Sleeping

     And, speaking of sleep, I'm convinced that if we can just get our consicous mind out of the way, acupuncture is twice and maybe even three times more effective than when we're actively engaged.
     I often joke with my patients about wishing the treatment could take place while I was in the other room, so as not to interfere with the work their body needs to do. And further, I wish I could invite their conscious mind to join me! 

Does It Hurt?

     That's probably the one question I get asked most often. Well, does it? I'll tell you what my patients tell me. "Not as much as a broken heart." "Not nearly as much as the grief for a departed loved one." Not quite as much as the worry over meds." "Sure, I guess it does some, but I'm not thinking about it and so it doesn't bother me."
     The most common side effect in acupuncture treatment is falling asleep.
      And, I'm a big fan of the sleep. So much so, that I give myself a gold star if the patient falls asleep and two gold stars if patient snores!

6,000/160

Sleep is the golden chain that ties our bodies and health together. - Thomas Dekker

Water

     We're moving into the season of the Water. Here's what we say:

     Water in the Body: the Kidneys are the source of all Yin and Yang in the body; the Kidneys store Essence; the Kidneys rule the bones and teeth; the Kidneys manifest in the head hair and open into the ears; the Kidneys are also called the Kidney and Adrenal glands; the Kidneys grasp the qi from the Lungs; the Kidney rule water; the Bladder stores and eliminates fluid waste.

Water in deficiency: pain in the lower back, scanty, dark urine, red tongue, afternoon fevers, malar flush, insomnia, night sweats, feelings of heat in the soles and palms, anxiety, infertility, hysteria, palpitations, prematurely grey hair, feeling “tired and wired”

     Water’s flavor: salty like salt, seaweed, and soy sauce.

     Water’s vegetables: they tend to grow in a suspended manner and tend to propagate horizontally, spreading out like waves or ripples like seaweed, fungi, and squashes
     Water’s fruits; melons and grapes.

Water’s colors: blue, black, and purple

Water’s thermal nature: cool/cold

7,500/162

Don't you realize that the sea is the home of water? All water is off on a journey unless it's in the sea, and it's homesick, and bound to make its way home someday.
-Zora Neale Hurston

Labor, Delivery, Lactation

     It turns out that there actually is some interest on behalf of the hospital's labor and delivery staff regarding what other things can be done for moms experiencing a difficult time in the childbirth and lactation process.
    There may indeed be some acupressure points they can use like:
          KI 9 which minimizes the transfer of toxins from mom to baby as well as calming the mother's spirit 
or
          SP 6 which helps a difficult labor and morning sickness or insufficient milk.

6,600/161

A newborn baby has only three demands.  They are warmth in the arms of its mother, food from her breasts, and security in the knowledge of her presence.  Breastfeeding satisfies all three.  ~Grantly Dick-Read

The Luuuv

     It’s all about the love, or “the luuvv” as she would say. That connection. We spent a fair amount in time working on the techniques and strategies revolving around making that connect. Establishing rapport, touching the energy, emulating the patient’s posture, making our energy in line with them.

     Can you tolerate being loved for nothing else than being you, being alive on the planet at this time? Some people can’t even stand being looked at, much less actively seen. That whole “the sacred in me recognizes the sacred in you” thing. Alternatively typed, substituting “scared” in that sentence characterized me at the beginning of doing this work.

5,000/159.5

Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.
- Vincent van Gogh

Choosing

     It’s all about the choosing, whatever it is. Habits are such easy things to take up and so deceitful to recognize. They are often very much confused with what actually is and, therefore, easily mistaken for what must be. In truth, we can choose all of it – how we are in this world. (That's ling - Ling is drawn as rain that falls from the heavens into three mouths of three shamanesses who are dancing between heaven and earth praying for rain. It means marvelous, divine, mysterious, spiritual and ingenious.)

     I can’t lose weight because . . . I can’t stop smoking because . . .

Michael J. Fox talks about his Parkinson’s as his gift. He says it’s a real pain, literally, but it reminds him each and every day to be very much alive. “Live to learn,” he says.

5,000/164

How does use beget habit in a man. - Shakespeare

Constitution Factor

     A distinctive aid to the Five-Element acupuncturist is to determine where the patient lives at “home base”, what is the place where they are most familiar (maybe not ever most comfortable) from which to carry out their life, perhaps what is their "constitution factor".

     As an example, we as a species tend to collect things. How do we do that – do we hoard or accrete or herd things together? And therein in the manner lies the key. But do not be deceived, coin collectors are no more people of the Metal that stamp collectors are people of the Paper (if there were such a thing.)

7,000/160

I gotta work out. I keep saying it all the time. I keep saying I gotta start working out. It's been about two months since I've worked out. And I just don't have the time. Which uh..is odd. Because I have the time to go out to dinner. And uh..and watch tv. And get a bone density test. And uh.. try to figure out what my phone number spells in words.

- Ellen DeGeneres

Daniel's Ethics Seminar

I attended the Jack Daniel (just one daniel please) Ethics Seminar on Saturday. It's a comprehensive covering about ethics, both in acupuncture treatment and in general. About trust and its components, about language, certainly about record keeping. We did drift off a bit about insurance claims, coverage and paperwork. I thought it would be just about sex and money.

8500/160

Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.
- John Kenneth Galbraith

Wish List part 3

Here are some examples: a quality holiday experience, new earrings, to tell someone about my vacation, work, loves, war, close call, family. Making paper Thanksgiving decorations with the 5 year old grandson, glue and glitter.

6500/160.0


cookies



When humans participate in ceremony, they enter a sacred space. Everything outside of that space shrivels in importance. Time takes on a different dimension. Emotions flow more freely. The bodies of participants become filled with the energy of life, and this energy reaches out and blesses the creation around them. All is made new; everything becomes sacred.

- Sun Bear



Wish List Part 2

What’s on your on your wish list? Part 2


I hope that money does not top your list for so many reasons, the main one being that studies and experience and personal stories all say that the money is not what it’s about, that money doesn’t make you happy, that it’s a challenge to have money, that there are a lot of problems with having money. I might suggest that if you are pursuing money in this life, that you may need to leave some room for disappointment when the happiness doesn’t arrive along with the big bucks.

What are some items on that list?

Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once.
- Lillian Dickson

Wish List part 1

In every on line game, a la Farmville, CityVille, FishVille there’s a place for a wish list. What do you want, what do you need to complete your experience? You let folks know what you’re missing and it gives them the opportunity to meet those needs, often with a reward for you, a neatly designed, dove-tailed social interaction.

Why do I ask? Can I further my understanding about life through evoking in you some thinkings about what you wish for? Am I in need of some of those same things? Can I fulfill some of your needs?

It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: what are we busy about?
- Henry David Thoreau

Beautiful Treatment

I was attending the Alex Tiberi seminar in March when he made a comment that his mentor used to make about his treatment. It's not so good when it's not beautiful. As a practitioner, you'll know what I mean. It's the symmetry connection, the linking of the points as well as the functions of the points, the extent to which the patient not only tolerates the treatments, but they actually sink into it.

How’s that for medical arts practice?


Our environment is like a patchwork quilt. Each "patch" is dependent on those around it. If one part unravels, it affects the rest.

- Hemeon

Have No Expectations

     It’s a lot to ask, I'll admit, to put a limit on expectations. Expectations are the source of unnecessary suffering. Not having attachment to the outcome frees us to be a clear observer of what is.


Nature is trying very hard to make us succeed, but nature does not depend on us. We are not the only experiment.

- R. Buckminister Fuller

Hot Acupuncture

If I were practicing in Maine, here’s something I would do. It’s yours for the asking, just give me some feedback. (Do you pay your own utility bills? Hope not.)

Crank up the treatment room thermostat to about 80 and turn on a space heater about half hour before treatment so that it’s about 30 degrees C, around 90 degrees F.

You’ll need two old mike stands with goosenecks. Mount a 1500-watt hair dryer on each. Place one at the foot of the table to blow on the feet and the other around knee level blowing under the sheet.

Buy two bed buddies (bean bags you can put in the microwave for two minutes each); one for each hand.

Get a crock-pot and some assorted-size, round rocks (from a craft store or garden supply place). Practice with this a bit to see how long it takes to heat the water and rocks. Apply the hot rocks on cloth on the patient, on the CV line, between their toes, behind knees, some on the face, etc.

We’re going for sweating here. Hot yoga meets hot acupuncture.

I’ve tried the electric heating pad but they seem to screw me up some way or other when it comes to reading the pulses.

The supernatural forces of spring created windows in Heaven and wood upon the Earth. Within the body they create the liver and the tendons; they create the color green.. . .and give the void the ability to make a shouting sound. . .they the create the senses, create the sour flavors, and the emotion anger.



- The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine

Pancreatic Cancer

It's an odd thing. Where's the handle?


Even if a disease is of long duration, it can be cured; those who say it cannot be cured do not know acupuncture properly. - Nei Jing

Made Up Points

Made up Points

Double Sleeve Leaky - it's where you wipe your tears on your sleeve, either the patient or the practitioner.

The Blowhard Point The Liars Point – puff out your cheeks and at the apex of your inflated domes is the Liars Point. Treat that point for someone who cannot, will not tell the truth even though it may be easier, cheaper and would really serve them. It is more correctly named the Blowhard point (thanks Tiff.)



Be soft in your practice. Think of the metiod as a fine silvery stream, not a ravaging waterfiall. Follw the strea, have faith in its course. It wil go its own way, meandering here, triclking there. It will find the goroves, the craks, the crevices. Just folliw it. Neverf let I ti ou of your sigh.t. It will take you.


- Sheng-yen

Weather

New days. The past few have been spectacular. Low humidity, bright sunny skies, temps in the mid-80s. True southern California living here in Maryland. People who know me aren't surprised to hear me talk about the weather. I'm the reason for the success of the Weather Channel!

Are you affected by the weather? Are you blue when it rains? Feel like you might have SAD in the winter? Really like being in the light?


Amidst the grassland
Sings a skylark
Free and disengages from all things.
- Matsuo Basho

former Classmates

I'm coming up on the five year reunion with my acupuncture class. As with anything, it's interesting to see what experience they've compiled over the last half decade coupled with their Master of Acupuncture degree. You can search through the web lookers and see who has what kind of practice these days. With any group, there is the bell curve distribution. Of the forty in class of Sept '03, 10% have a thriving practice and I'll define that as seeing more than 25 patients per week in an office setting outside their home. I misss them.

Birthday Time

It's good to revisit how we're living every year or so. What's good to keep, what serves to discard. Do you ever reflect on that? How can I improve my life? What's my routine? Does it serve me?