thinking differently

May 25, 2006

Thank you, Christopher,

You bring up an idea that I would strongly suggest to all practitioners, and

which, I feel our students are deprived of: I feel that much more education

needs to be offered by the schools in order to prepare students to better

understand the effects that acupuncture has bio-electrically on the body, the

mind, the emotions, and specifically the autonomic nervous system. These

aspects are just superficially glossed over and the one area of education where

bio-energetics is dealt with is reverentially in qi gong classes. But our

students, and our practitioners for that matter need to better understand that

acupuncture, and other confluent related modalities give us a much greater

potential for acting as agents of healing than students are taught. The human

body is incredibly electric and we need to do more to enpower our students, and

teach them to think differently in order to access that potential, ie. tying the

theory into the clinical practice. The essence of qi

is not energy, and it is not vital force, but rather it is connectivity. When

we encourage this connectivity we encourage balance and wellness. But are

students taught this? When a physician (I know I shouldn't use that word, but

tough!) is treating a patient is he thinking that he is healing, for example,

a frozen shoulder or a digestive order, or has he been taught to consider the

systems and channels that are out of balance or blocked that have caused this

dysfunction to occur in the first place. This is a completely different

mindset than the Western physician, who treats a disease, but rarely considers

the pathogenesis thereof, nor the related systems affected by his treatment.

IMO, we must always think differently, and the results will be nothing short of

extraordinary

Sincerely,

Yehuda Frischman, L.Ac

" Christopher Vedeler L.Ac. " <ckvedeler wrote

Beautifully said Yehuda.

I've seen this type of jerking motions and even uncontrollable shaking

with my hypnotherapy. As the conscious mind relaxes its control and

guard, the body is able to move into it's own expression. It makes

sense that one could see this type of thing with both body work and

acupuncture.

It is scary the first few times to witnesses this occur. I've seen it

enough times to stay calm now. Like anger, sometimes it is difficult to

be around until we can see it for what they really is - movement of

energy, expression of will or a defensive expression of fear. Being

able to be with it and help the patient transform it, or at least find

meaning in it is what our jobs are all about.

Christopher Vedeler L.Ac., C.Ht.

Oasis Acupuncture

<http://www.oasisacupuncture.com/> http://www.oasisacupuncture.com

8233 N. Via Paseo del Norte

Suite D-35

Scottsdale, AZ 85258

Phone: (480) 991-3650

Chinese Medicine

Chinese Medicine On Behalf Of

yehuda frischman

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 8:26 PM

Chinese Medicine

additional thoughts about " the " jerks "

Dear Roseanne and Barb,

Let me comment and elaborate further. I do something that my clinical

supervisors told me was forbidden to do when I was in school: I do

CranioSacral therapy and when indicated, SomatoEmotional release, after

placing the needles. Rather then letting them " cook " for 30 or so

minutes, I actively place my hands where intuitively I feel they are

needed. The disadvantage is obviously, that I see fewer patients per

day than most of you, (each session is 2 hours) but this combination

seems to powerfully open blockages and release much more rapidly

stagnation, often with dramatic results. As you say Roseanne, jerks and

twitches are commonly observed while doing bodywork and I see them

often. I also think that it is significant that in the case of your

patient, they occurred after acupuncture. Here's my explanation for

what's happening: We know that the sensation of qi moving and

unblocking can be felt as a heaviness, a pulsating, a feeling of cold

or of hot, or an

electric sensation. I would suggest that there are times when the qi is

stimulated to move, but the degree of blockage in the channel prevents

it from smoothly getting through, much like a garden hose which is

partially blocked. IMHO, this is when symptoms such as your patient is

feeling, Barb, occur. Sometimes during treatment I will see a patient

have sudden seizure-like jerks, sometimes uncontrollable shivering,

sometimes a patient will suddenly say that they are freezing, even

though the temp in my office is 74 degrees,(I have standing by a small

portable radiator which I commonly use, even here in California, for

that reason) sometimes there will be uncontrollable crying, sometimes

non-stop tremor, sometimes laughter, sometimes shouting and yelling. In

all cases, and without exception, when the channel opens up and the qi

is able to flow uninhibitedly, these " artifacts " of stagnation

disappear. But a warning: And this is something else that they didn't

get in

my clinical training, often these manifestations of qi stagnation and

liver wind are releasing stored trauma, either physical or emotional. A

patient is in an incredibly vulnerable position, and you can make all

the difference in the world! It is during these difficult moments that

they REALLY need our support, and even if you are not trained in

bodywork, stay with the patient and let them know that you are there for

them. Certainly don't leave the room and let them work their own

problem out. They may not express it, but they will feel abandoned.

All that that will do is prolong the release and their suffering. Don't

underestimate the power of intention and (dare I use the word for the

danger of misinterpretation) love. One of the most powerful images I

have is from a memory that occurred when I was 16. A dear friend and

neighbor decided that he wanted to drop mescaline. It was his first

drug experience and it was painfully disturbing to both of us. I don't

want to go into the gory details of his trip, including non-stop

vomiting, but all during his hours of hallucinations and suffering, he

kept begging me, over and over, " help me, help me, don't leave me! " And

I stayed till he finally fell asleep. I felt a responsibility then, and

I feel the same responsibility now. Personally, I don't think the

physician or the neurologist will find anything, and if they don't

listen to your inner-wisdom, continue needling, and soon the jerking

will stop, IY " H.

SIncerely,

Yehuda Frischman, L.Ac.

ra6151 wrote:

These kind of jerks or twitches are very commonly observed when doing

bodywork. (my former profession) There may be different biomedical

explanations; my

former teacher explained them as indicative of " broken synapses, " mostly

in

the autonomic nerves. I have observed that these twitches diminish

over time

if the person seeks enough work to become more integrated and

harmonized.

In TCM, I guess one might call it internal wind.

---roseanne s.

May 25, 2006

Yehuda, again well said. The fundamental issue as I see it is not

something that is easily taught, it is a cultural issue. One has to be

able to realize that everything we think we know about the world is just

a perspective filtered through a lot of cultural assumptions we blindly

accept. We laugh at the ancients for thinking the Earth was flat, but

it was really quite revolutionary to suppose otherwise at the time

simply because of the inertia of the cultural assumptions. The sobering

fact is that we have erroneous assumptions about the nature of reality

too. If history is any guide, we are about as off base with many of our

assumptions as those who believed the Earth was flat 1000 years ago were

with theirs. Medicine is a pretty accurate reflection of the dominate

paradigm of society. CM, at least classically, was developed under very

different cultural assumptions than WM, and thus really is a different

way of approaching the issues around health, wellness and healing.

That's not to say that CM doesn't have erroneous assumptions as well, it

is just that they are fundamentally different than those of the Western

culture, and so by studying CM we can better see our own biases and

navigate through them.

Like you said, this gives us the opportunity to think very differently

about health problems than WM can, and I believe it is our greatest

strength.

Christopher Vedeler L.Ac., C.Ht.

Oasis Acupuncture

<http://www.oasisacupuncture.com/> http://www.oasisacupuncture.com

8233 N. Via Paseo del Norte

Suite D-35

Scottsdale, AZ 85258

Phone: (480) 991-3650

Chinese Medicine

Chinese Medicine On Behalf Of

yehuda frischman

Wednesday, May 24, 2006 8:33 PM

Chinese Medicine

thinking differently

Thank you, Christopher,

You bring up an idea that I would strongly suggest to all

practitioners, and which, I feel our students are deprived of: I feel

that much more education needs to be offered by the schools in order to

prepare students to better understand the effects that acupuncture has

bio-electrically on the body, the mind, the emotions, and specifically

the autonomic nervous system. These aspects are just superficially

glossed over and the one area of education where bio-energetics is dealt

with is reverentially in qi gong classes. But our students, and our

practitioners for that matter need to better understand that

acupuncture, and other confluent related modalities give us a much

greater potential for acting as agents of healing than students are

taught. The human body is incredibly electric and we need to do more to

enpower our students, and teach them to think differently in order to

access that potential, ie. tying the theory into the clinical practice.

The essence of qi

is not energy, and it is not vital force, but rather it is connectivity.

When we encourage this connectivity we encourage balance and wellness.

But are students taught this? When a physician (I know I shouldn't use

that word, but tough!) is treating a patient is he thinking that he

is healing, for example, a frozen shoulder or a digestive order, or has

he been taught to consider the systems and channels that are out of

balance or blocked that have caused this dysfunction to occur in the

first place. This is a completely different mindset than the Western

physician, who treats a disease, but rarely considers the pathogenesis

thereof, nor the related systems affected by his treatment. IMO, we

must always think differently, and the results will be nothing short of