Hello Again!
Hello, everyone! I have been away for the past few months teaching, writing, and most of all getting ready for the birth of my son. It seems that while I have been busy elsewhere, the good people at Blogger have also been busy. When I logged on today to the blog, I discovered a host of lovely new tools for making the blog tres chic. I hope you all like the new look as much as I do. I will be tweaking things in the weeks to come, as I have a slew of new things I want to put up here.
Let me know what you all think of the changes as they happen. I am setting a schedule now for more regular posts. I have had requests for more information about energy/Ki/Qi dynamics in the clinic, and also requests for more information about the I Ching. I will be adding these topics more regularly into the posts. If there are any other things you would like to hear more about, bop me an e-mail and let me know.
Also, if you enjoy the blog, please join the community to follow it. It takes a second for you, has no nefarious strings attached, and helps me a lot in becoming more visible on the internet. The number of followers I have for this blog affects the ease with which I show up on search engines.
Cheers! See you all again soon.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
What is Open Hand Acupuncture?
July 10-11, 2010
Over the past 10 years, I have been working with different styles of Acupuncture and Craniosacral Therapy in my clinic. Along the way, I stopped seeing a great difference between open handed work and needle work except, of course, the presence of the needle as a treatment focus. Open Hand Acupuncture is the result of this evolving work, and focuses on the central concepts of Qi flow that are equally applicable with open hand work or needle work.
The Theory and Basic Rhythms class will present these different central concepts of Qi flow and how they apply specifically to open hand treatments. We will draw on elements of more orthodox Craniosacral Therapy and Acupuncture models to delve deeply into improving your direct connection to your client’s Qi with your bare hands. The goal of this work is to help you move further in your own work and develop a more individual treatment style that is authentic to you and the unique ways you naturally understand and relate to Qi. You will leave this class with skills and treatment protocols that you will be able to put to use immediately, and which you will be able to adapt to fit the specific needs of your clients.
Acupuncturists and body-workers of any style and level of experience are welcome.
Over the past 10 years, I have been working with different styles of Acupuncture and Craniosacral Therapy in my clinic. Along the way, I stopped seeing a great difference between open handed work and needle work except, of course, the presence of the needle as a treatment focus. Open Hand Acupuncture is the result of this evolving work, and focuses on the central concepts of Qi flow that are equally applicable with open hand work or needle work.
The Theory and Basic Rhythms class will present these different central concepts of Qi flow and how they apply specifically to open hand treatments. We will draw on elements of more orthodox Craniosacral Therapy and Acupuncture models to delve deeply into improving your direct connection to your client’s Qi with your bare hands. The goal of this work is to help you move further in your own work and develop a more individual treatment style that is authentic to you and the unique ways you naturally understand and relate to Qi. You will leave this class with skills and treatment protocols that you will be able to put to use immediately, and which you will be able to adapt to fit the specific needs of your clients.
Acupuncturists and body-workers of any style and level of experience are welcome.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Tell Me Another Story! Tell Me Another Story!
Many of us have stories – great, terrible stories that we use to impress others, about how we used to do this or that, and then we suffered such an injury, and we still feel it today. These stories come into our lives after we get hurt in a way that does not heal quickly. Chronic ailments can seem to become lifelong companions. And after a time, our impressive stories begin to define us, so that we cannot imagine walking through this life without our pains. When we get to a point where we no longer seek out help to get rid of a pain, but only to manage it, we have stopped (at least temporarily) seeking to heal.
I mean no judgment in saying this. I have had such a companion of pain myself for the past two decades. A back injury I sustained earlier in life became my defining “war story.” On the positive side, it pushed me to study back pain and the structure of the body to the point where that became my specialty in the clinic. This drive has helped me do a lot of good for people. But on the negative side, I have been increasingly aware that my back pain and the story of my injury are getting a little too comfortable on the sofa, if you know what I mean. Having guests that overstay their welcome is SO tiresome!
So how to we get rid of these bad houseguests? If you hear the right story, it is as easy as pie. Most injury stories have the same basic structure – they are essentially saying, “I used to be great and strong and fearless, and I got this bad injury which continues to plague me.” A story like this is saying two things. First, it is telling the listener that the person was once great and strong and fearless. Second, it is telling the listener that the injury is the reason why the person is no longer these things. The injury becomes an affirmation of the existence of traits that the speaker wishes to see in himself or herself, but also lets him or her ‘off the hook’ if those traits cannot be seen right now, because, really, how could they with such an injury?
For the remedy , I follow the advice of my beloved niece who, after hearing a good story exclaims, “tell me another story!” And that is just what you do. You tell another story. The difference is that in the new story you do not mention the injury and the heroic manner in which it was received. You focus, instead, on how great and strong and fearless you are. Period. By shifting the focus to the good things that you want out of the story, and away from the bad things that are holding you back, you rewrite your life as it unfolds. When the treatment takes care of the injury, and as your pain lessens, you keep telling stories that nourish and support you. After a while, your stories become grander and grander, and you forget about the injury altogether.
So honor the story you have been telling up to this point. Tell it one more time if you need to, or if you are talking with a client, ask them to tell you the story one last time in detail. Then let it go. Let it go and tell a new story in which you are not injured, but getting stronger and stronger. If you are not already in treatment, go get treatment to support the new you. In a short period of time, you will have left your injury companion behind and moved into a far greater way of living. From time to time, if you find that you wake up expecting pain or come across some other reminder of how things used to be, recognize the event as similar to an old sock left behind by an untidy houseguest. And it may be that there are a lot of socks that you find left behind in this way. But for each one, smile, take a breath, change your energy around it, and let it go – just like throwing an old sock into the garbage.
I mean no judgment in saying this. I have had such a companion of pain myself for the past two decades. A back injury I sustained earlier in life became my defining “war story.” On the positive side, it pushed me to study back pain and the structure of the body to the point where that became my specialty in the clinic. This drive has helped me do a lot of good for people. But on the negative side, I have been increasingly aware that my back pain and the story of my injury are getting a little too comfortable on the sofa, if you know what I mean. Having guests that overstay their welcome is SO tiresome!
So how to we get rid of these bad houseguests? If you hear the right story, it is as easy as pie. Most injury stories have the same basic structure – they are essentially saying, “I used to be great and strong and fearless, and I got this bad injury which continues to plague me.” A story like this is saying two things. First, it is telling the listener that the person was once great and strong and fearless. Second, it is telling the listener that the injury is the reason why the person is no longer these things. The injury becomes an affirmation of the existence of traits that the speaker wishes to see in himself or herself, but also lets him or her ‘off the hook’ if those traits cannot be seen right now, because, really, how could they with such an injury?
For the remedy , I follow the advice of my beloved niece who, after hearing a good story exclaims, “tell me another story!” And that is just what you do. You tell another story. The difference is that in the new story you do not mention the injury and the heroic manner in which it was received. You focus, instead, on how great and strong and fearless you are. Period. By shifting the focus to the good things that you want out of the story, and away from the bad things that are holding you back, you rewrite your life as it unfolds. When the treatment takes care of the injury, and as your pain lessens, you keep telling stories that nourish and support you. After a while, your stories become grander and grander, and you forget about the injury altogether.
So honor the story you have been telling up to this point. Tell it one more time if you need to, or if you are talking with a client, ask them to tell you the story one last time in detail. Then let it go. Let it go and tell a new story in which you are not injured, but getting stronger and stronger. If you are not already in treatment, go get treatment to support the new you. In a short period of time, you will have left your injury companion behind and moved into a far greater way of living. From time to time, if you find that you wake up expecting pain or come across some other reminder of how things used to be, recognize the event as similar to an old sock left behind by an untidy houseguest. And it may be that there are a lot of socks that you find left behind in this way. But for each one, smile, take a breath, change your energy around it, and let it go – just like throwing an old sock into the garbage.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Heisenberg or Hindenburg?
Picture this: you are at a party, and have become the center of a conversation. Why wouldn’t you? Acupuncturists are fascinating! You are chatting with a mixed group, including some trained scientists. You decide to sound like a champ by mentioning something along the lines of how acupuncture research may be limited because of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle (which you heard somewhere). Suddenly, the scientists’ eyebrows furrow, they look down and smile, and excuse themselves. You have just inadvertently confirmed your listener’s assumption that acupuncture is pseudo-science. Why? What is it about mentioning Heisenberg that makes a perfectly nice conversation go down in flames like a giant flaming hydrogen-filled dirigible from the late 1930’s?
There is a risk involved when you start to explain your work using terms that come from other disciplines. If you are going to reference concepts from physics, it is always a good idea to look them up beforehand. In the case of Heisenberg and his popularly referenced principle, there is a widespread misunderstanding among the general public about what it is and what it says.
Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle states that one cannot measure the position and the momentum of a particle to the same degree of precision, and that when one is measured more accurately, the measurement of the other becomes less accurate. The Principle discusses the measurement of two physical properties that are understood and can be quantified on their own, but not together. Most of us do not reference Heisenberg to say that science cannot measure two physical properties of acupuncture at once (what does that even mean? Hence, the furrowed brow at the cocktail party…).
What we are trying to say when we bring up Heisenberg is something along the lines of how the very act of trying to measure the flow of energy in acupuncture introduces an outside energy that changes the whole system. That is to say, that one cannot measure the flow of energy without changing it by the act of measurement itself. This is correctly called the Observer Effect in physics, and it is a valid consideration when talking about the potential limits of acupuncture research with the tools and methods we have available to try to understand and quantify Qi.
This may seem like a small thing, but as long as acupuncturists are going to try to validate and explain what they do with words borrowed from other disciplines, in behooves us to be as accurate as possible. The conflation of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle and the Observer Effect has been around for a long time in popular usage. And while we as a profession were certainly not the cause of the confusion, we look good if we demonstrate that we are educated about the difference.
There is a risk involved when you start to explain your work using terms that come from other disciplines. If you are going to reference concepts from physics, it is always a good idea to look them up beforehand. In the case of Heisenberg and his popularly referenced principle, there is a widespread misunderstanding among the general public about what it is and what it says.
Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle states that one cannot measure the position and the momentum of a particle to the same degree of precision, and that when one is measured more accurately, the measurement of the other becomes less accurate. The Principle discusses the measurement of two physical properties that are understood and can be quantified on their own, but not together. Most of us do not reference Heisenberg to say that science cannot measure two physical properties of acupuncture at once (what does that even mean? Hence, the furrowed brow at the cocktail party…).
What we are trying to say when we bring up Heisenberg is something along the lines of how the very act of trying to measure the flow of energy in acupuncture introduces an outside energy that changes the whole system. That is to say, that one cannot measure the flow of energy without changing it by the act of measurement itself. This is correctly called the Observer Effect in physics, and it is a valid consideration when talking about the potential limits of acupuncture research with the tools and methods we have available to try to understand and quantify Qi.
This may seem like a small thing, but as long as acupuncturists are going to try to validate and explain what they do with words borrowed from other disciplines, in behooves us to be as accurate as possible. The conflation of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle and the Observer Effect has been around for a long time in popular usage. And while we as a profession were certainly not the cause of the confusion, we look good if we demonstrate that we are educated about the difference.
Monday, March 8, 2010
The Gift That Keeps Giving
My birthday was last month, and my wife and I went out for a lovely brunch and a movie. It was a splendid day, which sadly ended with me contracting food poisoning at the restaurant (we are pretty sure it was the hollandaise sauce). This led to a… shall we say, “eventful” evening and night for me. I have been jokingly referring to it as ‘the birthday gift that kept on giving.’
And yet, there is some truth in this title. On a deeper level, getting sick can be a wonderful and informative experience for a practitioner, and one that should be, dare I say, relished. It is one thing to read about symptoms in a book. It is quite another to feel them firsthand. Besides the increased compassion gained for what a client is going through, being “sick” is an opportunity to pay attention to subtle changes going on in one’s own body during the progression of the “illness.”
The food poisoning also gave me a fascinating look into the mechanism involved in Dramamine. At about 3am, when the food was completely gone from my system and yet I was still vomiting, we decided that it was time to take an anti-emetic. I am not a huge fan of taking strong medications, but as the prospect of visiting the ER for a fluid IV appeared before me, I decided to take the pill. Almost immediately, I felt a line across my abdomen, around the level of Ren 12. Below this line, there was a sensation of downward pressure – the potency of the drug yielded a heightened feeling of the body’s action of separating the pure and impure and moving the impure Qi down as waste. This was extremely interesting, and has given me a visceral understanding of this function of Qi, and also a new appreciation for the mechanism at work in anti-emetic herbs and drugs.
So what to do with this? Well, I have no plans to start tasting all the medicines I can get my hands on and finding out what they do to my body. I tell you this story as advice to stay present as much as possible, and to get as much personal experience about how your Qi moves in all stages of health. Your own difficulties in life will be invaluable in helping you understand the problems faced by your clients.
And yet, there is some truth in this title. On a deeper level, getting sick can be a wonderful and informative experience for a practitioner, and one that should be, dare I say, relished. It is one thing to read about symptoms in a book. It is quite another to feel them firsthand. Besides the increased compassion gained for what a client is going through, being “sick” is an opportunity to pay attention to subtle changes going on in one’s own body during the progression of the “illness.”
The food poisoning also gave me a fascinating look into the mechanism involved in Dramamine. At about 3am, when the food was completely gone from my system and yet I was still vomiting, we decided that it was time to take an anti-emetic. I am not a huge fan of taking strong medications, but as the prospect of visiting the ER for a fluid IV appeared before me, I decided to take the pill. Almost immediately, I felt a line across my abdomen, around the level of Ren 12. Below this line, there was a sensation of downward pressure – the potency of the drug yielded a heightened feeling of the body’s action of separating the pure and impure and moving the impure Qi down as waste. This was extremely interesting, and has given me a visceral understanding of this function of Qi, and also a new appreciation for the mechanism at work in anti-emetic herbs and drugs.
So what to do with this? Well, I have no plans to start tasting all the medicines I can get my hands on and finding out what they do to my body. I tell you this story as advice to stay present as much as possible, and to get as much personal experience about how your Qi moves in all stages of health. Your own difficulties in life will be invaluable in helping you understand the problems faced by your clients.
Writer's Strike?
February turned into the Lost Month for me for a variety of reasons, many of which I will be posting about in the near future. For those of you wondering where the Monday Missions have been, they will return shortly. Let's chalk it up to the Olympics and the Oscars disrupting regular television...
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Treating Fibromyalgia
As I promised in my response to this facebook post by the good people over at Crane Herbs, here are my thoughts on treating fibromyalgia with acupuncture:
In almost every case of fibromyalgia that I have treated, I have found strong lines of tension and a number of active points at the base of the occiput and along the midline over the cervical vertebrae. I recommend you examine this area carefully. When you are palpating, allow your search area to extend to the Gallbladder lines along the occiput, and to the HuaTuo lines along the neck.
Palpate very gently, using light short strokes with the pad of your finger. You are feeling for active points that feel like small depressions. At first, do not actively try to find the points, just try to feel the differences in the skin quality. If you palpate with this mindset and keep your finger relaxed, you will not have trouble finding the active points. If you stiffen your finger and palpate with the mindset of seeking out the points on the neck, you will feel very little. Once you have found the points, change your palpation method and make small circles to define more precisely the characteristics of the points. Often they will feel soft, “empty” and slightly spongy, and will have a light buzzing sensation that you will feel when you rest your fingertip lightly in the center of the depression. Keep your pressure very gentle while you are doing this. If you press deeply or cause any pain, you will cause the area to tense up. This will activate the Wei Qi in the area and make the active points will become more difficult to find and treat.
Insertion into these points has to be very shallow. If you are skilled at using a Teishin or Enshin, these tools are excellent for treating the active points you find. If you are using an inserted needle, use the highest quality and thinnest needle you can. A Seirin #00 would be the lowest quality needle I would recommend for this purpose. Those of you who have studied needle technique with me, I recommend Call and Response in the direction of the dominant Vector, with a target depth of about 1 mm. Those of you who have not studied with me, I recommend you learn and use Shudo Denmei’s wonderful Super-Superficial Technique. It is not the technique I use, but it is lovely, I think it should work quite well with the treatment points I have described, and a description is available on the web. You can read about it here: http://www.najom.org/essays/Shudo_Tx_of_Depression.doc
The local treatment of the area works well when combined with a root or constitutional treatment. I suggest that you keep your root treatment as simple as you can. A minimalist approach in this case helps your client focus more on the work being done on the neck. I have found that too many body needles can distract from the benefits of the local in this case. Do not rush working with the local area – the changes you make at the neck points will provide the bulk of the relief for the client.
I have found that how you position your client is also important in this treatment. What is most important is to keep the back and neck totally relaxed. If your client is uncomfortable and feels the need to lift his or her head up or tense the back and neck, it will make things difficult. Prone works well if the face-rest is comfortable. A massage chair is often a better choice for some clients. If neither is possible, try positioning the client sitting comfortably at the side of the table and leaning forward, resting on several pillows and the top of the table. Before you start examining the neck, gently feel the muscle tension in the neck and back. If the muscles are loose and the client feels relaxed, it will probably be fine.
If client position is difficult, and if you are skilled in Open Hand Acupuncture, Craniosacral Therapy, or another form of hands-on work that allows you to treat meridian and point disharmonies with your hands alone, here is another way I treat fibromyalgia: Place your client supine, and apply a simple root treatment with your needles. Seat yourself at the head of your client, and do whatever you need to do to ease into your treatment connection. Once you are “in,” use your hands to examine and release along the bones and muscles, and at the acupuncture points in the above-mentioned areas. Work lightly and take as much time as you need within your style of work to release the neck well. As with the needle technique, deep pressure into the neck or head will make treatment more difficult and will most likely not produce the desired results.
If you have any questions about what I have written here, please feel free to e-mail me, or to post comments below. I have treated many clients over the years with these methods, and have found the results to be excellent.
In almost every case of fibromyalgia that I have treated, I have found strong lines of tension and a number of active points at the base of the occiput and along the midline over the cervical vertebrae. I recommend you examine this area carefully. When you are palpating, allow your search area to extend to the Gallbladder lines along the occiput, and to the HuaTuo lines along the neck.
Palpate very gently, using light short strokes with the pad of your finger. You are feeling for active points that feel like small depressions. At first, do not actively try to find the points, just try to feel the differences in the skin quality. If you palpate with this mindset and keep your finger relaxed, you will not have trouble finding the active points. If you stiffen your finger and palpate with the mindset of seeking out the points on the neck, you will feel very little. Once you have found the points, change your palpation method and make small circles to define more precisely the characteristics of the points. Often they will feel soft, “empty” and slightly spongy, and will have a light buzzing sensation that you will feel when you rest your fingertip lightly in the center of the depression. Keep your pressure very gentle while you are doing this. If you press deeply or cause any pain, you will cause the area to tense up. This will activate the Wei Qi in the area and make the active points will become more difficult to find and treat.
Insertion into these points has to be very shallow. If you are skilled at using a Teishin or Enshin, these tools are excellent for treating the active points you find. If you are using an inserted needle, use the highest quality and thinnest needle you can. A Seirin #00 would be the lowest quality needle I would recommend for this purpose. Those of you who have studied needle technique with me, I recommend Call and Response in the direction of the dominant Vector, with a target depth of about 1 mm. Those of you who have not studied with me, I recommend you learn and use Shudo Denmei’s wonderful Super-Superficial Technique. It is not the technique I use, but it is lovely, I think it should work quite well with the treatment points I have described, and a description is available on the web. You can read about it here: http://www.najom.org/essays/Shudo_Tx_of_Depression.doc
The local treatment of the area works well when combined with a root or constitutional treatment. I suggest that you keep your root treatment as simple as you can. A minimalist approach in this case helps your client focus more on the work being done on the neck. I have found that too many body needles can distract from the benefits of the local in this case. Do not rush working with the local area – the changes you make at the neck points will provide the bulk of the relief for the client.
I have found that how you position your client is also important in this treatment. What is most important is to keep the back and neck totally relaxed. If your client is uncomfortable and feels the need to lift his or her head up or tense the back and neck, it will make things difficult. Prone works well if the face-rest is comfortable. A massage chair is often a better choice for some clients. If neither is possible, try positioning the client sitting comfortably at the side of the table and leaning forward, resting on several pillows and the top of the table. Before you start examining the neck, gently feel the muscle tension in the neck and back. If the muscles are loose and the client feels relaxed, it will probably be fine.
If client position is difficult, and if you are skilled in Open Hand Acupuncture, Craniosacral Therapy, or another form of hands-on work that allows you to treat meridian and point disharmonies with your hands alone, here is another way I treat fibromyalgia: Place your client supine, and apply a simple root treatment with your needles. Seat yourself at the head of your client, and do whatever you need to do to ease into your treatment connection. Once you are “in,” use your hands to examine and release along the bones and muscles, and at the acupuncture points in the above-mentioned areas. Work lightly and take as much time as you need within your style of work to release the neck well. As with the needle technique, deep pressure into the neck or head will make treatment more difficult and will most likely not produce the desired results.
If you have any questions about what I have written here, please feel free to e-mail me, or to post comments below. I have treated many clients over the years with these methods, and have found the results to be excellent.
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