Re: link acupressure/kinesiologia

After that visit I came across this link.. Would only copy the entire page,search for emf brings you to it, there is more conditions listed and this seems to be a powerful healing method!!
 
Love

perla1133 <[hidden email]> wrote:






ENERGY MEDICINE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

© 2002 Donna Eden
Permission to print for personal study granted. For printing more than 2 copies or
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Alzheimer’s Disease

Q. Dear Donna: I recently attended a seminar at the Omega Institute and heard Wayne Dyer talking about healing through the use of energy medicine. Is it possible to treat Alzheimer's using energy techniques? My Mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s 3½ years ago, and she has been deteriorating rapidly. She has taken Aricept, Cognex, and other medications, but none of them seem to have helped at all. Please let me know if there has been any success using energy medicine. I would do anything to heal her or at least reverse the progression. Thank you for any information or guidance you can provide.

A. My heart goes out to you about the excruciating situation facing you andyour mother. In my experience, "Alzheimer's" may involve any of a variety of dysfunctional energy patterns. Energetically, it is a single name for a variety of disorders that have similar symptoms. While there is still no cure, some of the patterns are more responsive to energy work than others, and I have seen Alzheimer’s symptoms diminish with its use. However, without seeing your mother, I cannot even begin to guess what is involved for her. What I can do is make some suggestions that have helped in certain instances, would generally be beneficial, and never harmful, and you can see if they are of any value. You would probably know within three or four weeks ofapplying them daily.

If the problem is that there is not enough "space" in her head (constrictions in the musculature and circulatory system as well as in the energy pathways) for oxygen, cerebral spinal fluid, blood, and energy to flush through her brain, then energy work can be of value.

A simple procedure for treating these constrictions is called the "crown pull," which is part of the 5-minute "Daily Energy Routine" presented in Chapter 3 of Energy Medicine. Do the "crown pull" for her as described there, and extend it all over her head, especially rubbing the "lumps" at the top back of her neck and base of her skull (these happen to be triple warmer points).

Then, "pump up" her cerebrospinal fluid (p. 208, softcover edition only) and hold her neurovasculars (p. 217) and notice which neurovascular points seem to feel the best to her. Do these regularly, along with the crown pull and pump up.

Chances are that in addition to being constricted, her energies are also neurologically disorganized. The "three thumps" (p. 63), the "Wayne Cook" procedure (p. 73), the "homolateral crossover" (p. 233), and the "hook-up" (p.119) all address this.

I am truly hoping these suggestions can be of help to her. If they are evenslightly, it is a good sign. You might then see if there is an energy worker in your area who could work with her regularly. Return to Index.

 

Ankle-Heel Pain and Sciatica

Q. Dear Donna: I have a client who has excruciating pain in her ankles and heels. As a reflexologist, I would assess this as a form of sciatica, although she has yet to feel pain in her hips or lower back. I have held acupressure points on her, and have gently pulled and stretched the skin over the painful areas, which has brought her some relief, but I want to know what else I can do to help her.

A. My own experience suggests that if there is no pain in the hip, back, orleg, it is probably not sciatica. To help with her ankle pain, I would work with the bladder, kidney, or spleen meridians, depending on where the pain is sharpest, because these are the meridians that run along the ankle. Energy testing will help you to zero in on the specific meridian that is involved, although there may actually be more than one to treat. If you feel uncertain about your testing results, you could also sedate all three (using the acupuncture points shown on pp. 120 – 123 of Energy Medicine), notingwhich one helped to ease her pain the most. Then, follow this by strengthening the spleen meridian, also using the acupuncture points. You can also determine which meridians need attention by the location of the pain and thebreak and comparing these to the meridian flow diagrams in Chapter 4.

You could also tape the north side of a magnet to her heel to reduce the pain (read and experiment with the pain techniques in Chapter 10 and the use of magnets in Chapter 11). Painful heels also often indicate a problem witha person’s spleen and pancreas energy, indicating the possibility of blood sugar issues.

If she does, in fact, have sciatica, sedate the circulation-sex meridian. She will be able to tell you instantly if this brings relief. Return to Index.

 

Asking the Body Questions

Q. Dear Donna: I am a nutritionist, and while I’ve known of energy testing for years, I have looked with great skepticism at practitioners who ask the body "Do you need more carbohydrates in your diet?" or "Does this cough require a visit to the doctor?" It was through your book that I came to understand that there are less flaky ways to energy test and began to experiment. Now I would say that using the spleen indicator test to determine whether particular foods, vitamins, and supplements are needed, and in what amounts, is the most useful single tool I have found in the past decade, and I thank you profusely for opening me to it. However, the question still comesup for me, what are the constraints of energy testing? Surely you cannot rely on an energy test of "Is this lump malignant?" How much can you ask thebody?

A. This is a very difficult question for me. Many respected colleagues regularly pose verbal questions to the body. I rarely do. Introducing verbal questions into an energy test brings in a whole other realm beyond the body’s wisdom. I, instead, use energy testing to tune into the language of the body, which I’ve come to profoundly trust. Energy testing the body, without an overlay of words, is generally quite reliable when the procedure isfollowed correctly. Energy testing verbal questions, regardless of how it is done, brings in many more variables.

I have felt uneasy about this issue for over twenty years. Some practitioners have learned to use verbal questions followed by an energy test as a wayof tuning into a higher source of information, so it becomes for them a way of channeling, a bridge to the truth of the situation. For people who have developed this to a refined art, it’s usually quite trustworthy. But itis also an embarrassment to the field how many practitioners casually use energy testing to answer all sorts of bizarre questions. I have seen more nonsense emerge from this than I like to think about.

But since it is a valid method for some people, I’ve never taken a publicposition on it. I simply went about teaching energy testing in the contexts in which I use it, which are much more traditional—checking, under specific conditions, the relative strength of indicator muscles to determine the energetic state of a meridian or chakra or other system.

Efforts to ask the body questions about the future seem particularly ludicrous to me: "How long before I will be cured of this illness?" While I may have a lot of information to make an educated guess about such a question, an energy test is not a source I rely on for that information. I believe there is fate, there is free will, and there is circumstance. An energy test of the future assumes it is all fated. But free will, unpredictable circumstances, even relationships with other people, all converge with whatever maybe fated. This is why readings from even the most talented psychics are only a percentage game. Many factors influence the single question being asked.

But even questions about treatment are very tricky. "Should this problem betreated with the meridians or the chakras?" Energy tests can be influencedby so many forces, even for people of the highest integrity who do everything they can to get out of the way. It is challenge enough not to exert an influence based on your beliefs, desires, or unconscious expectations. Thisis true for any energy test, but so much more so when it is based on a verbal question rather than letting the body respond in its own language.

As I write this, I am having images of colleagues who ask questions before an intervention such as "Is this for the body’s highest good?" or "Do I have permission to proceed?" I ask these questions intuitively, but I do notenergy test for them. However, practitioners I really admire do ask these questions and test for the answers so respectfully, almost as a prayer, that the questions themselves set an energy field of respect and equality. So the energy test itself serves a very powerful purpose of setting a morphogenic field for healing. So I am not criticizing this practice, I’m just not sure about the validity of the answers such an energy test will yield. Would someone please energy test me on that question! Return to Index.

 

Autoimmune Disorders

Q. Dear Donna: We met at the book signing after your talk in Ann Arbor. Youasked me to write you because there wasn’t time to answer my question. Iam trying to overcome an autoimmune disease which doctors have variously diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis, Sjorgren’s syndrome, and lupus. My eyesare so severely dry that they have had to plug my tear ducts to prevent damage to my corneas and loss of vision. Did you have any ideas of how energytechniques could help me? I am willing to travel to see you as a patient if necessary.

A. While autoimmune illnesses may express themselves in a broad spectrum ofsymptoms, energetically they share many features, whether named rheumatoidarthritis, Sjorgren’s syndrome, lupus, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia,Crohn’s disease, chronic fatigue disorder, or any of a host of 50 other tricky conditions (see the Autoimmune Association’s website at www.aarda.org). Western medicine is the first to admit that, while invasive interventions such as steroids are available to suppress the symptoms, little is known about how to cure these illnesses, where antibodies are produced againsta person’s own tissue. By addressing the energetic roots of these conditions, however, I have seen the symptoms go into apparently permanent remission in cases where doctors could give no reason for hope, and I have seen this happy result dozens of times in my 23 years of practice.

Four primary energy intervention strategies should be considered for any autoimmune illness

Calming the triple warmer meridian (and thus the immune system’s overresponse) and establishing a balance between the spleen and triple warmer meridians (see Chapter 8 of Energy Medicine).
Establishing and maintaining crossover patterns throughout the body (seethe discussions of the Celtic weave in Chapter 6 and the homolateral crossover on p. 233).
Establishing and maintaining a general balance and harmony among all theenergy systems, using techniques such as those in the 5-Minute "Daily Energy Routine" (Chapter 3).
Establishing and maintaining space in the body for energy to move, usinglots of stretching and exercises such as "Separating Heaven and Earth" (p.248).

While for any serious, longstanding condition such as yours, I would strongly recommend that you find an energy healer in your area (see the recommendations for finding a qualified practitioner on the "Practitioners and Links" page of http://www.innersource.net/ or in the Appendix of Energy Medicine), these four points map a general approach to autoimmune disorders that would also be tailored to the person’s specific symptoms.

Regarding the severe dryness in your eyes, without being able to see or energy test you, I can only make a guess. Stomach meridian governs the body’s moisture, and it’s pathway travels through the eyes. Therefore, workingwith stomach meridian, such as tapping the ends of the meridian, holding the meridian’s acupuncture points, or flushing the meridian (trace backward once and forward three times) should help correct the energy imbalance that your symptoms may reflect.

Also, make a point of keeping spleen meridian strong by checking it regularly and using tapping, tracing, or holding to correct imbalances. This helpswith autoimmune disorders by strengthening the immune system while maintaining a healthy inner environment. Return to Index.

 

Breathing Techniques

Q. Dear Donna: What is the purpose for the breathing technique you teach—in through the nose and out through the mouth?

A. This form of breathing moves vital energy through the chakras and it keeps the central and governing meridians, which meet in the back of your throat, connected to one another. Breathing in through your nose brings a forceup your spine (governing meridian) that is fed by each of the chakras, andthen shifting to breathe out our mouth creates a connection at the back ofyour throat which stimulates central meridian.

I see value, however, in many of the techniques that are used in traditional healing and yoga practices. These vary according to the purpose of the breathing, and they also vary from individual to individual. I even see valuein "not breathing"—in the shallow breathing that sets off an alarm for many healers. When a person goes into an almost stillness with the breath, he or she may energetically have entered an altered state that can be very healing. Some exercises also have a stronger impact on the body when the person stays in that stillness of breath. A yin force is activated, and along with it, receptivity.

Anyway, it isn't that one way is right and one way is wrong, but rather there are many forms with many purposes. And sometimes it is important to justtrust the energy that begins to lead the process when a person is not controlling the breath. While the healer’s attention to breath is often to change habits that keep people from getting the oxygen they need, I personally have on occasion wanted to slug a healer when I've been the one on the table and been told, "Take some deep breaths now." This has felt like a violation of my own rhythm, imposing a more yang rhythm. At other times, however, it has been helpful, so the main guideline is to stay closely attuned with your client and with what you are wanting to accomplish.
Return to Index.

 

Broken Wrist

Q. Dear Donna: I have been reading Energy Medicine, hoping to integrate this knowledge into my study of massage therapy. I recently fell and broke thestyloid processes of the ulna and radius of my left arm and knocked the radiocarpal off angle by 30 degrees. Fortunately, we are doing bookwork in school until October. I am in a temporary cast and hoping it heals completelyby October. My question is this:

Your book shows that each meridian is related to an organ. What points can I hold to energize the area of the injury and trauma in my left wrist? I amdoing the 5-Minute "Daily Energy Routine" regularly and that is helping meoverall, especially with the changes in left and right brain functioning caused by this injury. Any suggestion you could give me to energize my left wrist and aid its healing would be greatly appreciated. My skin is not exposed for magnets due to the cast.

A. Any of the meridians in your hands and arms might be involved, includinglungs, large intestine, small intestine, triple warmer, heart, and circulation-sex. You will be able to determine which need attention by the location of the pain and the break and comparing these to the meridian flow diagrams. Someone might be able to test the alarm points to verify. Once you haveidentified the meridians that are involved, use the acupuncture sedating points to help with the pain and the strengthening points to rebuild the bone and surrounding tissue. First sedate, then strengthen. It will not hurt to do this on meridians that don't "need it," and it can really help on those that do. Return to Index.

 

Bunions

Q. Dear Donna: I am having terrible pain from a bunion on my foot. My doctor suggests surgery, which I hope to avoid. Do you have any suggestions?

A. I have successfully treated bunions by sedating the acupressure points on the meridian the bunion is on. They were made to completely go away.

For immediate relief of the pain, you can lightly tap on certain points around your ankles. Refer to the "pain zones" (p. 290 of Energy Medicine) to find where to tap.

To begin to rid yourself of the bunion, begin by using the meridian alarm points to determine which meridians are involved. Have someone energy test you against your "alarm points" while touching ("energy localizing") the bunion. The tester lightly touches your bunion with one hand. You touch the alarm points (p. 112), one at a time. With each alarm point, the tester puts pressure on an indicator muscle. You will probably find it simpler to use the spleen test (p. 51) rather than the deltoid muscle test because it will be easier to reach while the tester is touching the bunion.

Often, bunions are helped by treating the spleen meridian because it runs along the outside of the big toe (where bunions are usually located). At anyrate, the meridians needing attention are those where the indicator musclegoes weak when the corresponding alarm point is touched.

Once you've identified the meridians that need treatment, either of two approaches can shift the energies that result in a bunion. The first is to hold the acupressure sedating points (pp. 120-123) on both sides of your body (or have someone else hold them) for each meridian identified by the alarm point test. Then hold the strengthening points. This combination of sedating and strengthening is often needed to bring fresh energy to an affected area.

The second approach involves the use of magnets. The north side of a small magnet (see Chapter 11), held against the bunion, can take pain away. The south side, held against the bunion until you begin to feel discomfort, propels congested energies away from the bunion. Hold it there only until you begin to feel the slightest amount of discomfort. If the discomfort continues after you remove the magnet, simply place the north side of the magnet against the bunion once again.

There is also a more general consideration. Any kind of pain can scramble the body’s energies in many ways, and one of the best ways to unscramble these energies is to practice the 5-minute "Daily Energy Routine" (Chapter 3). You may need to modify the cross-crawl so you are not putting pressure on the bunion—you can, for instance, move your legs and opposite arms while you are seated.
Return to Index.

 

Cancer and Alternative Therapies

Q. Dear Donna: My brother has throat cancer that has metastasized. Having tried surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy with little success, he seems more open to alternative methods, and I'm wondering if you have any ideas thatmight help him. Except for his cancer, he is actually in fairly good health at this time, which gives us hope for a new approach. I must admit, however, that I feel a bit hesitant about bringing up an idea like energy medicine unless there is a chance that it could really help him.

A. I have seen major reversals in advanced cancers after energy work was introduced. The key almost always involves working with the immune system. Itis of course impossible for me to evaluate your brother's situation without seeing him in person. Someone with the right experience could assess his energies and discuss which treatments might be promising.

Energy Medicine discusses how the body’s energy system can be assessed and strengthened in gentle, non-invasive ways. Energy patterns act like an invisible blueprint for the physical body and the immune system, as well as for emotional well-being. Keeping them flowing and in balance them can have a very beneficial effect on a person’s health. Keep in mind also that notonly can energy medicine itself bring about healing, it is compatible withany other treatment modality he receives.

You might search the net for programs that offer alternative treatments forcancer. For example, you could start with http://www.healingjourneys.com/ or http://www.commonweal.org/ or some of the other websites listed in the resources section of Energy Medicine or on our website, http://www.innersource.net/. Even Sloan-Kettering, one of the top cancer treatment centers in the U.S., has physicians who treat patients with alternative medicine, so I think you'll be surprised at what you find in your search. Programs and practitioners that take a holistic approach, addressing the body and its energies, the mind, and the spirit—have many strengths over those that addressonly the body.

An innocuous way to introduce your brother to energy work is with the 5-minute "Daily Energy Routine" (Chapter 3). If he finds that this makes him feel a bit better, it may pique his interest in finding an energy approach forworking with his illness. Return to Index.

 

Chi Machine

Q. Can the Chi machine take the place of all the other techniques you recommend to keep energies crossed over?

A. I have seen good results on the Chi machine; but I've seen people's energies become disheveled and disconnected on it as well. Everyone’s energies are different. The machine uses "up and down" figure eights but does not use a sideways motion. For some people, this is all they need to get their whole system hooked up; for others it just scrambles them more. Interestingly, a very ancient exercise, variations are found in many cultures (I firstsaw it done when I was a tiny girl by some Cherokee Indians), mimics the Chi machine exactly.

I suggest to practitioners who use the Chi machine that they energy test the person after a minute or two on it. Use the spleen meridian test. This will show if the machine strengthened or interfered with the body’s naturalfigure eight patterns. It will also give an indication of whether the machine caused the radiant circuits to kick in, which is necessary if there is to be a lasting benefit. Return to Index.

 

Chronic Anger

Q. Dear Donna: Can your techniques help me with chronic anger? I am really a very nice person, but no one knows it because all this rage builds up in me and just explodes with the slightest provocation.

A. Many people are victim to destructive emotions they do not know how to manage. Energy work can empower you to become fully responsible for your behaviors by significantly reducing the charge on your rage so that you will be able to handle it.

The following routine will both move the energy that fuels your anger out of your body and it will bring in positive energy to replace it:

Do the "Expelling the Venom" exercise (p. 219) several times each day.
Do a zip-up (p. 82), paired with an affirmation related to your problem with anger, such as "I am feeling joy and peace replacing my anger."
Hold your frontal neurovascular points (the "Oh my God" points) and your"anger" (gall bladder) neurovascular points (p. 217).
Do the Wayne Cook posture (p. 73).
Do all the stretching you can. This will help make space so anger can quickly move through and out of your system and fresh energy can easily enter.
Do the temporal tap (p. 332) with affirmations designed to change your habitual outbursts.
The "Heaven Rushing In" technique (p. 21) can help you begin to feel more connected to the universe, more aligned with the cosmos and everything init.

Of course you may also want to consider a psychological approach, seeking help from a qualified psychotherapist, but often energetically reducing the emotional pressure frees a person to work out the psychological dimension of the problem. Return to Index.

 

Chronic Tension

Q. Dear Donna: One of my clients is unusually tense, and I'm finding it difficult to help him relax enough so I can do effective energy work with him.I'd appreciate any suggestions you can make.

A. First, make sure he's "hooked up" by holding the points on his navel and3rd eye. Then do a "spinal flush" by massaging the neurolymphatics along his spine. This not only relieves tension, but also moves toxic energy out of the body.

Separating Heaven from Earth is an exercise you might lead him through. It helps move tense energies out of the body. What appears to be tension may be his efforts to hold his energies together because they are really very scrambled. I would check to see if the Wayne Cook posture (Chapter 3) is needed (put your finger about a foot in front of and to the left of his left eye and have his eyes follow as you move your finger to the far right—if heloses his strength on a general indicator test, it means he needs it).

With your client laying on his back, slip your fingers underneath his head,cradle his head with your middle fingers on his central lymphatic points (where the head meets the neck) and simply hold for a couple of minutes. A deep relaxation usually begins. I would follow this by gently holding the neurovascular points on his head. Use your hands and fingers to link points for triple warmer (the fight or flight meridian) with the main points on hisforehead. Holding them for several minutes while he sits or lies quietly may make a big difference.

If he continues to remain tense, it may be that his energies are "frozen." The definition of a frozen meridian is that it (and the muscles related to it) have lost their natural electromagnetic polarity. Operationally, it means that there is no difference between the muscle’s energetic response tothe positive and negative sides of a magnet. Unfreezing the triple warmer muscle at the bottom of the scapula (teres minor) will often help a person to let go of physical tension. See Q/A on "Frozen Muscles." Return to Index.

 

Clogging Arteries

Q. Dear Donna: What can be done for clogging arteries? Are there any energy techniques to help with this condition?

A. Yes, you can keep the energies moving through the arteries, which will help keep them from clogging. Massage, point by point, the acupressure points along the heart meridian, and linger on each point. Then sedate the circulation-sex meridian and massage the circulation-sex pathway, point by point. Also strengthen the liver and spleen meridians and sedate the kidney meridian. And, very important, massage the neurolymphatic points daily, particularly those that hurt. All of this will help at an energetic level. Also, be sure you are getting and following good nutritional advice. You can energy check foods against the spleen and circulation-sex meridians (circulation-sex governs the pericardium) using the alarm points (p. 112 in Energy Medicine) to see if the food can be digested properly (spleen) and if it is in harmony with the cardiovascular system (pericardium).
Return to Index.

 

Correspondence Courses

Q. Dear Donna: Do you offer any correspondence courses in energy medicine? Although I would love to attend your workshops, as a single parent with a modest income, I'm a little short on time and money. But I'd really like to learn more about this fascinating work.

A. The closest material to a "correspondence course" would include the bookEnergy Medicine that I wrote with my husband, David Feinstein, Ph.D., and the numerous videotapes that we offer. You could order any combination of them by visiting our website at www.innersource.net or by calling 800-835-8332. We have a six-hour video training program called Energy Healing that isbest used as a companion to the book, and we have also had several of our more advanced specialized training classes professionally videotaped. Alongwith each of them, we offer all the class handouts, tests, and certificates of completion for each home study class.

You'll find that the Innersource website lists upcoming classes, and maybe one day we will hold one in your area which would at least save you travel expenses.

You might also be interested in joining the Energy Medicine Institute whichpublishes updates not only on my work, but also provides information on other developments in the field. Links to EMI and how to join can be found onour website. The first issue of their Newsletter is extremely informative,has gotten rave reviews, and can be downloaded free. Return to Index.

 

Crooked Teeth in a Wind Instrument Musician

Q. Dear Donna: I play the clarinet professionally and wonder if energy medicine could help straighten my teeth? You can imagine how uncomfortable it would be to play this kind of instrument with braces on your teeth, so I thought I'd ask you for any creative ideas on this matter.

A. I have successfully used energy medicine to straighten children’s teeth so that they didn't need braces. Here’s what I did: after I treated some of their basic energy patterns, I held the sedating and strengthening acupressure points that were associated with each crooked tooth (see page 287 of Energy Medicine). Then I taught the children and their parents to do these techniques daily. The results were amazing! I have never treated an adult for this kind of problem, but you could certainly experiment with this approach. Return to Index.

 

Depression from Sedating Triple Warmer Too Long?

Q. Dear Donna: Is it possible to hold someone's triple warmer for too long?In an effort to become deeply relaxed, I had my wife hold my triple warmerpoints well beyond the point when I sighed [the sign that indicates an energy connection], and I found, unexpectedly, that I began to feel depressed.I read somewhere that triple warmer is associated with the thyroid, and I am aware that this endocrine gland impacts mood.

A. Actually, it is possible that sedating triple warmer for too long could cause depression, especially if it is not balanced by strengthening the spleen meridian.

And you are right that the thyroid gland could be involved. The thyroid is actually governed by the balance of triple warmer and spleen, not just the triple warmer alone. So be sure to work with the two together – sedating triple warmer and strengthening spleen. Triple warmer is a powerful and assertive life force, and if you take its power away without providing the counterbalance of spleen energy, depression is possible.

Depression can also result from problems with the large intestine meridian as well as with an imbalance between triple warmer and spleen. An energy test will help you to determine which meridians are involved. From there you can experiment with the various ways described in Energy Medicine for bringing a meridian into a good flow and balance, such as tracing the meridian, flushing it, holding the relevant acupuncture sedating or strengthening points or the neurovascular points, massaging the neurolymphatic points, etc. Return to Index.

 

Depression, Prozac, and Energy Checking Dosages

Q. Dear Donna: I have suffered over the years from bouts of depression. I have finally come to some relief, using Prozac. While it is wonderful to have found a medication that helps, I am now having trouble with side effects. What would you suggest?

A. Depression scrambles the body’s energies and also slows the movement of energy through all the body’s systems. This in turn often causes the meridians to run backwards. The 5-minute "Daily Energy Routine" (Chapter 3 of of Energy Medicine) can, in itself, be helpful, and there are numerous other focused energy techniques that can get all the energy systems hooked upand flowing again. However, long-standing endogenous depression, in particular, can be very tricky to treat, and anti-depressant medication can be a godsend.

But because medications themselves often also scramble the body’s energies, prescribing is an art that often also involves a great deal of trial anderror. Assuming you have discussed the side-effect problem with the physician who is managing your medication and that your current choice and dosage is as good as he or she knows how to get it, here is how to use an energy medicine approach to counter the side effects. First you would check boththe Prozac and its dosage with energy tests. You would begin using the spleen as a general indicator test (Chapter 2). You would also need your physician’s involvement or at least consent to do these tests, and if you cannot get it, you have the choice of staying with your current dosage and medication or finding a physician who is willing to at least explore an energyapproach to counter the medication’s side effects.

If the spleen indicator test shows the Prozac to be strong, you would then use the same test to determine the proper dosage. This is a time where yourintention for the test makes a difference. You could do the first general indicator test holding either the container of pills or a single pill. Yourfocus is on whether his is the proper medication.

When you are testing the dosage, you would, at the time of day when you would normally take the medication, test one capsule. If the test shows weak, cut the capsule in half. If half the amount tests strong, this is more likely to be the proper dosage for you to take at that time of day. If the original capsule tests strong, cut another capsule and see if adding part of itkeeps you strong. Continue until you test weak. The amount that last tested strong will probably be a good dosage to take each day at the appointed time (if the medication is normally taken twice each day, this would be the amount to take each time). Because, however, other factors that are specific to you on that day may vary, and anti-depressant medication seems to workbest if you stay with the same dosage each day, it can be useful to do thetest on several days to see the amount that is most frequently needed.

If the general indicator test does not stay strong, perhaps your physician has samples of other anti-depressant medications that you can energy test. Once you have identified a medication that is in harmony with your energy system and determined the proper dosage, you would then test this dosage on each of the alarm points (p. 112). This would show you which meridians are having trouble with the medication, even though the spleen general indicator test showed that it is generally good for you. You would then work with these meridians daily to keep them strong and flowing, including working with them while holding the medication on the related alarm points. The 5-Minute "Daily Energy Routine" (Chapter 3) will also help stabilize your body’s energies so you can more readily tolerate the intrusion of the medication. Return to Index.

 

Diabetes

Q. Dear Donna: My 14-year-old daughter has diabetes. Are there any energy techniques that can help her? Although she has little self-discipline for daily exercises, I'll encourage her to practice whatever you recommend.

A. For the blood sugar to stay balanced, it is crucial that spleen meridianbe kept strong. This is done primarily by sedating triple warmer—which drains energy from spleen—and then by directly strengthening spleen. In Energy Medicine, you'll note that there are several ways to do this, and I'd have your daughter use every way possible since what is required with this illness is to literally retrain a deeply held energy habit in her body. To strengthen spleen meridian:

Hold the acupressure points for strengthening spleen (see p. 120). You can help her with this by holding them for her, but she may also be able to do it herself.
Massage the spleen neurolymphatic points on the torso (p. 84).
Hold the spleen neurovascular points on the head (p. 274).
Tap the spleen points (part of the three thumps in Chapter 3) several times a day.
Flush spleen meridian by tracing it backwards one time and then forwardsthree times. You'll find a drawing on page 102.
Liver meridian is also often involved in diabetes (as well as hypoglycemia). You can follow the same basic steps described here for spleen for balancing the liver meridian.
Do the "Daily Energy Routine" to maintain better harmony in her body.

Changing the deep habit of a spleen/triple warmer imbalance will not only help keep her blood sugar in better balance, it can help create a new pattern of insulin production in her pancreas. The type of diabetes determines how much the illness can be turned around. If she was born without the ability to create insulin, she will probably always need to have it supplied externally, but even in that situation, the procedures described here will helpher pancreas to function more optimally.

I know she's a teenager and that it is hard to implement this kind of discipline into her schedule, but encourage her to at least tap the spleen points several times each day and to flush her spleen meridian once or twice daily. Return to Index.

 

Drained "All the Time"

Q. Dear Donna: I have a job that requires that I do many things at once. As a result, I feel pulled and drained all the time. I have been told I have a depleted kidney meridian. Does that have anything to do with triple warmer? Does my kidney energy have anything to do with my always feeling drained?

A. Yes, kidney energy is very important in how you feel. When the kidney meridian is depleted, all the meridian energies in the body often become reversed, literally flowing backwards, causing you to feel utter exhaustion. So the "three thumps," which begin with the endpoint of kidney meridian (K-27), are a good place to start. But other energies may be involved as well.For starters, I would check to see if your energies are failing to cross over (corrected by the homolateral cross-over and figure 8s).

It is also probable that your triple warmer meridian is "on alert." Triplewarmer governs the adrenals. When kidney meridian is not strong enough tosupply the body with enough of its energy, triple warmer draws extra energy from your adrenals. This can then become habitual. Triple warmer holds habits in place, and it can establish dysfunctional as well as efficient energy habits, such as maintaining a depletion of kidney energy. Whenever you feel "pulled and drained," find a way to remind yourself to do the following: "Smooth behind the ears" (pp. 235 – 236). Then do a "hook up" (p. 119) for at least a minute. First, you will be interrupting the energy habit mid-stream. Second, you will be shifting the habit with the smoothing and thehook-up. This will help triple warmer go off of alert. Sedating and then strengthening kidney meridian using the acupuncture holding points will thenbe able to address the problem without interference. Return to Index.

 

Drained by "Energy Enhancing" Exercises

Q. Dear Donna: Can the energy enhancing exercises that you teach take energy away? I loved the opening chapters of your book and was motivated to start doing the "Daily Energy Routine" plus several of the other exercises. I started feeling worse, very low energy, on the second day, and after trying them a few more times I have given up.

A. Two things are likely. Whenever I’ve seen a client’s energies drain from the exercises in the "Daily Energy Routine," the person was homolateral. This has been the case in every instance I have known. If a person is homolateral, doing the homolateral crossover (p. 233) once or twice daily is critical if everything else is to work.

The other dynamic that may be at play is that because the energy exercises are designed to shift established energy habits in order to improve the flow of energy through your body, the triple warmer meridian, whose job is to maintain habits and homeostasis, may be treating the exercises as a threat.See the discussion on calming and sedating triple warmer that begins on page 235. Return to Index.

 

EMF [Electromagnet Frequency] Sensitivity

Q. Dear Donna: I have an extreme EMF sensitivity and am wondering if you have any advice regarding how I might counteract these ever-present forces. I've done the exercises in your book (which I love), and I've tried working with magnets, but haven't been able to get the complete protection I need. I'm desparate for more ideas because, at this point, I can only use phones,computers, and even simple lights for a short snippets of time. Driving inmy car affects me if I'm in it for too long, and I've recently started having severe reactions when planes fly overhead! Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night feeling like my head, my heart, and my nervous system are being fried. Do you have any suggestions? I'll do anything if you think it will work.

A. I have such deep sympathy for you and your EMF problem. I, too, am very sensitive to this kind of energy. We live in a world of EMF soup, and more and more people are becoming painfully aware of how it affects them. I hearyour fear and discouragement about the exercises in Energy Medicine not having giving you full protection, but I think you can build upon what you have already learned. I want to give you a little further guidance by pointing out the ones that are likely to help the most. If practiced long enough and often enough, you should see further improvement. Getting an assessment and tailor-made instruction from a qualified energy practitioner would alsobe a good idea.

Balance your energy by doing the "hook-up": place the middle finger of one hand in your belly button and of the other hand over your third eye, press in, pull up slightly (page 119). Hold this position, breathe easily, andrelax. You're likely to sigh or yawn once you're hooked up.
The "Wayne Cook" posture (p. 74) is one of the best exercises I know forunscrambling the body's energies.
You can probably get a great deal of mileage out of "figure-8" exercises. Restoring the body’s figure 8 patterns creates a field around you that actually blocks out EMFs. Stand with your feet a foot or two apart and swoop your arms in figure 8 patterns in front of your body, out to the sides, and over your head (see p. 185). Do lots of them! They're especially fun to do with music.
Chapter 11 chronicles my own slippery adventure with EMFs and presents several ways to use magnets to protect and heal yourself. I experimented with magnets in a hundred ways. These ranged from spinning magnets over my aura to protect it, to taping magnets to specific points on my body, to at onetime laying a magnet under my pillow and attaching another one above my head on the headboard.

Because EMF’s are everywhere and can affect you throughout the day, I'd do the energy exercises several times each day to keep yourself balanced. This will gradually retrain you’re the protective energy field that surrounds you to be more resilient even when you're being exposed to strong EMFs. Return to Index.

 

Emphysema

Q. Dear Donna: A dear friend of mine has serious emphysema and is being evaluated for a lung transplant. So far, she hasn't been willing to consider anything outside of traditional medicine, but she might change her mind one of these days and I'd like to know if energy medicine could help her. Your class at my Unity Church while I was battling bladder cancer several years ago set me on a life-saving course, and that experience left me with a passion for alternative medicine. I’m hoping that my friend will soon open tothese possibiities.

A. Because energy medicine is non-invasive, gentle, and not prone to serious negative side effects, people are often willing to try its methods even though they may be skeptical at first. Further, it will not interfere with, and often complements, more traditional courses of treatment. You could suggest to your friend that she might feel a little better if she does the following simple exercises. You or someone else can help her with them if she is in a weakened state:

Have her do a hook-up (described on page 119 of Energy Medicine -- you can hold the points for her if it is too exhausting for her to hold them herself).

Flush lung meridian on both sides of her body. Simply trace the meridianbackwards one time with your hand and then forwards three times. See p. 107 for a drawing of this meridian pathway.

Work with the pain chasing technique described in Chapter 10 for lung meridian and see if it helps to rid her of any tender spots along the meridian pathway.

Massage the neurolymphatic reflex points for both lung meridian (on the sternum and between the ribs) and for the central vessel (where the arms hook onto the torso). These spots are illustrated on p. 85. They are usually tender because toxic energies tend to get clogged in them.

Finally, hold the neurovascular points on her head for about 3 to 5 minutes. Use your hands to lightly hold spots both on the top of her head and on her forehead. This will help the circulation to her lungs.

If she finds some relief from these procedures and wants to pursue an energy approach more aggressively, finding a qualified energy practitioner wouldbe a natural next step, but even these techniques, done with consistency, might help considerably. When someone is in a health crisis, as your friendseems to be, it would be ideal to do these techniques at least 3 or 4 times a day, although there is always a dance between what is ideal, what is practical, and what her stamina will allow. Return to Index.

 

Energy Medicine and Elementary School Education

Q. Dear Donna: I am an elementary school teacher who was in your workshop last week in Cincinnati. Is anyone teaching your work to school children. I am interested in doing this, but if the formula already exits I do not want to "reinvent the wheel."

A. This is wonderful work to take to the schools. The Educational Kinesiology Foundation (http://www.braingym.org/) has been a pioneer in bringing energy medicine into schools. They have also sponsored or supported an impressive series of research studies to back claims that energy methods can helpchildren with learning disabilities, enhance academic performance, addressthe causes of some behavioral problems such as hyperactivity, and increaseself-esteem. Our own non-profit Energy Medicine Institute has been conducting a very small program with the St. Louis public school system and you can find updates about it at http://www.energymed.org/. I think that energy methods should be in the tool kit of every public school teacher. Return to Index.

 

Energy Testing and Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

Q. Dear Donna: I have been devouring your book and tape series since I attended your recent lecture in Portland. It was an extremely enthusiastic crowd and arms waved like grain in the wind with questions. Mine didn't get answered. I have multiple chemical sensitivities and am reactive to even the most ordinary environments. I’ve had no luck with allergy doctors or the usual alternative therapies such as homeopathy and acupuncture. I am workingwith a naturopath who is trying to figure out how to help me, and he has already given me one really valuable tool, which is energy testing. Since hetaught it to me, I have been relying on it heavily to determine what is safe for me.

But both energy testing and a Vega testing machine indicate that certain compounds my naturopath would like me to take, and which wipe me out, should make me much stronger. If I take even one drop of what he gives me, I have extraordinary reactions—awake for 36 hours, incapacitated with flu-like symptoms for two days, etc. How can this be? Energy testing seems to be accurate with many other things, but not for these remedies.

A. I am sorry your question didn't get answered at the lecture. Without being able to watch what happens to your energy when you are being energy tested, I can only venture some guesses about what may be helpful.

First, I would test specific meridians rather than using a general indicator test. Begin with the spleen meridian test and then, for verification, have your naturopath follow it with the kidney meridian test. Spleen is the most likely test to detect potential problems in metabolizing a substance that other meridians might show to be agreeable with them (your body may need it, but if it can't metabolize it, the substance can still cause harm). Another reason not to rely on a general indicator test (such as the stomach) is that the beliefs and expectations of the practitioner or of the person being tested are more likely to interfere. The reasons I would verify the results by testing the kidney meridian are: 1) kidney meridian governs the organ that filters and moves toxins out of your body, 2) it is a junction meridian (it affects all the other meridians), and 3) it governs the life force, so kidney meridian responds quickly when a substance compromises the body’s energies. You might
also review the "nuances" of energy testing in Chapter 2 of Energy Medicine.

Your practitioner can also place the remedy on your alarm points in order to determine its impact on each individual meridian.

I have a lot of sympathy for you with multiple chemical sensitivities, and I believe the route out of this dilemma is to strengthen and reprogram yourimmune system so your body learns to adapt rather than go into allergic reactions. I hope you will continue to find Energy Medicine to be helpful as you formulate a strategy to accomplish this. Return to Index.

 

Energy Testing a Substance: Is Skin Contact Necessary?

Q. Dear Donna: Does the skin have to have contact with the item in an energy test? Will the test still be valid if I am testing a vitamin through a jar while still in the store?

A. Skin contact through the semi-permeable membranes in your hand or mouth is the most reliable way to energy check an item. However, because energy fields extend out from the body as well as out from the substance, you can get reasonably reliable results by simply having the substance in your energy field and then performing an energy test using a general indicator muscle such as the spleen test (Chapter 2). It is important to keep in mind, however, that the less direct the contact the greater the opportunity for other factors to influence the outcome. For instance, I find that if I am energy testing vitamins through glass, it rarely affects the outcome, but if they are packaged in plastic, it is more likely that the packaging will get inthe way.

One more thing about testing vitamins and other supplements. If you can find a weak meridian and see if the vitamin or substance will make it strong, rather than to see if the substance weakens a strong meridian, this gives additional information. This will tell you that the substance will have a beneficial effect rather than just that it will not harm you. An easy way to do this is to have the person who is doing the energy test flutter a hand over the area just under your left breast. This will temporarily result in aweakened general indicator test. Immediately place the substance in your hand or your energy field and you will see if the vitamin strengthens you. Return to Index.

 

Energy Testing—If Everything Tests Strong

Q. Dear Donna: When I tested my son for allergies, he remained strong on everything—even poison! I then tried a few friends, and they reacted the same way. I am so disappointed because now they do not think anything in your book works. What am I doing wrong?

A. Without having seen what was going on, here are my suspicions. The most important thing to know is that this is not a contest of will or strength. Sometimes people throw in all of their muscle strength, including all the auxiliary muscles that support the muscle being tested. But what you are wanting to test is whether the energy is flowing. Putting all one’s muscle strength into the test begins to test something different from the flow of energy. Think of pushing against a wall. You don’t need to use all your strength to know that the wall is going to stay standing. You can push lightly and know it is solid.

Testing family members can also be tricky. In the mother-child relationship, for instance, the mother is wired to be giving healing energy to the child, and the energy test can be picking up this influx of energy rather than the substance being tested. There can also be a surrogate relationship thatis unintentionally formed between family members, where the test is providing information about the tester rather than the person being tested.

Then once you had an obviously inaccurate result with your son in front of everyone, your confidence was gone and the test with the other people may have been influenced by your fears or their growing skepticism. There are a number of important nuances in energy testing (see closing discussion of Chapter 2).

There is, however, no substitute for practice and confidence in getting accurate results. One of the best ways to develop confidence is to set up some"double-blind" situations so you can know after the test whether the results were accurate and build a track record of accurate tests (also discussedin Chapter 2). There are two other conditions, however, which may confoundan energy test, and these are always taught in more advanced classes: "frozen" muscles and "switched or scrambled" energies:

Sometimes, muscles can become "frozen." What is happening is that the body’s cells, which are actually tiny batteries, lose their polarity. The inside of the cell, which normally has a "positive" charge, and the outside,which normally holds a negative charge, both wind up having the same charge or a neutral charge. When this occurs, energy cannot move in and out of the cells or the muscles and organs made up of those cells. While learning how to correct for frozen muscles is a more advanced technique that generally I only teach in classes where I can supervise the person’s work, I do address it in another Q/A (see "Frozen Muscles").
Sometimes, a person’s energies may be "switched." This means that the meridian energies are running in the opposite direction from their normal flow. This will confound an energy test of that meridian. This is also true for "scrambled" energies, where the meridian energies are uneven in their flow or move off their natural pathways or aren’t crossing over or are colliding with other energy systems. The 5-minute daily routine is designed torestore and keep such energies in alignment and to build patterns and habits that keep the energies from becoming switched and scrambled.

Energy testing is a reliable procedure backed by increasing numbers of research studies being published in reputable journals, but it is also an art, and it is an art worth cultivating. Return to Index.

 

Environmental Illness

Q: Dear Donna: My aunt, who lives alone, has been struggling with an environmental illness. She knows a few things about the body's energy systems andtells me that she is "not able to maintain the integrity of her auric field." She also feels that her body is not absorbing the vitamins and mineralsthat she's taking to help her regain her strength, and consequently she's very tired and drained. Is there someone who can work with her, or is therean energy medicine technique that you can recommend to help her to rebuildher health?

A: When a person's immune system has been out of balance for some time, as has happened for your aunt, there are many energy exercises that may help it function better. These are as critical as "strengthening her aura." Here are some specific routines she might practice two or three times each day:

Most important are the 5-minute "Daily Energy Routine" (Chapter 3 of Energy Medicine) and keeping a balance between the triple warmer and spleen meridians (Chapter 8)

Individuals with immune disorders usually have energy that flows in a homolateral pattern (parallel lines) rather than criss-crossing as is needed for optimal health. The homolateral crossover (p. 233) is a powerful correction for this. Routine practice of the homolateral crossover can change this pattern.

Sedate triple warmer, the meridian that becomes overactivated in response to environmental illnesses. It uses energy from the other meridians and needs to be calmed down because if triple warmer is drawing away their energies, they can’t do the job they are meant to do. Holding the acupressure sedating points (p. 122) is one of the most powerful ways to sedate triple warmer, and it would be best if you could hold them for her.

A way that she can sedate triple warmer herself is the "smoothing behindthe ears" technique (pp. 235-236). This is one she might enjoy doing for herself since it is quite simple to do and she will probably feel an immediate response in her body. It would be good to do this several times each day.

Another way to sedate triple warmer is to slowly trace the entire meridian backwards with her hand—something she can also do relatively easily. The path of the triple warmer meridian is drawn on page 105.

Strengthen spleen meridian by holding the acupressure strengthening points. The spleen meridian is a key component of the immune system, and it should be kept as strong as possible when working with environmental sensitivities. Sedating triple warmer in itself strengthens spleen and is best followed by working directly with spleen. She can also tap the spleen points, one of the "three thumps" described on page 69, throughout the day, as well as after she ingests food, vitamins, or other supplements, to help her body metabolize them.

Sedate and then strengthen the small intestine meridian. This will stream fresh energy through it. The small intestine meridian is another key in immune system fucntioning. It sits on fire element (see Chapter 7), so rejuevenating it may help your aunt to feel less drained and more energetic.

Do the Celtic weave to strengthen her auric field (see page 180.)

Finding a qualified energy healer within your community who can assess and treat her energy could also lead to more individualized suggestions. We offer some guidelines in the practitioners and links section of our website. Return to Index.

 

Feline Infectious Peritonitis

Q. Dear Donna: My kitten, Vinnie, is 5 months old and has come down with a virus, probably Feline Infectious Peritonitis. Sadly, this virus is robbinghim of his energy and vitality, and it is causing his intestinal walls to leak, resulting in a bloated belly. I've tried helping him with allopathic medicine, homeopathy, a raw diet, tracing figure eights over his belly, andmassaging his neurolymphatics, yet he continues to decline. He is such a wonderful spirit being, and I don't want to lose him. This little guy accompanies me on hikes, goes to work with me, and communicates with me on a spiritual level. Can you please give me any other ideas?

A. I of course can’t be certain what Vinnie needs without seeing his energy, but let me venture a guess. When an infection is present, especially such a severe one, the spleen meridian tends to lose its life force. Bloatingfurther suggests that his spleen meridian is in trouble, so I would definitely strengthen it for him. I would also have someone gently hold Vinnie while you use a surrogate test to determine if either his stomach or small intestine meridian also needs attention. Once you've learned if either needs treatment, test further to determine if you can help best by sedating or strengthening the meridian.

Often, when an immune system is compromised, I recommend sedating triple warmer along with strengthening the spleen, but because he is such a young cat and may be fighting for his life, I would only do this if a surrogate test indicated that it was needed.

There's a wonderful book on energy methods for animals, entitled Four Paws,Five Directions, and you might look to it for other ideas. We are animal lovers and send our blessing to Vinnie and to you. Return to Index.

 

Fibroids

Q: Dear Donna: I recently learned that I have a large fibroid in my uterus,about 8 cm in diameter. For some time, I've been experiencing painful cramps along with an unusually heavy menstrual flow that has resulted in anemia, and I really want to understand why I am having these symptoms. I am currently being treated by a homeopath, but would also like to know of any energy medicine approach I could use to alleviate this problem. As I’ve been starting to work with my own energies, it has been seeming to me that my symptoms are connected to my root and second chakras.

A: I know of cases in which fibroid tumors were either reduced or eliminated through the use of energy medicine techniques, and I have some suggestions for you. This is a situation, however, where you need to see a health care practitioner capable of assessing the fibroid along with your other symptoms.

Homeopathy is itself a form of energy medicine in that homeopathic solutions have an energetic impact on the physical body. In addition to taking whatyour homeopathic physician prescribes, I suggest that you sedate your stomach and circulation-sex meridians daily by holding the acupuncture points illustrated in Energy Medicine (pp. 120 – 122). Hold each set of points for a couple of minutes. Follow this by strengthening spleen.

Next, clear your root and second chakras (Chapter 5), since they may be most connected to your symptoms. Pay special attention as you make slow counterclockwise circles over your second chakra (the area over the fibroid) because this counterclockwise movement will help draw out toxic energies that are likely affecting not only the fibroid but also other physical complaints. Then balance the chakra by making clockwise circles in the same slow manner. It would be great if you could find someone to clear them for you, but you can also move the energy yourself.

Finally, you may also want to use a magnet. Tape the north side of a small magnet over the fibroid for a couple of hours each day, perhaps while you sleep, but do not leave it on indefinitely (see instructions and precautionson the use of magnets in Chapter 11 and in the Q/A called "Magnetics"). The north side of a magnet tends to inhibit tumor growth by countering the buildup of excess energy.

You may also want to check out some of the following websites. While not particularly focused on energy approaches, they provide a great deal of useful information about fibroids:


http://www.uterinefibroids.com/ 

http://www.medseek.com/glennbradley/fibroids.html 

www.boston.com/globe/search/stories/health/health_sense/032398.htm

www.thriveonline.com/health/menopause/seek/info.fibroids.html

www.home.nbci.com/LMOID/resource/0,566,-2271,00.html

Return to Index.

 

Five-Day Training Program

Q. Dear Donna: Is your 5-day Energy Medicine Intensive a repeat of the books and tapes? I am tight on money and am concerned that I will just be getting a rehash of the book and tapes.

A. Yes, it will be a repeat, but something like the way seeing a play is a repeat of reading the script. Seeing work on live participants, practicing with partners with supervision by the teaching assistants, being able to ask questions and get personalized responses, watching the class take the direction of the energies of the participants and their needs, et cetera, gives the workshop many more dimensions than the book and video. And being there informs your intuition in a way that books and tapes just can’t. Returnto Index.

 

"Frozen" Muscles and Meridians

Q. Dear Donna: I have been working with a woman whose energies seem very stuck. I suspect she has what you call "frozen" muscles, but I am unclear about how to verify this or how to treat it.

A. A muscle is considered to be frozen if it has lost its polarity. Operationally, this means that there is no difference in the muscle's energetic response to the positive and negative sides of a magnet. The muscle may have been traumatized by stress, physical shock, or a disease process, and if the resulting energy becomes stuck for a long time, energy slows down, becomes sluggish, and finally the muscle loses its polarity.

For example, even if a person seems to have completely recovered, emotionally and physically, from a highly stressful event, if the muscle associated with triple warmer continues to react in its "fight or flight" mode, yet neither fight nor flight has been implemented, the muscle can become frozen. When this triple warmer muscle is treated and becomes unfrozen, it is not uncommon to see a tremendous emotional release as the trapped energy is freed. Emotions are fueled by the body’s energies, and releasing physical energy that is frozen also releases emotional energy.

Meridians as well as muscles can become frozen, leaving the meridian clogged and depolarized. The Muscle Meridian Chart that shows how muscles and meridians are related can be found on page 286 of Energy Medicine.

Here is how I assess and treat a frozen muscle:

While holding one side of a small magnet against the muscle, energy test the muscle (I use a magnet the size of a quarter with a hole in the middle ofit—these can be purchased at Radio Shack—for working with frozen acupuncture points, meridians, or smaller muscles. When working with major muscles, I use a larger, more powerful magnet). Repeat with the other side of the magnet. If the person is strong on both sides, the muscle’s energy is frozen. DO NOT USE MAGNETS IF YOU HAVE A PACEMAKER!

Working with frozen muscles and meridians is a relatively advanced technique because you need to know the specific energy test for each of the 14 meridians (see John Thie’s Touch for Health). Using alarm points or energy localizing or indicator muscles are not adequate for determining if a muscle is frozen, you must test the muscle directly.

To treat a frozen muscle, lay the magnet on the belly (center) of the muscle and repeat the energy test, this time having the client strongly resist for a good 10 seconds (this is part of the correction, it is not for the purpose of testing—where energy testing does not use full strength, this correction calls for full effort in resisting). Repeat using the other side ofthe magnet.

Now apply pressure against the muscle in the opposite direction (if you were pulling, now push; if you were pushing, now pull). For instance, if you're testing the indicator muscle for spleen meridian, after you have pulled the client's arm away from the body for at least 10 seconds (while holding the magnet in place on each side), now push their arm towards the body for ten seconds—again holding the magnet on the belly of the muscle. Repeat using the other side of the magnet.

Assess your results with the original energy-magnet test. You should get a normal response in which the client is strong with the south side of the magnet against the skin and weaker with the north side.

Here is how I assess and treat a frozen meridian (there are two possible treatments. Try the following one first, as it is easier and is perhaps all that is needed):

Hold one side of the magnet against the beginning or end of the affected meridian pathway and energy test for strength using the spleen test. You willfind the beginning and end points for all the meridians illustrated on p. 313 of Energy Medicine. Now hold the other side of the magnet against the same meridian point and repeat the energy test. If the client is strong withboth sides of the magnet, the meridian is frozen.

To treat a frozen meridian, spin the magnet both ways at one end of the meridian (thread a piece of string or dental floss through the hole and tie the ends together so the magnet will hang a few inches down and will easily spin—a rubber band will also work). Spin it in both directions several times over the meridian point. Then go to the other end of the meridian and spin the magnet.

If this approach doesn't work, it could be because one or more acupuncture points have become "lost," or sunken into the body and are, therefore, lessaccessible to the magnet's energy. When this happens, the point has no more electrical juice than any other non-acupuncture point on the body. This is why some people don't get all the benefits from an acupuncture or acupressure treatment. When tested, a "lost" point acts frozen. To locate these points, find an acupuncture chart that shows all of the points on the meridian, and do the following:

Use a thin stiff piece of metal that you can place through the hole of the magnet while you hold it against each point along the meridian. Hold the magnet (with the metal inserted through it) on this point for at least 10 seconds. The metal stick acts like a laser needle that concentrates the magnetic energy into the point and reactivates it. [Some people use a Tai Chin stick*, a slender metal stick used in Chinese medicine, but you could use anything metal that has a blunt end to it.]

Flip the magnet over and repeat the process.

You can also use wood instead of metal in this procedure. Wood is softer and less intrusive, metal is more dramatic and faster. Wood combines the magnet's power with its own gentle stimulation. When I work with wood, I pulse the piece of wood into the affected point by pushing on it gently as it's inserted through the magnet. Its energies do not merge with the magnet untilthey have moved into the body, whereas the metal element merges with the magnet before the energy enters the body.

In fact, the elements can be a guide for making these procedures more effective. If the person has reactive energies or has an autoimmune disease, I might use the gentler wood element as it allows for easier adaptability. If a person is not relaxed or in the "flow" of their life, it is very good to draw upon water element, having them first take a relaxing bath or get intoother relaxing water. Sometimes fire element is useful if a person has lost his or her vitality and you can shine a small flashlight through the holein the magnet. I have seen people be very creative with earth element—using most anything from the earth that has a degree of stiffness to it can work, such as placing through the magnet the stem of a flower or a weed or astiff piece of wheat. But in my experience, the technique that takes the energy the deepest in the body is the metal, serving in the same way that acupuncture uses needles, and also carrying the force of the magnet.

You can always energy test your clients to determine whether metal or wood would be better for their energy. Neither will harm the person, although with the use of metal triple warmer may overreact if the body cannot adjust quickly enough. If this happens, do a hook-up (page 119) and hold the triplewarmer neurovasculars until the person sighs. This will help calm triple warmer's response and will allow you to proceed using wood instead.

The feedback that practitioner's give me is that when they take a chance onwhich element feels right to use with a particular client, they begin sharpening their intuition not only about this specific choice, but all other energy work as well.

Frozen energy doesn’t often heal itself, so if a person has a frozen energy pattern, you may find chronic symptoms such as a general fatigue, sore muscles, or even an autoimmune disease. Once treated, there can be surprise releases as symptoms the person had simply learned to live with lift. People often have no idea that this kind of problem even exists until after theyhave experienced successful treatment. Return to Index.

*Where to get a Tai Chin Stick: OMS Medical Supplies Inc., 1950 Washington Street, Braintree, Mass. 02184 USA; phone = 781-331-3370 or 800-323-1839.In the catalogue, the Tai Chin Stick is called a "Tei.Shin-Spring Modulator"

 

Gallbladder Removed

Q. Dear Donna: I really enjoyed your talk last year at the "Mind-Body-Spirit" Conference in London, so I bought your book and your video. As I watchedthe video, I saw you demonstrate how a woman lost energy on her right sidebecause of a gallbladder operation, and this really got my attention. Having recently had my own gallbladder removed, I couldn't help but wonder how energy medicine might help me with the post-surgical swelling and pain thatI'm still experiencing. In fact, I've wondered how this meridian was affected now that the actual organ is no longer there. Not only do I have a major scar from an incision that the surgeons made to remove my gallbladder "the old fashioned way," but I also have a small one near my navel where they first tried a laparoscopic procedure. This smaller scar is healing quite well, but it has definitely affected my stomach and intestinal system.

Last but not least, I had a severe reaction to the anesthesia and antibiotic medication that was used during the operation, so the ordeal of major surgery was made even more stressful than usual. Remind me to not do this again any time soon. Meanwhile, any advice you can offer would be gratefully received.

A. The gallbladder meridian is still there, even though your gallbladder has been removed, but its energy flow has likely become scrambled because of the operation. You can rebuild this pathway, by first sedating and then strengthening the gallbladder meridian. I would recommend that once or twice each day you hold the gall bladder acupuncture points (see page 122 of Energy Medicine).

A major operation like you've had not only affects the meridian that is most obviously involved, it also tends to scramble your energies in many otherways. For example, a number of your other meridians may be running backwards, and your energy may have become homolateral rather than crossing your body as is needed. To correct these possible imbalances, I’d suggest the "Daily Energy Routine" (Chapter 3). Then trace all of your meridians as an additional step. They are illustrated in Chapter 4, but are easier to learn from the Energy Healing videotape set. You'll be surprised by how quickly you can learn them. This will help your recovery process, and might also help you calm the stress from your body's reactions to the anesthesia.

Because of the symptoms resulting from the scar near your navel, I'd suggest that you sedate your small intestine, stomach, and large intestine meridians by holding the respective acupuncture sedating points, and follow this by holding the strengthening points for each. These pathways, too, will be rejeuvenated by the jump-start of fresh energy.

If you do these procedures one or more times daily, I suspect you will see some improvement, but because I am laying out a fairly complex routine, youmight also want to seek out an energy healer who can work with these systems and supervise your back-home practice.
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Getting Pregnant

Q. Dear Donna: I have been using many of your processes in my sessions and teaching clients the "Daily Energy Routine." They are a great complement tomy own work as an energy-oriented psychotherapist. I am wondering if you can recommend a process or technique for someone who wants to get pregnant. I happen to have 3 female clients at the moment, all in their 20's, who have wanted to get pregnant for over the past year. Each has had a thorough gynecological exam, and there does not seem to be a medical problem. One did have some endometriosis that was surgically remedied. I am interested in what I can do in a session and/or teach them to do on their own. What energy blocks or impairments are hindering their ability to conceive?

A. It is of course difficult to recommend a technique without testing or seeing the person’s energy. A variety of energy patterns can interfere withbecoming pregnant. I will mention the two that are the most common and suggest a strategy for working with each.

The first involves disturbances in the circulation-sex meridian. Its flow can become constricted even by something as innocuous as when a person is "trying too hard" to become pregnant. The correction is, basically, to "loosen up" the circulation-sex meridian by sedating and then strengthening it using the acupuncture points (p. 122 of Energy Medicine), massaging its neurolymphatic reflex points (p. 84), holding its neurovascular points (p. 274),and "flushing" it (p. 105, backwards one time, forward three times).

A second place to look is actually related. Triple warmer energy may be controlling and constricting the energies of the circulation-sex meridian since the two meridians sit as partners on the same element (see p. 210). If so, triple warmer will need to be sedated (see p. 235). Neither of these approaches will be harmful, and even if they are not actually needed, one or both may be just the ticket.

And there is a third thing to look at. Kidney meridian is always involved in getting pregnant. But not always on the woman’s side. It may be in the male’s energy. So everything you can do to care for both partner s’ kidney meridians will be good, including first sedating and then strengtheningthe meridian (p. 121), clearing its neurolymphatic points (p. 84), and holding its neurovascular points (p. 274) to keep a healthy circulation of blood through the kidneys.
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Graves Disease

Q. Dear Donna: I have Graves disease and am facing the prospect of having radioactive treatment designed to kill my thyroid. I would consequently haveto take medication for the rest of my life. Can energy medicine offer an alternative treatment?

A. The triple warmer meridian governs the thyroid. Graves disease involves triple warmer having been in a state of panic for so long that it does not know how to properly manage the thyroid. Without seeing your unique energies, I cannot tell you which energy techniques would be most helpful, but I can offer some best guesses. In my experience, sedating triple warmer via the acupressure points, and then strengthening it, followed by strengtheningheart and spleen, also using the acupressure points, can alter the direction of this disease. Balancing all body’s energies is also very important. The "Daily Energy Routine," coupled with tracing the 14 meridians (easiest to learn from the videotapes), is a good way to accomplish this.
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Hashimoto’s Disease

Q. Dear Donna: I have a thyroid condition called Hashimoto’s disease. It has been somewhat controlled with acupuncture and now medication. Despite these efforts, I still have symptoms. What can I do energetically to ease this problem?

A. Without being able to see your energies, and not knowing what your acupuncturist has tried, I can only make a very generic recommendation, which isto be sure that triple warmer and spleen are in a good balance (see Chapter 8 of Energy Medicine). Triple warmer and spleen govern the thyroid. To maintain that balance, diligently keep calming triple warmer and strengthening spleen. You might also, several times each day, do the "hook-up" (p. 119)and the "smoothing behind the ears" (pp. 235 - 236) exercises and tap the spleen neurolymphatic points (p. 84). Because the thyroid often balances itself as the body’s energies come into a better balance, I would also strongly recommend the five-minute "Daily Energy Routine" (Chapter 3). Return to Index.

Heart Chakra and Heat

Q. Dear Donna: I love your book and am enjoying doing all the exercises. Idid have a strange experience after doing the chakra exercise on pages 168- 169. When I got to the heart chakra part of the exercise, my arms, from my shoulder to my fingertips, started radiating an energy that felt very healing, but I also began to feel an alarming amount of heat. I stopped doing the exercise immediately. Is this normal? Is it safe?  

A. Without being able to see your energies, I suspect one of three things may have occurred:

The energies may have become congested in your arms. I always instruct students to shake off the energies from their hands and arms as they move from one chakra to the next since stale chakra energy can spiral into their own force field. This can be avoided if you are centered and keep shaking off the energy. Another way to clear the energies is to put your entire arms under cold running water and drain off the excess energies.
The second possibility is that you activated your own healing forces andwere channeling a powerful spiritual energy that sometimes causes a great deal of heat.
Most likely, however, is that the "alarming amount of heat" was because the energies of both triple warmer and heart meridian share the same element, which is "fire." Because the two meridians are on the same element, theyhave a close relationship with one another, and because heart is yin and triple warmer is yang, they are both important in maintaining a balance in "fire" element. Fire element governs body temperature. When the heart chakrawas being balanced, triple warmer probably relaxed, allowing a large amount of energy that had been held in the heart chakra to be freed, spiraling up as heat from deep within, and then radiating down your arms.
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Hepatitis C Virus

Q: Dear Donna, I have been diagnosed with Hepatitis C virus. There is nothing that my doctor can do short of considering a liver transplant. Do you have any suggestions?

A: I have only one experience with Hepatitis C virus, but we did get him over it. Here are some of the interventions that were helpful in that instance:

Working with liver meridian—twice daily—sedating and then strengtheningthe meridian using the acupressure points

Massaging the neurolymphatic reflex points all over the body

A liver cleanse (you can find good recipes at health food stores or book stores)

Energy testing for methionine and silymarin, available at health food stores, and if either or both test strong, taking them in the quantities that test strong for as long as indicated by periodic energy tests. To do this:

"Energy localize" liver (have someone do a general indicator test on you while you lay your whole hand over your liver)

Repeat, holding the bottle between your hand and your liver

If either or both test strong, you can use the same test to determine the quantities you need, which may change from day to day

It is important to understand that no organ exists on its own. The energy that vitalizes one organ depends on the health of the others, so at a minimum, use the "Daily Energy Routine" to keep all your energies in balance.

The liver can restore itself so it looks like a newborn baby's liver if youcan find the right key. I hope these suggestions will help you find it. Return to Index.

 

Hiatal Hernia

Q. Dear Donna: My husband has a hiatal hernia. An x-ray taken during an attack revealed his stomach to be 60 to 80% above his diaphragm. Surgery has been recommended. I have your book and my friends are encouraging us to try energy medicine techniques instead of surgery. I do not know where to put my faith.

A. This is a very difficult question to even begin to approach without being able to see or test his energies and make an assessment. I can tell you that I have seen many many instances where energy work did correct a condition where surgery was the standard medical treatment, including hiatal hernias. Following are three procedures that have been helpful, and he will knowwithin two or three days if they are working:

Relaxing the body as much as possible (bath, massage, deep breathing, etc.) and then sedating stomach meridian using the acupressure sedating points (p. 121 of Energy Medicine), holding them two to three times longer than suggested in the book.
Massaging the neurolymphatic points for small intestine (p. 84).
Modifying the diaphragm exercise (pp. 266 – 269) by first doing it as described, and then pushing in hard with the fingers while bending over as you push.

Doing these two or three times should lead to some relief within a couple of days if this is going to be enough to help. If there is no sign of immediate relief, he will have to consider either the surgery or an immediate andthorough assessment and intensive work with an alternative healer. If there is some let-up in the symptoms, he could continue to do these procedures to see if the condition can be turned around completely. Best would be to find a local energy medicine practitioner who could work in conjunction withhis physician. But I have seen these techniques alone help the system to relax so completely that all the organs come back into their natural positions. Return to Index.

 

Holding Sedating and Strengthening Points

Q. Dear Donna: When holding my own acupuncture strengthening or sedating points, does it matter if my hand rests on my body, or should I be certain that the only parts touching are just my fingertips on the points I’m holding?

A. I tend to tell people to just have their fingers touching because the fingers direct the energy. However, as long as the fingers are doing the directing, sometimes the hand may actually enhance the process. At any rate, donot worry as long as your fingers have a firm connection. Return to Index.

 

Holding Vs. Needling Acupoints

Q. Dear Donna: What is the difference between using needles for clearing a blocked meridian versus holding the acupuncture points using one's fingers like you describe in Energy Medicine?

A. Human contact sometimes has an effect that needles can not touch. The power of touch and the loop of human energy that is created between the client and the practitioner can often move energy in ways that needles do not. On the other hand, acupuncture is sometimes the best treatment because the needle can go down so deep and can affect the system electromagnetically in ways that touch sometimes cannot. Also there are times that the metal of a needle allows a laser focus that is exactly what is called for. But it is not either/or. With or without acupuncture, using acupressure to cultivate arelationship with your own healing touch is invaluable. Return to Index.

 

Homolateral Crossover for Paraplegics

Q. Dear Donna: I am a physical therapist who specializes in working with paraplegics. I have noticed that some of my patients are homolateral. I do not know how to help them correct this with such limited mobility?

A. I think I tell the story in Energy Medicine about how very early in my career I was teaching a class in a retirement home and one of the men was paralyzed on one side of his body from a stroke. By beginning to imagine doing some of the exercises that involve having the energies cross over from one side of the body to the other, he regained movement on the paralyzed side. This amazed everyone, especially him, and it gave him a whole new sense of power and purpose in his life as he had been very active before his stroke and had become utterly depressed with the paralysis.

By now I have done this dozens of time with people who are unable to physically do the exercises, and frequently with impressive results. You can teach your patients to use their minds to do the homolateral cross-over and thecross crawl. You can do the "Rhythmic 8s" in front of them and have themfollow the exercise with their eyes. If they have any mobility in the upper body, you can have them do figure eights and Celtic weaves, and imagine the energies moving in the same way in their lower bodies. Understanding theprinciple that the mind can move energies will open you to many creative uses of the techniques with your patients.

Also you can, yourself, do the homolateral routine ‘to’ them by pickingup their legs and their arms, while they are resting,

More power to you and to them! Return to Index.

 

Homolateral Crossover

Q. Dear Donna: I have not been successful in crossing my energies. I workhard, doing many rounds of the "Homolateral Crossover," but I am still homolateral most of the time. What can I do to finally shift this pattern?

A. It is sometimes very tough to get out of a homolateral pattern. Don’tdespair! I have not met anyone who stuck with the homolateral crossover who was not successful, but I have seen people need to do it twice daily forup to 3 months before the results were stable. One suggestion is that before you do the crossover, do the "crown pull" very deliberately! Use many push-pulls, beginning at your forehead and traveling back over your head and pulling across the side of your neck. Hang on your shoulders for at least 30 seconds, and then slowly pull your fingers over your shoulders and drop your arms. Also, always do the "three thumps" before doing the crossover. If you still feel muddled afterwards, do another crown pull. Finally, at the very end do "Separating Heaven and Earth."

Another way to change homolateral patterning, a simple and pleasurable technique, is to turn on music you like and move your hips rhythmically. You will find that they sway quite naturally in a figure 8, which helps the crossover pattern. Each of these additions will support your use of the homolateral crossover, causing its effects to go deeper and be more lasting. Returnto Index.

 

Injury

Q. Dear Donna: My daughter fell off her bike yesterday and landed on her face. I took her to get X-rays and stitches for the bad cut she got. She is in a lot of pain and is having trouble opening her mouth. What can I do?

A. It will probably help with the pain and speed the healing, and it cannotdo any harm, to hold the acupressure sedating points on the meridians thatgo through the part of the face that was injured. Find the meridian charts in Chapter 4 of Energy Medicine. It is probably gall bladder, large intestine, small intestine, and/or stomach. You can also do some chakra clearing (Chapter 5) right over the pain. You will find related techniques in the discussion of pain (Chapter 10). The pain techniques are in one important way misnamed. While their surface purpose is to provide immediate relief of pain, they also shift energies so that the underlying causes of the pain will be corrected and healing can occur more readily.
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Insomnia

Q. Dear Donna: I have had difficulty falling asleep for years. The nights are so long, and I feel exhausted every day. It is a kind of torture. Are there any energy techniques that can help me?

A. Sleep labs such as the one at UCLA have studied insomnia and innovated various techniques that you might want to investigate. They are described ina number of popular books as well as various websites you can find by searching for "insomnia" or "sleep disorder." But I have successfully worked with several people suffering with chronic insomnia who were not helped by these standard methods. Because there are many energetic causes of insomnia, I will suggest a variety of techniques. You can experiment to see which work best for you:

The "Expelling the Venom" exercise (p. 219) releases tension in the torso and extremities and can calm your entire system.
The "crown pull" (p. 77) releases tension in the head and upper body. Extend the movements down to the neck and off the shoulders.
The "Smoothing Behind the Ears" exercise (pp. 235 - 236) relaxes triple warmer meridian. An activated triple warmer keeps all systems on alert. Another way to sedate the triple warmer that helps with sleep is to hold the triple warmer neurovasculars at the indent at the front of the neck with onehand (see p. 274) and the top of the public bone (toward the bottom of thecentral meridian) with the other. This simultaneously relaxes triple warmer and central meridian, which governs the front area of the brain and affects all of the chakras.
The "Separating Heaven & Earth" exercise (p. 248) creates space and releases tension from the body.
The "Hook-Up" (p. 119) completes the circuitry between the central and governing meridians, which then serves to bring balance to all of the meridians, strange flows, and chakras.
If panic or intrusive internal conversations are keeping you up, a very simple technique is to shift your eyes and look toward your right ear. A deficiency of inositol, part of the vitamin B-complex, can also be at the root of panic and incessant inner chatter. This can be determined with an energy test.
To release facial tension, rub the cheekbones with small circular movements. Move to the bridge of the nose and push your figures up about an inch,and again with small circular movements, travel across the forehead out tothe temples.
Rubbing the points between the frontal neurovasculars and the hairline breaks up tension within the head that may interfere with sleep.
Holding the frontal neurovasculars with the palm of one hand and laying your other hand flat across the second chakra simultaneously draws the blood back up to the forebrain that had gone into the body to handle stress, and at the same time helps the lower part of the torso to relax.
A Brazilian technique that is surprisingly relaxing, called teffening, is to scratch very soft and lightly down arms with the fingernails.
The Celtic weave (see discussion beginning p. 179), done slowly and deliberately, paced with the breath, weaves a protective energy around you thatwill leave you feeling more peaceful and ready to sleep.
My late friend Jack Schwartz taught people to imagine that you are looking at a clock right in front of your face. Imagine you are looking at the 12. Then go all the way around the circle until you are at 12 again. Now go around again, imagining that you are winding up the clock tighter and tighter each time you go around, as if the hands were on a spring. Keep going until you cannot wind it up any tighter. Then let the spring go so it unwindsand all your tension unwinds with it.
Research has shown that if you are in TOTAL darkness, your brain begins to produce its own melatonin, which is the body’s own natural sleeping pill. Wearing a black mask will produce this effect.
This technique takes a bit more time than the others, and it is particularly effective for chronic insomnia. Place your left hand around the back of your head until it touching the bone behind your right ear. Press in withyour fingers. Place the palm of your right hand over your forehead (frontal eminence neurovasculars points). After one to three minutes, move your right hand down and let the palm of your hand rest on the bottom of your rib cage, with your fingers cupping around the ribs on the right side of your body. Your left hand is still pushing behind your right ear. Hold for one tothree minutes. Then move your right hand under the right cheek of your gluteus max. Again, hold for one to three minutes. Repeat the entire sequence on the opposite side (right hand behind left ear, etc.).
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"Lazy Eye"

Q. Dear Donna: My son was born with a "lazy eye." Until now he has had an easy enough time managing it. But he is now a college student, and the intense studying fatigues his eyes. As a result, he is having a lot more trouble with this problem. What can I have him do to help himself?

A. Get him into the habit of deeply massaging the K-27 points twice a day, especially when he is tired. He can also massage the bone/orbit surroundinghis eyes. This is done with the thumbs pointed into the bones that surround the eyes. The eye bone massage should be done daily and deeply. Also, have him palm his eyes while breathing deeply for about 30 seconds. I am also a big fan of the "spindle cell maneuver," which in this case would be for him to gently pinch and stretch the eyelid of his good eye twice each day. In addition, the 5-minute "Daily Energy Routine" explained in Chapter 3of Energy Medicine should help him not only with his general health and sense of vitality, but also with the "lazy eye."
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Long-Term Depression and Fatigue

Q. Dear Donna: I have suffered from deep depression for the past ten years.It started when both my father and mother died, and although I thought I had worked through the grief, I began to notice health problems within a fewyears after their deaths. Since that time I've never quite been able to turn the corner. I drag myself through life in a constant state of fatigue, low energy, and stress, and am plagued with numerous physical ailments.

After I read your book, I tried helping myself by practicing the daily energy routine—the three thumps, the cross-crawl, and the Wayne Cook posture,but they didn't seem to be enough. In fact, I didn't notice any change. I'm reluctant to massage my neurolymphatics again because after I tried it for the first time I felt ill for days. Yet, I'm still intrigued with the concepts of energy medicine and am hoping that you can give me some ideas to help me to break this cycle of emotional and physical distress.

A: I feel great compassion for you and your long struggle with depression and illness. The timing of the onset of your emotional and physical symptoms, shortly after the loss of your parents, is probably significant. Energiessystems can go into shock after significant loss or trauma, and it is not unusual for the pattern that was initially in response to the shock to become stuck in the body. This type of quagmire, in fact, traps more people than you might realize. I would suggest that you read about triple warmer in Chapter 8 of Energy Medicine as it governs both your response to trauma and your energy habits.

While I cannot provide you with suggestions that are attuned to your uniqueenergies, the following sequence can help to release the energy patterns caused by shock that can become stuck in the body:

First, calm triple warmer with the "smoothing behind the ears" movement described on pp. 235 – 236. This is an excellent way of taking down the stress level and helping to break the energy habits that maintain depression.

Second, you may need more "space" in your body for your energies to flow. This can be created in numerous ways. One of the best is called "Separating Heaven and Earth" (p. 248). This not only stretches your physical body, it gets your energy moving through it.

Third, Your energy may have become homolateral (i.e., running in parallel lines instead of crossing and weaving as is needed for optimal health.). If this is the case, you are fighting an uphill battle with only a fraction ofthe energy that could be available to you. Doing the Homolateral crossover(pp. 233 – 235) two times per day should help coax your energy into a more functional pattern.

Fourth, I recommend that you have someone clear your chakras on a regular basis (Chapter 5). This can often facilitate healing on much deeper levels.

Next, you might add Heaven Rushing In, described on page 23, to help you with the spiritual dimension of healing, and to help you not feel so alone.

These techniques should be helpful to you, and you should experience greater benefit from the "Daily Energy Routine" after you have done them for evena few days.

Regarding clearing your neurolymphatics, the problem you experienced, feeling worse rather than better, is because these points help physical and energetic toxins break free so they can move out of our body. But if you have atoxin build-up in your body, massaging the points can move too many toxinsinto the lymph system and blood stream too quickly, resulting in feeling sick from all the toxins. The fact that the technique made you ill, if you understand the principle, is a signal of how much you needed it. So you might start with just one or two points. This is not likely to overwhelm your system. Once some of the toxins have been dislodged and eliminated, and youroverall energy system grows stronger, your body will more readily tolerateneurolymphatic massage.

Because I am suggesting a relatively complex set of procedures, and your symptoms are also complex and longstanding, you might seriously consider consulting an energy medicine practitioner to assess your energies, give you some treatments, and also to supervise your back-home routines.

If your physical and emotional health is still slow to improve after following these suggestions, there is one other energy system that should be investigated. It may be that your basic grid needs to be woven back together. This work definitely requires an experienced practitioner's help. I've written a little about it in Chapter 6. Both emotional and physical trauma can create the equivalent of ruptures and weak spots in a person's basic grid, and if this foundational energy system is not in reasonable shape, it is harder for the other techniques to work well. You can get a list of qualified grid practitioners by writing to [hidden email].
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Lou Gehrig's Disease

Q. Dear Donna: I was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease [amyotrophic lateral sclerosis] five years ago, when I was 35. By now I have lost most of my strength. I am unable to walk. I have been seen by doctors in three countries. No one has been able to help me. A friend who heard you on a radio program in Los Angeles thought you might have some suggestions after you spoke about how you overcame illnesses in yourself for which there was supposedlyno cure.

A. I know that this disease feels like being hit by a slow, unstoppable avalanche, and it is generally considered incurable. However, from time to time, I hear of a case report claiming total remission of ALS. If it were me, I would give energy work a try, though you need to know from the start thatthe outcome is uncertain and that you need a highly skilled energy worker and frequent treatments, perhaps daily at first, if this approach is to have much of a chance.

If a good energy worker were able to work with you day after day, it might well be possible to stop the avalanche and then eventually push the disease, energetically, back up the hill. This metaphor is vague, I know, but it is how I have seen the progress when I have worked successfully with other progressive diseases.

I don't know if this will put you into more despair or give you a ray of hope. While it is difficult to find an energy worker with the skill and time to take on a challenge such as yours, you just may draw such a person your way. Of course there are many other things you can do for yourself or a loved one can do for you that will help with your overall strength and vitality, such as keeping your meridians strong, your chakras balanced, making sure your energies are not scrambled, basically everything in Chapter 9 of Energy Medicine). But turning the condition around will require the dedicated attention of a talented practitioner. I send you my blessings.
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Low Platelets

Q. Dear Donna: Is there any way that energy techniques can help with thrombocytopenia [an abnormally small number of platelets in the blood]?

A. I have known energy work to increase platelet counts, but I would suggest you find a qualified practitioner to figure out what energy systems are involved in the problem. Here are some approaches that will be generally beneficial and while they in themselves may improve the condition, they will also support the more focused work:

The "Daily Energy Routine" (Chapter 3 of Energy Medicine)

Keeping the triple warmer and spleen meridians in balance (Chapter 8). Spleen meridian is always involved with this kind of occurrence in the blood, and it always needs to be strengthened.

Keeping your energies crossing over with the homolateral crossover (p. 233)

Also there is a cell salt that is renowned for its ability to raise platelet levels. It is called ferrum phosphate. It comes as a 6x potency and a typical dose would be 5 pellets, twice per day, away from food. You can energycheck to see if this might be a good supplement for you.
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Magnets

Q. Dear Donna: I am a general practice physician and have been increasinglyusing energy techniques with my patients, but my question is personal. I am very sensitive to energy and am always experimenting with things that might help me and eventually my patients. My husband and I recently purchased a magnetic mattress. He has no problem sleeping on it, and there are nightswhen I sleep fine as well. But at other times, I am agitated all night. Bythe morning I feel like a zombie. This magnet pad comes highly recommended, and I am very much wanting to give it a fair test and to derive the benefits that are claimed in terms of increased and more harmonious energies. I have also had mixed results placing magnetic insoles into my shoes. Do you have any insight about what might be going on?

A. We are all unique electromagnetic beings swimming in an electromagnetic environment and this straightforward question really deserves a whole book.I will do my best here to supplement what I have already said in the electromagnetics chapter of Energy Medicine (Chapter 11). Please keep in mind that all of this is based on my personal and clinical experiences; very little research has been published in peer-reviewed journals to back any definitive statements on these matters.

I also have apprehension regarding magnetic mattresses. I know full well that we are all very different in our electromagnetic make-up and our polarities. And I know that some magnet pads have genuinely helped people. But other people appear to have been harmed by the identical product. Here is an absolute about magnets:

Magnets and magnetic energy will affect everyone's energies.

But because all of our energies are so unique, there is no absolute guarantee of how magnets will impact any particular person. One thing is consistent, which is that there are differing effects between the north and south sides of a magnet:

THE NORTH SIDE draws energy toward it. This is why it takes away pain.

THE SOUTH SIDE disperses energy away from it. This is why it helps circulation.

You would think that it would be okay to have both the north and south sides facing you in a magnetic mattress—that this would help with both pain reduction and circulation. But it is not so simple.

The south side, by amplifying and dispersing energy, acts as a magnifier. This can be valuable if a particular meridian is weak, or circulation sluggish, or certain energies need a boost. But you don’t want to energize and magnify a cancer or other growth or a meridian that is already overcharged.Magnets are powerful and can be dangerous when used imprecisely. For instance, the south side of a magnet held against the stomach or back for a short time can really help with a lethargic digestive system. But held there too long, I’ve seen nausea, back spasms, and terrible stomach discomfort result. The same kind of careful calibration is necessary for the north side of a magnet. Because stagnant energies are a natural residue of living and always need to be cleared, if they become stuck, it is great to have a toolthat will draw these energies to the surface of the body where they are readily dispersed. This can be a tremendous resource for working with many kinds of pain, for instance.
But leave the magnet on too long, and you begin to draw too much energy into the area, and it can clog your system and actually create more pain fromthe imbalance.

My experience with magnet pads that either indiscriminately or intentionally place both the north and south sides of the magnets against the body is that even if they have positive initial effects, these may be reversed if you use the magnet pad too long.

With my extreme sensitivity to energies, I am the "canary in the mine." I know from my own experience an extreme version of what affects other people in more subtle ways. I can sometimes lay on a mixed-polarity magnetic mattress for a period of time and detect benefits. But other times, particularlyif I am more vulnerable, I can be on one of these pads for just a few minutes before it begins to "fry my circuits," creating pain, throwing me out of balance for the rest of the day and sometimes into the next, and affecting my nervous system so I am unable to think clearly.

My own preference regarding a magnet pad is to find one that is designed sothat the north polarity is against the body. Pulling out excess and stagnant energies is wonderful. But again, staying on even this kind of pad too long, can reverse the benefits and create new problems. For the situations where the south side of a magnet is called for, I much prefer to hold or tape a single small low power magnet onto the spot and to energy check whetherit is having a beneficial effect, and periodically to see if it still is. You can also energy check whether lying on a magnet pad is beneficial and whether it is continuing to be so. There is no formula, so energy checking is a vital tool.

I personally prefer magnetic pads rather than magnetic mattresses because you can so easily turn the pad over if you feel you are starting to overdoseon one pole or the other.

Regarding magnetic insoles, my experience is that I cannot stand on an insole that has mixed the north and south polarities without it draining my energies and leaving me feeling exhausted. Other people find them helpful, butagain, I would be cautious about using them too long and I would energy test. I do periodically wear magnetic insoles. For instance, I recently bought the ones sold by the Discovery Channel store. I cannot wear them on the side that is recommended (north side up). I have to turn them over or else they hurt my feet. With, the north side down, I am better protected from theearth's electromagnetic charge (I've heard estimates that in the past century or so, half of the earth's protective layer against that charge has eroded). The Chinese have always believed that you don't need an insole on thewhole foot. The best place is around the instep. And that is the only place I would put the north side of a magnet—it will still help the rest of the foot. You can get this
kind of insole very inexpensively from various catalogues and from Chinatowns. Everyone I've ever told to try them has reported that they were very helpful. But because everyone's energy is different, I'm sure that not even this is universal.

Once you understand the principles, however, the proper use of magnets can be a terrific adjunct within energy medicine. Here are the three main ways I tend to use magnets:

1. Reducing Pain (which also begins to energetically correct for the causesof that pain): I normally will only use the north polarity for pain, except for people whose energy is slow and sluggish. Then having both the south and north sides can, for a while at least, work better. This can also be true for autoimmune illnesses because it moves the energy that has been stuck, but again only for short periods of time. When the pain is gone, I removethe magnet immediately because now the body is balanced in that area. One thing I do that you may never find in any book is that if it seems the north side was worn too long, that is the pain left and then returns, my experience is, THEN turn the magnet over to the south side for just a few minutesbecause the new pain may have been caused by not enough circulation due tothe effects of the north side. The south side gets the circulation flowingagain.

2. Helping to Heal a Broken Bone: Create a "closed circuit" as described inChapter 11.

3. Shielding Yourself from Electromagnetics: My teaching keeps me on the road a great deal, and sometimes I am in a bed--it can actually be in a very nice setting—where I am being assaulted electromagnetically. When that happens, I can help protect myself by putting a small magnet pad above my blankets (so it isn’t touching me) to protect me from electromagnetic radiation within the room, and another at the end of the mattress near my feet, to protect me from electromagnetic radiation coming up from the earth. I often use a small magnet pad that comes as a circle of about 6 inches in diameter and has several magnets sewed into it, north polarity of each magnet inone direction, south in the other. Because the earth’s magnetic polarityreaches north, in both cases I have the north-reaching side of the magnet facing away from me, so it will repel any energetic disturbances from the earth or atmosphere that may be coming my way. Return to Index.

 

Meridian Tracking

Q. Dear Donna: I have been experimenting with my meridians, trying to figure out the cause of a health problem. My husband is willing to energy test me, and I have been following the instructions in your book, but it seems tome that we are missing something as we are not getting to the root of the problem. Any suggestions?

A. Energy testing, using the alarm points as I imagine you have been doing,will usually identify the meridians that need attention. But the meridian that is most directly involved with the problem is not always the meridian that first needs to be corrected, so other factors sometimes need to be considered. Much of this is mapped in two charts. Look to the Meridian Flow Chart and the Five Rhythm Chart in Energy Medicine, and the associated text, which explains how you can use each to track what is happening in the body’s energies.

Often the crux of a problem will lie "upstream" in the meridian system. Youcan see how this works in the Meridian Flow Chart. Bladder meridian, for instance, is upstream from kidney meridian. It "flows" into kidney, and whatshows up as a problem in kidney meridian might be caused because bladder meridian is not flowing into it properly, not "feeding" it. Imagine that themeridians are rivers of energy connected to one another as segments, ultimately comprising one long waterway. Low water levels in one segment of the river might be caused by a logjam further upstream, so it’s imperative tobreak up that blockage in order to alleviate the problem downstream. Looking at the Meridian Flow Chart, each meridian feeds the meridian that follows it (going clockwise around the wheel). Very few problems, actually, are caused solely by an isolated meridian.

The wheel also maps how the energy of opposites can be involved. Look, for instance, to spleen meridian, whose energy comes in strongest between 9 and11 a.m. Its opposite force is triple warmer, whose energy comes in between9 and 11 p.m. As with all opposites, there is a dynamic tension between them. One can pull energy from the other. Because triple warmer governs the body’s stress responses, however, it can dominate, pulling energy away from spleen without the normal give and take between opposing forces. When spleen is pulled on too much and for too long, the immune system is affected. Infections, low grade fever, and a loss of vitality can result. In an instance like this, it is better to sedate triple warmer than to strengthen spleen. When triple warmer is sedated, the energy it releases is drawn back into the spleen meridian. While such a lack of balance is most common between the spleen and triple warmer meridians, it can happen between any of the opposing meridian pairs.

The 5 Rhythm Chart maps two other influences on the meridian energies: the "flow cycle" and the "control cycle" (both explained in Chapter 7). Each meridian is an expression of one of 5 rhythms, and the meridian’s rhythm, flow cycle, and control cycle may also need to be understood to grasp the full impact of its role in a problem. The 5 Rhythm Chart also shows whether the meridian is the "yang" or the "yin" expression of its rhythm. Bladder meridian, for instance, is the yang manifestation of winter’s rhythm and kidney meridian is its yin manifestation.

When trying to figure out which meridians need attention in order to correct a specific problem, energy testing the meridian indicator muscles, or using the alarm points, is where I begin. I will treat the meridians that the tests show to be involved with the problem by tracing them, flushing them, sedating and/or strengthening their acupuncture points, or working with their neurovascular or neurolymphatic points. If these do not bring the meridian into balance, or if the balance will not hold, or if the meridian does come into balance but the problem is not corrected, then you look wider, specifically at the 4 possibilities revealed by the charts: the meridian that feeds the meridian that won’t take a correction and the meridian that is opposite it (Meridian Flow Chart) and the meridian involved in it’s "flowcycle" and the meridian involved in its "control cycle."

Another important consideration is that it is easier to solve a problem when you have cleared the debris that surrounds it. So do all you can to get the entire energy system into as strong a balance as you can before doing this detective work. Clear homolateral energies, for instance, and use the techniques presented in the Daily Energy Routine (Chapter 3).

This may seem complicated (I teach an entire advanced class on this single topic –available as the "Energy Tracker" video training program), but this note outlines the basics of a reasonably complete strategy for tracking how meridian energies might play into a specific problem and formulating howto correct them.
Return to Index.

 

Meridian Treatment Contraindications

Q. Dear Donna: Is there anything to avoid with meridians? For example, running them backwards all at once, sedating heart, governing, central, etc.?

A. This is an important question. Do not flush or sedate heart meridian. Rarely sedate spleen meridian. There are "forbidden points" in Chinese Medicine, such as points that are never to be used with a woman who is pregnant. Practitioners should be familiar with these constraints. They are usuallylisted on the standard acupuncture charts available from schools of acupuncture.

But there is another level of answer to this question, which is simply to stay alert for how the client responds as the work unfolds. Energy interventions give immediate feedback, and they are also quite forgiving. You can energy test the results of an intervention when you are unsure, and you can do the opposite procedure (such as strengthening a meridian you have sedated) to "undo" an intervention.
Return to Index.

 

Multiple Health Problems

Q. Dear Donna: I am a 47-year-old woman, dealing with the following health issues: lifelong overweight, diabetes (3 years), and relapsing/remitting multiple sclerosis (15 years). Please tell me how your information and processes can help me overcome these issues.

A. Thank you for your interest in energy medicine and for looking our way for help with the difficulties you describe. In my experience, energy medicine has been helpful with diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and changing the biochemistry that sets a person up for weight problems. But longstanding, serious problems like you are describing are often beyond the scope of a self-help program, particularly if you are just starting to learn about energy medicine. You might, however, find more general benefits, such as greater energy and sense of well-being from our classes, books, and videotapes, and you might also see some improvements with the problems you list. But I would strongly suggest that you link up with a reliable practitioner. If you lookat our website, http://www.innersource.net/, there is a guide there to finding an energy healer in your local community ("Practitioners and Links"). Finding a highly skilled practitioner who is tuned into you and your uniqueneeds often requires
serious shopping, inquiry into who is good within your community, persistence, and a bit of luck as well. Good healers are a precious resource. Fortunately, the number of people who skillfully work with subtle energies is increasing in every community. I wish you well in finding just the person whocan help you, and I send you my best wishes. Return to Index.

 

Multiple Sclerosis

Q. Dear Donna, I’m a registered nurse working in an office that treats many multiple sclerosis patients. Your book describes a woman who achieved great results from what you taught her. Can you tell me what techniques you used? Does it have something to do with triple warmer?

A. I believe you are referring to Beverly (pp. 229–230). Multiple sclerosis involves an autoimmune process—an abnormal immune response directed against one’s own central nervous system, particularly the myelin sheaths that cover the nerves. You are on the right track with suspecting that triple warmer is involved. Triple warmer is the energy that aggressively mobilizes all the systems in your body to fight. Because we are all bombarded withunprecedented stresses and toxins on a daily basis, triple warmer is continuously activated. For some people because of genetic or other predispositions, this leads to disorders of the immune system, such as MS. Because environmental and lifestyle-caused stresses are only getting worse, autoimmune disease may well be the illness of the future.

When I met Beverly, her energy looked like a series of blown circuits. Triple warmer meridian was in a perpetual state of emergency, and her immune system, nervous system, and circulatory system were oscillating among fight, flight, and freeze. This habitual emergency response needed to be interrupted. Without stopping this pattern, any healing work would not have had lasting impact. Here is what I did:

The entire first session was dedicated to communicating to her hypothalamus (which governs triple warmer) the message that she was safe. I did this by first sedating triple warmer (see Chapter 8) and then balancing out all of the energies, most specifically her meridian acupressure points, neurolymphatic reflexes, and chakras.
Her energies were homolateral, so the Homolateral Crossover (p. 233) was an important part of her homework.
She needed to establish some strong crossover patterns, so I taught her the Celtic Weave, and all the rhythmic 8 techniques in Chapter 6.
In addition, Beverly integrated nutritional support (she particularlyneeded more protein, which is very often the case with MS patients, as well as potassium to alleviate tingling, chromium, and Butcher’s Broom—allthis can be energy tested) and specific energy techniques for a hypoglycemic condition (which includes strengthening the spleen and sedating triple warmer). Because she was connected to a hospital clinic, she began to teach other MS patients the techniques that were helping her, and this cemented them in for her. She also learned how to establish stronger emotional and physical boundaries, which I’ve found is often an issue for MS patients.
Finally, she was given techniques designed to keep her energies unscrambled and flowing, essentially the five-minute daily routine, Separating Heaven and Earth, pumping up the cerebral spinal fluid, and Heaven Rushing In when she felt despair or didn’t know what else to do. One additional principle for treating people with multiple sclerosis is that they need time to integrate energy shifts. So don’t rush the process, pause between techniques, and remind them that they must likewise pace their lives. A balancebetween action and rest is essential for all of us, but even more so here.


Autoimmune illnesses can be greatly helped by an energy medicine approach. While Western medicine can only suppress the symptoms of these disorders, working with their energetic foundation can get to their core. This not onlyinitiates healing forces, it literally reverses the immune system’s attack on its own body. And I have seen MRI reports where the myelin sheaths literally regrew after a series of energy medicine treatments, something manypeople who work with MS believe cannot happen. While there is still a lot to learn about how to help people with MS, energy medicine already has a great deal to offer.

Also see the other entries on MS, particularly "Multiple Sclerosis – Advanced Stages" and "Multiple Sclerosis and the Use of Magnets."
Return to Index.

 

Multiple Sclerosis – Advanced Stages

Q. Dear Donna: My daughter, Shannon, lives in Johannesburg and is a trained, registered aroma therapist. She has a life-long friend who has had multiple sclerosis for years and is no longer able to communicate or move her body except for her fingers. Because her friend's family is devoutly Catholic,Shannon has been reluctant to offer energy medicine, but she is working upthe courage to ask them if she could try to help Candace in this way. So far, she has only provided her friend with gentle massage so as not to upsetthe family, but she knows that much more can be done, especially after having read the section in Energy Medicine on autoimmune disorders. I know it's a tall order, but can you make any further suggestions?

A. Shannon's challenge is a difficult one, even if she were not concerned about the family's religious background. As always, it's difficult to customize my advice without actually seeing how Candace's energies flow. However,positive forces can be brought into play even with the limited license youhave been given. Each of the following can be helpful:

Clear the neurolymphatics along each side of Candace’s spine to move toxins and begin to rebalance her energy (see pp. 79 - 82 of Energy Medicine).
Calm her triple warmer meridian on a regular basis by holding the acupressure sedating points (p. 122) and do the "smoothing behind the ears" technique (pp. 235 - 236) on her while she breathes deeply.
Strengthen the spleen energy in every way possible: flush the meridian, trace it forwards, tap the spleen points as shown in the three thumps exercise, hold the spleen neurovascular points, and massage the spleen neurolymphatics. All of these approaches are described in the book.
Help Candace pump her cerebrospinal fluid by placing her hands in the following positions and breathing deeply. Shannon could move Candace’s hands to these places, or use her own, but it is important that Candace take three or four deep breaths with each position that is held:

Place the left hand over the middle of the chest and the right hand above the right ear with the fingers extending upward towards the top of thehead.


Keep the left hand where it is and move the right hand to the back ofthe head just above the neck, cupping the occipital bone.


Switch hands, this time placing the right hand in the middle of the chest and the left hand above the left ear.


Leave the right hand where it is, and place the left hand on the forehead with the fingers pointing up towards the top of head.


Remember, Candace needs to take slow, deep breaths with each position.


Energy check the neurovascular (NV) points (illustrated on p. 274) and hold any which test weak. Shannon can use a surrogate test by having anotherperson hold Candace's hand while Shannon energy tests that person, who energetically becomes a surrogate while touching Candace. Have the person touch each NV point on Candace's head while Shannon energy tests a general indicator muscle on the surrogate. Any NV points that test weak should be gently held. It is also valuable to link the points that were weak with the mainNV stress points (the "frontal eminences" on the forehead) by holding bothsimultaneously.
Shannon might stretch Candace’s body to "make space," not only in her physical body, but also in her energy system. By this I simply mean to lay each hand flat on different parts of Candace’s body and pull apart.
Diet is particularly important when working with MS, and the required amounts and types of protein are often a critical issue. I usually recommend that people with MS eat a good deal of red meat (but you also must energy check to be sure the body is strong enough to metabolize it). If possible, it is far better to eat beef from cattle raised on organic grains because beef from cattle raised on steroids and pesticide-treated grains can interfere with the body's metabolism. I also know there is research showing that eating or swallowing in pill form animal myelin sheath (a protein itself) helps with symptoms of MS and, surprisingly, is relatively readily metabolized. You may try to track down this research on the Internet.

Also see the other entries on MS, particularly "Multiple Sclerosis – Advanced Stages" and "Multiple Sclerosis and the Use of Magnets."
Return to Index.

 

Multiple Sclerosis and Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatments

Q. I recently underwent Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatments for my multiple sclerosis. After 40 dives, I regained more cognitive function and was thrilled with the success of the treatment. However, after 80 dives my coordination is much worse. Do you have any insight as to why this happened?

A. Any of a number of factors may be involved when a treatment starts to work and then stops working or even does harm. I suspect that in your case the issue has to do with moderation. Extreme change, even if it is in a positive and healing direction, puts the triple warmer meridian (which governs both the immune system and the maintaining of habitual patterns in the body’s energies) on alert, and it will begin to respond to the treatment as an outside invader, fighting it, preventing it from being effective, and causing new problems as well.

No matter how brilliant the technique, its effects on the entire system have to be monitored, step by step. Moderation gives your nervous system a chance to absorb and metabolize the changes. This is a particularly sensitiveissue in the treatment of M.S. because spleen meridian, which is charged with "metabolizing change" and which is the first meridian that triple warmer draws energy from when it goes on alert, is so centrally involved in M.S.
Return to Index.

 

Multiple Sclerosis and the Use of Magnets

Q. Dear Donna: I have multiple sclerosis. In your chapters on pain and on electromagnetic pollution, you speak about the use of magnets. Since MS is adisorder of the nervous system, I was wondering if there is a way to use magnets to help with MS?

A. The primary energy interventions for MS include

Calming the triple warmer meridian (and thus the immune system’s overresponse) and establishing a balance between the spleen and triple warmer meridians (see Chapter 8) so the spleen meridian can do its job of metabolizing food, stimulation, energies, change, and emotions.
Establishing and maintaining crossover patterns throughout the body (seediscussion of the Celtic weave and homolateral crossover).
Establishing and maintaining a general balance and harmony among all theenergy systems, using techniques such as those in the 5-minute "Daily Energy Routine."
Establishing and maintaining space in the body for energy to move using lots of stretching and exercises such as "Separating Heaven and Earth."
Providing the body with the quantity of protein it needs and the kinds of protein it can best metabolize.
Keeping the spine and nervous system healthy and keeping their energies flowing using techniques such as the "spinal flush." This is where magnets can be very valuable.

Magnets are about as high-tech as I get, but here you must be very careful (pay close attention to the precautions discussed in Chapter 11). You can use magnets wherever you feel the tingling, painful, or numb sensations of MS. Years ago, when I had a constant buzzing in my hands, I not only found relief by holding onto a magnet's north side, actually wrapping a magnet padaround my entire hand, this also began to effect a permanent change.

However, don't run off and buy magnet patches or sleeves unless you bring acompass or magnet to be sure the north side can be faced toward the skin. Sometimes the north and south sides are thrown in haphazardly, and it is really important that the north side faces out from the pad and toward your skin. Two companies that I do trust are Biomagnetics International and Dr. Leonard’s Catalogue. Biomagnetics International sells a round pad, of about 4" diameter, with five magnets sewn inside. But of course there are others, and you can get individual little "bullseye-shaped" magnets with a hole in the middle from Radio Shack. Again, be certain you know which side is north and which is south, using a compass or one of the other techniques discussed in Chapter 10.

I have literally taped little Radio Shack or Dr. Leonard’s magnets to points on my spine, and I have had many clients do the same, with good resultsfor both areas where the spine goes out of alignment and also for the general functioning of the nervous system. You can also tape the north side of a magnet to an area where pain originates. At one time I had terrible pain shooting up the meridian lines from my feet and nothing seemed to help until I began taping a magnet on the meridian at the pain’s origin. But with any of these applications, use every precaution discussed in Chapter 11. Also, unless you are very certain that you are reading your own body’s messages and sensations correctly in response to the magnet, have someone energy test the magnet before you tape it on and then periodically while it is on because the initial beneficial effects can be cancelled and reversed by overstimulation.

Also see the other entries on MS as well as the entry entitled "Magnets."
Return to Index.

 

Night Terrors

Q. Dear Donna: I recently suffered an awful experience. While I was not physically hurt, I was terrorized. I have worked through much of this pain, but occasionally at night I still feel terror. What can I do to ease this?

A. It sounds like a meridian called triple warmer, which governs the fight or flight response, is on over-alert and can’t turn off. The fear you experience deep in the night may be that triple warmer does not want you to give up your vigilance. It wants to keep you on alert so you do not let yourguard down. By calming triple warmer when the fear is there, you retrain it, you show it that you understand the fear and you tell it in its languagethat you are managing the situation and that it is safe now. Be ready withthese techniques for when the terror comes: 1) do the "hook-up" (p. 119) while breathing deeply, 2) "smooth behind the ears" (pp. 235 – 236), and 3) tap for up to a minute on the back sides of your hands, between the 4th and 5th fingers, just below the knuckles and toward the wrist.

Finally, each evening before you go to sleep, or if the terror returns, place one hand on your forehead and the other at the back of your head, with your thumb just below the occipital ridge (where your neck and head connect)and the rest of your hand above it. Hold for about a minute. You will simultaneously be holding several points that are involved with fear and othersthat act to calm the entire body.
Return to Index.

 

Osteoarthritis of the Knee

Q. Dear Donna: What can I do for osteoarthritis in my right knee?

A. Without seeing your energies, I can only give some very general guidelines. Techniques that are likely to be helpful include:

Look at the meridian diagrams on pp. 101 – 109 of Energy Medicine and the "Muscle Meridian Chart" on page 287. Determine which meridian or muscle runs through the portion of your knee that bothers you. Hold the acupuncture sedating points for that meridian (pp. 120 – 123). If your leg feels weak after you hold these points, follow the sedating points with the strengthening points.


Hold your thumb and first two fingers softly behind your knee for three or four minutes. The neurovascular points there will pull blood to the area.


There is a technique, certainly a part of energy medicine but a fieldonto itself, called orthobionomy (numerous listings can be found on searchengines such as Google). It basically deals with placing the middle fingeron an area of pain and then folding up the body or the muscles up around the finger so you have taken the tension off of that area. There is no set timeframe for this, but it is usually less than two minutes. After you stop holding, check the point again by pressing in on it. You will often find that the pain is gone.


Many people report that zone tapping (p. 288) has been very helpful to people with their knees as well as many other forms of chronic pain.


Weave a figure 8 in and above the energy field all around the area ofthe pain. Return to Index.


 

Osteoporosis and the Spinal Flush

Q. Dear Donna: If a person has osteoporosis, should I avoid clearing the neurolymphatic reflex points along the spine?

A. You may continue to massage these places, but just be a bit more gentle as you do so, and listen for any feedback that the person might give you. As you probably know, these points are tender in most people because they become clogged with toxins and stagnant energy. Massaging them helps clear the toxins and gets the energy flowing more freely, which will always benefitthe person’s health.

The two cautions here are 1) that the physical pressure you use does not exacerbate any previous injuries or vulnerabilities, and 2) that the person’s energy system is not so weak or disorganized that stirring up toxins overwhelms the system’s ability to eliminate those toxins.

Simply having the person you are working with let you know how much pressure you can apply generally addresses the first caution. For the second, a general balancing such as the "Daily Energy Routine" (Chapter 3 of Energy Medicine) before you do the full spinal flush is usually sufficient.

If the neurolymphatic reflex points are still too painful for any real massage, place one finger on a back neurolymphatic point and the finger of yourother hand on the corresponding point in front. Use a back and forth see-saw motion, pressing in on one point as you release on the other. This is much easier for even a highly sensitive individual to tolerate. Return to Index.

 

Pacemakers and the Thymus Thump

Q. Dear Donna: I work with seniors doing reflexology and have recently taught many of them to do the three thumps to boost their energy levels. Most of them find it easy to tap on their collarbones, thymus and spleen points, but here's my question: Does the thymus thump need to be modified for thosewho have pacemakers?

A. I have never seen the thymus thump be a problem for anyone with a pacemaker. However, I have noticed that people who have pacemakers tend to automatically tap more softly and usually use their fingertips rather than a clenched fist as they tap. This helps them to pinpoint the sternum area (below which the thymus lies) and to avoid the pacemaker. You can instruct your clients who have pacemakers to make these modifications to the thymus thump.
Return to Index.

 

Pain and Acupressure Points

Q. Dear Donna: On a few occasions I have held acupressure points to relievepain for a few friends, but I haven't been getting the results I'd hoped for. What else can I do to bring about deeper, more lasting relief for them?

A. The sedating points are not always enough to relieve pain. I've often found it helpful to first hold the sedating points on both sides of the body and then hold the strengthening points. This combination brings a rush of fresh energy through the meridian that is affected, and it does a more thorough job of dispersing the pain signals.

Look at the muscle meridian chart on page 286 of Energy Medicine and find the muscle that is associated with the area of pain. This will not only helpyou identify the most important meridian involved with the pain, it will lead you to another option. You can reset the spindle cell mechanism within the muscle by gently stretching it apart with your fingertips and thumbs and then lightly pinching the skin over the center of the muscle. This sends a signal to the muscle and nerve cells to let go of tension and pain.

Also, look in Chapter 11 at the discussion about the application of magnetsto relieve pain. Magnets can be quite beneficial, but you need to use themcarefully, and that chapter describes how to do this.

Finally, pain can also be relieved by using chakra-clearing techniques. Because small "chakras," vortexes of swirling energy, form over areas of pain and wounds, keeping this energy moving can be quite helpful. Simply rotate the left hand in a slow, counterclockwise, circular motion over the part ofthe body that hurts. This draws out stagnant energy and relieves pain. Do this for a few minutes, but not more than five minutes. Then move your handin a clockwise motion to balance the energy you have just cleared.

Also see the entry on "Magnets." Return to Index.

 

Paralysis and Visualizing Energy Flows

Q. Dear Donna: If someone has lost the use of a limb due to a stroke, for example, and can't physically perform the three thumps or trace his or her meridians, can he or she benefit from visualizing these energy medicine techniques?

A. Absolutely! Visualization and mental intention definitely move energy. One of the first stroke patients I ever treated regained some muscle function after just a few days of imagining the energies crossing over from the healthy side of his body to the paralyzed side, and then again to the healthyside. While this kind of mental exercise is good for anyone, it can offer a secondary benefit to older people by helping to keep their minds sharp.

Also see "Stroke Victims and Figure 8s." Return to Index.

 

Pneumonia

Q. Dear Donna: My father suffers from reoccurring bouts of pneumonia and seems to be resistant to antibiotics. Suggestions?

A. Without being able to see him and his unique energy patterns, I can onlytell you of generic treatments for recurrent bouts of pneumonia. During one of the bouts, it will help him if you work his chakras (Chapter 5 of Energy Medicine). This not only gets all of the energy centers into balance andharmony, it "stirs the pot," moving through old layers of disturbed and clogged energies. Then clear his back neurolymphatics with a spinal flush (p.79) and massage the neurolymphatic points on the front of his body (p. 84). This will move the toxins that have become "stirred," as well as other toxins, out of the lymph system and into the blood stream, where they can be eliminated. Finally, sedate the meridians on the organs that are directly involved with pneumonia – lung and large intestine – using the acupuncture sedating points (p. 120). This combination about twice each day should help move the symptoms out of his body, and if done a few times each week after he is well should help
prevent future occurrences. Also, teach him the neurolymphatic points on lung meridian (p. 85) and have him massage them daily. Return to Index.

 

Prostate Cancer and Radiation

Q. Dear Donna: I am receiving radiation for prostate cancer. Although I am managing most of the side effects quite well, I am having difficulty with rectal bleeding. Are there any techniques from energy medicine that might help me?

A. Three meridians are particularly important here: large intestine, kidney, and spleen. Rectal bleeding is generally associated with the large intestine meridian, kidney meridian will help with your prostate, and spleen is always a key meridian in strengthening your immune system.

The following protocol should strengthen your entire system as you go through the radiation:

Sedate your large intestine meridian by holding the acupuncture sedatingpoints (on page 123 of Energy Medicine) for about two minutes, and then hold the 2nd set of sedating points for another two minutes. More detailed instructions are written on page 119, and I believe you fill find them easy to follow. Just make sure you use the sedating points and not the strengthening points.
Sedate your kidney meridian following the same instructions as above.
Massage your K-27 (collarbone) points for about 30 seconds to further stimulate your kidney meridian. This will also cause the other meridians to flow in the proper directions.
Massage the large intestine neurolymphatic points down the sides of eachleg, as shown on page 264. Although they will feel tender, massage them hard for about 30 seconds, but not so hard as to cause bruising. This will break up some of the toxic energy in the meridian.
Tap your spleen points, located a few inches below your breast toward the sides of your body for about 30 seconds (see page 51). These, too, are neurolymphatic points and will feel tender .
Close your mouth, purse your lips, and blow air into your cheeks. Blow hard without allowing any air to escape. Hold this for as long as is comfortable and then release it. While this makes no sense anatomically, energetically-speaking the orifices are connected and this has the effect of strengthening the rectal area so that it will be less vulnerable to bleeding.

I suggest that you do the first four items between one and four times each day, and the last two items five or six times each day. Return to Index.

 

Protecting the Healer

Q. Dear Donna: Like you, I have been sensitive all my life to subtle energies. This has been a great gift because it makes my life so much richer, butit has also been a curse because I am vulnerable to all kinds of influences that other people hardly notice. I have taken great inspiration from yourpersonal story. I’ve also both overcome serious illness and found that Ihave a bit of a healing touch. I am, in fact, considering pursuing energy healing as a career. I’ve had some real successes applying the techniqueswith friends and family, but sometimes I am simply overwhelmed by another person’s energies and illnesses, particularly when I am attempting to help them using energy techniques. What do you do to protect yourself?

A. Early on in my practice of energy medicine, way back in the 70s, I triedhard to do what I was taught as the "correct" ways of protecting myself. Most popular was to put a white light around yourself. These techniques all separated the healer from the client and induced fear about what could happen. I found, however, that most all of the tools and techniques taught to me got in my way and interfered with the really joyful experience of feelingsomeone’s energy.

I organically figured out what worked best for me. If I "took on" negative energy, I learned how to imagine I had a faucet at the bottom of my spinal column, and I would rush it out into the ground. I would turn the faucet onand release it. I found that doing "Separating Heaven from Earth" before and in-between clients helped to move out anything that I had taken into my body. The "Hook-up" became invaluable because the hook-up has more than onebenefit. Yes, it keeps central meridian zipped up, which is very importantin not having the person’s energies spiral into your own chakras, but italso activates the strange flows which know full well how to dance with someone else’s energies. So, what my friend Jean Houston calls "leaky boundaries," can be a positive thing. Energy exchanges can be highly creative interchanges.

I think there is way too much fear about picking up someone else’s energy, and the fear itself more readily allows for the transmission of negative energies into your body and creates an atmosphere that prevents them from easily moving through.

One exercise that proves uniquely beneficial is the Celtic weave. Weaving your own field tightly around you allows the boundaries between you and another to be more lax. The aura becomes a powerful bridge of giving and receiving, but at the same time you are continually pulsing back to yourself – moving into the other person’s field and moving out, in rhythm.

Of course some people are very sensitive. I am actually one of them. There is no substitute for having enough rest, having the proper diet, and makingsure that your own energies are balanced, using a daily energy routine, etc. Integrity insists that if you don’t feel good, you don’t do the work. That is when you are most vulnerable as well as least competent. Healer, heal thyself.

I found that at the beginning and the end of every session, without planning to, I would take a deep breath that would make me very conscious of my own self and my own space. It simply made me feel strong. And I was. But thatsame breath, taken at the end of a session, was also information for me that the session was over, it was through. My body could go off duty.
Return to Index.

 

Radiation Treatment

Q. Dear Donna: A friend with breast cancer just completed a round of chemotherapy and is about to start a six week course of radiation treatment. Is there anything she can do for burn prevention and other side effects?

A. If she can simply keep her energies flowing, this will help tremendouslyin her ability to tolerate the radiation. The 5-minute "Daily Energy Routine" (Chapter 3 of Energy Medicine) can be a good start. See the directions under the "cross crawl" in that chapter for checking whether her energies have gone homolateral, and correct for this (p. 233) if they have. Radiationoften throws a person’s energy into a homolateral pattern. Other techniques that often help people go through radiation therapy with fewer side effects include sedating and then strengthening the circulation-sex acupuncture points (p. 122), doing the "hook-up" (p. 119), and sedating triple warmerusing the "smoothing behind the ears" technique (pp. 235 – 236). Sometimes neurovascular work, where the person holds the "frontal eminence" pointswith the pads of the fingers on the forehead and the thumbs in the temples(pp. 273 – 275), daily for three to five minutes, can "take out the fire." Return to Index.

 

Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy

Q. Dear Donna: I have a patient suffering from reflex sympathetic dystrophy. As you probably know, RSD is an involuntary response to trauma. The trauma that initiates this disease can be as benign as tripping on a stair or bumping a shin. In my patient’s case, she dropped a wrench on her wrist.These injuries set off micro spasms in the blood vessels that supply the extremities. It is an acute pain you cannot get away from. There is no medical cure. The pain is so horrible and unrelenting that my patient has been thinking about suicide. Can you help me help her?

A. This is a terrible condition. Energy interventions can help, but some trial and error will be involved. I will suggest the three possible remedies that, without seeing her energies, I suspect are the best bets. The first is to tape small, weak magnets to the area where the pain is the worst. Tape the north side against her skin. She needs to monitor when the magnet should be taken off and reapplied, using the guidelines discussed in Chapter 11 of Energy Medicine. The second approach is to hold the acupressure sedating points on bladder meridian. Bladder meridian governs the nervous systemand RSD is a nervous system disorder. Third, since this is a triple warmeroverreaction, doing the various techniques suggested in Chapter 8 for sedating triple warmer may also address the problem. I suspect that one, or some combination of these interventions, will give your patient enough immediate relief that she has a sense of hope and will continue to find the energy-oriented remedies that
will completely overcome her condition.
Return to Index.

 

Respiratory Infection

Q. Dear Donna: Since first meeting you last October and starting to read Energy Medicine, I have been working with the techniques religiously and haveexperienced some incredible results. I have a very close friend who is experiencing some health problems, and I am trying to help her as well. I am hoping that you may be able to offer some insight. Joan is very active, working as an attorney, and also the mother of 3 small children aged 8 months to 3½ yrs. Since the oldest was born, she has been living with an almost constant cold or respiratory infection. Her doctor has prescribed several antibiotic regimins, steroids, and decongestants, but nothing has helped. Shehas been tested for allergies and none have been identified. She had her air conditioning ducts checked for mold. Her doctor is at a loss and has suggested she visit the Mayo Clinic.

I energy tested her and found that she was homolateral, her energies were running backward, and she was very tender at almost all of her lymphatic sites. We did the "three thumps." I massaged all of her lymphatics, including the spinal flush, and we also did several rounds of cross crawl. She said that she was feeling a little more energized after all of this, but I am notsure where to go from here. I have not tested her on any foods or supplements as yet, and I did not ask if there is any particular time of day or night when she feels a noticeable change. Please let me know if you think I amon the right track and if there is anything else I can do for her.

A. I am impressed by your persistence at tracking down solutions for your friend's problem. I do think you are on the right track. Continue what you are already doing, particularly encouraging her to do the homolateral crossover several times per day until she establishes a heterolateral pattern that holds. Encourage her to continue working her lymphatic points as well.

I think it would also help her to understand how triple warmer and spleen may be involved in her problems (Chapter 8). My suspicion is that triple warmer is robbing vital energy from her whole body, especially spleen. Just getting those two into balance and keeping them there might correct an awful lot.

Another key area to stay on top of, not surprisingly, is lung meridian. Do everything you know to get it balanced and strong—tracing, flushing, acupuncture sedating and strengthening points, neurolymphatics, neurovasculars,and also consider "pain chasing" (see Chapter 10) along the entire meridian.

Because lung meridian’s polarity is bladder meridian, and bladder meridian also governs the nervous system, I would suspect that bladder meridian isinvolved. Plus as an attorney with three small children, I can only imagine that her nervous system, and thus bladder meridian, would be overstimulated. So she might also find benefits from regularly sedating bladder meridian. Return to Index.

 

Sedating Triple Warmer "Is Not for Sissies"

Q. Dear Donna: Having attended one of your workshops specific to weight loss issues, I would like to share some of the results several of us, vigilantabout sedating triple warmer and strengthening spleen, have experienced. Initially there was wonderful euphoria, with feelings of well-being and contentment. Then, as if triple warmer was rearing up in rebellion, most of thewomen experienced surges of crying jags, anger, and confusion. These flashes came out of nowhere and passed through quickly, but left us shaken and disoriented. Old personal issues were/are reappearing and creating momentarychaos. My theory regarding this process relates to addiction work. One of the reasons women overeat is to suppress painful feelings and memories. As triple warmer was sedated and spleen strengthened, these feelings surfaced.Registering the unsettled feelings, triple warmer became threatened about having let its guard down and having given more power to the spleen meridian, and it reflexively
overreacted, causing a transitional roller coaster response. Overall, the whole process, although difficult, has felt positive. But our motto has evolved from "free your body" to "sedating triple warmer is not for sissies!" Would you please comment on our process and theory?

A. "Sedating triple warmer is not for sissies" says it all! I have been through everything you've described and would like to add a few more comments about your experiences.

Triple warmer has no inclination toward letting go of old patterns, especially survival habits. And it is very smart! Remember, as your body's militia(see Chapter 8 of Energy Medicine), it has established strategies which have literally saved your life. Even during the time of euphoria you all experienced, triple warmer was building new strategies to undercut the changes and return to the earlier patterns where it was in control.

I will warn you about a repetitive pattern I've witnessed with groups attempting to control their weight or overcome addictions. As the positive results show themselves, such as with weight loss followed by euphoria, the individuals become less vigilant about maintaining energy routines, personal contact with other group members, and overall group support. People just "forget." Triple warmer is tricky and as you become less vigilant in changing the energy habits, it sees this opening, and moves in for the coup and a return to the old rule. Making you forget your new routines is its path of least resistance.

You need to support the entire system during a change process, and this involves continually "reassuring" triple warmer as the transition occurs. Sometime after you have begun sedating triple warmer and strengthening spleen, within 30 days approximately, begin to sedate and then STRENGTHEN triple warmer before strengthening both spleen and stomach.

It is also helpful to internally speak to triple warmer as you sedate it. Consciously honor its contribution to your health. Your energy systems are responsive to your conscious intentions. As you flush the triple warmer meridian or hold its sedating points, you might mindfully acknowledge that thisis an incredibly intelligent energy system, the mastermind of your immune system, and thank it for its care and protection and its role in keeping you alive and healthy. Assure it that you are looking out for your body’s well-being with these interventions and encourage it to trust you, to relax,and to withdraw the "troops." At the same time, encourage it to keep the troops, the resources of your immune system, fit and in readiness for real threats to your health.

This practice affirms triple warmer's value, diffuses defensiveness, and heads off a reactionary panic. As you win triple warmer’s confidence and cooperation, the harmony of spleen, triple warmer, and stomach can be restored. As old energy habits are released, calories are burned, and weight is lost—all within a smoother and less labile experience. Return to Index.

 

Sick After a Session

Q. Dear Donna: I am a naturopath and have been increasingly incorporating energy techniques into my work. I’ve found Energy Medicine to be a wonderful reference, and I have generally found the techniques you describe to be gentle and helpful. Occasionally, however, energy work can be disruptive toa person’s system. I have had two people now go into a "healing crisis" where old symptoms returned after a session, where anxiety from old traumaswas reactivated, and where the person felt much worse than before we began.

A. I’m afraid that most practitioners meet this one somewhere along the way, although I don’t like the phrase "healing crisis." I think of "healing crisis" as a defensive term that health professionals use so they won’tbe blamed for triggering a second health crisis in someone who came to them because they were already in a health crisis. Sometimes the treatment does stir the pot, causing new symptoms or reactivating old ones, but to call it a healing crisis often obscures the dynamics so the person’s complaints are dismissed rather than dealt with. Energy medicine moves energy; the new complaints provide vital information for the next step.

And sometimes the next step involves revisiting an old health problem that has become dormant as the person has learned to cope and adapt—what my friend Peg Mayo calls "wallpapering over the cockroaches"—but the unresolved problem is still robbing the person of vital energy, causing underlying exhaustion, and dulling the mind, even though overt symptoms are no longer troubling. This can happen with physical as well as psychological problems and can be very awkward for the healer. The return of old back pain, respiratory problems, or severe anxiety may be your "thank you" after what you thought was a brilliant session.

Carrying a perspective that allows for these dynamics helps you to anticipate them and prepare yourself as well as your client. While you don’t wantto give a hypnotic suggestion that itself sends the person into a "healingcrisis," you can set a healing context where problems that go beyond the original problem may readily be embraced. Rather than dreading this kind of development as something bad, I hold a space that appreciates the opportunity that sometimes arises for people to have a more profound healing than they bargained for. So, I find it easy to be sincerely upbeat as I say to someone, "This energy here in your chest feels very old. Working with it may stir things up, and I want you to be prepared for that."

Of course many of the standard energy techniques for keeping the body’s energies balanced can help to head off an unnecessary "healing crisis." Doing an appropriate adaptation of the 5-minute Energy Routine (Chapter 2 of Energy Medicine) early in the session so you begin with a relatively balancedenergy system is pretty standard for me, as is suggesting that an energy routine be done on a daily basis after the session.

During the session, if you sense that the person’s energy is beginning togo into an unexpected reaction, you can safely assume that the triple warmer meridian has been activated. One of its main jobs is to resist change, even when the change is beneficial. Triple warmer can pull out all the stopsto prevent change, from scrambling the physical energies to sending waves of anxiety through your client. So you may be sailing along during a session and suddenly find that everything stops working until you sedate triple warmer, which gives it a calming message that causes it to stop treating thetreatment as a foreign invasion.

One more way to head off an unnecessary "healing crisis" is that if a greatdeal of energy is moved in a session, you can close the session by strengthening spleen meridian, using the acupressure strengthening points. This enhances the body’s ability to adapt, incorporate, and metabolize new information. The "hook-up" is another way to anchor in the benefits of the treatment. Return to Index.

 

Sixth Chakra Opening

Q. Dear Donna: I have always wanted to develop my psychic awareness, and I have been an on-and-off meditator for years. But meditation is very slow, at least for me. It is very hard for me to get out of my mind, and I actually don’t know if all my meditating has really lead to any progress in terms of psychic abilities. I recently heard you speak about using energy methods for opening the third-eye chakra, and how this can open a person’s psychic awareness. This interests me very much, and I wonder if you can tell me more about how to go about this. But I also heard you say that opening the sixth chakra can be like an "explosion." This scares me. Please say more.

A. By "explode," I mean that suddenly where energy had been prevented, it moves in with power and freedom, filling up the space, just like a glorious light show. Be assured this is a good, wonderful type of "explosion." Thereis no pain, just gain. Nonetheless, some people are terrified when they start to see colors or open their psychic awareness, and it can be very helpful to seek out someone who has already been there. Also, in rare cases, a "kundalini awakening" can be traumatic, but this is unusual and should be the topic of a different discussion. The one piece of precautionary advice I would emphasize is that as the sixth chakra is opening, be sure to re-balance all your chakras and keep them in a good balance. Here are three of the many techniques for moving through the obstacles to opening the sixth chakra:

Place your bent fingers in the middle of the back of your neck. Pull your fingers forward, toward the sides of your neck, raking your neck with some pressure. Do this 3 times. Then place the middle finger of one hand into the center indent at the base of your head and the middle finger of the other hand at the point at the very top of your head and hold for a minute or two.
If too much mental energy is interfering with the sixth chakra's opening, the following helps the energy move out of the mind/sixth chakra area. Lay in bed or otherwise get comfortable and do some simple relaxing/centeringmeditations (such as "Notice Breath, Soften Belly, Open Heart") and place your hands over your belly (second chakra). Let all of your consciousness drop down into your second chakra, and let your being move into a reverie ofgratitude and connection.
When you reach that reverie of gratitude or connection, gently "tap it in" at the third eye point. Do this as well at other times you are experiencing joy or happiness.
Return to Index.

 

Spinal Cord Narrowing

Q. Dear Donna: Over fifty years ago, at age sixteen, I broke my neck in a diving accident and was hospitalized for three months. Thankfully, my recovery from the initial paralysis was nearly complete and I retained only a slight limp. I was able to lead a full life, marry a wonderful lady, and have five children. Seven years ago, however, I broke my hip and since that timeI’ve needed the use of a walker and a wheelchair to get around. Doctors tell me that my spinal cord has narrowed, and that this has slowed down thecommunication signals between my brain and my body. Are there any energy exercises that could address this problem?

A. Yes, several come to mind. The first is to have someone do a "spinal flush" on you every day with great deliberation and care. Essentially a spinalflush involves having someone massage along each side of your spine in order to stimulate key neurolymphatic points (see p. 79 of Energy Medicine). This will flush toxic energy from your body, leaving you deeply relaxed and with your energies flowing. It is normal for these points to be tender at first, but most people really enjoy having this done. Not only does it cleartoxins from the body, it also pumps the cerebrospinal fluid that flows along the spine.

Another superb technique for working with cerebrospinal fluid was taught tome by a Hopi elder and is described on page 285.

A third exercise, which you can do while sitting down, is called "pumping the cerebral spinal flood." It combines deep breathing with a series of handpositions. Begin with a crown pull (p. 77). Then:

Place your left hand in the middle of your chest and simultaneously place your right hand on the right side of your head above the ear with your fingers pointing upward towards the crown of your head. Take about four deep,slow breaths as you hold this position.
Leave your left hand in place and move your right hand to cover the lower back part of your head over the occipital area. Take a few more slow, deep breaths.
Move your right hand to the middle of your chest and place your left hand on the left side of your head with fingers pointing upwards as before. Breathe deeply and slowly.
Leave your left hand in place, and put your right hand over your forehead with finger pointing upwards. Again, take a few more slow breaths.

This exercise occasionally makes people a bit dizzy, but this only indicates that it was needed (cerebral spinal fluid that was sluggish starts to move more quickly) and the dizziness usually passes quickly.

After the spinal flush or the Hopi technique, you might ask a family memberor friend to do one more thing for you. Lie face down and have him or her place one hand on your sacrum and the other at the base of your neck, and rock you very gently back and forth for one to two minutes. The rocking motion frees energy to move between the vertebrae of the spine.

All of the above exercises unblock clogged energy and help to make space inthe body for energy to flow. You might find it valuable to do them one or more times daily. Return to Index.

 

Stroke Victims and Figure 8s

Q. Dear Donna: Would tracing figure eights be helpful for people who have had a stroke?

A. Tracing figure eight energies helps the energy cross over from the left hemisphere to the right side of the body and from the right hemisphere to the left side of the body. It also helps energies cross over every part of the body, through the organs, even the cells. Another person can do this tracing of the cross-over energies (see the discussion of the Celtic weave in Chapter 6). The stroke patient can also imagine the energies weaving. If possible, the person could trace figure eights of any size with a finger or ahand, or you could do it for the person by tracing the eights directly on or just above the body. Also, encourage the person to "doodle" by drawing figure eights on a piece of paper. This helps to imprint crossover energy patterns into the brain.

Also see "Paralysis and Visualizing Energy Flows." Return to Index.

 

Suicidal Depression

Q. Dear Donna: I have a close friend who is the father of four children. Heis caught in a terrible depression, and he recently tried to kill himself.Is there any way that energy work can help him?

A. I feel for your friend and his obviously desperate situation, and I knowthat you must be very concerned. In addition to whatever professional helpyou can get him to seek, there are some energy techniques that could improve his state of mind. Try to get him to do the 5-minute "Daily Energy Routine" (Chapter 3 of Energy Medicine) at least twice a day. This will immediately help organize some of his basic energy patterns. Whenever he feels unable to handle things or out of control or particularly depressed, have him do a "hook-up" in that moment (p. 119). All of this he can do for himself. The following will need someone else’s assistance:

Find out if his energies are flowing in a homolateral pattern by energy testing him while he looks at an "X" and then again while he looks at a pair of parallel vertical lines. He should energy test strong on the X and weak on the parallel lines (this indicates that the energies are crossing overproperly between the left and right sides of his body). If you get any other result, have him do the "homolateral crossover" (pp. 233 – 235) instead of just the cross crawl during his daily routine.
Hold the main neurovascular points (the "Oh, my God" points, p. 90) on his forehead for several minutes. These points not only help to soothe the emotional system, they also help us to think better.
Balance his chakras (see Chapter 5). They are a key component of the energy system. They store information regarding our past, our current challenges, and our emotions. And they energetically connect us to the universe. Having them in balance can help him make a tremendous difference in how he feels and in how clearly he can think.
Trace figure eight patterns slowly in front of his face several times and have him follow the patterns with his eyes. This creates a neurological effect that can help loosen the grip of long-standing depression. Return to Index.

 

Testicular Pain

Q. Dear Donna: I have been studying your book and using your techniques. I have reached a stumbling block, however, with my 16-year-old son. He has been having chronic intermittent swelling and pain in his testicular area, specifically the epididymis. He had to have one testicle removed when he was three because it torqued and sucked into his abdomen. For the current problem, a urologist has been following him for 2 or 3 months, and we have had an inconclusive ultrasound done.

My gut feeling is that he does not need exploratory surgery. When I do energy testing on him, his circulation-sex and triple warmer meridians, among others, are weak and painful. I have traced them backwards and forwards, done a spinal flush, a chakra exercise, the 5-minute routine, and sedated and then strengthened both the circulation-sex and triple warmer meridians. Today I got the triple warmer to test strong afterwards, however I cannot get the circulation-sex meridian to test strong no matter what I try.

He also consistently experiences pain in his testicle and his groin every time he or I do the hook-up procedure. Can you offer any suggestions?

A. While it is always guesswork when I can't see a person's energies and how they respond to various interventions, I do have some guesses:

Circulation-sex and triple warmer sit together on the same basic rhythm (Chapter 7) and often play off one another. Since you've not been able to get circulation-sex strong, I would look to its opposite force, which is stomach meridian (see "wheel" on p. 126). I would sedate stomach using the acupuncture holding points (p. 120). It may be the meridian that can take away even the swelling and the pain.

I believe that the "hook-up" is actually activating the penetrating flow, one of the strange flows (Chapter 8), which goes right through the testicles. You might see what his reactions are if you slowly travel up central meridian, holding two points at a time for about 10 or 12 seconds (on the midline, one with your right hand, the other with your left), and then move up the meridian, going to the next pair of points. I would also hold the spleenstrengthening acupuncture points as spleen governs swelling and infections. And I would not do the hook-up for now because it seems to be moving the energy enough to cause pain, but not enough to help with the problem.

I would also "chakra clear" (Chapter 5) the painful area, treating the areaas a chakra. Ask him whether circling in one direction takes away the painmore than the other direction.
Return to Index.

 

"Thumping" Acupuncture Points

Q. Dear Donna: My acupuncturist frowned when I showed him that I was thumping my K-27 points. He felt that I could damage an acupuncture point with thumping and should massage only. Is this true?

A. I started suggesting thumping when I noticed some people, especially children, were not strong enough to massage the points effectively. I’ve never seen, energetically, someone’s K-27 damaged by thumping it. I insteadsee a waking up of the energy—sometimes even a radiating light. While massaging is a great way to stimulate the acupuncture points, thumping can have some advantages. First, it speaks a different language. The body’s most primary rhythms are the heartbeat and all the pulsations through the capillary beds. Tapping an energy point provides a pulsation that the body finds familiar and responds to readily. While massage often gets the same result, sometimes the body tenses against massage, and in those cases tapping can often find its way into the body’s energies where massage can’t. Many practitioners, in fact, use tapping as their primary energy intervention.

Regarding damaged points, your acupuncturist is right, this can be a problem. For instance, the magnetic field around an acupuncture point can have its polarity reversed. Stress can do this. I have also known acupuncture points to be so deep that they appear lost. In both cases tapping, the use of needles, and sometimes the application of magnets, can restore a damaged acupuncture point. Return to Index.

 

Tinnitus (Ringing in the Ears)

Q. Dear Donna: I have been reading your book looking for clues about what Ican do for my tinnitus. I am flushing kidney meridian and then strengthening it. I also flush triple warmer and then hold its sedating points. This helps with some of the symptoms, but I would like to know if there are any other things I can do to eliminate this problem completely?

A. You are already doing a great job figuring out things for yourself, and yes I do have a few more suggestions. There is a point near the jaw that you can find by placing your index fingers in front your ears and your thumbs just below your cheek bone. When you open your mouth wide, your thumbs will drop into an indent. If this spot is tender, massage it daily. Also, ifyou wrap your hands around the back side of your head, your fingers will easily fall into the central lymphatic points. Massage them. You can find apicture of these points on page 85 of Energy Medicine. In addition to flushing and sedating triple warmer, I would follow the triple warmer meridian,starting at the eyebrow and going down and around the ear, feeling for sore spots. Wherever you find a sore spot, hold it with firm pressure, but notdeep pressure, until the pain diminishes. Return to Index.

 

Touch for Health vs. Energy Medicine?

Q. Dear Donna: I have taken your Energy Medicine workshop and have been considering taking a Touch for Health class. Would the Touch for Health classbe redundant?

A. No, you will love a good Touch for Health class. For one thing, they have stayed closer to their roots in applied kinesiology than I have and willteach you a different test for each of the major meridians. I send my students to Touch for Health classes for that alone. Find someone who can recommend a great teacher, or contact the Touch for Health Kinesiology Association (http://www.tfhka.org/) and enjoy!
Return to Index.

 

Vertigo, Nausea, and More

Q. Dear Donna: Help! My mother has begun having awful episodes of illness that have mystified not only our family but also the emergency room physicians at the local hospital. She tells me that each episode begins with ringing in her ears followed by a paralyzing dose of vertigo, nausea, vomiting, and shaking. Needless to say, this cluster of symptoms leaves her in a pretty debilitated state, and I’m really worried about her. When I took her tothe ER last week after a particularly strong bout, the doctors ran a series of diagnostic tests but, to everyone’s surprise, they were unable to find anything wrong. They simply sent her home with a recommendation that shehave her ears checked by an Ear, Nose, and Throat Specialist. She plans ondoing this very soon because her symptoms returned the very next day. I’m wondering if you have any strategies for working with this type of case using energy medicine?

A. Actually, energy work might help your mother a great deal. Whenever she feels any of the symptoms of vertigo, instruct her to sit down and do a "hook-up" (described on p. 119 of Energy Medicine). That is, have her place the middle finger of one hand into her navel, push in gently, pull up; the middle finger of her other hand at the point between her eyebrows, push in gently and push up. Hold for up to a minute. This can restabilize the energies that are at the root of vertigo and bring instant relief or at least stopthe symptoms from going any further.

Here are additional things she can do once or twice a day, and they may also help with an episode:

Have her place the fingers of either hand on one of her cheekbones and push upward with considerable pressure (stomach meridian). With the other hand, squeeze the sides of either big toe at the base of the toenail (spleen and liver meridians).
Massage or tap the K-27 points (come to the corners of the collarbone right beneath the neck, and drop into the cattycorner about an inch beneath it, where you will find a little indent on each side). Give these points a real workout.
"Smooth Behind Your Ears," that is have her place the pads of her fingers in her temples, take a slow deep breath in and out. On the next deep breath, have her push her fingers to about an inch above her ears, and on the outbreath, drag them down and behind the ears and down the neck. Have her hang her fingers on her shoulders for several seconds and then rake her fingers over her shoulders.

The 5-minute "Daily Energy Routine" (Chapter 3 of Energy Medicine), focusing especially on the crown pull, can have a preventive effect by keeping heroverall energy system in balance.

Western medicine often struggles with diagnosing and treating patients whensymptoms come and go, as happens with your mother. Despite this, I’d still encourage her to seek help from an ear, nose, and throat physician, and I’d suggest she consider simultaneously seeing an acupuncturist or other energy worker. Look for someone who is skilled and well thought of in her community. Very likely, she has energy imbalances that are more subtle than the medical tests she was given in the ER could detect. This is an instancewhere energy medicine holds a definite advantage over laboratory diagnosesand outright guesses about which medications to prescribe. Return to Index.

Also see the discussion on tinnitus (ringing in the ears).



© 2002 Donna Eden
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