Insomnia and extraordinary channels

[peter meier]

moxa can be used to tonify yin (it has yin properties as well as yang).

It just depends on the points on which it is being used and the techniques being applied.

Obviously something like ironing moxa is used to move yang and so is not appropriate here but a technique like sparrow pecking which is a penetrating technique or even suspended moxa at a pinch can be used to tonify yin (again - appropriate point selection is necessary)

[Heather Bruce]

If we move out if the dominant discourse (TCM linear thinking) and into the person who has come in with a sleeping problem- why?

Often it is appropriate - their life needs reordering and they are denying they are in crisis - but the Shen and hence planning needs attention . . .

One of the many problems I have noticed over the decades in acupuncture education is that the theory is taught separate to practice – and often I suspect what is assumed knowledge has not made it to the written – as ‘everyone knows’ except now the content is so rigidly presented – everyone DOESN’T know and in this case – a little info is not so helpful.

Real mastership comes when we say ‘in THIS case’ . . . . (the evidence becomes from one's experience - which whilst subjective and anecdotal - so is life and no patient is EVER going to be as another - and if we were treating as we taught decades ago - we would be bringing in the astrology and the climate and moon phase as a more alchemic approach is where the eight extras shine).


I use a process of undoing the person’s life experiences I have called �Moving the Blockages� – to healing by the body itself. What is in the way that has CREATED the issues? In TCM still we teach emotions being a ‘cause’ – and being very Chinese (post 1949) and very academic and western medicalised, this can be lost in the flurry of ‘diagnosing ‘ a person. I had a woman whose baby had died due to medical malpractice and her husband left her and the medical tests said that she would miscarry any other baby – and a fellow acupuncturist was treating her for ’Spleen Deficiency’ . . .

Well – her tongue was the smallest/reddest/purple I have ever seen. Wounded deer in headlights look in eyes. What rot!!! Totally freaked out and in shock and denial was the issue – to say nothing of the internalised rage and grief – but mainly rage – which she was far too nice to ever even feel – let alone express yet. We are often missing the wood for the trees.

So – if you think he has what you have said – we actually have to undo something – as the body tries to help itself, and for whatever reason it can’t – and that is why they seek help. Orthodox Western Medicine excels at labels – and if we are not careful we fall into this trap also. What about having a treatment principle of ‘calming the Shen�? I always teach this is imperative at least til the 6th treatment - what doesn’t get better if their relationship to whatever it is they have come in with, themselves and especially their emotions – esp the ‘significant other’ – which may be a big gap in their lives is addressed?

CONTEXT seems to be missing – but what is their life is why they are presenting as they do.


As to using moxa and yin deficiency - if we go back to basics - to tonify yin by building yang - to this is simple - the gut (yang) has to be in better shape to be making the reserve we eventually call Jing - and hence - moxa - with judicious use of points such as Bl 40, 11 and 17 when using it on back Shu - which I heavily use - and then Co11 and possibly Sp 10 when on the front and using Cv 4,6,12 and often St 36 - all do a stunning job of changing the colour of the tongue radically and within the treatment - just try it - is a matter of not being so elegant with how few needles and what justification you have - abut actually treat the person in front of you , not the box you think to pour him/her into.

I spent some time treating those dying of AIDS and also advance cancer and the incredible yin deficiency/heat problems were always resolved with sometimes only usage of moxa . . .

Also - if the belly is too cool to touch (warm hand yourself) - and often this is the case- esp middle heater as they have also St fire and have been putting it out with cold drinks etc - moxa all you like but the inner empty fire is calling for their attention, and we need to actually treat the person as they are THAT DAY.


As to the usage of 'Eight Extras' - you do not have to couple them - they regulate, maintain and supply qi and blood to twelve main meridians - and consequently we can use them to do this without telling them exactly - the theory needs revisiting - and this is NOT TCM I speak of.

Hence - looking at more what Kiiko Matsumoto says in her books with Stephen Birch would be useful - also getting a copy of John Pirog's "The Practical Application of Meridian Style Acupuncture". Understanding WHY a point may do something is FAR more useful in practice than trying to make what you were taught fit the person - as it is like scrambled eggs - you have no idea was to whether they were bantam or emu by the time it is served up as 'TCM'.


I have extensively taught - and have on DVD trainings - the alternative usages -and in the past I have had stunning success with FULL YANG IN HEAD - which is only one aspect of insomnia - by sedating bil Bl 62 using ? Bl 10 if very painful but often just Yin Tang (crossover point for the Qiao vessels).

This is also true for high BP - we could leave the Liver yang alone and go into the 'why' mechanism - and the Qiao vessels as with all extras - can be drained by using the master points and supported with other points.

As to why not sleeping - if a full yang condition - and with these sometimes you can get stunning eye destruction cases sometimes that these Qiao vessels are brilliant with - and of course all brain injury - epilepsy (if we could get past TCM phlegm ) and CP and almost all with acquired brain injuries have sleeping disorders . . .and in these cases coupling may be stunning.

If NOT a full yang head problem - I always start with calming them down - as what ever has happened and if you do a sensitive case history, it is surprising what dramas this can uncover - it is totally understandable that they are not sleeping - no reasonable person would - often it is a survival issue in their lives - job/mortgage/emotional insecurities - all playing on safety issues .. . and the Shen reasonably has them hypervigilant.

I guess what I am saying is western medicalisation of the process of being a healer has meant that although it appears in all the texts that to 'treat' a person, first you have to label them actually there are an infinite number of ways you can be a stunning practitioner and I am not sure this labeling process/finding the right TCM box is one of them . . . it MAY be helpful but we are all sensitive enough to feel/exercise our common humanity also.


Sometimes they need to be supplemented with Magnesium - and n Epsom salts bath prior to bed is very handy - or need to be on a B supplement - and a little often for dosage is better here - Sometimes is just a matter of small biochemical internal adjustments (We live in the West - why not practice in our context??) - and a few doses of Melatonin and that is all after a few nights - but usually there is for the average 'Joe' - what is bugging them?

Ultimately - if we are calm we sleep.

Part of this is having the blood and yin to nourish our Shen. Part of this is having a natural deficiency of 'oomph' at the end of the day (feel weary/worn out)and to replenish we sleep/get batteries recharged . . .

[Darren]

Thanks Heather for such a great reply to my question.

When I first took the case history it was very difficult to get any response from him and he was very anxious and restless. Since then I have been trying to get an picture of who he is and aim my treatment approach for his needs, which has been easier as he has improved a lot in the last few weeks. Reading your reply has put this in perspective though and I will re-think/evaluate and examine his inner/outer life more closely.

The moxa is interesting, and am going to research this more fully. I have either totally misunderstood my lectures or that is not the way that it has been taught to me.. So its great to look outside the structure of my learning..

My main treatment princples have been to clam his Shen and as I was taught an intergrated approach of TCM and 5 Element acupuncture I have been treating him as a Water CF.

You have given me a lot to think about and thanks for taking the time to help..

[Heather Bruce]

Hi Darren

You are obviously helping and he is returning for more - perfectionism is not helpful in clinic - as it is NOT our journey, but their healing to 'own' - and their story to be made different sense of - in their way and time.

A component of being a therapist is to bring yourself into the room – and we have other senses or ‘vibe’ measures – which possibly can be fine tuned – and are through practice – as in with any professions/artesian – the longer they do whatever it is, the easier it appears to do what they do – and the simpler the person would say what they do is.

By now, everything looks easy to me – as it gets to be very formulaic – and a matter of hardly thinking – not that complacency comes in, but after thousands of stories, there are patterns emerging – and not TCM or 5 phases or . . . . but in people and the feeling that is with them.

I was reflecting with a patient recently and I realised that I learnt Bach flower remedies at the same time I did Western herbal medicine - Chinese herbs were not happening 30 years ago so easily - and I would pendulum (shock/horror - where is the science?) a piece of their hair in the back room, and pop whatever came up for them in the herbal tinctures and hence I was 'playing' at a very different level - and this idea of causation comes even in TCM - 'cause' of disease - emotional - so why not go to something that is 'safe' - NLP/EFT whatever is about - and put another string to your bow as the CONTEXT we work in is our culture, and we can 'muddy' the purity of what is 'scrambled eggs' anyway as well as the next scholar - it works to come at different angles . . .

Patient comes in to feel better - not to prove Chinese medicine works - we know it does - it has (not in the form we are teaching it) been around a long time - the older less academic practitioners I suspect you will find all dabble in peripheral bits and pieces as we all genuinely want to help and one string to the bow is monotonous eventually and also a wee bit boring to the player . . ..

It can be very simple to stop thinking in treatment and just be with them.

The second run of back Shu are a very elegant treatment – all bilateral and just under the skin. I never , almost EVER do needle stimulation – and this is more superficial – the needles all flop over and some fall out. When they roll over the good old four gates – Co 4, Liv 3 – and there may have been a considerable Shen movement. I also almost NEVER use Ht 7 and I know that TCM does tend to suggest this – but the Ht has a protector and Pc 7 could equally be used – again hardly in at all .. . ...

Then there is my old standard – Gv1 –almost none of my patients miss getting this at some stage – esp all the ‘infertile’ ones – it clears congestion in the pelvis . . . . and most men quake in their boots – when you think of the indications via Gv luo meridian and the fact that so many fall on their coccyx, so many have considerable vertebral misalignment, pelvic congestion and depression, it starts to ‘win’ – I am not suggesting s a point for your guy – but a general query as to why it is not in the favourite list on everyone’s lips – is not a TCM favourite . . .and it is a location/location/location issue I would say.

Not local piles, but what it actually does.

Similarly, the Mu points don’t get much of a mention – stuff glossed over is fascinating to someone trained before the advent of ‘action of points’.

Look to the Xi Cleft points - and of the Eight Extras if that was taught in college – they are incredibly useful – and people come in when just sedating them is all you need to do – cancers along the line of the meridian, very tight neck and the St 34 or Gb 36 releases – is all a matter of going back to what was ‘taught’ and redefine for yourself what ‘taught’ means.

There are many fashions of thinking and the current one throughout all modalities is not to educate to think, but WHAT to think (CONTENT). In clinic your key role is problem solver. Higher process assessment is not winning over ploughing through repeating what was to be 'learnt'. What is it 'to learn?" The content is not what gets you through, but your RELATIONSHIP to it. Play with it – what does it mean? To be that guy?

Dr John Shen did not teach the way Dr Hammer has written his books. Dr Shen taught that the first stage of life – up to birth – carried the major impact for a person. Early life in some way damaged accounted for the next third of influences that ever affect a person – and the last third covers year 10 to physical death – so whatever 'bent' all of us from our blueprint/template is often not even in conscious memory – esp considerable now looking at the types of birthing trauma (induction would be sufficient BEFORE all the chemicals and natural love hormone turn offs and eventual cord clamping starting off the breathing in a state of shock and abruption).

Why mention this? Shen shock. As all notions of prevention has been lost.

In TCM – real causation has been lost (a lot of it is gone as it is not solid and too 'spiritual' - where is evil possession info when you need it - still in Tibetan medicine and that is another story - it was in Chinese version also .. . .) – and thus we now, like good medical students everywhere, start somewhere up the chain of events as they eventually become so obvious.

I strongly suggest that as at present everything is free to download, you go to www.sharpen-up-your-results.com and look for the Dr Shen notes to get you started here.

So it is not a matter of what was taught or your interpretation – as there are myriad ways and unless you start enquiring/unless we as a discipline allow the breadth of human experience to be heard, it will all go the way of good midwifery care – and how just on that - how many obstetricians can do an inspired forceps delivery or a set of twins without quaking? We are as humans becoming far too simplistic in everything – and acupuncture is no exception.

As I am finished an adult teaching degree now and have been studying pedagogy, I can say that the content is very well down the list of why graduates have severe difficulty in being confidant and proficient in clinical practice.

If you Google ‘lineage based acupuncture education’ you will find where the spirit may be found – and without that driving the ship – where are we but wannabe technicians and pseudo mechanics? Wendy Williams through www.shokanten.com is keeping the spirit as per our common teacher Dr van Buren alive. There are those who say ‘old fashioned’/out of touch – but this is to deny the man, like Dr Shen was a stunning magician/practitioner and knew people at a level that is seemingly absent in the current published and ‘correct’ writings.

People are individual – their bodies carry the memories of all that happened – even if they consciously cannot access this. What is happening to your fellow could be the beginning of a journey into a different mode of being – and of course he is anxious - and sometimes it is as easy as a few herbs to nourish – I chose Ginseng and Longan a lot for women as it assists the over nourishing that they do for others- and leave themselves dry.

We all often have so much RAGE that it fuels the anxiety/panic states that people say they have – at the core they are playing – too 'nice' and the effort wears all out eventually. Is why so many are on drugs of various descriptions – clears the head/cuts the inner chatter and gives them temporarily some quiet – hence I go back to these simple formulaic measures.

Also – if you follow Wendy’s work – you will learn a non TCM style that has stood the test of time – and there are myriad others – most getting lost as they are not published. Master Tong’s work via Miriam Lee is another gem.


We all end up having our own styles. The formal education process is one way of having content thrust upon us. There are many other ways - and one is not to be so 'either/or' about life.


There may be other explanations as to why what you thought re moxa and false heat/full heat APPEARS to be out of step with what I said.


One of the myriad is things presented so simplistically can muddy the waters.

Another is that the styles of treatment found in a tertiary education are not mirroring what a good practitioner may choose to do - for various reasons - including that experience has been written out and ‘evidence based’ is in – and in time we may rue this. The test of time was never TCM - and the anecdotal and the decades it took to be a good practitioner can not be bought through passing the examination hurdles - it may be that one day there are other options open for those wishing to become great healers . . .. remembering we are all on a personal evolutionary path and have a soul purpose is not PC in either TCM or in western medicine and both of these are presently defining what is taught . .

Our patients need a more rounded approach if we are to 'service' them well. . .starting with ourselves, we can at least be on the same inner journey (cultivating mindfulness rather than statistics) and hopefully a little further along the way. The sages were also craftspeople artists philosophers - they lived and were people too - balance in all things.

[Heather Bruce]

Just a further thought - acupuncture was always hand and hand with moxa. . . . not so much these days.

If a treatment was constructed in pieces and a bit happened and you saw/felt the response, and then did a bit more - it would be more like observing the energy and a little less like shopping for herbs for a week - which point does what? . . . . did not used to exist in acupuncture until rather recently - as we were looking at the whole and how they were traveling relative to all sorts of now considered arcane things - except that it worked . . . . . . may be what is being spoken of and written about is easier to 'learn' - and there is a whole new subject - what has memorizing and pattern recognition REALLY go to do with the job we are training students to do?

This is where the more meridian style wins every time - if we elicit a response in the person, then it may not be what we expected, may be all we think we want to have happen, or maybe the tongue is showing something else . . . it seems quaint to me that it is all neat and tidy at the onset - how can we be so silly as also to forget about all the life experiences /scars and so on that have made this body NOT do what the blueprint would have?

Hence the cool belly cupping - until this is done - what hope has the Yang got to support life? Of course he may be still yin deficient - but many are helped by a bit of this and a bit of that . . and until you have them there in front of you is a it tricky to say what may come up - or be removed - or what they might start talking about - and then . . .


Hope all these meanderings help . .. .

Best wishes'
Heather