Elements of Healing Blog

This is one question that arises in the clinic more often than any other question.  The answer is simple, yet difficult to express in a way that satisfies western minds.  There are multiple answers. 

The Chinese have described a detailed and organized network of channels or meridians in the body.  These conduits link the internal organs of the body with the exterior.  The channels connect to each other forming a network throughout the entire body.  This explains how we can press or needle a point on the hand and affect the face. 

Our body creates somewhat predictable signs and symptoms when one or more of these channels has too much or not enough energy & blood coursing through it.  Through well respected and detailed diagnostic testing an Oriental Medicine Practitioner can identify which of the meridians is eliciting the imbalance.   They would then choose specific points to treat to help create more circulation in the channels, and then homeostasis is achieved again.  The massage, needles, and/or herbs act on the body to remind a person’s energy how to flow more efficiently. 

The body’s innate healing capacity is called into action when we stimulate the channels and these points.  The improvement of the signs and symptoms serve as one feedback for the practitioner and patient as to the efficacy of the treatment.  Practitioners will also listen to the pulse, feel the abdomen, and look at the tongue for changes.   These diagnostic tools help a practitioner decide the prognosis and course of treatment.

Western medicine has a few explanations based on research.  Please read the research that is happening at UVM about the role of fascia in acupuncture.  http://www.uvm.edu/~annb/faculty/langevin/  This is very exciting work that is happening right in our backyard here in Vermont. 

“Other experts believe that acupuncture works by transmitting signals via the fascia. Fascia is like a thin sheath that surrounds all of the body’s muscles. Some acupuncturists consider the meridians to represent myofascial chains – which helps explain why stimulating an acupuncture point in the lower leg can affect the back or other areas. Interestingly, research shows that acupuncture points have a lower electrical resistivity than surrounding areas. In a practical sense, the meridian system provides a navigable energetic map of the body for acupuncturists to locate and treat many conditions.”  This quote was taken from http://my.clevelandclinic.org/services/acupuncture/hic_acupuncture.aspx

I hope that some of this information helps.  Please post any comments or questions that you have.

In Health and Healing,

R. Scott Moylan

I had a teacher once tell me that 100% of all dis-ease has an emotional component.  That means that either our emotions cause the illness or we have an emotional reaction to our imbalanced condition.  This was an enlightening concept for me at the time.  To think that for every condition there is an emotional piece to it was a completely new concept for me.  That was just the beginning for me, what followed over the next years of my training was truly liberating. 

In Chinese medicine there is an understanding of 7 basic emotions.  Anger, Joy, Pensiveness, Over-thinking, Grief, Fear, and Fright.  There are of course other emotions, but they are usually a combination of these basic seven.   These emotions have a specific resonance in the body towards a specific organ.  Anger affects the liver, Joy affects the heart, Pensiveness & Over-thinking affect the spleen and stomach, Grief affects the Lung, Fear affects the kidney, and Fright affects the kidney and gall bladder. 

We use this clinically to differentiate what organ may be out of balance.  For instance, when someone habitually elicits an uncontrollable temper, then we could assume that their liver may be out of balance.  A Chinese medicine practitioner would then treat the liver and other supporting organs with acupuncture, herbs, massage, etc in order to bring the liver back into balance. 

Anger is not the disease.  It is a result of an imbalance.  Just like all the other signs and symptoms we can manifest.  Headaches, high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma, etc are not the disease; they are symptomatic of an underlying imbalance. 

The most important piece of information that I took away from my studies was that the repression of the emotion is more damaging to the body.  All of the emotions are normal to feel and have expressed.  It is normal to be angry, joyful, pensive, sad, and fearful.  These are expressions of life and so are natural expressions of our interaction.  When we judge and begin to repress these feelings, we do our spirits a disservice. 

Chinese medicine is not about helping people get rid of their emotions, but rather it is about helping people to fully express their feelings and move on.  Watch a two year old for two hours.  You will see the full compliment of emotions expressed and moved in that time.  This might be an aspect of what the masters meant when they said, “be like children”. 

My hope is that we all can learn to express ourselves in a healthy and positive way.  I welcome comments…..

In health and healing,

R. Scott Moylan

This is my first time doing this and I hope that it begins a healing revolution.  My name is Scott Moylan and I am an Acupuncturist and Asian Bodywork therapist in Essex Jct. VT.  My website is www.elementsofhealing.net for more info on me and my practice.  I would like to begin by posting that we all have a tremendous healing potential within us.  I would like to begin with that thought alone, because 1. it’s late, and I just figured out how to work this program, and 2. “Healing Happens Within” is worth contemplating.  Looking forward to hearing from other practitioners or others regarding health concerns.  Talk to you soon!