by Robert A. Kendall B.Ac. Dip. Med.Herb
This is an article I have written for fellow Acupuncturists
so for a layperson their might be areas that are hard to understand.
In this article I would like to ask two questions.
1. Why don’t clients recognise the effect Acupuncture
treatments (change of energy) have on their emotions?
2. What is the effect that we as practitioners have
on a client's emotional states?
I became an Acupuncturist because out of all the therapies
I tried, Acupuncture was the only one that I could find that changed
my emotions from negative to positive within a treatment. I can still
remember how great I felt after my 1st acupuncture treatment. It was
as if someone had lifted this huge weight off my shoulders, that someone
had added courage, confidence and peace, drop by drop into my heart
and mind. I still love how I feel after an Acupuncture treatment.
No other modality did that for me, no amount of chiropractic or supplements
or massage, would ever had that quick and long lasting emotional effect
on me.
They say that you get the clients you deserve, that
clients will turn up with the lessons that you the practitioner need
to learn that day. Because I am fascinated with how our minds’ create
emotional states and how the body reacts to those states, I seem to
draw a large amount of people who have emotional problems. I just
read recently that Depression is the health problem most looked up
on the internet in Australia. Its a world wide fact that depression
is on the increase throughout the western world, especially amongst
the teenage population. I’m not going to waste time giving you the
reasons for this. We are all aware of the negative aspects of the
modern world we live in. I also don’t need to inform you of the failure
of Western Medicine to heal our negative emotional states. Western
medications might subdue the problem but are we really getting to
the underlying cause by sedating the symptoms?
When I lived in a spiritual community for 5 years I
would often treat people for physical complaints and not get the healing
results that I would normally expect from acupuncture. It wasn’t until
I realised that my clients were all suffering from emotional shock
that I began to understand people on a spiritual path were in constant
conflict within themselves. Their Spirit/Soul wanted to enter fully
and their ego or negative self created internal identities that blocked
or prevented their true self from full expression. This conflict caused
the Soul to be partially driven out of the body. If the Heart (Trad.Chinese
Med.) is the divine Spirit and the Liver is the Soul, then straight
away I have Acupuncture points I can use to bring back harmony to
the body /mind.
I can guarantee that if you aren’t getting the results
you desire from your treatments 9 out of 10 times it will be because
there is a strong emotional involvement. The Brain/Mind has a direct
stimulating effect on the body and this creates what we name as emotions.
There can be may reasons for healing being blocked. Maybe the client
doesn’t want to get well, maybe they are angry at being sick, maybe
being well would mean taking more responsibility for their lives,
maybe it isn’t safe for them to get well, etc. etc.
As we know(as practitioners) shock, physical or emotional,
will cause a shock-wave to travel around the meridians creativing
an array of symptoms often not relating to each other. The new wave
of Psychology therapies such as ‘Thought Field Therapy’ and ‘Emotional
Freedom Techniques’ have been built on this premise. They have taken
a very small part of TCM and are calling it a “psychological breakthrough”.
On the EFT website I read that Acupuncturists only deal with physical
symptoms and EFT will help without the pain of needles. There is still
a huge amount of ignorance about what we as Acupuncturists can do.
We Acupuncturists take it for granted that if we change
the Qi/energy there will be a change in the emotional state of the
client. So we haven’t really owned or embraced the full power of TCM
to help psychological problems. What I love about Acupuncture is that
if I can bring balance to the body’s energies, I can bring balance
to their emotional states, long enough for my clients to make healthy
choices for themselves.
Here are some of my favourite points. Sp3 for shock,
earth/centering energy, quietens the mind. Ren12, Ren4 or 6, St 25,
the cross over the navel center, earth, stabilises nervous system.
Pe6 & Sp6 - oldie and a goldie, will relax, calm and stabilise the
mind/spirit Shenmen (ear) At all times I choose my points depending
on the Pulse and Tongue picture.
Often clients are very sensitive to needles when their
nervous system is agitated. Everything hurts. Subtle needling is often
needed for the first few treatments but deeper needling will have
a stronger, longer lasting effect for chronic emotional states like
depression. I learnt this by observing a client who was having severe
panic attacks. All the medical tests showed nothing physically wrong.
This client had a negative childhood, sexual abuse, drug addiction
and she had been ‘accidentally’ knifed through her heart 6 years earlier.
She had a chest scar from Ren 22 to Ren 9, they had cut her open through
her rib bones to sew up her heart. I’m sure you get the picture. She
had been through the mill and at 38 she was a successful business
woman who was now being crippled by severe panic attacks that had
no medical causes.
She was frightened of the needles so I placed Pe6 in
superficially with other needles to remove shock, centre and calm.
I left her for 30 minutes but 20 minutes later she called out that
the needle in her arm was hurting. I came in to find she had moved
and had driven Pe6 all the way in up to its hilt (30mm). Now we know
from the text books that there is a strong legitimate treatment for
psychotic states by using a needle all the way through the wrist to
join up Pe6 and TH5. From this one treatment the client stopped having
panic attacks. Would I have pushed the needle in that far? No, not
with a highly stressed, sensitive client - but it taught me that deep
penetration is often valid and needed.
I would like to see more promotion of TCM for emotional
states. I think we have a big part to play in helping people heal
their stress and negative emotional states. As we are all faced with
such rapid change, it's a perfect way to help clients adapt energetically
to the increasingly busy lives they lead, especially now when depression
is becoming one of the most prescribed illnesses. A non-medicated/pharmacuetical
form of natural treatment is badly needed. Anger, fear, worry are
all on the increase. Our negative modern society is creating more
and more dissatisfaction. Even cancer has a large emotional component.
I find that Acupuncture and it’s effects on the emotions isn’t discussed
amongst practitioners and we do little to promote Acupuncture as an
alternative to sedating medications. If we aren’t careful we will
find that the general public will come to believe that all these new
therapies (EFT,TFT) really are the best when it comes to healing emotional
states. We are letting the gems of TCM get stolen from right under
our noses.
My belief is that to treat people with emotional problems
the practitioner has to be clear of his/her own emotional issues or
they will get triggered along with the client. The practitioner must
be taking the time to work on their own emotional issues, they have
to become conscious. What I love about TCM is that you don’t need
to be a great verbal counsellor, you just have to be able to explain
to the client that if they are willing to keep coming for treatments,
they will lift out of the emotional suffering they are now experiencing.
It always impresses me with how at the end of the session
there is a different person on the couch. A smile has appeared, the
face is more relaxed, the stance more up right, a different energy
matrix is now present. The biggest problem with treating emotional
states is getting the client to return enough times so we can stabilise
their energy long enough for the client’s mind to learn a new way
of behaving. A client needs to be constantly reassured and they need
to be made conscious of the changes they are making. Little steps
need to emphasised. Success needs to be high-lighted. When they feel
they aren’t making any progress, it is often that they are coming
up against their core issues. I ask the client to come in whenever
they feel trapped or are starting to slip back into negative emotions.
I explain that this is the best time to treat the negative energy,
the best time to clear the shock wave and the best time to understand
the Qi pattern. It is also important to point out that a client needs
a support system at home while they are being treated.
I often see clients who are experiencing great fear.
TCM tells us they have simply exhausted their adrenal Qi. Moxa and
needle BL23, Du4, Ren4 and Kid3. Throw in some ear points and use
my favourite shock point Sp3 and watch how quickly they lose the fear
and panic feelings. Clients who are anxious and are constantly worrying,
have weak Earth Qi(stomach/spleen/pancreas). When you strengthen the
Earth, which is also strenghtening the center and digestion, you will
see a change in how they think and see the world. They will begin
to make healthy choices for themselves, the worry will diminish as
they move forward into a happier life.
It sounds strange to talk about a happier life because
I can hear people say well their life situations haven’t changed but
I would argue that yes they have. The client has now completely changed
(mentally and emotionally) how they react to the life situations placed
before them and that means they are moving in a totally different
direction with a new set of options, choices and opportunities. I
have see clients make amazing changes. They leave their partner or
go back to them, change jobs or take a year off to travel, change
every and any aspect of their lives where they were stuck and suffering.
The changes may be fast but the longest lasting changes
are often gradual and they can come without even the client noticing.
They might just wake up the next day with a clear idea of what they
need to do. Or they might just seem to have the courage to change,
the strength to follow their plans through. It is often as if a light
has been turned on revealing the right path to follow. Where before
there was only confusion, fear, anxiety, anger or worry there is now
hope, willingness, humour, courage, peace and love.
I am often astounded at how long clients have been under
counselling or therapy with little change, some people for years.
Then with only 5 or 6 acupuncture treatments their whole persona has
changed and they have begun to make real healthy changes in their
lives.
A case that stands out in my mind that proves the sheer
power of changing someone's energy using a simple Acupuncture technique.
A middle aged woman who had an hysterectomy 2 years earlier, had emotionally
deteriorated to a point that she was, at the time I first saw her,
under psychiatric care. The psychiatrist had tried to convince her
that her depression was due to the fact that she had lost her womanhood
because of her hysterectomy and of course, his treatments included
strong medication.
By the time she had come to me she was at her wit's
end. When I examined the client's pulses they where clearly out of
balance but what was more interesting was her hysterectomy scar. It
went across her lower abdomen and where you would expect the medians
to cross the scar, there were 7 little red patches. So the first thing
I did was three scar bridging treatments. No big deal in TCM. The
change in her was remarkable, her husband couldn’t believe it and
frankly I was pretty amazed. Within two weeks she was a different
woman, the woman that used to exist before the operation. She told
me later that she had returned to her psychiatrist and told him that
he should go and learn acupuncture- Yes!
This was a great demonstration of the power of acupuncture.
A simple technique that changed a persons life in a major way. I bet
other practitioners have similar stories to tell. Then why aren’t
we telling the world. I know we have ethics and advertising standards
but are our standards blocking our abilities to treat emotional issues
that can take years to unravel through traditional, talk-based psychology?
I would like to finish with a quote from a book called
‘Instant Emotional Healing’ published in 2000 and written by two Pscyhologists,
Peter Lambrou,Ph.D. and George Pratt,Ph.D. Both leading experts in
‘Thought Field Therapy’. I would love to spend more time discussing
TFT and EFT maybe next month if you are interested. This quote highlights
how Acupuncture is losing ground to the new pseudo energy medicines.
“Eventually nearly everyone, in one way or another,
will use energy therapy tools for managing emotions, because they
are portable, easy to learn and without harmful side effects. Energy
Psychotherapies will be part of the treatment for a variety of medical
disorders...........The reduction of stress alone, with its ability
to reduce the incidence and severity of disease processes, is fertile
ground for comprehensive energy psychotherapetutics. The day is not
so far off when all members of the healing professions will be familiar
with these procedures and use them within their own approach to helping
people.”
When pscyhologists were first taught TFT they had to
pay $10000 each to learn 7 acupuncture points, muscle testing and
28 point tapping protocols. This shows me how desperate psychologists
have become. Many have paid that figure to learn what we as acupuncturists
take for granted. If TFT and EFT can, with the use of only 7 acupuncture
points and no real understanding of the Meridian systems, easily change
at least 28 emotional states, what can we, as TCM practitioners who
have a deep understanding of the body's energy flow and the knowledge
of hundreds of points, do for our clients emotional wellbeing?
Kind Regards
Robert Kendall is in private practice on the Gold Coast,
Queensland. Australia.
Queensland. Australia
