Week 11 - Energy Medicine and Energy Fields

Acupuncture as effective energy medicine...

For a modality to survive and thrive for over 3000 years it must be effective. 3000 years ago the Chinese did not have the anatomical and physiological undersanding that we have today. They figured out the energetic connections between the body, mind and spirit. The traditional correlations they figured out are still valid today. If we look deeper and deeper into the roots of acupuncture we will see that the earlier approach to health and healing was much more energetic. The ancients looked more closely at the spirit and emotions as causes of disease. It is more recently that the more physical aspects are even addressed. But as we are coming to see more clearly, as a culture, in recent years, the subtle flows of energy, thought and emotion affect us profoundly on a physical level.

I don't know how Chinese medicine describes anxiety and insomnia, but I would guess it has something to do with a disturbance in the heart energy. From a personal perspective I find acupuncture t o be very effective in dealing with these issues. My last treatment was specifically designed to balance my emotions. I have slept well for 4 nights in a row and feel relatively calm during a very stressful time.

Krilian photography...

So, I am feeling a little cynical today and honestly, I don't know what conclusions I can make about Krilian photography other that some folks are making money on other people believing that something valuable is being exposed with this technique. I never had my aura photographed before and I can't say it was a great experience. The woman at the store took one look at my photo and said "what have you been doing today?" with and air of disapproval. Apparently a white aura means lack of consciousness. Well, I had been driving for over an hour to get there and I hadn't slept well at all the night before. Now I realize that my experience is influenced as much by the reader as by the technique, I'm just not sure I buy it. If indeed Krilian photography is showing differences in the electromagnetic field I would feel much better about it if other devices could show the same thing. Yes, I am feeling very "western" today.

Human intent as it affects health...

Oh, this is such a tricky subject. On the one hand those of us in the healing arts want to think that our intention has something to do with how a person responds to our treatment. And a people who are looking to heal a particular issue withing ourselves we want to think that our intention will make a difference. But what happens with everybody's intention is focused on someone getting better or a condition improving and we just don't get the results we were intending? In the other side of the argument are examples where sick people are being prayed for and not even know it. And they get better, against all odds, without believing they could. In my practice I will err on the side that intention matters, but need to figure out a philosophy that that allows for intention to be ineffective. And that is a pretty deep philosophical/spiritual question.

week 10 - Life and Living Systems

I know I am a living system because...

...day after day this thing I know as my body continues to exist. But it doesn't just exist in a static state as, lets say, a chair or a table, bit it is constantly renewing itself. I take in raw materials like water, oxygen, and food, use these materials to replace dying cells and release waste in the form of CO2, dead skin, water, urea, feces, etc. It is the ability to renew myself that makes me sure I am a living thing. If I wasn't, the raw materials that compose my body would become food for other living things and I would be nothing but a pile of formless goo.

Biophysics and Oriental Medicine...

Oriental medicine approaches the field of biophysics by looking at how energy flows through the body and how that energy can be manipulated and transformed by needles, massage, movement, herbs, color and intention. There are instruments that can measure the flow of, and change in flow, of energy in the meridians. Unforunately I don't know exactly what is being measured with these instruments. Some of these instruments are callibrated to reflect inflammation (excesses), balance and depletions in an "organ system". They are also designed to reflect what would happen if a particular substance (or suppliment) were added to the system.

So lets say a person was toxic with heavy metals and that was putting a drain on their liver and kidney function, a practitioner skilled with this system could pull a specific combination of suppliments from the shelf and put it on a metal plate that connects to the instrument and the individualo, lets say milk thistle and (for the liver) and chlorella (to pull out heavy metals). When the most supportive combination for healing was found, the intrument would register a strong reading.

Very cool stuff indeed!