He adds that he received no personal income from the company. He also says hes not taking sides over which style of running is better or safer.

Prof. LIEBERMAN: I think we have to be really careful about what we do and we dont know. We have not done any injury studies, so this is not an injury study.

JOYCE: That, he says, is next.

Christopher Joyce, NPR News.

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