How exactly does “balancing the meridians” help bring about health?
Every acupuncturist says this, as if the body springs to health once the meridians are "balanced." That is not true. The body does not stay balanced and you cannot maintain a perfect balance because nothing in your life has really changed. You are thinking the same, reacting the same, moving the same, etc., some of which has brought you out of balance in the first place. And what happens when life throws you a curve, as it always will inevitably do, on top of that? It could get very expensive to constantly come in for "balancing."
There is always a Factor
Therefore our goal here at Gentle Strength Acupuncture is to help uncover the underlying root of the imbalance. It can be a few major factors or a myriad of small factors, but there is always a factor.
Stimulating the acupoints, with the correct intention and at the correct level for the person, will increase the body’s energy. This comes from releasing energetically blocked areas or allowing energy to come into deficient areas. This is called balancing the meridians.
Insights and Solutions Already Exist
The whole purpose of becoming balanced each time, being that all treatments are cumulative and builds upon the previous one, is to allow the insights that will come from your innate intelligence to automatically come up from within yourself during the treatments. If the body does not receive these insightful "instructions," then the treatment will just be a "feel good" treatment. The meridians themselves form a network of communication and takes these "instructions”"to activate healing in the body.
The only drawback to this happy scenario is that it is not enough to activate the healing. It needs to continue this process on its own without constant "rebalancing of the meridians." And we have found that it is the quality and depth of the "insights" that will directly or indirectly allow a consistent source of energy. That is our goal- to help this to happen, whether it is for physical or emotional pain. Often the line blurs between what is physical pain and what is emotional pain, as both improve no matter which is considered the main problem.
Nothing can Happen Without Energy
A steady flow of energy is crucial to any type of healing, whether it is to heal a physical pain, a disease, or an emotional issue. The body needs this consistent energy to do 3 things:
1: to notice that there is a problem, foremost
2: to assess the situation and to figure out what to do
3: to fix the problem with no interruptions in order to allow a steady repair for a cure.
It is Not Obvious
Most people do not know that they have this information deep within themselves because it only stands to reason that if you are in pain, in fear, in anger, in sadness, in frustrating, seemingly uncontrollable life situations, how can you even have a strong, consistent flow of energy? It takes all of your effort simply to survive each day. Then you become adjusted to it, as you must. The consequence? Areas of your body become "numb" and energetic blockages are formed. All disease or pain, no matter what the name of it is, stems from this occurring.
Physical Pain
For physical pain, the energetic blockages as well as the manifested physical blockages need to be released before anything can happen. Then the body is able to receive its proper instructions again and continue to do its job correctly. The blood can rush in to supply oxygen and nutrients and lymph can clear out toxicity and metabolic residue. All of this will revive the problem areas, whether it is a muscle spasm, a torn ligament or an inflamed joint.
Emotional Issues
For emotional issues, the energetic blockages created by old belief systems, emotional or physical abuse, uncontrollable persistent thoughts, unresolved past issues or simply from lack of clarity can be released also. The treatment, however, needs to be delivered to the proper level for this to be effective. For more information on how the body’s innate intelligence is accessed for this purpose, read Accessing the Body’s Innate Intelligence by Using Chinese Medicine.
Why Don't We Just Do What We Know is Good for Us?
By the way, these insights during a treatment can either be conscious or unconscious. Most of the time, you will not realize it is happening. It does not really matter. Words spoken at a seminar, books read or even intellectually understanding what to do or how you are "supposed" to think are of little benefit. Anyone that is the least bit health conscious generally understands what brings about health: proper thinking, eating, movement, but why is it so difficult to do it?
This is due to the many thoughts and beliefs that we are not aware of that keeps us tied to old habits and tendencies. A good audio CD by Dr. Candace Pert, a very traditional, renowned scientist with many years of scientific double blind studies behind her, later felt strongly to conclude this statement, which is the title of her talk: The Body is the Subconscious Mind.
Let it Work Automatically
Immediately, the innate intelligence will begin opening and repairing, bringing back function to the cells, whether they are muscle, bone, nerve or organ cells. The freed up Qi/energy accelerates this process. Definite physical changes will occur, alleviating the symptoms that brought you into our clinic in the first place. But you will also find yourself becoming happier, perhaps feeling calmer which allows better sleep, and any number of changes that we hear about so often.
The Body Cannot be Rushed
In order to let the changes happen, we feel it is important to give each person enough time to make the energetic shifts while they are here. Then the body will be better able to manifest the shifts in between treatments. It is important not to rush the body, allowing it to unfold at its own pace. The body will be grateful and will be happy to make the shifts. Again, coercing and forcing a time frame will not work. The benefit will be less treatments required to bring about greater changes.
It is Hard to Believe it Can be So Easy
The best part of this is that these insights require no real effort on your part, other than your desire to get well and to allow the changes to happen. That is the underlying bonus and the true treasure and it happens on its own. These insights will then be able to come more to your conscious thinking and then without effort, your lifestyle, thinking patterns, old belief systems and whatever else "interrupts" your life force, will become aligned to health. You may find yourself wanting to eat better, to take better care of yourself and to make more time for yourself. In this way, you do not have to police yourself, which inevitably results in failure.