Week 11

Acupuncture as effective energy medicine

http://www.acupuncture-dfw.com/energy.html describes acupuncture as "acting on the body’s own subtle energy system to clear obstructions and maximize the flow of energy and blood through the healing mechanisms of the body; including the nervous, endocrine and immune systems, which enhance the body’s own innate healing capacity and lead to an overall increase in energy and vitality."

I guess this is what is truly wonderful about acupuncture. It takes the resources we already have and just re-directs them. And that is what is great about TCM too. If acupuncture isn't enough, we have herbs to give their chemical reactions and their energy to the body. I remember seeing an "invasiveness" chart from Dennis' class. How the least invasive healing modality is meditation, and the most invasive is surgery. Acupuncture, herbs, pharmaceuticals, qi gong, etc. are all somewhere in between. It put healing modalities in a whole new light, and it made me realize that all medicine is essentially energy medicine. It all works with a range of energy levels.. from light to the energy is the densest (material) form.

What conclusions can you draw from Kirlian photography?

Michael analyzed my photograph briefly, and talked about feminine energy, deprogramming, stubbornness, and spirit guides. It was a little hard to understand what he was saying, as I've never done anything like this before. I looked up Kirlian photography on wikipedia, the research done on it, and various analyzations of it, and am completely confused by all of them. To be honest, it is hard to draw any conclusions. I think I will keep my aura photograph though, and look back on the experience with an open mind. And if my spirit guides, stubbornness, and strong feminine energy are truly present in my aura, then I am proud that is something I am projecting to the world.

Human intent as it affects health

Human intent is huge in terms of health. I know firsthand, when I used to get terrible stomach aches when I was 15, and one of the only things that ever helped was some sort of qi-gong type visual imagery that I half heard about and half made up on my own. My intent was to have a peaceful abdomen. And I would breath in white light and breath out dirty brown stuff (in my mind). Also, I remember being really little, and having the intent of being sick because I didn't want to go to school that day. I never liked lying, so I would amplify any sort of not-in-perfect-health feeling I was feeling that day, and use it as my excuse to stay home. I would usually really get sick on those days.

Week 10

I know I’m a “living system” because...

I know I'm living because I can understand myself. I can acknowledge myself with 5 senses. How do we know what else is living? Can a plant acknowledge itself? Maybe or maybe not, but it is still living. I think the term "living" really means progression. But then again, erosion is progression. Does that mean mountains are living? Are rocks living? So many questions! Not any substantial answers..

I am conscious of myself and other things, living or not. But a rock could not say the same (that we know of). So I will say I am living because I am conscious.


Biophysics and Oriental Medicine

Oriental medicine started with big ideas that summed up the basic principles of the universe. Western medicine started small and is expanding and attempting to understand itself through big principles. The more Western medicine is integrating with Eastern medicine, the more we see how biophysics has a role in Chinese medicine. We are studying the mechanisms of acupuncture and herbs, and figuring them out on a western/"biophysics" level. I see these two ways of looking at medicine as the yin and yang of the world. They may never fully merge, but they will always attempt to become closer to each other, while all the while still having individual integrity.

Week 9

My E-Prime Day

Today I woke up to noise at an hour of which is normally and legally considered to be 8:00am PST. I brewed some seemingly stale coffee and drank part of it before pouring it down the kitchen sink drain. I then dressed myself and walked to AIMC Berkeley, the building at which I am currently enrolled in various classes to eventually obtain a degree from. My clinic shift started at 9:30am, but as I noticed more than a few student names on the clinic sign up sheet, it appeared I had no patients to treat. I then mosied into the herb room to find a few people I would assume to call my friends seemingly talking to each other, so I sat down and listened in before interacting with them. Then I wrote down a raw herb prescription for myself and my seemingly congested chest. A classmate of mine then asked if I could insert a few needles in him for an acupuncture event, so I did just that in a small clinic room of the downstairs portion of AIMC. I observed the school day keeping on keeping on as it usually does, with what I thought of as two long classes and a break for eating lunch food in between. Bruce Robinson appeared to turn what registers to me as 74 years old today, so our class attended an event held in a room upstairs. Bruce seemed surprised to see us yelling "surprise." After school was over, I received a ride to the library from a person whom I would consider a friend. Then I walked to the BART station with a different supposed friend. Then I walked to Tully's to buy what I assumed to be good-tasting coffee beans. Then I walked to the apartment that I am currently residing in. It seemed my boyfriend had cooked us both a dinner consisting of fish, rice and broccoli. After eating, I recall observing us both eating about 8 plums each! Then I clicked on various website addresses before ordering a few different things that I would assume to make useful birthday gifts for people whom I care about. Now I am doing what appears to be typing on a web page that soon will be viewable by many.


Can I synthesize East and West?

Maybe! I mean, hopefully. I see this as a perfect goal of mine as an acupuncturist, and the ultimate goal of Chinese medicine as a whole. I think people have been saying that Eastern and Western thinking have been merging for a while now. It's exciting when you first hear it, but then you realize that it's been happening all along, just at a very slow pace. But really, I feel we are all synthesising East and west, by doing Eastern medicine in the West.