Case taking and analysis using Rajan Sankaran’s Sensation Method
by Robert Gramlich MD
I have been studying with Rajan Sankaran for some time and have been practicing his Sensation Method based on the Seven Levels of Experience. This method allows me to follow a patient's energy pattern, using the Chief Complaint as the window, all the way to the source energy- the source of the remedy itself. The patient is allowed to demonstrate the mechanism of the source and so remedies can be prescribed (even if they are not in the Materia Medica yet) with confidence. I have never had such consistent results before and the job has never been as exciting and enjoyable. It is quite a profound experience for me and for the patient to not stop the interview until this source pattern has been experienced in the office.
A case example best illustrates:
The Patient is a 49 year old female first consult December 2003
(H) = hand gesture
I want to be stronger
In 2001 I had a heart transplant and since then because of the immunosuppressing drugs I have trepidation wondering will I get sick?? I have a history of heart failure in 2000 for no known cause. I guess my main problem is that I get sick easily. I have to take these pills ( the anti rejection drugs) like clockwork.
I had to take Ciprofloxacin once and that tore my gut. But for the last 8 months I have had a sore throat (HAND GESTURE GRABBING HER THROAT ) mostly at night- it is red and a little congested and it is just lingering- I have had antibiotics but nothing seems to help it. My body is working hard to heal this and I can’t do it on my own. It feels raw and burning (SAME HAND GESTURE GRABBING HER THROAT)
This feels deeper. There are times when the throat tightens uncontrollably (AGAIN GRABS HER THROAT)
It feels red and raw and deep- it feels like it is in my larynx- in the outside and inside of it. It hurts to swallow - not really painful, more like a swelling but it does not interfere with my eating. There is tenderness and redness-like inside- like where the tissue is soft (H)- deep inside. It feels like there is redness in the area - it feels raw and irritated like an irritation like an injury that does not have a chance to heal. Like if somebody had scraped it in there (GRABS THROAT) - feels really raw. Raw- it feels vulnerable, exposed and in need of support and protection- open, unprotected - in need of help and support. I can’t heal myself and can’t do it on my own. I feel a fragility- I try to keep myself as strong as I can- not in this earthly body. I walk a fine line to stay healthy, to take care of myself. The fragility I feel is like being a skinny little kid.
I also have allergies that I could never get in check and it is exhausting. Whatever attacked the heart caused a rapid decline. The fragileness? My sister is stronger than me and older than me. I was the sensitive one - emotionally fragile
I was delicate like a little flower (H). Like a delicate flower that needs care and is fragrant but can get easily crushed
My spirit is strong but my body is not. I want it to be able to have it function in a healthy way - have enough life force and chi. It is hard for me to gage. During the heart failure I had times where I had a false sense that I was getting better
It was like I was being a fooled. I cannot trust my inner sense it is off. Like a lobster in a slow boil - I keep adapting and adapting. I began to experience increased detachment from my body and a slow disconnection. It was a slow progression and I kept adapting and adjusting- I can live with that
THERE IS A PAUSE SO I ASK HER ABOUT THE THROAT
It has been sore for the last 8 months (MAKES THE GRABBING THROAT HAND GESTURE)
TELL ME ABOUT WHAT YOUR HAND IS SHOWING
( SHE IMMEADIATELY CLOSES HER EYES )
It is like a lobster claw- it is destructive like “What are you doing to me?” - something digging at my throat
The lobster is ugly and they are scavengers and scary- it would destroy ( SAME HAND GESTURE)
It digs at me until it has clawed me to death.
I feel helpless- it reminds me of a dream that I had where they wheeled a body on a gurney into my room and that body was something that wanted to harm me- a darkness and a negative energy and it scared me - it tried to get me and kill me - a feeling that this entity, this being was not human like a dark spirit. I was vulnerable- no one knew it was there with me and I felt unprotected.
DESCRIBE THIS VULNERABLITY
I felt soft, delicate, innocent, open, exposed, emotional
DESCRIBE THIS EXPOSED AND OPEN
Exposed like nothing left to hide, no secret spots
Everything exposed- an easy place to be hurt
Vulnerable- someone could easily hurt me
The real part of me can be touched
It is not safe to expose myself to human beings- only to God
DESCRIBE EXPOSED SENSATION ( HER EYES REMAIN CLOSED)
It feels raw - like somebody peeled off a layer of my skin and I am exposed - I see this pink tissue which is full of blood and life and it is raw, open, and exposed and it can mutilated- like what the lobster was doing: clawing and mutilating in an ugly and torturous way. The feeling of being exposed is inviting danger so that something can physically harm me- can inflict harm
HARM?
To tear apart- like a lobster clawing it apart and digging in eating and destroying and clawing apart. There would be torturous pain- painful and long drawn out unceasing pain- unendurable pain. The pink tissue is full of blood and full of life force- it is soft and delicate- it gets exposed and seen. Soft and delicate- not hard and tough.
HARD AND TOUGH?
Hard and tough is something immovable and solid.
SOLID?
Solid like a slab of black granite
GRANITE?
Something unbendable and inflexible and permanent- black and harsh.
That is like my personality- I am soft and delicate and hard and tough- the hard and tough is acting a shield, a protection with a boundary- a barrier that keeps one safe.
(HER EYES ARE STILL CLOSED)
There is soft delicate tissue pinkish red inside-----like my throat. A heart- inside of my chest- open exposed- the chest is hard and strong but inside is soft pink delicate tissue. I feel both of those sides of myself- I can be aggressive and tough(H) and also soft and delicate- two sides of my personality.
TELL ME SOME DREAMS
I had a dream of being with a man in an abusive relationship and he was pursuing me and trying to hurt me- he wanted to beat me and he was enraged.
WHAT WAS THE MAIN FEELING IN THE DREAM
I felt trapped (H) and held down and locked up with a fear of restriction
DESCRIBE THIS MORE
A feeling of wanting to move. I want to get out of my skin (H)- like a breaking away- feeling stuck in there (H) and suffocation and anxiety. Like a tiger in a cage- having all that energy and feel not safe to release or it would bring danger to me.
DESCRIBE MORE THIS GET OUT OF MY SKIN FEELING
The skin feels hot and tight in that moment- taut- like pressing against it.
TELL MORE
I get the feeling of wanting to get out of my skin when the skin becomes a barrier- it feels too entrapped , too suffocating - when what is inside of it becomes too big. There is heat to it - like a ball of fire in there - a destructive quality but not negative- but there is a feeling of wanting to be out of the confinement. The skin is like a barrier and if the barrier breaks open-- well, the barrier protects it- protects the internal parts - like a container of something alive and without the barrier it evaporates. The barrier is the skin and there is open space beneath. Like fiery -burning it from the inside- like a hot pressure against it- it feels tight. It doesn’t feel the heat only the pressure against it (H). It is insulated against the heat - a protection to the skin itself so that it feels the pressure but not the heat. This is like the feeling of the drugs - the feeling like it is pushing out against my legs (H). Like a wanting to break out of something.
WHAT HAPPENED WHEN YOU HAD THE HEART FAILURE?
My heart got very enlarged- like it was getting too big on the inside
I ASKED THE PATIENT TO FREE ASSOCAITE WITH ME
BLACK
white, yuck, dirty, dark, quiet, closed in, death, hiding, secret
DARK
bat cave, still, careful, secret
CAVE
hiding, locked up, can’t breath water
WATER
fluid, wet, soft, clear, sweet, good and pleasant- something nurturing- like my throat
HOW DO YOU MEAN “LIKE MY THROAT”
It would be soothing to be in water - like the Miami Gulf coast - in warm salty water like the ocean
TELL ABOUT THE OCEAN
Deeply relaxing and nourishing - safe and warm and rejuvenating
HOW DO YOU MEAN SAFE?
The ocean is safe and supportive and healing and nourishing
It is fun and I like the warmth of it and the salt- I like the heat and I like the life of it
It feels like a rejuvenation and it is peaceful and the mind relaxes
The sound of the ocean is a comfort- the constant ness of it
( I CONTINUE THE FREE ASSOCIATION ) THE NEXT WORD IS CLAW
Sharp and harsh - mean and dangerous - ugly and scary - it is powerful and tearing - like tearing it apart - like digging in the sand
TELL ABOUT DIGGING IN THE SAND
The lobster digging in the sand- digging and scavenging
The lobster is red, hard shelled and ugly and shrill and creepy-it is yucky and you don’t want to be around it
FEELING YOU ARE HAVING NOW?
Like wanting to get out of my skin (H) -yucky, icky, nasty, slimy, gross!!!
DO YOU HAVE ANY DIFFICULTY DRINKING MILK
Yes I cannot tolerate milk- I have lactose intolerance and the milk causes me a lot of bloating and abdominal discomfort
(I NOTICE THAT THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE OF THIE INTERVIEW THE PATIENT HAS BEEN SITTING WITH A BLANKET DRAPPED ACROSS THE FRONT OF HER LOWER BODY-LIKE A PROTECTION??)
PLAN : Homerus gamerus 1M
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FOLLOW UP JANUARY 21, 2004
I definitely feel more energy and there have been some changes to my skin- a skin tag that I had for months fell off and disappeared. Also I had some patches of eczema on my neck and they are 99% gone and my left hip which was giving me some pain is better. My throat pain was gone 2 days after I took the remedy!!! I feel stronger - like I have more energy and I don’t feel as weak or fragile. My left wrist still has some pain but it is somewhat better. I had a dream that I was directing Cyrano de Bergerac
FEELING IN THE DREAM?
A busy feeling. Cyrano dies in the end and I directed this play 30 years ago but I really love this play - It is very uplifting (H) and heroic. A heroic theme to it. Like a conquering kind of feeling- he has a very positive spirit and a lot of strength and humor- qualities that I admire. I had another dream where Chuck Norris was abusing his wife and he was in a lot of denial about it and the wife was meek. He wanted to change
FEELING?
Like the wife was weak and not strong and could have been hurt. Another dream where I was at a social gathering and I had the sensation of hunks of gum or thick soft chewy candy in my mouth and I am trying to peel it off my teeth - I knew you would like this dream probably because of the lobster.
LOBSTER?
Yes the image of the soft stuff inside and I remember we had talked a lot about that feeling last time - like it was raw and soft inside.
HOW IS THAT FEELING?
Well the raw feeling in the throat is gone- I don’t have it anymore.
FROM APRIL 2004 TO JULY 2005 SHE CONTINUED TO DO WELL
SHE REQUIRED 3 REPETITIONS OF HOMERUS 1M IN THAT TIME PERIOD
FOLLOW UP JULY 22 2005
I am having stomach pains (hand gesture rubbing her abdomen).
I also have a rash on my back for the last 2 days and I have been waking at night with a feeling of heat that comes up my body.
DESCRIBE THE STOMACH PAINS
It is like a tight knot - like a tight ball(H) of pain. It is like the size of a fist. It is like my digestion has stopped working
My system feels sluggish and it feels like it stops working. It feels stagnant, tight, locked up(H) - like a tight fist - like stuck- like a blockage. Like it is hard- a hardness- it feels aggressive
HOW DO YOU MEAN AGGRESSIVE
It feels alive in there and it feels like it is choking me but in my stomach not my throat - I feel a pressure and like I need to give my digestive system a rest. It feels overloaded and I don’t want to make it work.
TELL MORE OF THE FIST FEELING
Like compressed and squeezing- like it is compressing soft and spongy tissue and it is the size of a fist
DESCRIBE THAT CHOKING FEELING- WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR HAND?
Like a claw (SHE LAUGHS) - there’s that lobster again!! It feels pushed at and suffocating. It feels compressed- like there is no room for me
(SHE DESCRIBES A DREAM OF BEING PURSUED) FEELING?
I didn’t feel safe- like there was violence around- out of control and detached- like a retracted feeling.
PLAN: Homerus 1M
FOLLOW UP NOVEMBER 2006
One of my roommates passed away last month and there was such a loving and devotional feeling. It mitigated so much pain. My digestion is much improved - the pain is gone and it is much better. My psoriasis is almost completely gone
I am doing so much better. I have a bit of kidney pain like a band of tightness (H)- it is worse at night in bed - it is better with heat. I feel like I am holding a lot of emotion inside but I do not feel torn up- it has not hit me ( SHE IS REFERING TO THE DEATH OF HER ROOMMATE)
I feel too open and I am holding it in just to function (H). I hold it in my heart(H) - I have to be nice to those around me and I don’t feel I have a lot of space in my living situation.
WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE NICE?
I feel that I am the solid one - the together one. I have to be the one that keeps everything together and take care of others.
WHY? WHAT IF YOU DONT DO THIS?
Then I feel I would be devoured or obliterated so I retract and shut down and it makes me want to go away. There is no room for me and that makes me feel hopeless. I need space and at night when I come home I feel that my roommates are in my space and I retreat to my room because I don’t want them to see I am irritated. I need space.
PLAN: Homerus 1M
FOLLOW UP BY PHONE DECEMBER 6 2006
I had a temperature of 101.7 while you were in India and with my heart transplant, if the temperature goes about 101.5, I am supposed to call the transplant coordinator and inevitably it means that they will do a lot of tests and put me on antibiotics which I didn’t want to do. Then I remembered I had an extra dose of the remedy and even though I didn’t speak to you first I just took it. Within 45 minutes my temperature was normal at 98!!! I have been fine since.
HERE IS AN EMAIL FROM DECEMBER 13 2006
Hi Robert,
I just wanted you to know that I took my remedy that evening after we spoke and in the morning I woke up for the first time in a week without my throat feeling sore at all! Hooray!
Even more interesting is that my mood lifted. I had been feeling extremely apathetic and unmotivated. That shifted a great deal. Perhaps this happened in the past as well but I think because this time I was not as physically dramatically ill, perhaps I simply noticed it more clearly. It is truly amazing to me. Again I can't tell you how grateful I am to have found you and homeopathy.
many blessings
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Analysis
In this case , had I not known The Sensation Method, I do not think it would have been very easy to find a curative remedy for her. The Method led me to a much deeper understanding of this patient’s state when I learned about the source, Lobster, on the internet as you will see as I go through the analysis.
In the early part of the case she gave expressions of mineral kingdom when she talked of ability ( “I am not able...”) and wanting things to function normally and needing support and protection etc--expressions of problems with structure. She also gave images of plant- describing herself as a delicate flower and feeling of fragility. However, by understanding the Levels Of Experience and by focusing on the energy of the case, one is not misled. The issues of structure (mineral) and the sensation of fragility and delicate like a flower (plant) did not hold and carry the energy of the case.
The energy of the case, mainly observed by the hand gesture of the hand grabbing the throat, which tied in with her chief complaint ( the chronic sore throat) led to The Sensation of : it is doing it to me, me versus you, being pursued and attacked and killed, issues of survival. This indicated animal kingdom.
By probing the hand gesture (Sixth Level) the patient quickly dropped into levels 4 and 5 as she began to describe a process, a mechanism. By merely following her energy, she went into Sublevels B and C of Level 5 - i.e. she described subkingdom and source.
There are many instances where she used source language which I did not fully understand until I read about the source, Lobster (Homerus gamerus) on the internet. Then I was struck with how exactly she described the experience of Lobster- and this never fails to be exciting for me but is a natural result of The Sensation Method which delves into the energy so deeply that the patient comes to source- and then they do not just describe the source but actually become the experience of that source in the moment in front of you in the clinic. It is amazing!.
At this point a few words on the source, Lobster, and then comparing to what the patient said in the interview, will show clearly the phenomenon of the Similimum in this case
Lobster is a crustacean, an arthropod that possess bilateral claws ( an image she repeatedly described-source language). Lobsters live on the sea floor on rocky, sandy, or muddy bottoms. They generally live singly in crevices or in burrows under rocks. Lobsters are scavengers ( a word she used in the case) feeding on mollusks and on decaying animal matter. They also eat fish, dig for clams, sea urchins, algae, and eel grass. They have a cephalothorax - head fused with the thorax- and it is covered by a hard carapace ( she describe many times this hard shield - hard and tough)
Lobsters are eaten by humans and they are placed live in a pot and boiled or fried or grilled or baked (she talked about the heat and the fiery burning - being cooked this way is the eventual fate of many lobsters, there must be something in the Lobster that attracts this situation)
The shell of the Lobster makes eating it difficult and one may need a number of implements including a nutcracker. The shell is mainly cracked and the meat is exposed (she described the breaking of the shell and exposing the soft delicate tissue inside. Here is the most interesting thing about this patient and her history. She had a heart transplant in 2000 and this to me is the perfect stage to express the Lobster state physically: The heart went into failure and got enlarged ------ you will see the analogy later when you read about the molting process of the Lobster where the insides of the Lobster grow and the shell becomes too small-------the surgeon then cracked her chest open and exposed the soft pink bloody delicate tissue inside and took the heart out. Sort of sounds like what the Lobster goes through when it is served in a restaurant.)
The Lobster begins life as a tiny floating organism. After a month of growing, it sinks to the sea floor where it will spend most of its time hiding from predators (hiding was a word we heard in the case). As a Lobster grows, it often molts and loses its shell and grows a new one. It eats the old shell. This is a very vulnerable time for a Lobster as it loses the protection of its shell. It will often dig (digging was a word we heard in the case) or burrow into the sand or a crevice to hide from predators until a new shell is grown. Lobsters may molt 25 times in the first 5 years of life. This is the dilemma of the Lobster- in order to grow and accommodate the enlarging tissues within (in our case she had an enlarged heart) the shell, which is now impeding this growth (“The skin is like a barrier” “I need to break out of it” etc) must be molted. That means, however, that the soft tissues within (“soft and delicate”) are exposed and the Lobster is vulnerable to predators like fish (especially cod), Octopi, other Lobsters and people.
The following is an example of an important concept in using The Sensation Method and it is about the language of source. There were several instances when the patient was describing things which, at that moment in the case, I did not understand and so I was confused. I did not know what she was talking about and how it fit. This is a very important point in case taking---recognizing when a patient is using source language (language of the source of the remedy itself) because if you try to determine the remedy from source language alone, it will be very difficult and more likely impossible. You must first know the Kingdom and Subkingdom, and then source language becomes understandable, maybe not in the moment every time, but with the knowledge that the information on the Internet about the source will explain it. This was the biggest learning for me - recognizing the language of kingdom, subkingdom, and source and seeing how Kingdom and Subkingdom form the framework upon which source language can be understood.
So in this case the patient described: “like a container of something alive and without the barrier it evaporates” and “The barrier is the skin and there is open space beneath”---what is this about evaporates and the space??!!! I did not understand this at all until I read a little more about Lobster in the internet:
In advance of molting, the flesh inside the claws shrivels to a quarter of its normal size as water and blood leaves the appendage ( evaporates and she also talked of bloody tissue) leaving a space between the tissue and the shell!!! Much to the dismay of many diners in restaurants but thrilling for this homeopath to understand!!!
She also described in a follow up the stomach pain that felt “like a tight fist “ or a “knot” “tight” and “hard” a “tight ball of pain”-- more reading on the internet reveals this as source language again: In the process of molting, the lobster’s shell weakens ( she talked of weak) and the Lobster reabsorbs some of the calcium that will help harden the new shell. Some of the calcium is stored in a structure called a gastrolith (stomach stone) deposited on the outside of the foregut.
Lobsters are by nature aggressive ( a word she used) and secretive. If two Lobsters are in the same territory very quickly there is an establishment of the dominance of one over the other- usually the bigger of the two.
All the words she used earlier in the case about support and protection turned out not to indicate mineral kingdom. In this patient, they are issues to do with the Subkingdom of Crustaceans and Mollusks - safety , protection , support and that is because the animal has a shell used for protection. So these words are not limited to mineral Kingdom in every case.
Also, it is important to understand is that although the patient said ”Lobster” early in the case ( which came out of nowhere and made me think “where did that come from?” which is an indication that it may be source language- something completely out of the blue and seeming inappropriate), I did not immediately think “Oh she needs Lobster”. This is because the Lobster could easily have been an image (Level 4) and you cannot prescribe a remedy based on Level 4.
She was given Homerus because she energetically demonstrated the MECHANISM of the Lobster in mind and body- so, in this case Lobster was Level 5 sublevel C -source.
She was given a 1M potency because her ease in giving images etc indicated her level of experience on a day to day basis is level 4.
My thanks and deep gratitude to Dr Rajan Sankaran for his insight and brilliance and for sharing it with all of us in The Sensation Method
Robert Gramlich MD
Robert lives and practices in Los Angeles. He has studied extensively with Rajan Sankaran for a number of years.
