MEASURING PROGRESS ON THE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

by Dr. Lawrence Wilson

All information in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

Assessing progress with a development program can be difficult. Reasons for this are:

1. Hidden. Progress can be hidden. In some cases, we call this “laying the foundation for health” because, like the foundation of a home, it is often hidden.

2. Retracing. Symptoms of retracing can arise at any time, and occasionally are vigorous and scary. Occasionally one feels more sick, but this is temporary and due to retracing, not to illness or weakness.

3. The order of healing. Your most important symptom may not go away quickly. With the development program, the body heals symptoms and health conditions in its own order.

This is an unusual concept. It is a feature of the bioenergetic and whole system approach of the development program.

It can be very frustrating when the symptom you think is most important such as headaches or a skin rash does not go away quickly. However, this does not mean you are not progressing on the program.

In almost all cases, it just means you have other, perhaps hidden, latent and chronic conditions such as a cancer that are much more important to heal first. Then the body will attend to other symptoms.

Allowing the body to heal conditions in its own order stops many latent illnesses from developing. It is the best preventive method available and one of the main advantages of the development program.

4. Development. You may be developing, and this requires extra rest and sleep. As a result, you may find yourself quite tired at times. This does not mean you are not progressing. In fact, it may be an indicator of your progress.

5. The program is mechanical. Another principle to recall is that if you follow a development program properly, you will progress, even if you don’t notice it.

On the other hand, in our experience, if one follows other programs, symptoms may well go away, but very often the impact on one’s overall health and development is negative.

This occurs because it is often easy to make a symptom vanish using remedies (drugs, herbs, homeopathic remedies or vitamin/mineral products). However, most remedies are too yin in macrobiotic terminology, and many are slightly toxic in other ways. This is why we suggest avoiding most healing remedies.

6. The indicators below all have flaws in them. However, IF CONSIDERED TOGETHER, they can help one assess where one is with the healing process.

7. Even with these indicators, assessing progress can still be difficult, so be cautious when attempting to measure your progress.

8. For another method of assessment that can be most helpful, read The Stages Of Development.

THE PROGRESS INDICATORS

1. Out of four lows. This is especially important if you were in a four lows pattern when you began a development program.

Weaknesses: Many people go in and out of a four lows pattern several times as they heal. This is perfectly acceptable, and almost always indicates healing and retracing, usually of traumas or other issues involving parents.

Eventually, you should remain out of a four lows pattern. For more details, read Four Lows Pattern.

2. A normal or slightly high sodium/potassium ratio (in a range of about 2.5 to 5).

Weaknesses: Many people experience a temporary low Na/K ratio as they retrace infections, and during some toxic metal eliminations.

Even just passing through a stressful situation can lower the Na/K ratio temporarily. This is not necessarily a backslide.

3. Out of the cult. If you formerly drank the red or rooibos tea, ate a tunafish and fruit diet, used anti-perspirants, or did any of the other things associated with the cult or rape diet, a milestone is when these no longer show up on your hair test. For details, read The Cult Or Rape Diet.

4. Eliminating some cadmium. Cadmium is a more difficult toxic metal to eliminate deeply. It usually requires at least several years on a program before it begins to be eliminated. When this occurs, it is a positive sign of progress, particularly restoration of the adrenal glands.

Weaknesses: At times, cadmium may be eliminated early during a program. Usually, however, there is much more of it left inside the body. So this is not a perfect indicator.

5. Balancing the oxidation rate. Ideally, the rate should not be extremely fast or extremely slow.

Also, it should not be a mixed oxidizer pattern with one ratio indicating extreme fast oxidation and one ratio indicating extreme slow oxidation. Eventually, the rate will settle down into a mild to moderate slow oxidizer pattern.

A measure of progress is when the oxidation rate is only mildly fast or mildly slow.

Weaknesses: At times, the oxidation rate may become imbalanced, especially during a toxic metal elimination such as boron, which can increase the oxidation rate for a few months.

6. Out of a calcium shell. This means the calcium level for a woman must be less than 165 mg% and for a man less than about 155 mg%.

This is another indicator of a more balanced body chemistry, and often an indicator that some trauma has been cleared, as well.

Weaknesses: In some people, a shell may remain for years, either steadily or it may come and go. This does not mean that one is not making progress with healing.

7. Out of double low ratio pattern on the first four macrominerals and on the second four minerals, as well. Double low ratio patterns indicate double give-up and are considered death patterns. It is excellent to be free of this common pattern.

Weaknesses: At times, a double low ratio pattern, especially on the second four minerals, will persist for a few years. This indicates that one is retracing traumas. It is not a problem and does not mean that no progress has been made.

8. Few or no poor eliminators. Poor eliminator patterns indicate that the body is having difficulty eliminating a toxic metal or a toxic form of a physiological mineral. Usually, the body is quite toxic with this element.

As one progresses on a program, there should be fewer of these patterns present on the hair analysis retests.

Weaknesses: As one heals, poor eliminator patterns may come and go for complex biochemical reasons. This does not mean that no progress has been made.

9. A good phosphorus level. The hair phosphorus level reflects the ability of the body to synthesize protein. This is an important function.

As one heals, the hair phosphorus level should approach 16 mg%, and should ideally remain close to this level.

Weaknesses: Now and then, a hair phosphorus level will dip down for a few months, even when one is progressing well. One reason for this is an elimination of lead from the body. Lead can displace upward the hair phosphorus level. When one eliminates lead, the phosphorus level may decrease temporarily.

The phosphorus level may also decrease due to a temporary zinc deficiency. Zinc is required for all biosynthesis.

For example, if one eliminates cadmium, arsenic, aluminum or other toxic metals, at times zinc is used to replace the toxic metals or to help shepherd them out of the body. This creates a temporary zinc deficiency and this can temporarily impact biosynthesis and the hair tissue phosphorus level.

10. Good toxic metal levels. As one progresses, the levels of the toxic metals move toward their ideal ranges. The ideal range is not too high, and not too low (the poor eliminator pattern). These ranges are listed in the article Hair Mineral Ideals on this website.

Weaknesses: Two weaknesses are: 1) at times, more of a toxic metal will be eliminated, causing an elevated toxic metal reading, and 2) at times, the body may retain a toxic metal, causing its level to move very low into a poor eliminator pattern.

11. Good zinc and copper levels. Copper toxicity is very common. As one progresses, the copper level should move into a good range between 1.5 and 2.5 mg%.

Zinc levels also vary a lot on hair mineral tests. As one progresses, the zinc level should settle into a good range of about 14 to 18 mg%.

Weaknesses: Stress, and occasionally a toxic metal elimination, can temporarily upset the zinc and/or copper levels, even though one is making excellent progress.

12. A more even and less ‘choppy’ appearance of the mineral analysis graph. As one heals and develops, the mineral chart usually has a more even look to it, with fewer readings that are very high or very low.

THE DEVELOPMENT OR “JOY” PATTERNS

In addition to the above, there exists a set of mineral patterns that indicate excellent progress on the development program. We call them the development patterns. An older term for them is the joy patterns of advanced acupuncture.

For details about them, read The Development Or Joy Patterns.

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