A Story from My Practice: Vertigo

“The whole world is spinning around me, as if I were in a centrifuge.”

This was how a client described the experience that brought her to me: repeated episodes of severe dizziness, nausea, and a sudden loss of control over her body. The episodes came without warning and significantly disrupted her daily life.

One recent episode had happened at the gym. She was running on a treadmill when she suddenly lost sensation in her legs. She could no longer feel the floor beneath her, and her body stopped responding. She had to sit down on the floor immediately. She experienced intense dizziness, a sensation that her vision was shaking, nausea, and a strong sense of danger.

Even the gym no longer felt safe. She feared being alone with this and having no one to help if another episode occurred. She felt tightness in her chest and a sense of helplessness.

Earlier Experiences

During the session, she recalled similar experiences from earlier in her life.

One of the first episodes occurred around age twenty and lasted about ten seconds. She was standing on the steps of a bus when she suddenly lost consciousness. She came to sitting on the sidewalk outside, with no memory of falling. People nearby watched, but no one stepped in to help.

Another significant experience involved intense stress, fear of an unwanted pregnancy, and what she described as hormonal strain. After taking Postinor, she experienced physical disruption and heavy bleeding. On her way to the subway, she suddenly collapsed at the bottom of the stairs. She was very weak, pale, and disoriented, feeling as though her strength was draining away with the blood. She sensed that the situation could be serious.

Only one woman, a stranger, helped her. Other people passed without paying attention. This theme kept returning: falling, feeling helpless, and being surrounded by people who did not respond.

Early Childhood

An early childhood experience also emerged, from when she was about three or four. During a fever, her mother undressed her and wrapped her tightly in a sheet. She lay unable to move, feeling intense anxiety in her chest. She then lost consciousness.

Within the session, this emerged as the earliest strong impression of helplessness and loss of control over her body.

A Past-Life Experience and a Recurring Physical Pattern

In the next stage of the session, an experience emerged that we explored as a past life, with the client’s soul in a man’s body.

The scene appeared to take place in medieval times. A man is dragged onto a platform and tied to a stake. His hands are bound behind his back. Executioners stand nearby, with a crowd in front of him. A nobleman reads a document declaring him a traitor. Although the man knows the accusation is false, no one stands up for him. He feels helpless and wronged. The crowd watches, but no one helps.

He loses his rights, his property, and his family. His body weakens. His legs cannot support his weight, his head spins, and he feels intense pressure and throbbing in his head. He repeatedly loses consciousness.

The Horse Ride: A Key Physical Experience

A messenger arrives with another document and prevents the execution. Severely weakened, the man is placed on a horse. He cannot hold on or sit upright. His body hangs across the horse’s side, his head pointing down. As the horse moves, his body sways and jolts. He experiences intense dizziness, disorientation, and the feeling of blood rushing to his head. Severe nausea follows, along with pressure in his stomach and the urge to vomit. He cannot sense the position of his body and loses his spatial orientation.

This continues for about half an hour before the ride stops and his body can be at least partly straightened. Even afterward, he remains very weak and unsteady, feeling that his head and body are out of balance.

The Rest of His Life and His Death

In the story that unfolds, the man spends the rest of his life in seclusion at a monastery. He gathers herbs, makes ointments, and tends the garden. For the first few years, he still hopes things will change. Eventually, he accepts his fate. He dies a natural death, experiencing difficulty breathing and pressure in his chest.

In the experience explored during the session, his soul returns to his estate after death. He sees his children, now grown. He discovers that his wife is with the same nobleman who condemned him. Anger and a deep sense of betrayal arise. Gradually, these emotions soften. He comes to forgive everyone, and his soul is able to move peacefully onward into the light.

A Recurring Pattern

During the session, similar physical sensations emerged in three other experiences explored as past lives. Each involved a combination of:

• Loss of control over the body
• Weakness in the legs
• Dizziness
• Pressure in the head
• Spatial disorientation
• Helplessness while others stood by

After the Session

Afterward, the client described a noticeable sense of physical calm. She reported less tension in her head and chest and a steadier sense of her body. The feeling of suddenly losing control, which had previously accompanied her vertigo episodes, felt less intense.

She left with a greater personal understanding of the connections she perceived between her physical experiences and memories of stress. She described feeling less as though she were in immediate danger, with a greater sense of stability and grounding.