The person you are madly in love with rings the doorbell, shooting tingles and goose bumps of excitement dancing along your skin. Your two-year old child breaks free and races towards the middle of the street, ending a similar sensation into action under your feet. A song, which touches you deeply, tickles chills down your spine, while a compliment sends a rush of warmth to flush your face the color of blush red wine… Is there a movie scene, which brings a tear to your eye, or anything else that, moves you to cry? When we speak about the significant things in life that move us, what is the “us” that they “move”? What happens in the examples above, from a flash of panic to falling in love?
In Chinese Medicine, it is our energy or “chi” which is literally set in motion by what we feel, taste, touch, and see. When our chi (energy) is flowing free we experience both health and vitality. Dis-ease, by definition, is when that smooth energy flow gets stuck, or starts to move too fast or too slow. When people reach for coffee to stimulate their get-up-and-go, it is not really because they lack energy, but because their energy lacks flow.
Imagine yourself to be a bustling city, full of constant flux and activity. “Chi” to fuel and light the way for your physical motions as well as thought and emotions, travels through power lines called acupuncture meridians. These meridians or power lines carry energy from the centralized power generators (deeper reservoirs of the body found in what acupuncturists call the “eight extraordinary vessels”) to the factories, which make flesh and blood (organs). From there, the “chi”, blood, and fluids that are created are carried via the peripheral power lines (where acupuncturists put needles) to light up the homes and offices of your brain and sense and muscle functions, keeping you on the go and giving you your glow.
Breakdowns can occur in the centralized stations that generate “chi”, and the peripheral power lines that distribute it to your extremities too. When they do, they can create havoc in the city that is you. An excess burst of “chi” can short circuit a wire and cause an insomnia fire, while a lack of power can lead to traffic jams and constipation dams. In the reverse, emotional flood flashes, fluish car crashes, or any other disturbance out and about the town can cause the power lines to shut down. Acupuncture needles and herbs can be used to divert “chi” that is excess or too hot to places where the energy is not, freeing stagnation and creating harmony, balance, and well being.
How?
The life force flow of “chi” itself is generated by the harmonious interaction of relative opposites, similar to the way that water placed over fire gives rise to the movement of steam. All disease processes in Chinese Medicine may be reduced to a simple interruption in the “chi” due to imbalances between factors from an opposing inner team: fire and water, yin and yang, weak and strong. Regardless of how seemingly complicated the diagnosis; the terrain may be navigated by the city map of opposites in Chinese Medicine. The basic rule is to cool what is hot and warm what is cool. We dry what is damp and where there is dryness let the water pool, supplement what is deficient by taking from what is full and push where there is pull. Then, the “chi” can flow free with no traffic jams or storms at sea, and the body/mind can recall the reality of its own vitality.
Pain comes to us as a signal, like a fire alarm, to tell us where there is an alert or imbalance in our town. If we ignore the sound of the fire alarm, or put in earplugs (like taking an aspirin) our neighbors might get a little inflamed and come knocking at the door. Because we’ve numbed ourselves we cannot hear them either, and pretty soon we’ve upset the whole neighborhood. Fire trucks arrive, louder and louder sirens blare, and more dramatic disease flair, which could have been avoided, had we only listened to the alarm in the first place. In our busy modern lives, with distractions like cell phones, beepers, TV and Internet surf, many of us miss the subtler alarms on our inner turf. In the quiet haven of a treatment session, the patient can drop in and really hear the message that the pain has come to deliver. Then, rather than taking the battery out of the alarm and shooting the messenger, we can put out the fire so the patient gets the health and vitality they desire.
Do I cure my patients? Do I bloom the jasmine blossoms beneath my window? Just as it is natural for a jasmine to bloom when given water and sunlight and plenty of room, patients cure themselves There are no doctor elves, just gardeners who help to fertilize and dig wells, and grow and be well.Sheva Carr, L.Ac., received her Bachelors Degree from Carnegie Melon University, Yale School of Drama, and Dalhousie University. After spending a year working with street children doing theatre in Central America, her passion to be of service to them combined with her own illness led her on a journey to receive a Master’s Degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine from Yo San University. Now a certified Polarity Practitioner, as well as Nationally Certified and State Licensed to practice Oriental Medicine, she integrates her previous experience in the performing arts (acting, writing, dancing) and spiritual practices, with a private practice in the healing arts. She has been published in Perspectives in Biology in Medicine, and has done extensive work with a cardiac biofeedback stress management research center called The Institute of Heart Math in Northern California.