The Power of Energetic Medicine

A different type of thinking is required when accepting acupuncture's therapeutic power. A patient of mine didn't believe me when I said acupuncture could penetrate the joints without needling to go into the joint with a needle. Yes, this is true. Acupuncture is energetic medicine. Energy is something that cannot be seen. It can certainly be felt. Modern physics is perhaps the closest way of seeing acupuncture. The biological way of looking at the body is largely structure-based, while physics concerns itself with energy which is often invisible.

The body is composed of roughly 72 energy channels that travel through all of its exterior and interior. The acupuncture points are located on the external anatomy of the body. However the channels connected to these points delve deep into the interior of the body: into the organs, joints, bones, blood vessels, even the DNA.

There are layers of energy flow within the body. Superficial energy of the skin and muscles, deeper energy of the blood vessels and flesh and the deepest energetic level of the bone and marrow. Each of the these energetic layers can be accessed through acupuncture points along the skin.

When we are able to shift our thinking from the concrete view of substance into that of energy, the science of acupuncture can be grasped. Chinese scientific philosophy sees the universe as composed of energy that takes on different degrees of density. Modern physics shares much of this view. Energy in its most dense form becomes substance: what we feel as solid. The next subtler form is liquid: we can still see it, yet it is less solid, with the ability to change shape. The most subtle degree of energy is the gaseous state. Gas cannot be seen, sometimes it can be felt.

The body possesses each of these degrees of energy: the bone, flesh and organs are solid, the blood and fluids are liquid, and the energy within the channels of the body are gaseous. The fact that each part of our bodies are interconnected, as well as the law that energy can be transformed (not created or destroyed), shows how utilizing the subtlest substance within the body can effect the less subtle substances. Working with energy within the channels of the body sends messages to the flesh, bone, blood and organs. This energy can be transformed from its gaseous state into the liquid state of blood, or even into the solid state of flesh. The subtle, invisible energy manipulated by acupuncturists can build blood or rebuild the flesh; it can even transform pathological substances within the body into something usable by affecting function of the organs of the body.

Energy, like blood, flows and moves. The respiration process described in Western biological science illustrates how subtle energy flows via the blood to all of the tissues of the body, sending messages, exchanging, transforming, promoting healing and growth. The blood moves from the heart into the lungs via blood vessels: the blood carries the oxygen-gas of the lungs throughout the entirety of the body.

The Chinese discovered points along the exterior of the body where the subtle energy flow could be communicated with. Thousands of years of study allowed the Chinese to document which points communicate with which areas of the body. It was discovered that points on the toes for example, communicate with areas as far away as the sense organs of the face; or a point in the lower leg communicates with the genitals; or a point of the arm with the heart.

Beyond simple point energetics, however, channel energy flow shows how the deeper layers of the body are communicated with. Within the energetic anatomy of the body, there are 12 muscular channels that communicate with the muscles and skin of the body; 16 Blood-related channels that communicate with the body's blood vessels; 12 channels that communicate with the internal organs; 12 channels that communicate with the joints and bones; and finally 8 constitutional channels that communicate with the brain, uterus, marrow, spine, as well as the DNA.

Each of the body's roughly 72 channels possess points along the external anatomy of the body. The acupuncturist can access these channels through needling points on the skin. There are various methods of opening the energetic layers of the channels, via needling technique and point combinations.

Through opening the Divergent Channels, which communicate with the joints and bones, conditions within these areas can be addressed. The subtle energy of the channels can be used to clear out or transform any swelling, debris or inflammation within the joints. It can also be used to rebuild the bone and/or cartilage through its transformation into blood and substance, as well as its ability to effect function of the internal organs.

When someone has a problem within a joint, they can go for surgery, have their doctor cut into the joint and remove the debris, or they can take a pill to dampen the fire burning within the joint. Or they can allow an acupuncturist to place a few very thin, painless needles along specific points on the skin, which will send the subtle, gaseous energy of the body into the site of injury to expel the inflammation through urination, rebuild the structure through transforming into nourishing blood, and clear the debris through breaking it down and expelling it.

Addressing the joint problem with acupuncture, however will have very few side-effects. There will be no surgery to recover from, no medication for the body to metabolize, no disruption of the body's natural healthy functioning. While the problem is cleared away, the body will actually be strengthened. To insure the problem is resolved, and doesn't come back, the digestive and immune systems will be fortified at the same time the injury is cleared. This is the beauty of systemic medicine like acupuncture: one can treat the site of pain or disharmony, as well as strengthen the body's health and strength in general.

More people should know about this.

Strengthening Immunity Through Acupuncture

Chinese Medicine is due to take its place as one of the best ways to resolve chronic conditions that are degenerating the body. In order for this to happen, the truth about chronic degenerative conditions must be explored and understood. What is it that causes the body to weaken and become overrun by forces that break it down?

Within classical Chinese medicine, immunity is the most important force within the body. The energy that is the equivalent of the modern concept of the immune system is "yang qi." When the yang qi is strong, outside forces cannot get into the body to cause damage. It is only when the yang qi is weak that germs can cause illness. Why is it that some people do not catch the colds of those around them, and others pick up anything that is going around? The person who remains healthy probably has strong yang qi. Preventative medicine therefore focuses on optimizing the body's yang qi.

Unfortunately, many of us have weakened our yang qi through the use of over-the-counter cold medications, antibiotics, steroid medications, inappropriate diets, emotional overwhelm or overwork. Growing up in Nebraska, every time I caught a cold, my doctor would give me an antibiotic. The cold would go away. However, knowing what I know now, I understand that the antibiotic didn't resolve the condition: it didn't kill the germs as my mother believed, but pushed them deeper into my body. The steroid inhalers I used for years to control my chronic asthma symptoms weakened my body's yang qi.

The ancient Chinese saw the inflammatory response of the immune system as a positive aspect of the healing process. Cold and wind (climatic metaphors for virus and bacteria in Chinese Medicine) were seen as outside forces that come into the body to cause damage. The inflammatory response that cause symptoms we associate with cold and flu is the body's yang qi attempting to resolve the condition. Even within classical Western medicine this was accepted medical thought. "Give me a chance to create a fever and I will cure any disease:"a famous quote by Parmenides. Louis Pasteur is quoted as saying" "the germ is nothing: the terrain is everything."

Yang qi is seen as a heat mechanism within the body that essentially burns up the germs, creates sweat and fluid discharge to flush out the germs. The symptoms of a cold or flu are the positive healing mechanisms to fully resolve a condition in its initial stages. When the symptoms are suppressed, the yang qi of the body is weakened, allowing the germs to make their way into the deeper terrains of the body where they lurk. A lurking condition begins to consume the resources of the body, eventually weakening the person. Anything stuck within the body will create heat. At this stage the heat is different from the productive heat of the yang qi. The heat produced from a stuck external germ is stagnant heat. Almost like the heat produced when we are feeling frustrated. This heat burns us up.

When yang qi is weakened, the problem can be sublimated into the joints. The yang qi is shuttled with the germ into the joint where it continues to fight. This diversion of the yang qi bastardizes it. Instead of remaining on the outer borders of the body where it belongs, it is brought inside, where it causes internal damage.

This brings to my mind the image of a battle within a walled ancient city. When the battle is being fought outside the city gates, there is little damage to the homes and people within the walls of the city. Yet, if the walls are breached, the battle comes inside: homes are burned, people are killed and big problems begin to occur. Imagine this scenario: a city is under attack. The soldiers rush to the outer walls of the city to fight. Yet for some reason, the king of the city decides to remove some of the soldiers from the borders because he needs them to run the shops within the city, as to not disrupt daily city life. The borders become overrun, and the fight continues within the city. Houses are burned, civilians get caught in the crossfire. The internal problems are due to a bad decision by the king. If he would have continued reinforcing the outer borders of the city, the invaders could have been stopped, and internal damage would have been avoided. However, to do this, daily activity within the city would have been interrupted for a time. To me, this seems acceptable if it would prevent the internal domain of the city from being attacked.

This is essentially the process that occurs in the body. Unwillingness to interrupt daily activity allows the battle to move into the internal terrain of the body, allowing temporarily relief, yet causing damage overtime. The deception is: once the condition is allowed into the interior of the body, symptoms may disappear for awhile. The cold symptoms go away, and everything seems fine. Yet, inevitably the condition will reappear in a different form: often that of degeneration.

My mother was taught that fever was dangerous, and needed to be stopped. So she inadvertently gave me medicine that weakened my defenses, allowing the condition to move inside my body, creating internal degeneration: chronic asthma, digestive problems, susceptibility to infection.

It must be stressed that a condition must be controlled through working with a medical professional. At times of attack, the body does require support: fluid regulation, boosting of yang qi. Also, symptoms of the healing process can be eased with acupuncture without weakening the immune energy.

A teacher of mine said he believed acupuncture to be such a powerful healing modality for the simple fact that no substance is put into the body. Acupuncture adjusts the energy within the body; it does not rely on any foreign medication. It strengthens without any residue to be metabolized or detoxed. It is a powerful way to rebuild and maintain the body's defenses against foreign invaders.

Faith and Courage Within Insecurity

This seems to be a time of great fear and uncertainty. I don't recall so many people around me feeling as vulnerable as they appear lately. Certainly the economic difficulties of the past year contribute. Being in a time of war, and the memory of the war being brought to our own land is also contributing to a sense of insecurity. One can retreat into fear and despair at times such as these. However, periods of uncertainty can also allow us to examine the issue of security in general: where does our sense of security come from? What is the base upon which our lives are built? In a world that is constantly shifting, how do we keep from falling apart every time we are faced with change, instability and uncertainty?

Many of the greatest innovations within Chinese Medicine occurred during times of great instability. The time of the Warring States allowed the birth of the great medical classic The Nei Jing, upon which Chinese Medicine is based. Times of epidemic also brought revolutionary contributions to the medicine. These times of difficulty pushed both the medical field and the common folk to examine what it takes to maintain and restore health.

During the time of the Nei Jing a greater emphasis was placed upon personal responsibility in maintaining health. The word responsibility is not meant as a judgmental term. Its intention is not to shame people, but to help set them free. Responsibility gives a person back a sense of control and action. It is very easy to feel a victim when difficulty arises in life: in one's health, financial security or relationships. Being a victim strips a person of responsibility and therefore the ability to change or improve their circumstances. It is a self-defeatist state.

Fear is the biggest hindrance to a sense of responsibility. The Buddhists often describe the habitual human mind as caught in fearful resistance to pain and discomfort, addictively grasping for pleasure and comfort. This puts a person into a state of bondage. Both states cause suffering: the pain for obvious reasons, the pleasure for the simple fact that sooner or later it will end.

Taoist philosophy views human life as possessing a curriculum, or lesson the spirit has chosen to explore. The spirit calls to a person challenges to cultivate wisdom. Within each challenge is the opportunity to transcend the difficulty.

Transcendence within Taoist philosophy comes from letting go of resistance. The more we fight, the tighter our internal knots become. Fear of pain causes us to resist the pain, causing suffering to increase and endure. It's like being caught in a giant spider web, panicking, struggling: allowing ourselves to become more tightly enmeshed.

I'm not suggesting for a moment that non-resistance is easy. I have experienced many sleepless nights in my life: caught in nameless fear, unable to relax: spinning myself tighter into the web of my insecurity. When I've asked myself what it is I'm afraid of, the only answer I can come up with is: uncertainty.

A great Chinese physician of the ancient time, has said all fear is fear of oneself. Within Chinese Medicine, fear is associated with the Kidneys and Gallbladder. The Kidney is associated with the essential self. To many of us, our true selves are a mystery. The imagery of the Kidney suggests this is natural. One of the chief acupuncture points on the Kidney meridian associated with fear is called "The Mysterious Dark Gate." When one looks into oneself, they look into a mysterious space filled with darkness. The idea of meditation is shining the light of the Heart down into the mysterious darkness of the Kidney.

If looking into the mysterious depths of the self is associated with such fear, why do it? It is the Gallbladder that answers this question. The Gallbladder is the bridge between the meridians representing our normal daily life, and those representing our evolution: past and future. Taoist philosophy believes the curriculum is a given: one has chosen to explore certain issues. There is no escape from these lessons. If one cannot transcend these lessons in this life, they are brought by the Gallbladder into the next. The Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron calls this "the wisdom of no escape."

As I am worrying myself into a tight net of suffering, all I am trying to do is escape. From what? The Gallbladder would say: myself. I am running away from my true self from lack of faith. If the challenges I'm being faced with were brought to me by my spirit, running from them is running from my spirit. Why would I want to run from my spirit; from myself? Another Kidney point provides an answer to this question. The point "Yin Metropolis" teaches that one must be within society to learn lessons to cultivate the spirit and know the self. The "Yin" aspect of the metropolis is the calm focus rooted in the self. The faith that comes from connection to the mystery of the self allows a calm demeanor amidst the busyness of the city. When one lacks faith and focus on one's inner self, focus is directed outwards into the unpredictable world. It is like the ocean: on the surface the water is choppy and rough; yet below the surface, the water is calm and easier to navigate.

The fear in diving below the surface of the ocean, into the darkness of the self is rectified by the Gallbladder, which has the power to connect a person to his "marrow." Within Chinese Medicine, the Brain is seen as the "Sea of Marrow:" the depository of the experiences of all lifetimes. At the very top of the head lies the point "100 Meetings:" a point containing the image of meeting with the ancestors. When one is brought out of the small minded fears of daily survival into a greater view of where we come from, we can be emboldened. Taoist philosophy believes we inherit all that is unresolved within the family line. It is passed on to us. Therefore, "100 Meetings" can provide the awareness that we have the entire family line standing behind us: they all want us to succeed in resolving our lessons, as they will benefit as well. Courage can take the place of fear.

I cannot help but see all difficulties of health, mind and spirit in a spiritual light. For me, this has always been the way to transform my (sometimes debilitating) fear into courage. This is the main reason I decided to become an acupuncturist. I needed a compass along my journey. There needed to be a reason for my suffering. As well as a way out of it. I desire freedom. The Nei Jing provides this compass. I was not finding within the "metropolis" the compass I needed. It is very moving to me that the name of the second book of the Nei Jing is translated as "The compass of the soul." To me, this is powerful medicine. A way to maintain and restore health, as well as a way to move toward freedom and wisdom.

When the insecurity comes, when fear overwhelms, when worry ties a knot in the abdomen, or anxiety puts a brick in the chest: meditate on the very top of the head, asking for the courage and expanded view from "100 Meetings." Bring that energy down through "The Mysterious Gate" at the meeting on the ribs under the chest, through the "Yin Metropolis" near the center of the abdomen, down into the Kidneys. Breathe. Know that your spirit chose this: not to punish you, but to set you free.