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Blog
Stagnation and Free Flow on all levels; from Physical to Mental to Emotional
Came across some old notes i'd made a while ago around 'stagnation.' Stagnation is the term we use in acupuncture to describe a state where energy isn't flowing smoothly and freely through a particular meridian or area of the body. Movement can often free up stagnation and make the energy flow more freely, hence why we can sometimes feel better after doing some exercise. However, and somewhat conversely you can also get energy stagnation because we are generally tired and our energy almost doesn't have enough power behind it to keep it flowing freely of it's own accord, and in this case overly exercising and movement may help in the short term but it's actually a more balanced lifestyle with more rest and relaxation to build the bodies own internal power and force which would also help alongside the exercise, we always need both, but just in the right balance.
Life Path Stagnation
Looking through my notes however i'd also written them more in reference to the notion of 'Life Path' Stagnation. Similar to how our energy can get stuck and stagnate on the physical level, in Chinese Medicine there is also a similar degree of emphasis placed on the free movement and flow of our Mental and Emotional energy, and indeed that through our Life or 'Life Path'
We can also get 'stuck' on these levels too, and indeed when that happens, it often can reflect on the physical state too, with a sense of physical heaviness coming alongside the lack of motivation and direction. This is because in Chinese Medicine, the different levels of Body, emotions and our mental state all interconnect.
And therefore when we make a good move emotionally or in terms of our life direction, it can also effect our other levels and often gives us an unexpected supercharge of energy which physically passes through us, as well as feeling mentally and emotionally brighter too. It's about having movement and free flow on our 'spirit' or emotional level as well as on our physical level.
When i talk of the words 'Spirit' and 'Spiritually' though, it's probably best i make some attempt to define that a little before you all think i'm recommending running off to the nearest Church! For me Spiritually can just mean a good move in the bigger picture of your life, in terms of what you're life is all about, and i guess for want of a better term, your life purpose. A good move Spiritually can be a move which brings you into contact with people, places or activities which really help to feed your growth as a person, whatever that may be.
It could be starting a new course, getting a new job, engaging with a new social circle - whatever it takes, but something which keeps our growth going. As one of my favourite 5 rhythms dance teachers (Ya'cov Darling Khan) said once, basically we are a tree! - and therefore have a tendency to want to keep growing toward the Light. Or something like that! So sometimes when we keep doing the same things all the time we can eat whatever nourishment we can get from that and then we need to eat something else! (But also beware a bit too much movement can lead to our energy becoming a bit too dispered, which isn't healthy either)
Sometimes we are lucky enough to be within a structure which keeps providing room for that growth in a balanced way, like a job with the right kind of variety and potential for growth, or a continually evolving social circle, or a family situation with the right kind of support or challenges which supports that. Happy New Year, Many wishes for some good growth.
Practicing Acupuncture at Festivals
I've recently written an article about practicing acupuncture at Summer festivals, it's written predominantly from an Acupuncturists perspective, as it was written to be submitted to an Acupuncture newsletter, but you are welcome to check it out at soultherapynow.blogspot.com
The Tao
I'm a big fan of the notion of the Dao and Daoism (sometimes written Tao/ Taoism) Arguably our relationship with our Tao or 'path' is our most important relationship of all as it supercedes all others as it's all about you as an individual being in your flow and on your path, the path of your life. (sometimes we walk or dance a while with someone on our journey, in varying degrees of 'closeness' but that's a different story all together!) I sometimes also write about it as the sense of being at 'One' or in 'flow', and so those phrases often also crop up a lot.
From an acupuncture perspective, the principles of the style of acupuncture that i practice come from Taoism, and therefore is fundamental part of a person's health and wellbeing. My perception is that part of what we are all trying to do in life is to move as closely as possible in alignment with our Tao - and as a practitioner i could never tell anyone what their Tao is, but i'd like to think that having treatment can re-awaken a person to help re-discover what is in them already.
I believe we have a 'watcher' within us - as part of us, call it your soul if you like, keeping an eye on what we are getting up to in our life. It's our soul that carries our unique attributes and life plan - our Tao, and our soul which ultimately we have to keep happy! Doing activities which help to nourish your soul ascends your energy. It's our power centre, but also it can be a terrifying experience when we can see how powerful we actually are and what we are capable of - interms of the beauty which we can create. I wrote my dissertation on the idea of Life Purpose and how it's perceived in various traditions so it's been of keen interest to me.
So i often find myself writing notes trying to capture the essence of the Tao, here's some below.
'We live in a great universal ‘One’. Within that ‘One’ in any given moment you have a place, where in balance your energy meets the world to enable you to be fully whole, to feel at ‘One’. It’s a path of exploration, where our energy will constantly moment to moment lead us and be drawn toward those energies and vibrations which lead to balance and health.
In any one moment this may be being the party King or Queen, sitting quietly in a park, planning your day tomorrow or reflecting on yesterday, following this natural flow we maintain balance and health, forcing against this flow or being inhibited from it results in dis-ease' (R.B 2005)
However, i do also recognise that as people we tend to fall in and out of balance with our Tao; So, below are my thoughts on that.
Taoist?
'Someone who understands the Tao does not necessarily constantly live in it moment by moment. Infact a Taoist may often fall outside of the Tao, it's that they use it's existence as a guiding light, a beacon to try to bring themselves back into line with it'
It's about the awareness AND choosing to follow it. In that moment you are experiencing the Tao, therefore, arguably a Taoist' (R.B 2005)
'We walk this earth, searching, looking, desiring, to be on our path, our Dao, which we can have glimpses of from time to time, or walk it more fully, to be as one, to be in love, to be in ecstacy, and that ‘oneness’ that path takes you through the whole range of human life, through work, through relationships. Through learning, through teaching, as that feeling of oneness, of being whole, being in love is the expression of where those attributes within us are met wholly by the world around us, the universe and the dynamic interplay between the two is allowed to flourish. One cannot find this state of being through pushing or holding back, then there is separation, the work of the mischevious mind. It actually depletes our own energies and resources to push or hold back, a bit like pushing against a wave or trying not to let go into the flow of it.
'When we are in love we can do anything, it describes an ecstatic state of dynamic equilibrium with the world around us, from stacking shelves to making love, the missing ingredient is that it be your path, when it’s your path it will permeate all' (R.B 2005)
We all need a break sometimes!
I wrote a huge blog after getting run down and picking up a cold over the Christmas holidays, but it's so long i've had to post it at soultherapynow.blogspot.com as it won't all fit on this page. Check it out, it's broken down into sections that include;
- Getting run down;
- Finally the Flu takes me down!; - Winter is meant for stillness!
- Startling Event 1; I saw the Light!
- The need to move – but am I listening? Energetic stagnation and disarray
- Bringing Balance and moving energy blocks; Acupuncture treatment and time to dance! New Year’s Eve
- More Dancing and more things changing – Body re-alignment
Student Life
I'm obviously keen to work with whomever feels drawn to see me, but i do have an affinity towards working with students in particular, not least because of my own experience of university life and western culture in general but also I feel I’m not that far away from experience of student life myself, having studied in Manchester in the late 90’s, and Warwick more recently, and only just into my thirties so believe I’m sufficiently in touch, connected and aware of the relevant issues and dynamics of student life. (I also currently work in a pub and have been regularly spotted on the dance floor of Blast Off and Snobs student night in Brum for those of you who aren’t convinced!)
My thoughts around university life is that it’s often perceived and promoted as a time of life which aims to give a well rounded education, career tools and body of experience (and support systems) to enable a student to move on into the next stage of life. I advocate that this can quite often be far from the truth for many students. (Whilst also conscious to mention that university can also be a great, fantastic experience for many also.)
I see this as actually being because it’s a time of life where the pressures and cultural stresses of Western life are bought even more into focus, the pressures of achievement, expectation, course confusion, challenging relationships and social under nourishment can become even more amplified, leading to an even greater split away from being intune with healthy universal movement and interaction - which we can be afforded moreso when we are younger. (Just a thought – doesn’t it seem such a load of nonsense that older generation folk will often tell you that your school days will be the best days of your life – hello?- as far as I’m concerned this shows we must be getting something very wrong in society as surely life should get better as we grow, not worse!)
I recall from my own university experience a gaping hole in fulfillment and education and support of a more ‘wholesome’ and perhaps ‘spiritual’ kind (meaning support and nourishment for my own individual spirit, - not referring to religion) creating a huge void between a world of educational pressures and drunken experience, which was supported in the main by Western Psychological and Western belief and counselling support systems.
With my work I aim to actively encourage an individuals wellbeing in terms of how they fit into the greater universal picture, how they as individuals interact and attain health within a reality beyond the subjective pressures of the society we are bought up in and take an holistic approach to a persons wellbeing beyond how much money you can earn and how much you can drink on a night out.
There is a spark within each and every one of us which the universe acknowledges, our individual path of highest potential through life. If you feel drawn to visit me for a treatment session, my intended awareness is from that vantage point to support your universal spark, a coming together for a higher purpose of universal good, not necessarily to feed the western machine which can suck the very life out of us.
Natural Balance, Natural Flow
A few years ago I wrote a leaflet about some of the energy dynamics which i perceive to be at play in our lives, please find the contents pasted below;
We as individuals live within a great universal mass, the universe, the ‘one’ if you like. Within that ‘one’, energies on any level of creation, i.e climatic, emotional, physical, etc, are constantly moving, transforming to create a state of dynamic equilibrium to balance one another.
Therefore ‘our own’ energies as part of that greater one will also move, constantly transforming and drawing towards and finding resonance with other energies which maintains that process of balance.
Energy knows exactly where it wants to flow to maintain that balance, moment to moment. And this is individual to each of us. Our individual path through life.
When our energies are wholly met by the world around us we have a sense of being at ‘one’ These moments of sensing we are at one are healing moments, as in those moments our energy is balanced with the world around us.
Awareness of where our energy wants to go to balance can only ever start in this moment, your balance your flow in this moment is ever changing, as I wrote in the passage at the top of the page, sometimes our flow is to be quiet, sometimes the party King or Queen and this constant moving process of balance with life is where we find health.
We all have a part to play within healthy creation, as the universe is a self perpetuating mass, a self supporting and balancing universal web. It has all it needs to balance through every creature and facet of creation. We all have a place within this process where the skills and talents in each and every one of us goes towards supporting this process, in a healthy way. It’s important to recognize we each have special individual skills and talents, value them, even if they have seemingly become redundant. It may just be that those skills and energies we dismiss in ourselves are what our healthiest place in creation may be all about.
Sickness and Dis-ease
Sickness or dis-ease arises when the flow of our energies is denied, which could be either from ‘within’ through limiting beliefs, (‘I can’t / shouldn’t do that!’) or from ‘without’, ‘external’ to us when the system or structure we live in isn’t supportive to the movement of our energies with other energies which transform them and allow them to balance.
These balancing energies can be those of other people, places, emotional expressions, physical expression, all just different levels and manifestations of energy.
Interestingly, the sense and awareness of what we need to do to balance and be on our path in life is often still recognizable within us, even if we’ve fallen some way from alignment with it. It may perhaps be perceived on a different level of our consciousness (for example evident through our dream states) which we may be struggling to identify with or acknowledge. Or there may just be a nagging sense of something in us – and that nagging sense on the energetic level may over time become that nagging pain in your back on the physical level if ignored long enough!
Modern society or the way we live our lives can often consistently challenge the movement of our energy and it’s balance. It can be unsupportive and inhibitive of our energies. We often live fairly secluded, sedentary lives, in fragmented communities which deny ourselves the nourishing contact we need.
Not forgetting that this process isn’t all about ‘receiving’ energies to balance us when we are ‘upset.’
There is a constant moment to moment process of energetic movement to create balance, indeed on this level of health there can be no distinction about giving or receiving, they are both just healthy movements of energy.
We may feel ‘fine’ and be drawn to a particular place, person or occupation and again this is just part of the universal balancing act, in that moment our energy may be drawn toward that individual, place or job as what energies are created in that moment create the highest potential. This really is the case of ‘giving being receiving’ as in those moments what we receive through our actions is as precious. (Also important however to continue to follow the energy and recognize when it’s changing and time to move on!)
Likewise we must also flow with the nourishment when it comes time to ‘receive’.
It’s a constant process of balance occurring through energies coming together, resonating together, flowing in whatever way necessary attempting to find their highest potential.
For example, I may have a capacity for this kind of energy work, just as we all have particular capacities specific and special to us, but it’s never lost on me that it’s balanced and met by those whom I have contact with by doing it, Thankyou!
When we hide or suppress that movement of energy, for example with a suppressed emotional expression that is needed for balance, we create an essential imbalance when that energy doesn’t move, and infact it will attempt to find someway of being seen, often manifesting in a symptom, perhaps moving down through the layers of our being to present as a symptom on our physical level.
As a brief asides, before I move on to discuss what happens during a treatment, just think for a moment about what your special talents are, what you bring to the world, even if they have been hidden under mounds of ‘dirt’ or have long gone unrecognizable.
Even think back to your childhood if you need to.
Treatment Notes
It’s not always easy to articulate around some of the dynamics which occur during a treatment although i'm conscious to mention a few points.
I’m extremely conscious that energy moves in unique ways in any given moment or situation, so I intend to allow the energy to flow to wherever it needs to go. Energy cannot be forced.
There are particular generic themes which can tend to arise during a treatment, much because although we all have our individual constitution in life, we are all subject to certain key dynamics of energy balance within our lives, such as Yin and Yang – for example how in balance a person will flow with expansion in balance with contraction, or activity in balance with rest - just as night balances day. Within this cycle of expansion and contraction I also often experience an awareness of the relationship to the Elemental phases (different traditions view 4 or 5 Elements) which also exist.
Also apparent can be a balance between Heaven and Earth energies, that we receive our inspiration from the Heavens above but this is balanced by nourishment and rooting to the Earth below, so as we move through life we can embody the inspiration for our life as we walk on our path. |
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