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.

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.

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...

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.

I Ching in a Nutshell

I received a request for more information about the upcoming I Ching classes.  Here are my thoughts on the I Ching in nutshell.  Feel free to contact me if you have specific questions.

The I Ching is THE book on Yin and Yang, and a vital textbook for acupuncturists who wish to better understand exactly how Yin and Yang work beyond the basic correspondences, at very complex levels of organization.  The first class in February will focus on a small group of Hexagrams, which we will cover in detail. Participants will receive the tools they need for continuous, meaningful study of the I Ching. At the second class in March we will build upon what we learned in the first class, and discuss the remaining Hexagrams.

Why is studying the I Ching important for acupuncturists?  In the treatment room, this information can be used to improve diagnostic understanding, to appreciate the choices your clients make within a larger framework of the changes going on in their lives, and to clarify the healing arc that will best serve your client.

The Yin and Yang balance of any situation can be interpreted meaningfully in several different ways.  The empahsis of this class series is practical applications of the I Ching.  Participants will be shown not just one way to work with the I Ching, but ways to understand it on a deeper level, so they will be able to easily develop their skills and find their own connection to the movements of change.  At the end of these classes, participants will have a very firm understanding of the different ways that Yin and Yang are interpreted and used, and will be able to analyze any event they encounter into complex patterns of Yin and Yang (Hexagrams).

Monday Mission: Season 1, Episode 4

Your Monday Mission for this week, should you choose to accept it, is to pay attention to your Breathing with every needle you insert this week.  Breath is often ignored during actual practice.  However, it is a vital part of the needling process and, if used well, will make your needles and therefore your treatments more effective.

There are many diferent ways to use Breath in acupuncture.  But the most important thing to remember for most people is TO breathe!  It is all too common that we lock our legs, lean forward from the waist, and hold our Breath while we quickly insert the needle before moving on.  For this week there are two parts to the exercise:

First, check in and make sure that you are breathing the entire time you are working.  If you catch yourself holding your Breath, STOP, take a moment to focus, relax, and Breathe deeply at the tableside in a comfortable position.  When you are able to Breathe freely again, and only when you are able, proceed with your insertion and technique.  Take as long as you need with each client to do this.  One needle inserted with good Breath is worth at least three that are just tapped in, so you will not be losing any time with this important exercise.  Over the week, you will find that you will be better able to maintain a nice, slow, deep Breath with every insertion.

Second, and only if you can do the first part above, try to make your Breath a little deeper and fuller with each insertion.  Explore how luxurious one single Breath can be, and how long it can seem to last.  Savor each Breath as much as possible, spending an eternity in a moment with each point.  Do this second part only when you can maintain even and full Breathing throughout each treatment.  There is no sense rushing ahead - you will only be cheating yourself out of the benefits of the exercise.

In your journal, keep track of what comes up, and when you have difficulty Breathing in your clinic.  Sometimes stopping your Breath is a sign that you are not valuing yourself and your work as fully as you deserve.  Sometimes it happens only in the presence of certain clients, or when needling certain points.  If it happens repeatedly with some clients, think about what is similar among all the clients and how you feel when they are with you in the treatment room (notice I did not say "when you are with them in the treatment room" - own your space!).  If it happens with specific points, see if you are contorting your body to reach those points and whether a shift in your stance might open up your Breathing more.

Again, stay with this one as long as you feel you need.  Working well with the Breath is one of the most under-appreciated and under-used methods of dramatically improving your treatment results.  Remember that this Mission is not a race.  It is better to finish the Mission well than finish it quickly.  If you go into next week with this one, or even into the week after, you can pick up the next exercise when you are ready.

Monday Mission: Season 1, Episode 3

Your Monday Mission for this week, should you choose to accept it, is to continue working at paring down the number of points you needle in each session.  For this week, pay attention to your techniques - whatever techniques you use in your treatments with the style you practice.  The focus of this week will be on the physical movements of the hands.  Try to take a fresh look at the way you needle, and make every movement as strong, agile, and eficient as you can make it.

An easy way to pare down the number of points you use, for most people, is to pay better attention and make better use of your technique.  As technique improves, you will often not need as many points to get the results you want.

In addition, this is an excellent week to PRACTICE your needle skills when you are not treating clients.  Adding fifteen minutes a day of practice to really hone your form will pay off by next Monday.  If you are working through these exercises with a Mission Buddy, set a time to get together and critique each other's physical technique.  Look for places where your parter is holding tension in his or her body, or where the movements seem sluggish or the focus begins to wane.  Having another set of eyes and honest feedback can be a big help.  If you are working through the exercises alone, write down what you find when you look closely at your needlework.  Are your fingers at the most efficient angle with the needle handle?  Do you feel in control the whole time?  If not, at what point in the technique do you lose control of the needle?  Where do you feel tension in your body?  Keep track also of any emotional responses that come up, directions that your Mind wanders, lack of clarity in your Intention, and so forth.

If you were not able to use your average number of needles on the bulk of your clients last week, see if you can get a little closer this week.  If you were able to do so, try to shave off one more needle on average this week.