Digest Number 552

March 22, 2001

Dear Harri, Anat, and others,

Hi! I'm new to the BodyMind list. Couldn't help but resonate with the

thread on stress management, since I taught it for so many years. As a

biofeedback therapist, I know that our bodies are always talking to us;

our symptoms, I believe, have important messages to convey, when we honor

our bodies' wisdom enough to listen.

Below is an excerpt from my book, " The Circle of Healing: Deepening Our

Connections with Self, Others, and Nature. "

Positive relationships are founded upon certain principles of

communication. The basic principles are the same, whether we are

communicating between different parts of ourselves, between humans and

animals, between family members, or between nations negotiating at the

bargaining table. Communication implies giving a message in a form in

which it can be understood, listening for a response, and continuing

until clarity is reached. The most important aspect of communication is

respect, and respect means being willing to listen. Many people do not

listen well. Might this be because we live in such a noisy environment

that we frequently need to practice selective listening? Or is it because

we lack respect for the other, whether it is the other person, or an

animal, or our bodies?

I believe that communication can be as positively powerful as

miscommunication is negatively powerful. Even a small error in

communication can set off a nuclear war. Skillful communication, on the

other hand, can establish a healing sense of connectedness with others,

including not only other people but other life forms as well. Native

Americans, along with great mystics like Saint Francis and Meister

Eckhart, have referred to the sun, wind, water, trees, and animals as

father, brother, sister— " All my relations. " Many of us think of the Earth

as mother.

We have also forgotten how to listen within ourselves, to listen to the

promptings and messages of our own bodies. If a symptom such as pain or

illness signals us that something is out of balance, we can discover what

is needed by attending to the message and learning how to translate it

into a corrective action we can take. Rather than viewing the symptom as

a nuisance that interferes with our plans, we can learn to value the

body’s messages, recognizing that they have information useful for our

healing.

For some, the concept of having a dialogue with a symptom or a painful

part of the body may seem odd. Wouldn’t it be nice if we were so well in

touch with our bodies’ needs that no such communication was necessary?

Unfortunately, we have learned to " tune out " the subtle messages of the

body, so we must relearn how to listen in order to take better care of

ourselves. The body’s messages are an aspect of our intuition, our inner

guidance system. As we learn to relate better with our own bodies, we are

learning to relate better with nature, since nature includes these

physical bodies.

When I’m willing to take the time to communicate, I get the result I’m

seeking: harmony. Great harmony, as in choral singing, requires time and

patient practice.

What My Knee Knew

One of my personal patterns is to refuse to acknowledge some of my

feelings, and then to develop a physical symptom. My body does its best

to get a message across to me so that I will deal with the emotional

issue. Symptoms are part of my intuitive guidance system, pushing me to

make changes. I have learned to listen by using the technique of

left-hand writing (described in " Honoring Your Body’s Wisdom " ) and also

by inviting images to come and communicate with me.

An image may not seem to make sense at first, but if we stay with it and

ask questions, its meaning usually becomes quite clear. The more we

practice tuning in to our images, the more easily we receive information.

My left knee began to bother me for no apparent reason. I had not

experienced any injury; it just hurt and felt weak when I was walking up

or down a hill. Then one day after I’d walked a lot, it hurt so much that

I started to limp, and I knew it was time to check in and find out what

was going on. In my first imagery session, I didn’t see much except two

rigid lines looking like tight muscles outside my knee. When I asked the

image what the problem was, I was amazed at the answer. My knee said,

" You’re doing too much, moving too fast. Walk, don’t jog. Slow down, be

more patient and demand less of yourself. " Looking back at myself from

the point of view of my knee, I appeared quite driven, even though I was

under the delusion that I was living a rather laid-back existence. I did

realize that in fact, I was moving too quickly into a new relationship

without having had time to recover from the previous one; I was looking

for a new place to live; and I was pressuring myself to write this book.

With my right hand I wrote, " What are you trying to tell me, left knee? "

With my left hand I answered, " Fear of going up and down, emotional highs

and lows. Fear of emotional intensity and risk. Imbalance. " So, I made an

agreement with my knee to slow down and do one thing at a time, and not

to rush into relationships.

The second time I invited an image of my knee to appear, I saw a large

black ball, which at first looked like a cannon ball; then it might have

been a bowling ball, and finally a ball and chain. The cannon ball was

shooting out at great speed. Was the image telling me I was a " loose

cannon? " Again I was being told that I was moving too fast. The bowling

ball seemed to represent the possibility of just rolling along and having

fun. But the image that had the most power for me was the ball and chain.

When I questioned it, the ball and chain told me it was locking me up and

grounding me because I wasn’t setting clear enough limits. It asked that

I restrict my own freedom a little and establish stronger boundaries so

it wouldn’t have to do that for me.

Afterwards I sat down to write about how I could honor my boundaries

better. I decided to take no one’s advice without determining whether it

fit. Instead of going into the safety of my thoughts, I would recognize

the places where I felt fearful and be honest with myself about them,

instead of trying to push through and going into overdrive. I committed

to breathe and ground myself, to step back from my tendency to

over-react, and to look at choices.

##

Hope this helps!

Cathy Holt

The Circle of Healing: Deepening Our Connections with Self, Others, and

Nature

Talking Birds Press http://www.TalkingBirdsPress.com

phone & fax (510) 835-2765 Cathy

to order: (800) 404-9492

______________

GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!

Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!

Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit:

http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

March 22, 2001

Dear Anat,

After reading your post about " The Princess and the Pea, " I just wanted

to send you this other short excerpt of my book, The Circle of Healing.

Remember the story of " The Princess and the Pea " ? It reminds us that

exquisite sensitivity and subtlety of perception are to be valued.

Sometimes being ill or in pain causes heightened awareness, and often

illness allows us to take a break from the distractions of daily life,

going deeper within. As our sensitivity increases, we become more aware

of other subtle occurrences around us, and more open to the many forms of

guidance or gentle nudges that the universe is always offering. When we

learn to honor and work with our sensitivity, we may be able to detect

fluctuations in our energy field and brush them off or ground them out

before physical illness develops. Heightened sensitivity can be a means

of achieving greater health and well-being. What do you use to dull or

diminish your sensitivity? Is it an addiction for you?

Slight pain gives us the opportunity to listen to the body’s messages in

a relatively nonthreatening way. Instead of thinking, " I should be

comfortable sitting here; my body is too sensitive, " I can see my

discomfort as a nudge from my body to get me to do something different. I

might shift the focus of my attention, breathe more deeply, move around

more. If I am cold in the shade, I can move to the sun or begin walking

briskly to warm myself up. I can appreciate my responsive body for its

aliveness and its messages to me. It knows more than I do about my needs

as a total being; the key is to trust and act upon that wisdom instead of

forcing my body to do what " I " want it to.

The body’s discomfort can be a guide to intuition. What movement does

your body feel like making? Make that movement and notice your feelings.

Where does it lead? Pain is also a gift that protects us from more

serious injury, as when we get a slight burn and the pain causes us to

draw back from a hot stove. Pain often has a message if we are open to

hearing it.

Breathing into the part of you that is in pain, send a loving smile to

it. You might apologize for what you have unwittingly done to hurt it.

Then, ask: " What are you trying to tell me? What do you need me to do

differently? " Take the time to listen and observe. Once you get the

message, ask yourself whether you are willing to make the necessary

changes in your life. Treating your body lovingly, instead of ignoring

its grumblings, is a great way to start loving and accepting ALL of

yourself.

If you need your body’s cooperation to get through a challenge, don’t

shut down your sensitivities. Speak respectfully to your body and ask it

to do what you want it to. Don’t force it if you get a clear " no " from

your body. You may feel tempted to give up because you can’t do the

things you want and need to do. At those times, take the smallest,

slowest steps; be gentle with yourself AND keep moving, making gradual

progress.

Pain isn’t " good for you " ; it’s overrated. Suffering is not inherently

valuable. Finding the way to transform suffering, finding the blessing

and the learning and the healing is what has value. Staying stuck in it

is not the purpose. Certainly there is no need to seek it out. Pain

offers us an opportunity to learn; it does not force us to learn. Some

folks don’t learn from pain but simply die with it. In fact—if you feel

forced, you probably haven’t learned the whole lesson. Part of the lesson

might be that we don’t need the pain if we’re willing to learn in other

ways. Change may be frightening, but staying stuck is true suffering.

What pain does is to prevent us from sleeping through our lives. It can

be a great Awakener. Those who discover these blessings can shine as a

light to others, assisting them to overcome similar challenges.

Cathy Holt

The Circle of Healing: Deepening Our Connections with Self, Others, and

Nature

Talking Birds Press http://www.TalkingBirdsPress.com

phone & fax (510) 835-2765 Cathy

to order: (800) 404-9492

______________

GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!

Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!

Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit:

http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

June 14, 2002

Thank you, Victoria, for the additional comments on aconite. I can see that

my instinct about aconite was correct. It is not an herb to be used long

term for warmth. Your additional comments have made me understand why this is

so. The practitioner in my area says that he is one of the few people who

knows how to use raw aconite. And he does use it on some people, but as you

say this is being done by a very experienced practitioner who knows what he

is doing with this herb in conjunction with the other necessary herbs in the

formula to balance its use.

I think that aconite was added to my formulas to warm the interior of the

body, and it did that very well. Still I believe I was supposed to stay warm

afterwards and I never did.

I remember trying ginger teas when I was off thyroid medication a few years

ago, but I stayed so cold in the winter despite using that (even adding in

some cinnamon). Maybe now ginger tea would be of some use to me, since I am

noticing, after a few years of using herbs, that I am becoming more

responsive to herbs (also I have dropped all synthetic drugs and supplements

from my diet, as my practitioner feels these harm the body's metabolism).

Despite everything though, I guess I have decided to take the easy way to

extra warmth and use as small an amount of natural thyroid medication as is

possible. I have done some research in the past on the web, and I found out

that there was an early Chinese physician who did use natural thyroid on his

patients along with charred seaweed (I believe it was sargassum). So even in

TCM there is some history for its use. I think the trick is to use a small

amount, and then see if supporting the kidneys (both yang and yin) over time

will bring even more improvement in warmth and even less need for medication.

My practitioner has said to me in the past that other body organs can take

over for deficient organs in the body, but meanwhile I would also like to

feel well, so that is why I have opted to add the small amount of natural

thyroid medication. I am now in the process of going to my TCM practitioner

to get herbs to warm my small intestine so that my legs will stay warm. This

last time I went he said I was in lesser Yang, so I think I am making

progress. Now if I can get the kidneys to functioning better, the right one

especially, I believe the sinus on the right side will improve as well (for

some reason the one on the left is better than the one on the right).

I really enjoy this forum and especially enjoy all your comments. I hope you

are about all settled now after your move.

Sarah :-)

June 15, 2002

Chinese Traditional Medicine, bonmotSarah@a... wrote:

> Thank you, Victoria, for the additional comments on aconite.

You're welcome. I intend to start posting more after I'm out from

under a deadline for getting some things finished on this house.

> I think that aconite was added to my formulas to warm the interior

of the

> body, and it did that very well. Still I believe I was supposed to

stay warm

> afterwards and I never did.

Aconite does work like this - when it's used in cases of severe, one-

time invasion by Exterior Cold. Like on healthy artic explorers and

individuals fit enough to climb very tall mountains. You on the other

hand have a Deficiency which has to be corrected, and as I said,

correcting Kidney Yang Deficiency can take a long time.

The thing about long-time Kidney Yang Deficiency is it also leaves

one very vulnerable to invasion by Exterior Cold. So the person is

getting hit with a double whammy. Not only is there not enough Yang

to warm the body properly, the person is very susceptible to invasion

by Exterior Cold. And to make it even worst, temperatures that

wouldn't bother a normal person are too cold for someone who has been

Kidney Yang Deficient for some time.

What students usually learn in the elementary texts is that

Protective Qi Deficiency will cause a person to be susceptible to

invasion by Exterior Evils. But this is not the only thing. If the

person also has been Kidney Yang Deficient for some time, this

susceptibility to Exterior Evils will be very pronounced. Long-time

Blood Deficiency also can weaken Protective Qi. (I'd quote the books

this info is stated in, but my TCM books are still packed except for

3.)

Cold damages Yang. This is one of the factors that makes correcting

Kidney Yang Deficincy take so long. Even though the herbalist is

supplementing Yang and warming the body, the person is still

vulnerable to Exterior Cold and being bothered by temperatures that

don't bother a normal person. The Exterior Cold that invades contines

to damage the Yang. Sometimes it seems like the the invading Cold is

damaging the Yang as fast as it can be supplemented. At least in the

early months.

A big milestone for me was the first time I placed my hands on my

face, and it felt warm. It took several months for me to get to that

point.

> I remember trying ginger teas when I was off thyroid medication a

few years

> ago, but I stayed so cold in the winter despite using that (even

adding in

> some cinnamon). Maybe now ginger tea would be of some use to me,

since I am

> noticing, after a few years of using herbs, that I am becoming more

> responsive to herbs (also I have dropped all synthetic drugs and

supplements

> from my diet, as my practitioner feels these harm the body's

metabolism).

In my case I was making the ginger tea very strong. I would add as

much as 1/2 teaspoon of dry, powdered ginger to a cup of hot water.

And I was drinking several cups a day. I couldn't do it today. I've

warmed up enough that it would be way too much. Back in those days I

mainly was trying to warm up enough that I could stay warm with

layers of clothes and not have to take several hot baths a day during

winter. My big goal back then was to be " normally " abnormally cold-

natured instead of abnormally abnormally cold-natured.

> Despite everything though, I guess I have decided to take the easy

way to

> extra warmth and use as small an amount of natural thyroid

medication as is

> possible.

I don't see this as taking the easy way. Sometimes the prescription

medicine is needed. When used correctly, prescription medicines can

be healing and accomplish things that herbs alone can't.

Back in the days when I still had a lot of problems with allergies, I

would reach a point where existing allergies would get worse and new

allergies would develop. Over the years I learned that the only way

to reverse this rapid downward spiral was a combination of thyroid

medication and prednisone. I eventually discovered it didn't take a

large dosage for very long (wish I had known that before I gained a

lot of weight one time on prednisone for 9 months), but I did need

the combination briefly. A year or so ago I read about a MD who had

discovered this combination in treating the allergies of PWCs (People

With CFIDS). If this ever happened to me again, I would ask my doctor

for the combination and bring in my records of how this had been

successful in the past. But the herbal treatments and acupressure

have been so successful in treating my allergies that hopefully I'll

never get to that point again.

BTW, aconite does affect the pituitary-adrenal axis. I'll try to post

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