Everything can be blown away, a case of Campanula rapunculus

A 40-year-old woman came in January 2011 with pain in the sternum and in the sternocostal joints, as well as pain in the upper part of the spine. She had a bicycle accident 10 years earlier and feels her problems might be connected to that. She also catches colds easily with shivers and bronchitis and then coughs for a long time. Sometimes she feels stressed and she is constantly tired.
She works as a physiotherapist in her own clinic, and her special exercises help with her pain; sport and exercise generally improve her. She also mentions dry skin and white spots on the fingernails as signs that she is out of balance.
She is a slim, medium-height, sensitive woman. She is very reserved and appears shy and unsure when she tries to express herself and explain how she experiences the world. Her sensitivity makes me cautious in how I phrase my questions; I notice that I too speak carefully and hesitantly so as not to disturb this fragile being. She is very compassionate when she hears that a child is ill.
Last year she experienced a lot of stress from weekend training courses and a great deal of work in her clinic. Another issue is her 5-year-old son, who is slightly delayed in his development and often suffers from obstructive bronchitis. She is very attentive to him, does everything she can to help him and constantly makes appointments with therapists to support his development. When he has bronchitis he is sometimes so weak that she has to carry him to the toilet.
She constantly worries about his health and development, and this costs her a lot of energy. When he is ill she has to cancel all her appointments and then feels guilty. When her son has a cold it is difficult for her not to imagine the worst and she is very anxious about his future; for example she worries whether he will be bullied at school, etc. She wants to do everything as well as possible and is very committed to her work.
Asked about her childhood she says it was ordinary, yet she was not happy as a child. She only realised this in recent years through attending psychotherapy courses, which helped her a lot. In that course she felt very connected with her group: "They accepted me as I am!" I asked her what she meant by that and she said: "It is difficult for me to be who I am!" She is sometimes a little afraid of other people: "...that I do not do well enough, and then I feel unloved because I am not functioning properly. In the past I was only loved if I was compliant and led an orderly life. I am afraid of being abandoned if I do not function properly; I am afraid of losing people if I do not do everything as well as possible."

About her father she says: "He is a nice man, but very moody, he always had stomach problems, and if he didn't like the food his wife had prepared he became angry and said to her: 'You can eat that yourself!' Her mother did not want trouble in the family and gave in easily.
She feels loved by her partner. She says that in an earlier relationship she initially felt quite strong, but over time became more and more dependent on him, and as a result she felt increasingly weak. She says she only feels strong when she has a partner; she doesn't like being alone.
She says she can eat large portions. She cannot tolerate mushrooms because they cause bloating. She likes chocolate, cheese, vegetables, sweets and bread. When she is anxious she feels a lump in her throat. She suffers from agoraphobia. Generally she is more cold than warm.

What is special about paragliding for her?

She returned in March: her neck and shoulder pain had improved by 50%. She is more relaxed, her PMS (premenstrual syndrome) is better, she regards herself as more stable. She says she no longer worries so much about her son. She feels stronger in her relationship, finds it easier to voice her opinion. She also has more self-confidence in groups, organises her own time and does what is best for her. On climbs, for example, it is no longer a problem for her to be slower than the rest, and she can easily make this understandable to her companions. I recorded this as confirmation for the core idea.

Follow-up in June:
Her son had bronchitis again, and she was greatly worried about him. A few weeks earlier her garden had been badly damaged by a hailstorm and she was shocked. She says: "Within 5 minutes my whole garden was destroyed! Since then I have felt shaky, it doesn't take much to throw me off balance."
"How do you feel?"

The Campanulaceae according to Jan Scholten
They have the feeling that they must strive to be loved, appreciated and noticed. They do a lot for others, they are very capable, very talented and sensitive, soft and sympathetic.
They often feel insecure. They lack the strength to cope with the world, a world that is often too heavy for them to manage. They are sensitive and soft, angel-like people, as if they were not properly incarnated, as if they are not grounded.
They also have pronounced Bor characteristics: no ground under the feet, wobbly, unstable, insecure, clingy (stage 3).

In his description of the Campanulaceae Jan Scholten writes: "They have the feeling that their father does not see them; their solution strategy is to do what he wants to gain his love, or to do what they believe he expects of them. Their father is often too busy to perceive them, and this leads them to feel worthless."
She was angry with her father because she constantly had to treat his back pain physiotherapeutically, and he would always start lifting heavy things again the next day. She then felt she would have to put him right again.

Three months later: She says she had not felt so well in years. She reduced her working hours: she now finishes one hour earlier to have time for her clinic paperwork so she does not have to do it in the evening. She notes: "I come first now!" She does more for herself. The worries about her son have changed. He was ill again, but she was no longer so anxious; she realised that he is old enough to cope and that this bronchitis is not life-threatening; so she can take it in her stride. She can distance herself more from others, and it is easier for her to say "No!": "I have become more self-confident and am very competent in my work!" Previously she always worked longer to get the best for her patients; now she stops earlier and feels that this is acceptable.

Summary