Caroline was a forty six year old woman, who was referred by her doctor because of learning difficulties and deafness. The doctor hoped that any attempt to improve Caroline’s pronunciation of speech sounds would improve her communication and quality of life.
Caroline had had a cleft palate repair as a child and lack of oxygen during the repair had left her with a marked speech impediment. To communicate Caroline used a combination of gesture, signing (Makaton – a language programme using signs and symbols) and speech. Her speech was muffled and unclear due to the excessive nasal resonance caused by the cleft in her palate, although her articulation of single words was clearer than connected speech (sentences).
At the time of Caroline’s referral, I was running a funded pilot study to compare the benefits of alternative therapies with the orthodox medical model of symptom focused treatment for clients with learning disabilities , within the National Health Trust in which I worked
Alternative, holistic therapies combining touch, toning (healing with the voice), colour and music offer the client positive experiences which help to replace any past unhappy memories of physical and emotional abuse and bullying . Imprints of negative memories reinforce the client’s poor self image and lack of identity triggering feelings of loneliness and abandonment .
Holistic therapy which focuses on the creative intuitive aspects of the brain, triggers the client’s own self-healing mechanism and like the process of photosynthesis , which uses sunlight to produce a chemical reaction to promote growth, nourishing vibrations produced by music, colour and voice, begin to restore impairment to improve thought processing and verbal communication.
When the choices of therapy were explained, Caroline’s care staff thought that she would benefit from this approach because she had received massage in the past which she had really enjoyed. Caroline however, lacked confidence in new situations and was initially nervous of sampling any of the therapy offered. However she expressed a desire to watch and one of her carers happily volunteered to receive an initial reflexology session, which Caroline was to observe. However, half way through the reflexology session, Caroline jumped up from her seat, approached the therapy bed and vigorously attempted to push her carer off the bed saying loudly ‘my turn now.’
She was asked to wait until the following week and although disappointed, reluctantly agreed. Caroline’s therapy programme would include energy alignment ( Emerald Alignment) to strengthen and seal her energy field, reflexology to release physical tension and vocal toning which had many health benefits. Although she enjoyed having her feet touched and held, Caroline would not initially trust me or the process enough to close her eyes and her eyes remained open at all times during these early sessions. When eventually vocal toning was introduced, there was no response from her at all, although she remained still and peaceful on the therapy bed. However, within a few weeks, others in her environment noticed a difference in the clarity of her speech and noted that Caroline had become more talkative and independent, removing her own shoes and clothes before bed, rather than waiting for a carer to initiate this activity. After her first session, Caroline had taken her carer to the reception desk and instructed her to make another appointment for her.
Although she became more talkative and animated as she entered the room for our sessions, Caroline was always very still and quiet once she was on the therapy bed. After two weeks, she began to close her eyes momentarily as I vocalised the heart and throat tones to balance and align the energy of those centres .
One afternoon after two months had passed; she arrived for her appointment, fully made up with a new hair colour (titian red) and a new hand bag. She said that she had been unwell and had been sick and then showed me her left knee and indicated her lower back which she said was hurting. She climbed onto the bed and as soon as her feet were touched she sat upright and began to make the base tone /ER/ (this chakra tone releases tension and impacted energy from the base of the spine and links to the spine and the kidneys). It was the first time that I had heard Caroline attempt to tone. I joined in with the toning and Caroline slowly lowered her head back onto the pillow. We moved up through the tones to align her energy with sound and she again joined in with the heart tone /HA/. At the end of the session, once on her feet, she enthusiastically told me that her knee and back weren’t hurting any more.
In the next session Caroline gave me the name of her carer who she said needed to come and have a session. This was not the first time that a carer had been referred by a client! The funded pilot study also generously offered six sessions of a holistic therapy of choice to care staff as well as the client . My hope was that the carers, through this healing opportunity, would realise that their mental and emotional state impacted on their clients and that an aligned and peaceful energy field positively affected their interaction and relationships at work and at home. The member of staff referred by Caroline was experiencing difficulties at home and she made herself an appointment a week later saying that Caroline had told her to come and see me.
I was told that in the residential home, Caroline was offering to tone and hold the feet of her carers . She had carefully observed the practice in the therapy room and was wrapping her carer’s feet in a tea towel (rather than a towel) which she had found in the kitchen before beginning the session. She would then make a specific tone and loudly demand that her carers join in with the toning.
On one particular visit as she lay on the bed, Caroline gestured to show me that she had a tingly feeling on the right side of her head, when her toes were touched, indicating that there was activity in that aspect of her brain. On this particular day Caroline made each of the eight chakra tones with me. Her carers eagerly reported that everyone was noticing that Caroline’s speech was becoming much clearer.
Staff reported that relationships were improving in Caroline’s family because there was greater ease in conversation and staff members could understand what she was saying, therefore there was less frustration and anger at being misunderstood.
This session marked the end of Caroline’s four months of holistic treatment.
We were now at the end of the twelve month period of funding and although Caroline and others like her had made great strides in communication and independence, I was told that no more funding would be available because the indications were that the flood gates would open because the demand for the service was so great and the service would be unable to meet the need of the client financially.
It was this decision that prompted me to leave the National Health Trust and establish my own Light Voice Consultancy practice which would enable me to train teachers to take this work forward. Caroline’s carers referred Caroline to her local doctor in the hope of obtaining funding but were turned down. Unfortunately, when faced with the choice of spending her own limited resources on receiving holistic treatment or using the money for clothes and meals out, Caroline chose the latter and I did not see her again.
Caroline was a forty six year old woman, who was referred by her doctor because of learning difficulties and deafness. The doctor hoped that any attempt to improve Caroline’s pronunciation of speech sounds would improve her communication and quality of life.
One afternoon after two months had passed; she arrived for her appointment, fully made up with a new hair colour (titian red) and a new hand bag. She said that she had been unwell and had been sick and then showed me her left knee and indicated her lower back which she said was hurting. She climbed onto the bed and as soon as her feet were touched she sat upright and began to make the base tone /ER/ (this chakra tone releases tension and impacted energy from the base of the spine and links to the spine and the kidneys). It was the first time that I had heard Caroline attempt to tone. I joined in with the toning and Caroline slowly lowered her head back onto the pillow. We moved up through the tones to align her energy with sound and she again joined in with the heart tone /HA/. At the end of the session, once on her feet, she enthusiastically told me that her knee and back weren’t hurting any more.