Accessing Innate Intelligence using the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine
"The energetic power of acupuncture, whether with needles or any number of non-needle stimuli of the acupuncture meridians performed at the right moment with the proper intention and understanding can help resolve many underlying issues that are causing the symptoms of pain or discomfort."
What does this Really Mean?
What does this mean and how does it work? How can the true spirit and ideals of Chinese Medical philosophy be translated into day-to-day benefits?
Acupuncture is founded within the greater vision of classical Chinese Medicine philosophy, dating back to the ancients and the secrets they discovered. Just as in many ancient cultures, there were no machines to rely on. Instead, the great sages had to rely on their own senses to observe closely the natural phenomena of the world and their own relationships within them. The more refined and "tuned in" they were, the more they had access to helpful information.
Tuning In
The best doctor/observers began to perceive that certain points on the body had a certain quality about them. They were more sensitive and were able to change the surrounding areas or even affect areas further away. Over much time and scientific observation, these points on the body seemed to follow a pathway. ("Scientific" in its original meaning of testing a phenomenon many times over until it can become a theory and it then can be "proven" over time, as all "facts" today are simply theories also until new theories come into play that will either negate, confirm or augment accepted "facts.")
Discovering Meridian Pathways
These lines of points then became more and more refined into what today are classified as meridians. Each meridian was found to associate more with certain organs than with others. However, it was discovered that stimulating one meridian would often affect others. Thereby the finding of many smaller meridians or channels throughout the body explained this by forming an intricate network of connecting pathways, invisible yes, but undeniable by the resulting effects.
"Scientifically Proven" not Complete
That brings us to the question of testing acupuncture by double blind, "scientifically proven" studies. Going back to how Chinese Medicine was first founded, the observer-doctor was an essential part of the equation. It was in the interaction itself that allowed the findings to be discovered. The more acutely developed the senses, the mind, and yes, the heart- the more levels of information could be gathered about the particular situation of what had transpired to alter nature, whether it was concerning a person’s health or about the environment. Therefore, double blind studies are helpful, but they do not take the practitioner into the equation. That is the whole purpose of the double blind studies- to take the human out of what is essentially a human interaction.
However, to be fair, double blind studies are very helpful in bringing people into this medicine and allow it to be approached from a familiar angle. But the main point here is that Chinese medicine does not need to be limited. Yes, it does what the studies show, but it also does so much more. Approached from the best possible level, acupuncture can bring unlimited possibilities into the picture.
The Core and Strength of Chinese Medicine
Chinese Medicine is a very humanistic practice by its very core. That is its very strength that it draws upon and sustains it. It takes the whole person into consideration, looking at the surrounding environment, the culture, the beliefs and unresolved issues that may be underlying the emotions known or unknown to the person.
Internal as well as External Factors of Disease
In fact, Traditional Chinese Medicine, a subset and more modern version of classical Chinese Medicine, classifies the causes of disease. It is broken down into internal and external factors. An example of internal factors would be the "seven emotions of joy, fear, anger, sadness, melancholy, worry, grief, fear and fright". An example of external factors would be "wind, cold, summer heat, damp, dryness and fire-heat" found in nature. Excess or vulnerability to these would replicate the condition inside the body. Other factors would be an "improper diet, overstrain, stress and lack of physical exercise" leading to "phlegm fluid and stagnant blood".
Does an Ancient Medicine Apply to Modern Times?
Again, it sounds so difficult to resolve these conditions. After all, modern life is so much more complicated than the ancients’ lives, you say. How can an ancient medicine help modern problems? Besides, there is simply too much that has to be done nowadays and there are all kinds of impending uncertainties on the horizon. Who can control stress? Who will pay my bills? How can I not feel how I feel under these circumstances? I know that I need to relax, eat better and to exercise regularly, but there is no time or energy left to do them. Do these thoughts sound familiar? Well, welcome to how the majority of us feels.
The Key: Using Innate Intelligence and the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine to break the Vicious Cycle
Each of us has this dormant ability and knowledge within us. Each of us is really no different than the observer-doctor-sage of the Chinese Medical model. It is just that we do not know it or believe it exists. Now more and more there are countless books and theories ranging from books such as The Secret or similar Law of Attraction systems to quantum physics and the Unifying Field Theory that point out the intelligence in nature that we are surrounded by and permeated even into our very cells.
How to Access this Intelligence?
But the real question is- how to access it? No one has hours to meditate endlessly in a quiet calm cave, nor does anyone wish to. Yet we all want to be prosperous and attract good fortune to us, to be considerate to ourselves, and to not adhere to addictions that we know are not good for us.
Therefore, here at Gentle Strength Acupuncture, it is not for us to tell you what you already know or to put you on a regimen. Instead, we feel that helping each person to regain the insights and allow the body to heal effortlessly on its own. It does not matter what condition the current physical or emotional health is in. The insight is not something you will have to do consciously. You just allow it to be brought forth by the body itself. The body already wants to heal, according to natural law. That is what Chinese Medical philosophy has proven over and over. Then no willpower or test of strength is necessary. Instead, the opposite is true. The less you fight yourself and the more you allow your being to relax, the faster you will get better on all levels. You will find yourself automatically reacting in different ways and gradually stopping bad habits without realizing it. Therefore it is not a test of wills, but a willingness to work with nature, based on your own enthusiasm. In fact, we trust that you will get more than what you were asking for. But yes, some help is needed to get back on this track since it is difficult to help yourself when you cannot see where or how to start. You may have the intellectual knowledge and desire to get well. But as we are fond of saying, it is unrealistic to use the same brain that got you into a stagnant way of living and thinking and then to use the same brain to pull you out of it. Instead, another part of you needs to be opened: your innate intelligence.
The Blockages of Energy Want to Release
The key is to allow each person’s innate intelligence to release the layers of old blockages in the form of stagnant Qi or energy. Our role is to simply offer support and guidance. These blockages will cause any number of problems: serious diseases if they interfere with organ function or the immune system. Chronic emotions at all stages: mild anxiety and uneasiness to full-blown panic attacks, lethargy and lack of motivation to debilitating depression. The severity of it just depends on how long the blockages have been there. There is always an underlying reason behind every discomfort, large or small.
Physical Pain Follows Energetic Blockages
And of course, physical pain can become extremely chronic and severe as the blood circulation slows down, causing muscles and whole areas of the body to shut down. Without proper nourishment and cleansing that good circulation will provide, how can deterioration of the physical body not be the result? Often it starts first with the energetic blockages from unresolved issues and ongoing stress, then it will inevitably begin to take physical form if left unattended for years on end.
The solution? Of course in extreme cases of physical pain, the physical body needs to be addressed to move the blood circulation to allow some nourishment into the cells and to allow some detoxifying of the sludge that has been built up. After all, desiring the relief of pain is what brings people to seek treatment in the first place. At the same time, or at least along with this alleviating of pain, the energetic blockages need to be released also, which acupuncture, by its energetic nature, can be used to greatly help.
Utilizing Acupuncture on Several Levels
However, acupuncture can be used on several levels. If only used for physical movement and release, then it will be limited. Then the needles are required several times a week or even daily as it is commonly prescribed in China. That would get very expensive and time consuming. However, if the needles can be used as an opening to allow what the body’s innate intelligence already wants to do- that is, to heal, then the understanding of this will create an ongoing releasing of the energetic blockages without requiring as many acupuncture treatments.
The Most Important Requirement
What is required, however, is the patient’s desire to really get well and not just to stop the irritating reminders of the symptoms. The rapport between the practitioner and the person seeking to get well opens up this mysterious healing process. Often when the body begins to feel relaxed in a safe environment, the body in its infinite wisdom immediately begins to take advantage of the situation. The day to day thinking, pushing, struggling, worrying, etc. etc. is not in control so much at this time. Then the body’s wisdom allows the mental chatter, old beliefs and old issues to be examined on a subconscious level by the patients themselves as their innate intelligence begins to work it out. It is the most thorough, most effective and really the speediest way to emotional as well as physical health.
It may not seem as fast a pill in stopping something. However, if nothing is really being addressed that way, how fast is it really? But if the body is releasing the underlying causes on its own, then why not give it the opportunity?
Time to Get Out of the Way
More often than not, we are our own worst enemies, always getting in the way of what the body already knows and wants to do. Our role at Gentle Strength Acupuncture is to simply pave the way for this to happen.
It is not at all difficult and is the most natural and again, the most efficient way. Why make it difficult when it can be easy? How fast it “works” depends on how fast you are willing to go. How motivated are you in wanting to feel better and get back on the track of your Life? It is neither the number of treatments nor the intensity of the therapy that determines this. A lot of blockages can be released in a few treatments, if you can tolerate change. Any change can be intimidating, even if it is change for the better. But that is what we do here- to support and guide your innate intelligence to work for you so that you will receive the benefits in the shortest amount of time.
What to Expect:
If the patient is open to this process of their own intelligence speaking in the form of their own intuition and feelings, then many symptoms, not just the ones they were initially concerned with, will begin to disappear. It may or may not be the first thing that happens, but the body will begin to change. A sense of centeredness, clarity and more enthusiasm for life begins to take unmistakable shape. That may happen before, after or during the symptomatic improvements. The physical body then, at that point, really begins to change as the pressure is taken off and the free flow of the body can again manifest. Once that happens, no matter what the name of the disease or pain is, whether physical or emotional, it becomes a non-issue. As life becomes more enjoyable and simply less of a struggle, the emphasis is no longer on the problem or the pain. Then without even having to fight or "fix" the problem, it fades away, and a new life begins. More energy begins to be there to do what you want to do instead of struggling with conflicts, external or internal, that were previously draining your life energy away. Happiness attracts happiness. Success attracts success. It is whatever you want as you begin to live YOUR LIFE.