tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645191331590950902024-03-05T09:50:23.102+00:00Nora Franglen's BlogFive Element AcupunctureNora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.comBlogger545125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-43081489622171245112020-06-20T09:28:00.000+01:002020-06-20T09:28:33.406+01:00Some thoughts on seasonal treatments
<span style="font-family: Arial;">A fellow five-element acupuncturist who lives in Malawi,
Sophie Barrowcliff, has asked me about seasonal treatments, and this has made
me think about the often tricky question of when exactly we should be giving
them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I quote here from her email:</span><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“The seasons here are not
just the opposite way round to the northern hemisphere, and I wanted to have
your opinion on a question that has long bothered me.</span></i><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">We typically have a hot
season, wet season, and dry season. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The start of the rains, when everything bursts into life, is
clearly spring. The hot rainy months are summer <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the end of the rains, the golden harvest
time of autumn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is followed by our
cold season (May-July), with cold winds streaming from the south and the lowest
temperatures of the yearly cycle; it feels wintery. And yet it is only the
start of autumn, the retreat back into the earth, with the leaves only coming
off the trees in a month or two.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Sometime in
August/September the winds change, it rapidly warms up, it gets progressively
drier and everything feels dead and the land is parched: this is the dead
inertia of winter. This is the conundrum for me - how winter here is actually
hot!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So as I treat patients, I constantly vacillate as
to which the best seasonal treatment is.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I was taught about the elements and their relationships to the
individual seasons in this country, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Great Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region>, which is in a temperate
zone where each element can be allocated to a distinct season. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have therefore never had to deal with the
complications presented by the tropical weather which Sophie describes. Her
questions have set me thinking.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The purpose of giving horary and seasonal treatments is to help a
patient’s energy attune itself better to the environmental energies around in
terms of the time of day, for horary treatments, and of the relevant season, in
terms of seasonal treatments.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">It is easy to see that it is likely that a Metal person will benefit
from having his/her Metal energy boosted during the hours of the day when Metal
is at its strongest according to the 24-hour Chinese clock, which will be at
that time according to whatever time-zone we are in anywhere on the planet. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem is how to adapt seasonal
treatments to places where the seasonal differentiations are not clear-cut. The
question for Sophie is when exactly is she to decide when autumn is for her
Metal patients.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I think it would be sensible for her to assess each seasonal treatment
on its own merits, adapting to what may well be fluctuating temperatures and
weather conditions. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, if she
is treating a Water patient, it might be good to give Water its winter seasonal
treatment during the “dead inertia of winter”, but not if it is hot outside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If she feels that there is still autumn in
the air, but the leaves haven’t yet dropped from the trees, she might be best
to wait a little until giving her Metal patients their autumn treatment.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I also like to ask patients which season they feel they are in, and
adjust my seasonal treatments to fit in with what they tell me. I do this
because I realised very early on that each of us can have a very different idea
as to which the current season is after discovering that more than half of the
students in one of my classes thought we had definitely moved into summer,
whilst the remainder were equally sure that we were still in spring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Patients, too, may well have a different take
on the season from us as practitioners, and we should therefore learn to adjust
our treatment to correspond to a particular patient’s assessment of the season.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, it doesn’t seem right to
give a patient a Wood seasonal treatment if he/she feels that we are still in
the depths of winter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words, a
practitioner needs flexibility in deciding which seasonal treatment to give
which patients when.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">And then there is still, to me, the unresolved question as to whether we
should give everybody a seasonal treatment in each season irrespective of their
element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know that some practitioners
do this, but I do not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is because I
remember giving a Fire patient a winter seasonal treatment (the Water points of
the Bladder and Kidney), and for her to be one of the very few patients who
told me that she had not felt well after treatment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This made me decide not to experiment any
further with seasonal treatments off a patient’s element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am a practitioner who rarely moves away
from a patient’s element, so that giving seasonal treatments on other elements
does not sit easily with me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the
other hand, many of my fellow five element practitioners may be quite happy
doing this.</span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I hope what I have written here helps you, Sophie.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-77838551108363650842020-05-20T09:00:00.002+01:002020-05-20T09:00:45.833+01:00Passing people by on the street in lockdown London<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I don’t know why I am still so surprised at the different
reactions I am getting to my approaches to those I encounter on my daily walk
around the streets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Surely, I ask
myself, I should know by now that my smiles, accompanied often by a few words,
will not always be welcomed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed they
can often be rebuffed, which happens surprisingly often, even in these
difficult days when I suppose I assume that we would all welcome friendly approaches
from our fellow quarantined human beings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I am also taken aback at how hurt I feel when I encounter blank stares
as I try to engage people I pass in some kind of interaction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They must all be aware of me, as they
correctly swerve 2 metres away from me, and yet they often make not a flicker
of eye contact, let alone respond to my words of thanks as I see them moving
aside to let me pass.</span></span><br />
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Of course there are many exceptions, people who are happy to
smile in response, even sometimes to stop and talk, and these brief encounters
lighten my day and warm my heart. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a
Fire person, I suppose by now I should be aware of how much this heart of mine
needs the warmth of its interactions with other people to keep it going.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I often seem to forget this simple fact,
which should act as a reminder to me that, however, much we think we know each
element’s needs, particularly our own, we can never fully satisfy them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At some level we never easily leave that one
small circle which our element forms in the larger five-element circle of
life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We remain as though conditioned by
who we are despite all our attempts, particularly as five element acupuncturists,
to think ourselves into the circles of the other elements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It becomes a weakness in us if we ignore
this, and forget how much our element colours all we do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Perhaps, then, it would be a good lesson for me on my walk
outside today to try simply to “walk on by”, rather than feel that I should
interact in some way with each person I pass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And I could also learn to use my experiences out in the streets as a
useful way of trying to diagnose the different elements of those I meet
through their reactions to my approaches.</span></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-60790137197947885542020-05-18T11:51:00.000+01:002020-05-18T11:56:45.230+01:00Fighting Fire with Fire<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">During my acupuncture training I remember hearing the words
“fighting Fire with Fire”, and the phrase has always stuck with me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am now not sure what the context was,
except that it had something to do with not being frightened of using moxa on
patients who complain of sweating, where we might hesitate to place further
stress on the Fire element by adding moxa cones to our needling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later on in my practice, I used what I
remembered from this to see if I could<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>help patients who were suffering hot flushes as part of their menopausal
symptoms, and found that this contributed significantly to reducing them if I
added one of the most wondrous points of all, III (Bl) 38 (43).</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">I was reminded of this when a fellow acupuncturist got in touch
with me recently, asking for my advice about how he could help his wife who was
suffering from very debilitating hot flushes, which persisted almost continuously
throughout the day and left her feeling exhausted. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Using
the experience from my own practice, I suggested he should add III 38 to the
treatment he was giving her (her element is Metal), and asked him to let me know
afterwards whether this had helped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">He phoned me the next day to say that the effect had been
miraculous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> His wife's hot flushes had stopped completely i</span>mmediately after needling
III 38 (with 7 moxa cones) ,and he noticed that her skin looked and felt
quite different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where previously it had
been hot and clammy, and had a rather sickly colour, it felt much cooler to the
touch and had regained a healthier colour, and she no longer felt cold and
shivery as she had done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I interpreted
this as evidence that this point, well warmed by moxibustion, had enabled her
body to take control of the fire raging inside her as the hot flushes took hold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He completed the treatment by needling the
source points of Metal. Two days later his wife had had no further hot flushes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Thinking through why this point should have such an effect
on reducing hot flushes, I have come to the conclusion that this must be
because it has a close relationship to the Fire element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We know that each point is related to the
other points lying on the same meridian, as well as to points on other
meridians which have a close anatomical relationship to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, III (Bl) 37 (42), on the Outer
Bladder line, lies at the same horizontal plane as the AEP (back shu point) of
the Lung, Bl 13, on the Inner Bladder line, and can therefore be seen as having
a particular relationship to the Metal element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Similarly, III 38 on the Outer Bladder line,
lies at the same level as the AEP of the Heart Protector (Pericardium), III
(Bl) 14, on the Inner Bladder line, and therefore can be seen to relate closely
to the Fire element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At a physical
level, the two Outer Fire officials, the Heart Protector and the Three Heater, are
in control of the blood and the body’s temperature mechanism, both of which the
appearance of hot flushes show to be under extreme stress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Needling III 38, beautifully warmed up by
adding 7 moxa cones beforehand, is therefore a way of helping bring balance
back to Outer Fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If further treatment
is needed, more moxa cones can be added.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Bl 38 is one of the few points, apart from command points,
which we can use several times in succession, and to my mind is probably one of
the points which form the bedrock of five element practice. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of its qualities is that it can increase
its effect simply by increasing the number of moxa cones by a factor of 7 at
subsequent treatments, up to a total of 50 cones (or more symbolically, I like
to think, 49 (7 x 7) cones). It has an amazing effect on patients undergoing
chemo- or radiotherapy, or for those with anaemia, where it can be used at
successive treatments, often only a few days apart, to help the Fire element
regain control of the blood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-49261848620754892822020-05-06T08:24:00.000+01:002020-05-06T08:33:00.714+01:00A Samuel Pepys quote for today<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia";">Plus ça change, plus
c’est la même chose<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">(The more things
change, the more they stay the same)<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Every day a page of Samuel Pepys’ diary appears in my email
inbox, to be read with delight at how acutely he observes human behaviour, and
how his writings of 400 years ago continue to resonate so strongly
now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have just followed him day by day
through the months of the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London, so what he
writes about how people are profiting from these disasters will be echoed by what I fear will soon be happening over here now, or maybe is already
happening, as we deal with the repercussions of this terrible Covid19 virus.</span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 10pt;">From Samuel Pepys’
diary:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sunday 5 May 1667<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></b></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Among
other things (I) tell him what I hear of people being forced to sell their
bills before September for 35 and 40 per cent. loss, and what is worst, that
there are some courtiers that have made a knot to buy them, in hopes of some
ways to get money of </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclopedia/344/" title="http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclopedia/344/"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">the King</span></a><span style="color: black;"> to pay them, which Sir W. Coventry is amazed at, and says
we are a people made up for destruction, and will do what he can to prevent all
this by getting the King to provide wherewith to pay them.”</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Substitute “the Government” for the King, and you have all
the people now licking their lips at the thought of buying up the thousands of
failed businesses and the thousands of rented homes of those left penniless by
this disaster .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, didn’t many
of often the richest people, particularly the banks, get even richer on the
ruins of the 2008 financial collapse?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Let us hope that the Government (“the King”!) will “provide
wherewith to pay” all those who will be left destitute in the months and years
to come.</span></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: "arial";"> </span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: "arial";"> </span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: "arial";"> </span></o:p></div>
Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-58328245801288020072020-04-23T12:58:00.001+01:002020-04-23T12:58:44.706+01:00None of us can escape our past
<span style="font-family: Arial;">During these terrible days as COVID19 locks down the world,
I have been thinking a lot about what may cause some of those in power to
react in the often disturbing ways they do when faced with dealing with the
pandemic decimating their countries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These thoughts have been triggered by a comment I read today by Philippe
Sands in the Guardian newspaper who was discussing his latest book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Ratline: Love, Lies and Justice on the
Trail of a Nazi Fugitive.</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He writes
that he was at the International Court of Justice listening to Aung San Suu Kyi
trying to justify the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Myanmar</st1:place></st1:country-region>
military’s actions against the Rohingya community, and asks, “How could she not
see the facts as others did?” Answering himself, he wonders whether the reason
may lie in her relationship to her father, the previous ruler.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He then transfers this thought to the son of
the man who was in charge of the extermination of the Jews in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Poland</st1:place></st1:country-region> during
the war, including members of his own family, and wonders whether this son has
learnt to accept his father’s appalling actions as “a way of being able to
live, a means of survival”. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This made me think of Donald Trump, as I tried to apply this
understanding to his inability to empathize in any way with another human being.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then tried to relate my thoughts to my knowledge
of the five elements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have always
believed that Aung San Suu Kyi is of the Metal element, and can see that her
need to maintain her father’s legacy, possibly added to the effects of years of
enforced isolation, may indeed be her “way of being able to live, a means of survival”
that somebody not subject to Metal’s yearning for an absent father may be
unable to understand.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Donald Trump, on the other hand, is, I think, of the Wood
element, at the opposite point of the five element circle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do his words and actions show a Wood element which
is pathologically out of balance?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
know that Wood is the child among the five elements, and it is significant that
a speech expert described Trump’s way of talking as “oddly adolescent”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is definitely something frighteningly
childish about him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps this can be
traced back to a childhood in which his mother apparently played little part,
his brother saying that the children rarely saw their mother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since we know the emotion associated with the
Wood element is anger, it is not surprising, therefore, that this is the emotional
atmosphere in which Trump feels most at home, quite happily stoking up anger in
all who surround him, like a child indulging in tantrums.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is terrifying that somebody with more
power than anybody else in the world should be the least able to exercise any
self-control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">But perhaps, like the other two examples I mentioned, Aung
San Suu Kyi and the son of the prominent Nazi, this is his “only way of being
able to live, a means of survival”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
perhaps this applies to us, too, for how each of us lives our life can indeed
be said to be our only way of being alive, and a means of survival, though we
hope with less extreme consequences for the people around us.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-42562499946690636112020-04-17T08:32:00.000+01:002020-04-17T08:32:13.002+01:00Some more little pointers to the Wood element<span style="font-family: "arial";">I was with a Wood friend one day and after a few hours in her
company I realised that I wanted to ask her an odd question, which was, “Do you
ever have doubts?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wondered why this
question had popped into my mind and realised it was because the hours with her
had in a subtle way undermined me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
seemed so sure of everything she said, stating everything as an established
fact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was as if I was listening to
many statements all having the effect of a pronouncement, a kind of “this is
so”, and “that is so” and “that is all there is to say about it.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">I asked myself why this had thrown me as much as it
obviously did, because there I was half a day later still slightly
disturbed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mulling this over, as I
always do when something happens which throws me off-balance, I realised that
the strong certainty with which she talked about things had caught me on the
hop by highlighting what I felt were my own uncertainties and making them look
like weaknesses.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p><span style="font-family: "arial";">If I look carefully at the times when I think of myself as
uncertain, it is not in fact the result of weakness, rather the reverse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It represents merely the necessary time my
Inner Fire (Small Intestine) needs to weigh up possible alternatives, because I
always have to allow myself to see two sides of every situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In contrast to Wood<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am asking myself: “It may be like this, but
I must also consider whether it may on the other hand be like this.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then my Inner Fire carries on with its
ceaseless work of sorting what it is right for the Heart to do.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">The Wood element, on the other hand, has other
priorities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wood does not have the
luxury of weighing up pros and cons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
is there to get on with things, and its decisions have to be rapid and taken in
a “no turning back” kind of spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once
made, these decisions have to be put into effect as soon as possible, and once
it has decided what its opinion about anything is, that fixes it, if not for
all time, then certainly for the immediate future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the time I spent with my Wood friend,
I heard many statements of fact which sounded as though they were my friend’s
firm opinions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With each of her emphatic
statements I could feel any confidence in my own certainties fading a little,
as my Small Intestine tried to take on board what was being so firmly offered
as fact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It often felt itself swayed by
these dogmatic statements because it couldn’t give itself enough time to assess
whether at heart it agreed with them or not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">This was another important lesson for me on the differences
between Wood’s ability to make decision and my own, and also gave me further
insights into Inner Fire’s potential weaknesses, as well as its potential
strengths.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are related to its need
always to see the other side of the question and therefore to evaluate the
relative merits of the arguments being presented to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I feel that Wood has no such
hesitations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once having made up its
mind, that is it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as I put it
myself, it can’t afford to have doubts, because doubts will hold it back from
acting, and action is above all what Wood wants.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">I learned a further lesson about the Wood element from one
of my Wood patients who told me, rather aggressively, that he found my presence
challenging, and, being also an acupuncturist, he attributed this to my being,
he thought by mistake, of the Wood element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Although I have learnt over the years never to show that I am taken
aback by personal comments from patients, I found that I reacted inside myself
with quite a vehement desire to answer back sharply, and had to hold myself
back from doing so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Afterwards I found
that the episode had disturbed my inner equilibrium, and I tried to work out
why this was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By dint of some careful
self-examination, I realised that this patient had projected on to me his own
dislike of being challenged and had in effect made me angry, often the effect
Wood can have when the Wood person or I are out of balance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then analysed my feelings to see what they
told me about anger in myself and how far my reaction had been unbalanced,
before finally using what I learned from this as a way of understanding not
only the Wood element better, but other elements within me, such as Water (my
fear of the anger) and Fire (my own element’s reaction to stress).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An interaction of just a few minutes
therefore became through this a valuable lesson about the part of me which
reacted to the Wood element, as well as about Wood and other elements in
general.</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">Sometimes
I come across very appropriate quotations about the elements in books that I
read which I like to collect. Here is one about the Wood element in a
book by Helen Dunmore called <i>The Spell in Winter</i></span><strong><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;"> </span></strong><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">“<em><span style="font-family: "arial";">I was bad at anger; I’d always been bad at
anger. There was something pitiful in Miss Gallagher which muddled me.”</span></em><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">I, too,
have always been "bad at anger". That doesn't mean that I don't
get angry. I certainly do. But my anger leaves a strong aftertaste
in me which it takes me a long time to get rid of. It is as though I am
ashamed of feeling this emotion. The "something pitiful" which
the protagonist in this book feels is something which resonates with me,
because I also tend to find quite legitimate excuses for the behaviour in
people that has provoked my anger.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">Thus do
I learn a little more each day about myself, about my Inner Fire and about my
relationship to the Wood element.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Finally, here is a lovely illustration of Wood’s sensitivity
to the effects of acupuncture treatment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It would help us in corroborating some of the principles according to
which we work if patients were able to report precise effects when feeding back
on the outcome of any particular treatment, but it is rare for patients’
assessment of improvement (or otherwise) to be so precise as to enable us to
relate this to any particular treatment rather than to a combination of
treatments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To encourage us, however, it
does, occasionally happen that a patient may say something like, “whatever you
did last time made me feel marvellous (made my backache better, helped me cope
better)”.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">On rare occasions, feedback can be even more specific.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I treasure still, like some beacon in this
particular wilderness, the memory of a Wood patient who, when I needled Gall
Bladder 40, described immediately in perfect detail the pathway of part of the
Gall Bladder meridian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He traced the
movement of energy down to the toe and back up along the outer leg, where with
great accuracy he showed me the odd lateral dip the Gall Bladder is said to
take at mid-calf, and then continued to draw a path up over his knee to his
abdomen, finally arriving at his head, where he said, “I seem to feel something
up here at the side of my eye.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have
had other Wood patients describe the line of some movement of energy along a
Gall Bladder pathway in this way, but none so precisely as this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It may well be that Wood, the element which
structures us, can feel the structure of its own shape reasserting itself as
more energy, like sap in a plant, courses through its pathways as a result of
treatment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have not had such detailed
descriptions of the passage of energy from patients of other elements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <strong> </strong></span><strong><span style="mso-tab-count: 5;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 4;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></strong></span></div>
Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-34211592434063832272020-04-13T10:15:00.001+01:002020-04-13T10:15:03.626+01:00The challenge of being a five element acupuncturist
<span style="font-family: Arial;">We must never be too quick to say “I know this patient’s
element is obviously Fire (or Wood or Earth or Metal or Water)”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is nothing “obvious” at all about the
way in which an element presents itself to us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We may learn to recognize its presence more and more clearly with time,
but we should always keep a healthy question-mark hanging over it reminding us
that elements can hide themselves so subtly behind manifestations of other
elements that they still have the power to surprise us, as they do me even
after all these years. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pride, as they
say, comes before a fall, and never is this truer when trying to diagnose an
element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We risk much if we think our
understanding of the elements is greater than it truly is.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">If the presence of an element were so simple to detect, we
would all be brilliant five element acupuncturists from early on in our career,
but human beings are much more complex than we think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we should never underestimate the time it
will take us to find the one element buried deep within the circle of the
elements which gives each of us our individual stamp of uniqueness.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">In any case, the secret of good five element acupuncture is
not simply managing to diagnose the right element, despite this being what many
practitioners think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead it is
learning to respond appropriately to that particular element’s needs in that
particular patient.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><st1:personname w:st="on">Even</st1:personname> if we diagnose the right element, do we know
how to respond to its needs in a way which makes the patient feel that they
have been heard as they want to be heard?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If that understanding is not there, treatment will rest on fallow ground,
however much it may be focused upon the right element.</span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Supposing, for example, that we diagnose a patient’s element,
correctly, as Metal, but respond to it in a way which would be more appropriate
to an Earth patient, offering a kind of “Oh dear, Oh dear, you poor thing” kind
of response, we will find that our Metal patient soon backs away and decides
not to continue treatment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our own
element may be Earth and it may be natural for us, mistakenly, to offer to all our
patients what we ourselves feel most comfortable with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, however, we have to learn to feel
comfortable in the company of elements not our own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To surround Metal, for example, with a kind
of enveloping sympathy is not what it wants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It will feel suffocated by it, its Lung unable to breathe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead we must learn to offer the space it
always wants to place between itself and others.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">And the same holds true for how we need to approach our
interactions with the other elements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
far as possible, then, we must learn to suppress the needs of our own element
and think ourselves into those of the element we have chosen to treat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not an easy task, and one that it takes
some skill and much practice to acquire.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span></div>
Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-71684167451337142122020-03-09T21:20:00.000+00:002020-03-09T21:26:59.362+00:00A call for more five element teachers<span style="font-family: "arial";">It is one of my sadnesses that so few good five element
practitioners want to pass on their experiences to a new generation of student
acupuncturists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I have learnt from
teaching in China (see my blog of 31 January 2020) has helped me understand
some of the reasons for this, and helped me try to devise ways of persuading my fellow
five element acupuncturists to have the courage to follow in my footsteps and
in those of other five element teachers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There appear to be very few people now who are prepared to face what they
may think is the daunting prospect of diagnosing patients’ elements in front of
a group of people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People are often
afraid of committing themselves to diagnosing an element publicly in case they
have to change their opinion later on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">In all the years during which I have been helping
practitioners develop their five element skills, I have tried to emphasize the
fact that they should not be obsessed with finding the right element
immediately, because this is an impossibility, particularly for novice
practitioners with little experience to draw upon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The speed at which we eventually home in on
this element is directly related to how long we have been practising, how many
patients we have treated, and with what humility we approach our practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>JR Worsley always said that we learnt more
from not getting the element right than from finding the right element often
almost by chance, because we might otherwise assume that our diagnostic skills
are more highly developed than they are, and this might lead us to become a bit
too complacent.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">I can confirm from my own experience that he was right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am reminded here of a very humbling incident
which took place a few years after I qualified when <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I returned to the Leamington college to start
my postgraduate studies under JR.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our class
of about 25 was asked to diagnose a patient, and to my horror everybody but me
raised their hands for Earth, whilst I was the only one who thought the patient
was Fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What the others had observed, but
I had not, was that the patient was circling round the same point again and
again in what she was talking about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To
everybody this apparently pointed to Earth’s need to process its thoughts in a repetitive
way, which they all saw as being typical for Earth, something I did not. So why
had this bit of learning passed me by during my undergraduate training?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Had I perhaps been daydreaming when this was
being discussed, a habit I still have, where I find my thoughts veering off
sideways from the main topic under discussion?</span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">I naturally felt foolish to find myself unaware of something
so typical of the Earth element after two years in practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yet I have never forgotten this incident.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It taught me to overcome the natural feelings
of incompetence which a wrong diagnosis will arouse in us all, particularly as
I felt I was so publicly exposed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
realise, though, that this had the long-term effect of making me less worried
than some other practitioners are at accepting as quite normal that sense of
utter blankness after first meeting a patient, rather than expecting to
experience a blinding flash of recognition of an element’s signature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the sooner all us five element
practitioners learn not to beat ourselves up if we do not recognize a patient’s
element as quickly as we think our years of experience warrant, the better a
practitioner we will each become.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">I believe that the reason why so many five element
practitioners hesitate to put themselves forward as teachers comes from the speed
at which JR diagnosed patients, which they either observed themselves as I did
over many years, or heard about from those he taught.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He would always insist that we would all have
reached the same level of diagnostic skill that he had once we had gained the
40 years’ experience he had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not
sure that this is strictly true, but certainly there was an element of truth in
what he told us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem is that his
example appears to have cast a shadow over the teaching of five element
acupuncture which he himself would have been very sad to note.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I told him one day that I felt that I
did not have enough experience to teach others, he said very simply, “You know
more than they do, Nora.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I remind
myself of these words whenever I lose trust in my own ability to teach others.</span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">I started my own teaching life by giving evening classes
before I had fully qualified, and I learnt so much from teaching the little I
knew then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of my acupuncture tutors
who encouraged my teaching told me that as a teacher one should never claim we
know something that we don’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again this
is something which has stood me in good stead, and I always judge those I want
to learn from if they are happy to admit that they don’t know the answer to
somebody’s question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the teachers
who give the impression that they are all-knowing who I am suspicious of, and I
have known quite a few of these.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">It is interesting that the Chinese five element
acupuncturists I teach are quite happy to change their diagnoses, because I
have emphasized from the start that it always takes time to home in on a
patient’s element. This has meant that many of them are already quite happy to
take on the role of teaching others the fundamentals of five element practice,
without the fear I often encounter in acupuncturists in this country.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">So this blog is a plea for anybody wishing to spread an
understanding of five element acupuncture to as many people as possible to
overcome their natural fear and just pass on their own delight in their
practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They should remember that
anybody who has been in practice for even as short a time as only a year knows
more than those who have never practised five element acupuncture at all.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: "arial";"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: "arial";"> </span></o:p></div>
Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-54803200707327494652020-02-21T19:19:00.000+00:002020-02-21T19:19:01.786+00:00An ancient form of healing for a modern world in crisis: how an understanding of the five elements helps us cope better with the stresses of modern life<span style="font-family: "arial";">We are living through difficult times, perhaps more
difficult than any that I can recall as an adult, though a childhood spent
under the shadow of the second world war must certainly have weighed more
heavily upon my parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now with the
sudden invasion of the coronavirus almost bringing the world to a halt, we are
all confronting what is perhaps the most frightening of all, which is facing
the unknown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None of us can now predict
how things will develop, not even the most experienced scientists used to
exploring the secret worlds of viruses, with their eery ability to change shape
and ferocity at will, in a never-ending attempt to outwit our human capacity to
master them.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">We are left, then, with our individual responses to this
challenging situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In five element
terms this will depend very much upon the element which guides our life, and
the level of its balance or imbalance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We need each to ask ourselves how, finding ourselves in such an
uncertain and therefore threatening world, we will counter these uncertainties
and threats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some elements will thrive
and others will shrink.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So what
particular challenge does the appearance of this virus, and its effects upon
our everyday life, present for the different elements?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And here we have to look closely at
situations which an element finds comfortable to be in, and those which by
their very nature threaten and disturb it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As with all things, we can use our insights here to teach us a little
more about the elements.</span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">First we have to look at how a five element acupuncturist
deals with named diseases, like cancer, or the coronavirus now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have to remind ourselves that our approach
to any patient suffering from any condition whatsoever must always be the
same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We must find out as much as
possible about our patient, and gradually pinpoint their element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then by treating that element we hope that we
will strengthen it sufficiently for it to cope with whatever stresses it is being subjected to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
only difference when dealing with a very serious medical condition is the fact
that this will be having a major effect upon the patient, and his/her elements
will be under greater stress than if they are only suffering from a minor
imbalance, such as a headache or slight emotional trauma.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Because all major illnesses are considered by orthodox
medicine to be purely physical in origin, and therefore to be treated by purely
physical remedies, such as drugs or surgery, the emotional and spiritual
effects of these illnesses are usually overlooked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is precisely where five element
acupuncture, with its treatment of all three levels of body, mind and spirit,
can help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our treatment should therefore
be able to support patients suffering very severe physical illnesses at a level
which purely physical treatments cannot.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">The extent of the spread of the coronavirus has raised the
level of fear in everybody.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this
atmosphere of fear, it is difficult even for five element acupuncturists to
remember that simply supporting the elements at all levels is likely to
increase a patient’s resistance to infection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The more balanced all the elements are, the less likely they are to be
overwhelmed by any disease. We also know that old people and others already
weakened by illness are those most at risk, and we would hope that our
treatment will help strengthen their ability to withstand the debilitating
effects of any other infections they are exposed to.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">When we look at how the different elements will cope with
the serious task of dealing with the coronavirus and the understandable fear it
engenders in all of us, it will be good to start by looking first at the Water
element, since its emotion, fear, is the dominant emotion swirling around now. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even the most laid-back person will be
experiencing some deep-seated fear of what the future may possibly have in
store for them, should it spread to whatever country they live in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Being Water’s emotion, fear will already have
given Water people a lifetime’s experience of learning to cope with this emotion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In some ways, therefore,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>they may be better able than people of other
elements to deal with the current situation, perhaps by being the first to take
practical steps to remove themselves quickly from the risk of possible
infection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If they can’t do this, they may
then be able to draw on their natural skill in hiding the fear they are
experiencing, thus making themselves look well able to cope, where people of
other elements may not be able to do this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If Water cannot flee from a frightening situation, which is always its
first reaction, it has learnt to turn its fear into the kind of response a
cornered animal will make, which is to fight rather than to give up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Water people may then be the ones who appear
to be the least disturbed by the real risks involved in any situation, and thus
look best able to cope.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">When we move on to Wood, we will find a different copying
mechanism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For Wood is likely to want to
counter the risk of catching the virus by taking some definite action, and,
unlike Water, whose actions may often be more hidden and surreptitious, and
therefore appear to be seen as avoiding action, Wood likes to act not only openly,
but to feel that it is controlling the situation for other people around
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is always happiest to be the one
taking obvious control of any situation, whereas Water is likely to be more
concerned simply with its own safety, with less interest in seeing how others
are coping.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wood will therefore be
happiest if the whole environment in which it lives is operating smoothly and
things are under control for everybody around it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will counter fear with action.</span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">To get some idea of how the Fire element will deal with the
current situation, I can use myself as the best example, because I have
personally been faced with the reality of having to take some decisions about
whether I should still consider going to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region> in mid-April as planned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I expect my trip would have in any case had
to be postponed because many airlines have already halted all flights until the
end of April, but since my Chinese hosts persisted in telling me that all would
soon be well, I felt it was up to me to make the final decision, and not wait
for the airlines to make it for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
the end, it was I who postponed my trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Looking at my reasons for doing this, I realise that fear for my own
health and safety was not the predominant one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My main concern was for the Chinese acupuncturists I felt I might be
letting down if I cancelled my visit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was only when it was pointed out to me that perhaps my Chinese hosts did not
want to be the first to cancel my visit that I felt able to take the decision.</span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">I also amused myself by envisaging myself landing at Beijing
airport suffering from a slight sniffle, being whisked off to quarantine to some
god-forsaken place I’d never heard of, succumbing there to the virus and being
hospitalized, turning my visit into a disaster for my hosts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suspect that Fire’s reaction to dealing
with a situation like this may always include a strong component of not wanting
to be a bother to other people, mixed with any natural fear it feels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fear, though, is not an emotion I am very
familiar with, and wonder whether that is a general Fire reaction.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Earth, on the other hand, will always tend to look after its
own needs first, before checking that those around it are safe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think it will experience an appropriate
degree of fear, which will encourage it towards acts of self-preservation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Metal will weigh up the risks more carefully
than any other element, work out a way of dealing with them, and then, once
having made its decision about what avoidance measures it would be sensible to
take, will just get on with its life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Its assessment of the situation and the dangers involved for it and for
others will be the clearest of any element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was my Metal son who was the first person to warn me not to go to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>, well
before the risks became so overwhelming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>All he said to me was “Watch<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> it</span>, Mum”, and then
left it to me to decide what to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Since he is not somebody who would make more of a situation than it
merits, I took his advice to heart, and have “watched it” by deciding to
postpone my visit.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">My observations here are necessarily very generalized, but I
believe there is a strong core of truth in my thoughts on how the different
elements deal with fear.</span></span><br />
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Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-16676628284098145862020-01-31T14:54:00.000+00:002020-01-31T14:54:53.498+00:00The challenge of teaching five element acupuncture in China<span style="font-family: "arial";">I have now given 14 twice-yearly seminars on five element
acupuncture in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region></st1:place>
since 2011.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On my return from the last
visit in October 2019 I realised that my<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>approach to our teaching over there had subtly developed over the
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will therefore be useful to
chart these changes and the reasons for this, to help both my own development
and that of anybody wishing to tread in my footsteps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This will be one way of learning to
understand the intrinsic differences which exist between how I teach in this
country (and by extension in Europe generally) and how I have had to learn to
teach in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region></st1:place>.</span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">And there are very great differences indeed which I was
totally unaware of when I was first invited to give a seminar on five element
acupuncture in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Nanning</st1:place></st1:city>
by Profession <st1:personname w:st="on">Liu Lihong</st1:personname>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I remember rightly, I arrived with only
very vague ideas as to who the people I was going to teach were, how many there
would be and how I would structure the seminar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had no idea at all about the level of knowledge of five element
acupuncture, or even whether those taking part in the seminar were already
trained acupuncturists, or would simply form the kind of audience composed
mostly of lay people I was often used to talking to in this country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With hindsight I am surprised that I had not
discussed all this in greater detail before setting off for China, but I think
I was basing my thoughts on a brief discussion I had had with Mei Long about
her introductory seminar in Nanning which gave <st1:personname w:st="on"><st1:personname w:st="on">Liu Lihong</st1:personname> </st1:personname>the incentive to invite
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in the photos Mei showed me it
was obvious that what was waiting for me was a small but very eager group of
mainly students or herbalists (<st1:personname w:st="on"><st1:personname w:st="on">Liu
Lihong</st1:personname> </st1:personname>is a qualified herbalist)</span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">In the event I walked into a classroom of about 40 people in
the newly set-up centre of the Tong You San He Foundation in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Nanning</st1:city></st1:place>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Half the group was composed of complementary medicine practitioners
(herbalists and some acupuncturists), and the remainder were a mixture of
interested lay people, including members of Li Lihong’s family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was amused to see among these the guard
from the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Nanning</st1:city></st1:place>
compound which housed the centre, who would join us at intervals, obviously
listening with great interest to what I was teaching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also among the audience were some of those
who were actively supporting <st1:personname w:st="on"><st1:personname w:st="on">Liu
Lihong</st1:personname> </st1:personname>in his attempts to set up what has
now become a highly successful Research Foundation focused on research into
traditional forms of Chinese medicine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This has now moved to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Beijing</st1:city></st1:place>,
and has also expanded into establishing centres in other Chinese cities.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Something which shaped my teaching very strongly became
obvious from the start. Unlike in this country everybody was steeped in an
understanding of the elements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of
Chinese life is based on respect for the elements which are regarded as forming
an integral part of every aspect of how people conduct their lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was therefore no need to spend time on
starting my introduction to five element acupuncture with a description of the
qualities and characteristics of the elements, which takes up so much of every
five element course in this country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What I quickly discovered, though, was that although the understanding
of the elements was based on extensive knowledge of the classics of Chinese
thought, such as the Nei Jing, it did not translate into the, to me, obvious
application of this to the actual practice of acupuncture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I came to see that what all Chinese
acupuncture students learn by rote, often reciting word for word whole passages
of the Nei Jing, remained completely separate from their acupuncture
practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was in contrast to five
element acupuncturists over here who can easily call upon many passages from
the Nei Jing to support their practice<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After all, this forms the basis of much of Father Larre’s and Elisabeth
Rochat de la Vall<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">é</span>e’s excellent
work in helping interpret these ancient texts in a form which makes them easily
accessible for our five element practice of today.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">It became clear to me that what I was bringing with me into
the practice room for Chinese acupuncturists was providing a welcome link in
the chain of transmission from the ancient Chinese world to the present day, a
chain which had become weakened over the centuries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This has also been one of the unhappy effects
of the introduction of Western medicine into <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region></st1:place>, starting with the appearance
of Christian missionaries in the 19<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since then Western medicine has become ever
more dominant, to the extent that it has come to be considered superior to
traditional forms of Chinese medicine, which have been consigned to an inferior
role. It is against this background, therefore, that I started what I regard as
my important work in returning to its ancient homeland this most spiritual of
all acupuncture disciplines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">One of the most significant aspects of my teaching was
something which struck me very early on, and this was the astonishment many
students showed at seeing the emphasis we placed on the importance of the
personal relationship between our patients and ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I realised that this emphasis on the
emotional aspects of a therapeutic relationship was something totally alien to
them, and something which disturbed them for its unfamiliarity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember one of the students, an
acupuncture practitioner of many years, who, after watching me talk to a
patient in front of the class, asked, “How can I learn to relate to my patients
as you did to this patient?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know
how to do that.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I remember
answering, “All you need to do is just be human,” which was perhaps a rather
inadequate reply but the best I could think of to help her at the time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">I also learnt a lot about how they viewed my approach as a
result of a comment made at the end of one of the first seminars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One participant started to cry, as she told
me that when I met her in the hotel lobby at the start of the seminar, “You
looked at me and smiled.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That helped me
understand that interpersonal relationships between teachers and pupils were
very different from what I had been used to with my own students in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">England</st1:country-region></st1:place>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The emotional detachment which those in
authority exercise in every walk of life in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region></st1:place> extends to the interactions
between patient and practitioner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To
break down this barrier has required some courage on the part of the Chinese
practitioners, for this brings up all kinds of personal issues which anybody
undergoing any form of therapy in the West is well used to acknowledge. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">It therefore took quite some persuasion from me to encourage
students to step into the unfamiliar territory of their patients’ emotional
lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Initially their presentation of
the patients they brought to the seminars covered only physical symptoms, but
gradually the more daring of them widened their approach to touch upon their
patients’ emotional problems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
therefore delighted to observe, after this my 14<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> visit, that every
practitioner now obviously discusses emotional issues as well as physical
complaints with their patients.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In some
cases, practitioners concentrated almost exclusively upon these, which
represented a huge breakthrough in their approach to five element practice.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">The cultural differences also extended to certain areas of
emotional life which I did not suspect, and so I found myself at my last visit,
all of eight years since my first, making what was obviously a deeply offensive
faux pas in joking about something which my European students would certainly
have joined me in laughing at.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
talking about how patients often cannot acknowledge the cause of their
distress, and assume it is because of some physical disorder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told them of a patient of mine who came to
me for help with severe back pain, and after some weeks of successful treatment
suddenly laughed and said, “I thought the reason I was coming here was for my
back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I now realise that it may well be
because I have not until now realised how much I dislike my father.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I have told this story at our seminars
in England, citing this as evidence that physical complaints are often a safe
way of masking emotional distress, my listeners have laughed with me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region></st1:place>, however, my words caused an
absolute silence to fall in the crowded seminar, and I knew that I had had made
some grave mistake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Asking my Chinese
friends about this afterwards, they explained that it would be considered
extremely rude to express such negative feelings towards a parent in this way,
family being such a powerful influence in every Chinese person’s life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the West, where we are all conditioned by
many years of psychological exploration of our relationships with our families,
and where nearly everybody now has had some form of counselling help to explore
their “inner you”, negative feelings towards members of the family are almost
regarded as the norm and to be expected, and their expression often actually
encouraged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This taught me a great
lesson, and I won’t make this mistake again.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">There were, however, surprisingly few tricky moments like
this, considering the very different backgrounds my Chinese students have
compared with their English counterparts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Instead, the common humanity we all share with one another, whatever our
cultural differences, has shone through any slight misunderstandings or
bewilderment at trying to take account of each other’s differing lifestyles and
expectations.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">After reading the above, Caroline, my Mandarin translator, sent
me the following interesting comment:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><em>“Being a Chinese who has never been abroad, I used to take
what I had learned from my culture and education for granted, thinking this is
what life should be. However, after being treated by five element acupuncture
and following your teaching for 7 years, it is like opening in five element
terms a "Window of Sky" for me. It not only gave me a chance to stand
in a much higher and all-round position to look at my own culture, but also
taught me to have my own judgement not based on what the so-called authority
told me but on Nature and Dao. I can still remember clearly that you said in
one of the seminars in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Beijing</st1:place></st1:city>
that five element acupuncture is to help us to be unique individuals and it is
dangerous to follow the herd. Being brought up in a cultural background of
emphasizing collectivism and filial piety, I guess it is difficult for
most Chinese students to understand the importance of "to be
unique individuals". Interestingly, some of my patients, when they reach
to a point that they have to say NO to their parents to be themselves, they
feel so disturbed and guilty because their parents and relatives might accuse
them to be "unfilial", some of them may even stop the treatment to
escape the conflict. Sadly, some practitioners also think that we should always
listen to our parents' (and also our teachers' and other authorities')
instructions instead of following our own choices. So except for other
challenges of developing five element acupuncture in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>, I think this is a huge
barrier we have to face and break down if we have enough courage and strength.”</em></span><br />
<em></em><br />
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Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-28211344804741973942020-01-31T14:53:00.000+00:002020-02-02T07:49:49.630+00:00Future writing plans<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">To divert myself from the many unhappy events happening out
there in the world today – the day of our leaving Europe, the horrors Trump is
unleashing, and now the disasters of the spread of the coronavirus around China
– I find myself escaping into the written word, not only by reading as much as
I can (more of this later), but also looking through things I have written,
much of it still unpublished.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the
moment I am concentrating on two topics:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>one which is taking a fresh look at the elements, and the other which is
examining how far I have had to modify the way we teach five element
acupuncture to Chinese practitioners to take account of the cultural differences
between our two countries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also have
to be aware of the restrictions placed on our teaching because we are there for
only two brief seminars twice a year, and there is therefore a lack of experienced
five element practitioners to support practitioners when we are not there.</span></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">I have sent some of my writing to Caroline in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>, who is
the translator of my work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
has now added her own thoughts to what I have written.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My next blog sets out some of my own thinking,
finishing with Caroline’s comments after reading what I had written.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think that Caroline expresses beautifully
the cultural challenges we face when attempting to adapt the five element
approach to practice to a Chinese context.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"> <span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></div>
Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-10056055944567395762020-01-22T20:33:00.001+00:002020-01-28T07:13:23.415+00:00My New Year's blog for the Chinese Year of the Rat<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><strong>My vision for the future of five element acupuncture</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">We have invited a group of five element acupuncturists from the
Chinese Five Element Society to come to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">London</st1:place></st1:city>
in July. They include many of the people who have been following us with such
dedication in seminar after seminar since our first days in <st1:city w:st="on">Nanning</st1:city>
in 2011 to the much grander venues in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Beijing</st1:place></st1:city>
which now host more than 300 keen five element acupuncturists every time we
come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This group will include those who
can now be regarded as the core of a five element teaching team spread around <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This visit will be a lovely way for Guy and
me to repay some of the overwhelming hospitality we receive each time we go to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Planning the group’s time here has made me think more about
how I see the future of five element acupuncture, both in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region></st1:place> and in this country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My founding of the School of Five Element
acupuncture in 1995 was a direct answer to the appallingly cynical downgrading
of five element acupuncture in the eyes of many people in this country and
around the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still remember well
being asked rather scornfully by somebody seduced by the temporary glitter of
the introduction of TCM into this country, “Do you still only practise five
element acupuncture?”, as though I was practising some primitive form of
out-dated acupuncture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Nobody now dares say this, either to me or to anybody else,
in the light of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s
wholehearted welcome for the return of five element acupuncture to the land of
its birth some few thousand years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This turnaround delights me, and justifies my fight for the survival of
five element acupuncture in its purest form – and what a fight that was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I feel the battle is now won, thanks in
great part to the support Professor <st1:personname w:st="on"><st1:personname w:st="on">Liu Lihong</st1:personname> </st1:personname>in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region> has given
me with such great heart from the first day we met and the years since then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am so proud that, in his dedication to the
translation of <st1:personname w:st="on">Liu Lihong</st1:personname>’s great
book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Classical Chinese Medicine</i>,
Heiner Fruehauf mentions five element acupuncture as being one of the
disciplines now well-established under the umbrella of traditional Chinese
medicine in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region></st1:place>.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">The original vision Professor <st1:personname w:st="on"><st1:personname w:st="on">Liu Lihong</st1:personname> </st1:personname>and I had of bringing
five element acupuncture back to its homeland has, I feel, been achieved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that is only the first step, although a
momentous one, in five element’s journey back from West to East.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The most important thing now is the journey
it will continue to take as it consolidates its position in the Chinese traditional
medicine world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And here the visit of
the first group of Chinese five element acupuncturists to spread their
international wings abroad will become an important turning-point, providing an
opportunity for future international co-operation between practitioners from
our two countries. The group will spend
time at The Acupuncture Academy in Leamington Spa, where they will meet tutors
and students there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">My hope is that this visit will eventually lead to
cooperation between members of the Chinese Five Element Society and five
element acupuncturists in this country on two fronts, one relating to research
and the other to clinical practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Director of the Acupuncture and Moxibustion Institute of the China Academy of
Chinese Medical Sciences in Being, Wang Jingjing, is a very keen practitioner
of five element acupuncture, and has already published a paper on five element
acupuncture in the Science and Technology Review in China.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will be exciting to see how this work can be
expanded, and I hope, too, that there will be greater opportunities for future
student exchanges between our two countries.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">All in all, a very exciting start to the Chinese Year of the
Rat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From being just a personal quest on
Professor <st1:personname w:st="on">Liu Lihong</st1:personname>’s and my part
to spread an understanding of five element acupuncture in China, our work there
will now move to a wider, more international arena.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How exciting the future of five element
acupuncture now appears to me to be!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt;">A
Happy New Year of the Rat to you all!</span></span></div>
Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-17813431708044346682019-12-15T18:42:00.001+00:002019-12-15T18:42:48.446+00:00A five element review of my year: December 2019
<span style="font-family: Arial;">As I approach the end of another year, I like to add up its
pluses and its minuses, always hoping that its pluses are the greater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the professional front I am pleased to
think that they definitely are. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the
political front, definitely not, as we just emerge from another unsatisfactory
election and face an even more unsettling future expelled from the comforting
family of our European friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
since the world as a whole is going through a period of great turmoil, with no
end in sight, I will concentrate here on the joys my professional life has
brought me this year, none more so than observing the blossoming of five
element acupuncture in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">And appropriately for a five element acupuncturist, I am
breaking down my time in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>
into its different elemental phases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
was its initial Water phase, when the seeds of five element acupuncture’s
re-emergence in <st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region> were
slowly being sown, after Mei Long had met me at a seminar in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Netherlands</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
and then written about this to <st1:personname w:st="on">Liu Lihong</st1:personname>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then Wood’s buds, planted so inspiringly by <st1:personname w:st="on">Liu Lihong</st1:personname>, slowly germinated, first a few of them
in our seminars in Nanning, then more and more, as the buds of China’s five
element spring gradually spread, until they have burst into full summer blossom
in the last few years under the warmth of the Fire element which Mei and I
bring to what we do.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">How happy I was when I came to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region> this October to see the fruit
of all our work in the large team of Chinese five element teachers who now
teach the basic five element principles to the many hundreds of those wanting
to learn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These teachers represent the
true fruit of what we have sown in the past eight years, doing the Earth
element’s work for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then appropriately
as we approach the end of the year, we come to Metal, as <st1:personname w:st="on"><st1:personname w:st="on">Liu Lihong</st1:personname> </st1:personname>adds his inspiration to
all our work, and Guy Caplan bestows Metal’s quality upon all the teaching we do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Finally, the growing success of what we are achieving in
establishing five element acupuncture’s position in the traditional medicine
landscape in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>
lies in the capable hands of the strongest of all the elements, Water, for
without <st1:personname w:st="on">Lynn Yang</st1:personname> where would we all
be?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She holds everything together,
drawing things into a circle so that one seminar ends and without a hitch the
next is already at its planning stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without her Water energy the circle which
symbolizes the re-introduction of five element acupuncture into <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region></st1:place>
would not be complete.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><st1:personname w:st="on"><st1:personname w:st="on">Liu Lihong</st1:personname>
</st1:personname>once told me, “Now we need a Chinese JR Worsley to appear”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am sure the seed for this has already been
sown, and will emerge when the time is right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As he said, “There’s no hurry, Nora.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If it takes 100 years or more for five element acupuncture to establish
itself in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
it doesn’t matter.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am a much more
hasty person than he is, and I am delighted to see that it has not taken the
100 years he predicted, but less than the eight years I have been going to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
for I see it happening already.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">So each element has added its magical touch to my years in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>. </span></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-73710955118231646602019-10-14T17:09:00.000+01:002019-10-14T17:12:26.154+01:00Which element would tidy up his/her practitioner’s magazines? <span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Here’s another little lesson in following up even the
tiniest clues to the elements, sent to me by <st1:city w:st="on">Pierre</st1:city>
from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">France</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I give his words in full, with a few small
amendments to make for easier reading:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Just a few words
concerning an interesting clue in order to help diagnose the elements. <o:p></o:p></span></i></span><br />
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">I treat a male patient since 2 months. At the beginning I felt Water and<br />
Metal a little bit. The others haven't aroused my attention.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">After the two first treatments he felt better, but I can attribute this to 7<br />
dragons and AE drain, not to Water treatment. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">When I saw him last week, I found that he walked slightly too fast and with<br />
a kind of forcefulness. Compared to my way of walking, I had doubts about<br />
Water... And then when after the third treatment, he got up fast and strong<br />
from the treatment couch, I realized that my intuition was good to change my
idea<br />
of his guardian element : indeed I moved from Water to Wood ( thank you for<br />
your blog about bodily movement!) . After he left, I went into the waiting<br />
room and all the magazines which were in a mess on the table before he came<br />
in were now well arranged in ordered piles.<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">" What an interesting clue to help
diagnose a Wood person! Structure of the piles of magazines!"<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Here is my reply:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">A very interesting
observation, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Pierre</st1:city></st1:place>.
<br />
<br />
I think probably only Wood would tidy up the magazines. I (Inner Fire)<br />
would definitely notice that they were all in a muddle, but would not like<br />
to make the practitioner feel that I was judging him by tidying up! I don't<br />
think that Earth would even have noticed (much too busy thinking about<br />
his/her problems). I think Metal would have noticed, but would think it was<br />
the practitioner's task to tidy up, not theirs.<br />
<br />
What would you have done, as a Water person? Would you have noticed the<br />
mess?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Pierre</st1:place></st1:city>’s
reply to me:</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I have never arranged
any piles of magazines in a practitioner's clinic. I notice that it is a mess,
and I don't like mess. But I know that each thing is moving and unstable : so
making an effort to tidy up the piles of magazines is wasting energy for
nothing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I prefer to leave the magazines
in a mess. <br />
<br />
In my own clinic, I tidy up sometimes the magazines in the waiting room, but
always by sorting and throwing out a lot!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Like that, what is left does not seem too messy when it is! <br />
</i><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">It is by following up such very tiny clues that we begin to differentiate
between the different elements.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">As a postscript to this blog, I asked Guy Caplan (Metal) whether I
was right about Metal not tidying up the magazines, and here’s his reply:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">When I
arrived at the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Acupuncture</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Academy</st1:placetype></st1:place> there were some
Acu magazines and EJOM's on the table in the entrance hall. I
instinctively tidied them up into two piles and put them in order. I
don't know if this is a Metal trait or a bit of OCD! <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">So my observation of Metal is not quite right, is it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that’s how we learn that we can’t shut up
any element into too tight a box, much as we would like to.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "arial";"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">And then Guy followed this up by adding another insight into
Water:</span></span></span></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "arial";"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">When
we had the Water group in front of the class, one interesting thing came up for
many of them, about not wasting resources! Perhaps the fact of taking time with
no goal for itself would be a waste of resources of time for energy for a Water
CF?</span></i><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Interesting how one small but perceptive observation by <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Pierre</st1:place></st1:city> has led me, and
now Guy, and I hope all those reading this blog, to do a lot of thinking.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-80967450203169966582019-10-06T13:44:00.000+01:002019-10-06T13:44:04.335+01:00Political mayhem and the Wood element
<span style="font-family: Arial;">It’s nice if occasionally other writers do my work for me,
as a journalist just did in an extract printed in a newspaper about Donald
Trump last week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So here is what this
writer, his biographer, said about him: “I don’t think right or wrong are
categories he thinks in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only
category is, can he get away with it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
loves fights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s his comfort
zone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He likes people being angry and
yelling at each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He gins that up
any chance he gets… He’s comfortable when everyone else is uncomfortable,
running and ducking for cover.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s
how he got elected, pitting people against each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s into “bring it on” because he’s in his element.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">And I would add to that, “because he’s in his Wood element”!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I don’t think you can have a clearer description of the Wood
element completely out of balance, with its enjoyment in stoking up the anger
in others so clearly shown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I think
Trump has a very shouting voice, and always talks with the finger stabbing at
his audience, which we recognize as one of Wood’s signatures.</span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Whilst I’m thinking about the Wood element, it would be good
to spend a little time wondering about which official out of the two Wood
officials is the one that might most influence Donald Trump, the one I now like to
call the guardian official.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it the
Liver, the yin official, or is it the Gall Bladder, the yang official?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We know that the Liver’s function is to be
responsible for making plans, and the Gall Bladder’s is to be responsible for
putting these plans into effect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I always
like to think of the Liver as being the general sitting in his tent deciding on
the campaign to be run, and the Gall Bladder the official in the field carrying
out the general’s orders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So which do we
think most fits our impression of Donald Trump?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I feel that the Liver is more likely to be his weakest point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s almost as though he represents the general
sitting in his tent, sulking, as Ulysses did, whilst the army runs riot outside
doing whatever it likes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words,
it seems as if his Gall Bladder is given no clear instructions on how to act by
the Liver, which is why all those inappropriate tweets are sent off,
significantly often during Wood’s time, in the middle of the night.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Enough said, I feel, about these somewhat unhappy excursions
into the worlds of Inner Fire and Wood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But how I wish both of the heads of state I have written about in these
last two blogs would find their way to a five element practice room so that
their poor, unbalanced elements could regain some equilibrium, and save their
respective countries from much chaos and hardship.</span></span><br />
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Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-8086836211381702522019-10-03T13:49:00.001+01:002019-10-03T14:03:39.115+01:00Political mayhem and the Small Intestine<span style="font-family: "arial";">To divert myself a little from the appalling political scene
in this country, which mirrors what is happening in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>, I try to
hone my five element skills by observing the leaders of the two countries in
action on the world stage. I always add a proviso to my thoughts about the
elements of famous people that since I don’t know them personally I have to base
any tentative diagnosis on observing them at one remove on the TV screen.</span><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">The effect they have upon me is surprisingly similar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They both make me very, very angry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am appalled at their behaviour and at their
total lack of concern for anybody but themselves – an almost pathological level
of selfishness which dumbfounds me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
despite the obvious similarities between them I do not think they are the same
element, and will try and explain why not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I have blogged before that I think Donald Trump is of the Wood element,
but, after observing the effect Boris Johnson has on those around him and on me
watching on TV, I think his element is Fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Despite myself he makes me laugh, as he deliberately acts the
clown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you watch the people around
Donald Trump, on the other hand, all you can see is apprehension, the fear that
an unbalanced Wood can arouse in those around it, with only a strained smile on
the faces of his audience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I will
concentrate in this blog on looking at how I think the Fire element shows
itself in Boris Johnson, and dedicate another blog to updating my comments on
Donald Trump.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">When diagnosing the Fire Element we always have to remember
the very real differences there are within this element between its two sides, the
one I call Outer Fire, with its Heart Protector and Three Heater officials, and
the other, Inner Fire, with its Small Intestine and Heart officials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having just held another happy day’s clinical
seminar at which we discussed in detail just this question of how to
distinguish between the two aspects of Fire, this has made me look more closely
again at the kind of Fire which Boris Johnson appears to be showing.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">I often gather significant pointers to how the different
elements reveal themselves by reading newspaper comments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today, for example, I read that Boris Johnson
has created an “atmosphere of feuding” within <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">10 Downing Street</st1:address></st1:street>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is, the article says, “only listening to
two voices now”, those of Dominic Cummings and of his partner, Carrie
Symonds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would Outer Fire be so unconcerned
about the atmosphere within its team that it would allow feuding between its
members?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t see that it would, for
it is the task of its two officials to maintain a safe and comfortable
atmosphere, physically through the balanced flow of warm blood round the body, and
emotionally through their efforts to protect the actions of the Heart in their
midst.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I see no sign that Boris Johnson
is concerned with doing this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Far from
it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He does not seem interested in
ensuring the overall well-being of anybody apart from himself, and appears ever
more preoccupied with pursuing his own ends without regard for others. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His team are said to be at loggerheads with
one another, all but his inner circle of two having been banished to the
periphery of decision-making.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it is
one of the characteristics of the Small Intestine that it has to make its mind
up quickly in order to ensure that it does not endanger the Heart, its yin
official, and quick decisions are more easily made by a few people rather than
thrown open to a large group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This again
points to Inner Fire. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Boris Johnson’s voice, too, reflects what I regard as the
hesitancy all Inner Fire people show in speaking, as their minds work hard at
sorting out the words to express the complex thoughts they are engaged in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His speech is certainly not the articulate
speech that distinguishes Outer Fire people, who think before they speak, and
when they speak do so without hesitancy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I have always believed that Inner Fire uses the very action of speaking
as a way of sorting out its thoughts, as it searches for exactly the right
expression to articulate these thoughts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is therefore always a kind of “stop and start” feeling about
listening to Inner Fire people, as they try to gather their thoughts into
exactly the right form to express what they want to say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Boris Johnson often mumbles or sounds hesitant,
interspersing this hesitancy with sudden bursts of bullying, when he talks over
the interviewer apparently without listening to what he is being asked and
failing to answer directly many of the questions directed at him. Is his
“element within” Wood within Fire perhaps?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">I have written before that I thought that Tony Blair was
also Inner Fire, but a much more balanced expression of the Small Intestine as
it takes on the task of sorting the pure from the impure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During his time as Prime Minister, though, he
had in common one characteristic which he shares with Boris Johnson, and that
was his reliance upon one or a few people who he allowed to have too much
influence upon him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Tony Blair’s case
it was George Bush.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still find it
disturbing watching the old clips of Tony Blair walking in the woods in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region> with
George Bush, with an almost sycophantic, adoring look on his face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the influence his obvious admiration
for George Bush had upon him which I believe led to his decision to follow him into
the disastrous war in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Similarly, we are at the time of writing this
(3 October 2019) watching a somewhat hapless Boris Johnson appearing to be trapped
in the coils of a disastrous attachment to his adviser, Dominic Cummings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Small Intestine, when out of balance, as
Boris Johnson’s so obviously is, can indeed lose its ability to sort the pure
from the impure, in the case of both these leaders of this country leading to
disastrous consequences.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">I am always happy to acknowledge that everybody is free to
develop their own personal take on the elements, and should indeed do so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am therefore sure that some people reading
this may well disagree with my diagnosis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But since I feel a strong affinity with all other Inner Fire people,
having the Small Intestine as my particular guardian official, I am quite happy
to express my own very personal understanding of the advantages and
disadvantages of living my life under the influence of this particular official,
and how my personal understanding may be helping me see signs of this in Boris
Johnson. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">I also like to think that my writing this will help me let
off a bit of the indignant steam I feel rising within me as I watch the
political shambles unfolding around me.<u><o:p></o:p></u></span></span></div>
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Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-65427978150364234392019-08-29T14:47:00.001+01:002019-08-29T15:03:26.025+01:00A meditation on the spirits of acupuncture points<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">(<span style="text-transform: uppercase;">A</span>rticle prompted by a request for me to write more about the
spirit of points from Se</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">á</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">n O’Neill of the College of Five
Element Acupuncture (CoFEA) in Dublin, Ireland)<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">One of the conventions of five element acupuncture is that
points are said to have their own “spirit”, a quality intrinsic to them which
we can tap into when deciding which particular point to select. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to this convention, a particular
action is ascribed to a point. This is a nebulous, very vague term, and I have
never felt that much thought has been given as to what it actually means.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nor is there any consensus about how a point
has acquired a particular description.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The assumption behind the term is that when we decide to use this point,
we do so on the basis that we think the action traditionally ascribed to this
point is one that we feel our patient needs.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">This raises the question as to when and by whom the
qualities were ascribed to individual points.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In my case, I was fortunate to be part of one of the last cohorts of
acupuncturists whose teacher was the great master of five element acupuncture,
JR Worsley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would listen avidly in
class when he would suggest particular points to be used for patients we would
see in the college clinic, and write down what he told us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still have my notes taken at the time,
which have acted since then as welcome signposts in the often bewildering
landscape of the traditionally 365 or so points available for us to select
from.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">I remember one awesome day with JR during the Masters
programme I completed with him (the last he was to take), when he took up his
famous brown point reference chart which lists the names and functions of all
the points, and read slowly through the list, from Heart 1 to Governor Vessel
28, spelling out the name of each point with love in his voice, as though these
were his beloved friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>About some
points he said very little, about others, quite a lot, and this is when I
realised that he had acquired some esoteric knowledge conveyed to him no doubt
through his own acupuncture masters, but which I would never aspire to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the other hand, I have used my time as
teacher to pass on my own understanding of the points I use to the students I
have taught, based very much on what JR told us, but also on my own
experiences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this is how the
inheritance of a lineage moves on from generation to generation.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">The problem I have with the term “the spirit of a point” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is that it can all too easily be assumed that
a point can have a quality which is almost objectively established, much like
that attributed to the action of a specific drug. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It does not take account of the individual
practitioner’s understanding of why he/she feels this particular point should
be selected for this treatment. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An
objectively ascribed function of a point should be regarded as an alien concept
to us five element acupuncturists, where each treatment we select is based upon
our subjective evaluation of our patients’ needs, guided through the prism of
our understanding of the elements and their officials. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Professor <st1:personname w:st="on"><st1:personname w:st="on">Liu Lihong</st1:personname> </st1:personname>in his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Classical Chinese Medicine</i> emphasizes
the contrast between the Western medical approach and that of traditional
Chinese medicine by saying that “Western medicine is biased towards
objectivity”, whereas Chinese medicine “places great emphasis on the subjective
experience”. Each acupuncture treatment is therefore seen as drawing upon some
subjective quality in both the patient and practitioner rather than on a fixed
quality within a point which remains constant whenever this point is used.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">This has made me look carefully at what actually happens at
the site of an acupuncture point, something we rarely think about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each point can be seen as representing a
slight opening along the pathway of a meridian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is where an acupuncture needle can be inserted which by its action
can alter the flow of energy along that meridian in some way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each point is one of the many places where
the energy passing along a meridian makes itself available to outside
intervention, in the case of acupuncture through the insertion of a needle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is therefore where what is within us can
react to influences acting upon us from outside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also where what might be called
intrinsic to the point, its particular quality, meets something coming towards
it which the spirit of the acupuncturist brings to the action of selecting and
needling this particular point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To this
must be added a further component, which is what the spirit of the patient
preparing him/herself to receive this treatment also brings to the needle’s
action.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">It is good to look at what happens at the interface between a
patient, his/her practitioner and the needle which acts as the conduit between
patient and practitioner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each of us can
be seen as a distillation of the combined energies of the elements within us
which emanate from us both as a shield and an invitation when we encounter
another person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In return, we receive from
this other person a flood of different energies as though summoned by each of
us when we encounter somebody else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
we look at this interaction in terms of acupuncture treatment, the needle
becomes the physical point of contact between two people, the practitioner and the
patient.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">In Lingshu chapter 9 it says, “The needle is inserted in the
surface area and remains a while, manipulated with delicacy and at the surface,
in order to move the spirits.” In this context, in their examination of the patient-
practitioner relationship,Father Larre and Elisabeth Rochat de la Vall<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">é</span>e add their own explanation in an
article in the Review of Traditional Acupuncture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They say that “the most important thing for
healing is the relationship of the practitioner, the spirits and the
patient.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">We therefore have three components which, when acting
together, contribute to the success of treatment: the selected point itself,
with any particular qualities associated with it, the practitioner and the patient.
In talking about the spirit of a point, though, we often focus only on what is
considered to be the characteristic of the point itself, either forgetting
altogether those two other aspects associated with any treatment, or regarding
them as not as important. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems to me
obvious that the spirits of both practitioner and patient also play an
important role in endowing a treatment with a specific quality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, it is only when the three act in
tandem and in harmony with each other that the “spirits” will move, as we hope
they will. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Here I am always reminded of an occasion many years ago when
a young acupuncturist friend of mine complained to me one day, “How come I use
the same points as you do, but don’t get the same results?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thinking about this, I realised that the
reason must have lain in my friend’s doubts about what five element acupuncture
could do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These were the early days of
TCM’s onslaught upon the practice of five element acupuncture in this country,
when people began to be persuaded that five element acupuncture would only work
if it incorporated TCM into its treatment protocols.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My friend was beset by doubts about his five
element practice, since he worked with a group of other acupuncturists who were
telling him that five element acupuncture “had had its day”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually, he abandoned five element acupuncture
altogether, and moved to a TCM-based practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I therefore assumed that the uncertainty he had about the efficacy of
the five element protocols he was using was conveying itself both to the
needles themselves and presumably, also, to his attitude to his practice, and
robbing his five element treatments of the absolute certainty which I had then,
and have maintained in my many years since then, that a pure five element
acupuncture treatment offers a profound form of healing.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">The great majority of points lie along meridians associated
with one of the five elements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
greatest influence acting upon a point must therefore be the fact that each of
these points takes on some of the qualities of a particular element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any point along the two Earth officials,
Spleen and Stomach, for example, reflect some of the Earth element’s fundamental
functions, each point, from Spleen 1–21 to Stomach 1– 45 (a total of 66 points
in all) bearing the stamp of this element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">At the most fundamental level, any point which lies on a
meridian associated with one of the five elements receives some of its “spirit”
from the properties of that element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To
help them in their point selection, therefore, practitioners have to steep
themselves in their understanding of the elements and their officials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because all our efforts are directed at
establishing which of the five elements is what I call the guardian element
(the element of the causative factor of disease, the CF), much of what might
seem the difficult work of point selection is made very simple once we are sure
we are directing our treatment at the right element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For all we need then do is concentrate upon
choosing points on one or other of that element’s officials, or on both of the officials,
and the element will then take over responsibility, with little nudges from us
as treatment progresses. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every one of these points is able to express
the “spirit” of its element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To stop us novice
acupuncturists from being too daunted at the wide array of points available to
us, JR would always remind us that good treatment could simply consist in
needling an element’s source points time and time again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This would produce the same result as
choosing more complex treatments, but “it may only take a little longer”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The purity of five element treatments was one
of the main reasons by JR would say that five element acupuncture is such a
simple discipline, “any child would understand it”.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">In addition to a point’s association with a particular
element and official, there is a further layer which contributes to point
selection, and that is that certain points have been given specific functions
in relation to the element to which they belong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The most common of these functions is that
associated with the group of points clustered around the arm and leg which we call
command points.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These include what are
called tonification, sedation and horary points, plus five individual element points.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus the Water officials, Kidney and Bladder,
each have a Wood point, a Fire point, an Earth point, a Metal point and a Water
point, creating an inner five element circle within each official.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These element points are like a reflection in
miniature of the large five element circle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some points also have other functions when they form part of a sequence
of points used in specific treatment protocols, such as those used for clearing
Aggressive Energy, Possession, Entry/Exit blocks or a Husband/Wife imbalance.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">In selecting which of the element’s points we should use at
any treatment, we can also draw on our interpretation of the names the points
have been given over the centuries, another profound and often confusing area
of point selection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A point’s name is
very evocative, awakening in each one of us very different feelings, and
finding personal echoes because of our particular life experiences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are many ways in which it will be up to
each practitioner to choose a description which seems to him/her to best
respond to their patient’s needs at any particular time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For this reason, no two practitioners are
likely to make the same choice of points for the same patient, though both may
be making appropriate choices.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">The trouble is that it is natural for people to like
certainty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even the most experienced
five element acupuncturist likes to have a handle to hold on to by being told
that a point has a certain action, since this helps to give some fixed
signposts in the often bewildering area of point selection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because there is so much that is indefinable
in our work, any little pointer which helps us towards making a point selection
may be too quickly snatched at.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
remember how eagerly as students we would seize on any description of a point’s
action as though giving us a secure footing in the very mysterious world of
point selection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It requires some
courage to accept that our own subjective input into point selection is a
crucial component in the success of any treatment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But then I have always said that five element
acupuncture, with its emphasis on the importance of the practitioner’s input,
is not for the faint-hearted.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">I have concluded that the concentrated focus of a
practitioner upon what he/she intends to be the outcome of the proposed
treatment forms part of the treatment, if not its most important part, as
though the practitioner’s energy directed at achieving the outcome of the
treatment he/she is intending to give is itself something which adds to the
depth and success of the treatment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
spirit a practitioner brings to needling any acupuncture point is a function of
a very complex interweaving of past experiences, the relationship of patient to
practitioner, as well as something inherent within the point, at a deep level
coming from its association with the functions of a particular element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All this weaves together a web of personal
associations which will differ for each practitioner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every time I needle Liver 14, Gate of Hope, I
instil into this point all my belief as to why I think this patient is of the
Wood element, plus all my years of delving into the mysterious world of the
Wood element, and its Liver official in particular, and why I think it is good
today to use this point to offer hope to my patient.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">As a final illustration of the power of the interactions of
the spirits of practitioner, patient and point is a moving occasion that
occurred very early on in my practice when as a newly-qualified acupuncturist I
found myself trying to decide whether I could detect a Husband/Wife imbalance
in my patient.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still somewhat unsure
whether I was interpreting the patient’s pulse picture correctly, I started to
mark up the sequence of points to clear the H/W, working rather slowly as I
wasn’t sure that this was the treatment I needed to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I marked the first few points on the foot
(Bl 67, Ki 7),<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>my patient suddenly said,
“That’s a rather frightening thing that Husband/Wife imbalance your Professor
Worsley writes about.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had lent my
patient a book by JR in which he described this imbalance, but she had never
mentioned until this moment that she had actually read it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sent thanks up to heaven for this
encouragement, and with a lighter heart continued clearing the H/W block which
I felt her words had confirmed for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was a moving example of the spirits of patient, practitioner and
point combining to create a successful treatment.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Since traditional Chinese medicine places great emphasis on
the subjective experience, as Professor Liu Lihong points out, there is nothing
more subjective than an individual practitioner’s assessment of why he/she
feels the patient needs a particular point or points on that particular
day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each point becomes as though
impregnated with our own personal narrative, which our use over the years has
added to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I revel in the fact that
every time I select a point, I bring to my selection the understanding of the
particular element or official associated with that point which I have gained
from my experience as practitioner over the years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Copyright:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nora
Franglen 2019 </span></span></span></span></span>Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-45173389297654947732019-07-13T19:26:00.000+01:002019-07-13T19:26:49.809+01:0027. The way people walk<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Since
our observations will be filtered through our own personal spectacles, we will
all observe the life around us from different angles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I notice, for example, that I appear to be
very aware of the way people walk, and can recognise them from a long way away
just by the way they are moving and well before I can even see their faces as
they come towards me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is therefore
one of the things I look for in patients to help me with my diagnosis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There may not be as much time to observe
their walk as they move towards me in the practice room as there is out in the
street, but if we extend the concept of walking to include the way a person
moves in general, we can obtain a surprising amount of information even within
the small confines of a practice room and the comparatively brief time we have
with a patient.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">My
observation of movement was originally sparked by something my own practitioner
at the time once said to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the end
of treatment I was told to get up from the couch and get dressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently, although I myself didn’t realise
this, I leapt off the couch in a hurry, reaching for my clothes almost before
my feet had touched the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Goodness”,
she said, “you are a speedy person.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
the time, not having observed people as closely as I do now, I had not noticed
that my movements are always quick, often much quicker than others around me,
and speed up even more when I think somebody is waiting for me to leave and I
assume, usually wrongly, that they are waiting impatiently, as I may well have
thought my practitioner was.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Thinking
back on this from my present standpoint, I realise that the speed of my
springing up from the couch was closely associated with my fear, one that I
have always had, that I am somehow outstaying my welcome and need to get myself
out of the way quickly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fire, my
element, is naturally an energetic element, but added to my natural Fire
quickness was also Fire’s fear that it is somehow not getting something
right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suppose this comes from its very
heightened awareness of others and of others’ needs, and its desire to ensure
that what it does is not upsetting to other people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My rapid jumping up from the couch could then
be interpreted as a clear pointer to the Fire element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took me some time to put this quick
interaction in the practice room into context, and see it as pointing towards
an example of the Fire element in action within me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Another example was
offered me when I was casually watching some golf on TV, and I suddenly noticed
the golfer Rory McIlroy’s walk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can
best describe it as a kind of jaunty stride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is certainly not a stroll nor does it appear to be a form<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of hurrying, and yet I can find no better way
of describing it than to say that he walks as though pushing the air aside in
front of him, not in any way aggressively, but firmly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is definitely a stride, but done with a
kind of joyousness to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is so
obviously an excellent example of the Fire element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He can’t stop smiling as he walks, nor can he
can’t stop wanting to make other people laugh. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You feel that if you were in front of him you
would have to give way to allow this force of nature to pass by.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">That set me thinking
about the different ways the other elements walk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then compared McIlroy’s walk with that of
another golfer who I diagnosed as the Wood element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wood, after all, is another very yang,
outgoing element, with perhaps an even more forceful signature than Fire as its
hallmark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this Wood golfer’s walk,
though firm, differed from McIlroy’s because it did not have the same kind of
joyous spring to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was more of a
firm placing of one foot in front of the other, a kind of a stomp, like someone
claiming that bit of ground for himself, so that he made me more aware of the
force with which each foot landed on the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>McIlroy’s stride makes me aware of the top of
his body, as his chest pushes aside the air in front of him, the Wood golfer’s
more of his feet conquering the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This may seem a little fanciful, but I don’t think it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wood, after all, emphasizes the feet, Fire
the top half of the body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I think of
a Wood person coming towards me, the word “striding” comes to mind, adding
another distinctive layer to the concept of a walk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Striding is first of all a vigorous activity,
as though the air is being moved aside to allow the person through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a robust form of walking, and is a good
description of the kind of strong actions which Wood’s body enjoys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we are wondering if a person is Wood, therefore,
it would be good to ask ourselves whether we can imagine them as striding
rather than strolling towards that future which is where all Wood people want
to head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">All this made me think
about my own Fire stride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did I have
something akin to McIlroy’s walk, and did other Fire people, too, or had my
observation not revealed a characteristic peculiar to all Fire people but only
to the one?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have not yet come to any
satisfactory conclusion about this, but if anybody were to watch me walking
along the street they might be surprised to note how often I glance in shop
windows as I try and catch myself in mid-stride to analyse how I am
walking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Whilst I am in the world
of golf, I can also think of golfers who are Earth, and compare their walk to
that of people of other elements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like
many Earth people, I notice that they place their feet very solidly on the
ground, and one could picture all their ten toes spreading out to find as much
support for their body as they could.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
have often noticed this about Earth people, and realised that it is not
surprising that an element with such a need for stability, literally for
“ground beneath their feet”, should make their contact with this ground as firm
as possible.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">I can’t at the moment
find any good example of Water golfers, though I am sure they are there, as all
the elements are in every walk of life, but a supremely characteristic Water
sportsman from another sport is Roger Federer, the tennis player.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a rhythm and sinuous flow to his
movements which mimics that of what I am sure is his element, Water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would imagine that the Water element must
be well-represented in dancers, for that reason.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Finally, an obvious Metal
sportsman whose movements were not as flowing as Water’s, but were completely focused
on the goal ahead was a former 100 metre Olympic champion, Linford Christie,
whose almost trance-like stare as he looked up from his blocks ready to run
always seemed to me to be the epitome of Metal’s determination to reach its
goal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Metal, like Water, is light on its
feet, but does not float so much as glide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It reflects a person that somehow wants to move upwards, and dislikes
being tied to the earth, unlike its fellow element, Earth, which so clearly
needs always to be tethered to the ground in some way.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">It is perhaps not
surprising, therefore, that it is usually Earth people who develop a fear of
flying, often experiencing the moment when the aircraft takes off as something
frightening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is no coincidence that
the Earth command points are on the feet and legs, whilst those of Metal are on
the hands and arms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Feet can only leave
the ground for very short stretches of time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Hands are free to move away from the body, and, most significantly, can
stretch up above our heads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both
positions of the two elements’ command points symbolically represent their
respective elements’ needs, Earth’s to anchor itself firmly to the ground,
Metal’s to allow itself the freedom to explore.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "arial";"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "arial";"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-48039114745868888572019-07-13T08:21:00.001+01:002019-07-13T08:21:35.508+01:00Some very Water-like words from Roger Federer at this week's Wimbledon tennis tournament
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I have always thought that Roger Federer is Water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t see his colour or smell his smell
when I watch him on TV, but his body movements are so fluid, as if he flows
through the air, and I think his voice is the kind of groaning I associate with
water flowing around rocks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I was
amused to read the following in the Guardian newspaper a day or so ago:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“Their (the crowd’s) love for Federer is boundless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he appreciates it more than people
realise. In an interesting aside later, the Swiss was asked how much time he
spends alone.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Not much,</i>”
Federer said, pausing. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“I don’t like
being alone. I mean, I’m not afraid of being alone. I like being surrounded by
my friends, family. It’s obviously the best. I like talking to people. Now with
four kids anyway, there is a lot of that, which is perfect for me in my life
because I’m very happy.” </i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I always think of Water people as being like individual
drops of water that stream together with their fellows to form the
flow of Water which creates a pond, a river, an ocean or a shower of rain. It’s therefore nice to receive some confirmation of this in Roger Federer’s
words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I find it interesting, too, that
he uses the words “I’m not afraid” when describing how he feels when he is
alone. There is a tinge of fear revealed in his use of the word
“afraid”, even though he is denying that he is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(Water never acknowledges its fear, for that makes it vulnerable.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked myself if I, a Fire person, would
ever say “I am not afraid of being alone”, and realised that I would not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is because I am not afraid of being
alone, but if I feel lonely it will be sadness, not fear, that I feel.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Earth, too, will not enjoy being alone, for it enjoys being
surrounded by the company of others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Metal is perfectly happy being alone, since it is definitely the element which
most enjoys its own company, often preferring it to that of others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t think it matters very much to Wood
whether it is alone or with people, since it is so occupied with planning and
doing things, and people will either help him do that or get in its way.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I enjoy piecing together fresh little thoughts like this
about the different ways the elements express themselves, prompted by something
that I read or see.</span></span><br />
Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-24383495938575084852019-07-06T06:49:00.000+01:002019-07-06T06:49:42.555+01:00Another revealing glimpse into the mysterious world of the Water element
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I have a dedicated searcher after five element truths to thank for the
following addition to my understanding of the Water element, all the way from
the South of France:<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“I send you a very interesting thought about Water
as Guardian Element. Like you I find it more difficult to identify this element
as a CF. But, yesterday a Water CF person, a man, told me: " The treatment
really helps me, I find myself more relaxed inside, but nobody can see that! (Water
often expresses a relaxed attitude to avoid showing their fear)" and he
continues, saying : "I realize that I am not an angry person like I
thought because now in conflict with people I try to round the angles".</span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">What a beautiful sentence, representing Water in
nature polishing rocks, rounding the angles...! </span></span></i></span></span></i></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span></i></span></span></i></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> continue to
learn with Nature and your books as masters.”</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></i></span></span></i><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Thank you yet again for your insights, <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Pierre</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-50694579460417441602019-06-14T16:09:00.001+01:002019-06-14T16:09:24.516+01:00Another happy SOFEA seminar day on 9 June
<span style="font-family: Arial;">People tell me that I never like to trumpet the successes of
what our little band of dedicated five element acupuncturists do to promote the
calling that we love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So this blog is my
attempt to make good this fault a little.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It has been promoted by the following two lovely compliments we received
from attendees at our <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">London</st1:place></st1:city>
seminar last weekend:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I was truly starving
for 5 Element teaching after 10 years not being in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region> for extra
courses. So that was why my smile was from ear to ear for most of the day.
Tears because of coming home again in this BEAUTIFUL 5 Element world.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I want
to wish you (Guy) and Nora all the best and hope to meet you one day again.”</span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span></i> </div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">and:</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“It was wonderful to be amongst like-minded folk
and I really appreciate the feedback on my patients from a ‘fresh pair of
eyes’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m sure both patients will
continue to do well with their treatments”.</span></i></span></span></span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span></i></span></span></span></i></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">As usual, Guy and
I emerged from the day re-inspired from our day-long immersion in the world of
the elements with a group of like-minded acupuncturists, acupuncture students
and those just keen to learn more about the elements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This time we saw four patients brought by
some of those attending;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we helped with
their diagnosis and supervised treatments for each of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were delighted that the group understood that they need not be concerned about “getting the element right”,
but instead have learnt to accept that this always takes time, remembering my mantra “Don’t
hurry!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t worry!”</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">We have devised a
very useful way of helping with the diagnosis by asking the group whether they feel
the patient makes the energy in the room go up, go down or “neither up nor down”,
as the good old Duke of York says in the nursery rhyme.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Up is obviously more yang (therefore Wood or
Fire), down more yin (therefore Metal or Water) and in-between is more likely
to be Earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have found this a
surprisingly accurate way of discarding some elements and emphasizing the one
or two the patient may be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Usually the majority
in the room, even among the 300 or more in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region> and the lesser number in this
country, experience the same effect of a patient’s energy upon them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This simple method by itself usually reduces
the potential number of elements to choose from five down to two, or at most
three, always a helpful way to start our diagnosis.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Our next London
seminar on 29 September is now fully booked, with a waiting list, but there are
still a few places left for our spring 2020 seminar on Sunday 9<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></sup>February.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Booking forms can be downloaded from our
website: </span><a href="http://www.sofea.co.uk/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">www.sofea.co.uk</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></span></i></div>
Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-45435291194577405762019-06-08T08:42:00.000+01:002019-06-08T08:42:20.415+01:00My review of Professor Liu Lihong's book: Classical Chinese Medicine
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Published by The <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Chinese</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place> Press</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Chinese</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place> of Hong Kong
2019</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I would like to start my review of <st1:personname w:st="on">Liu Lihong</st1:personname>’s
book with the words with which he ends it:<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"></i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">"Why is this book
titled “Contemplating Chinese Medicine” in Chinese? What is it that we are
contemplating? It is nothing other than these underlying principles, nothing
other than the mysteries of nature and life as deciphered through the
orientations of time.” </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><st1:personname w:st="on"><st1:personname w:st="on"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Liu Lihong</span></st1:personname><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span></st1:personname><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">was the person who
invited me eight years ago to come to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region></st1:place> to give an introductory
seminar on five element acupuncture, and has since then steadfastly promoted
five element acupuncture as a valid discipline of traditional Chinese medicine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was therefore a lovely moment of recognition
for these years of my work in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region></st1:place>
since then to read the following in Heiner Fruehauf’s introduction:</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">…”<st1:personname w:st="on"><st1:personname w:st="on">Liu Lihong</st1:personname> </st1:personname>has
developed the Institute (for the Clinical Research of Classical Chinese
Medicine) into an influential platform that has reintroduced multiple classical
lineages to contemporary scholarly discourse, most notably the Fire Spirit
School of Sichuan herbalism (huoshen pai), the traditional system of emotional
healing synthesized by the Confucian educator Wang Fengyi (1864-1937), and
classical five-element-style acupuncture. Each one of these efforts has had a
considerable impact on the grassroots momentum of Chinese Medicine education in
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>.”</span></span></i></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Joyful at thus seeing evidence of the importance of my work in China, I was
delighted at last to be able to read the book which was the catalyst those
eight years ago for Mei Long to write to <st1:personname w:st="on">Liu Lihong</st1:personname>,
urging him to acquaint himself with this discipline of traditional Chinese
medicine, one which she recognized was very close to his own approach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has been with much surprise and delight now
to receive confirmation that all that I was taught by the great master of five
element acupuncture, JR Worsley himself, all that I have since learnt for
myself and from my readings of the classics through translations by Father
Larre and Elisabeth Rochat, all of this finds strong, almost eerie echoes in
what <st1:personname w:st="on"><st1:personname w:st="on">Liu Lihong</st1:personname>
</st1:personname>writes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Though the book includes much detailed discussion of herbal remedies,
since <st1:personname w:st="on"><st1:personname w:st="on">Liu Lihong</st1:personname>
</st1:personname>is a herbalist, I have come to regard it much more as a
profound philosophical exposition of Chinese thought, and it could well have
been entitled <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Classical Chinese
Philosophy.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly the profound
insights about Dao, yin yang and the five elements, which are the main emphasis
of the book, also form the bedrock of my five element practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In particular, he emphasizes, as JR Worsley
always did, the importance of regarding ourselves as embedded in nature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As he says: </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“When discussing
Chinese Medicine, the backdrop of the natural world cannot be forgotten. If you
have a thorough understanding of the natural world, your foundation in Chinese
Medicine will be sound and your understanding can progress.”(</i>p. 375)</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Of the many insights I gained from my reading of this book, none impressed
me more than the clarity with which he compares traditional Chinese medicine
and modern Western medicine, clearly seeing that they spring from different
approaches which cannot be melded together into one system as so many people
now attempt to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead he regards
them as complementing each other, provided that their fundamental differences
are acknowledged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For instance he
writes:<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"></i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Western Medicine is
clearly biased towards objectivity rather than subjectivity…..Chinese Medicine
is vastly different in this respect and places great emphasis on the subjective
experience.” </i>(p.262)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I also find the humility he shows in relation to his own
understanding of his discipline quite startling and very impressive, such is
his respect for his masters whose influence on his development he acknowledges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I always feel that teachers who are not
afraid to know that they have more to learn are the ones I can truly learn
from.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">And here I encounter a slight problem, for though, quite
rightly, he claims that the best, if not the only true way of learning is to
sit at the feet of an acknowledged master of whatever discipline we wish to
practice (and did I not do exactly that when I was fortunate enough to find my
way to JR Worsley?), how are we to find such masters in a world, as he says,
where institutionalized classroom learning is valued more highly than the kind
of personal transmission from master to pupil?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And even more pertinently, where are the great clinical teachers without
which there can be no transmission of such profound age-old disciplines?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><st1:personname w:st="on">Liu Lihong</st1:personname>,
too, is also deeply concerned about the increasing depletion in the number of
those who have sufficient clinical experience to warrant being given the name
of masters of their discipline, whilst there are ever-increasing numbers of
those eager to learn from such masters.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This is something I have had to struggle with during my time
in China, for I often ask myself how can I and my small cohort of two other
five element teachers, Guy Caplan and Mei Long, alone pass on as much as we can
in the form of personal transmission through our seminars to as many people as
we can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is with great relief,
therefore, that, thanks to <st1:personname w:st="on">Liu Lihong</st1:personname>’s
efforts and that of those working at his Tong You San He foundation, I can at
last be reassured that there is an ever-larger group of Chinese five element
teachers who can now pass on their understanding of five element practice to
others.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The world needs people of vision, such as <st1:personname w:st="on">Liu Lihong</st1:personname>, and I am honoured to have been able to
work with and for him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am profoundly
grateful that my efforts to re-introduce five element acupuncture to the
country of its birth have been recognized by him as making a significant
contribution to his work in so firmly and courageously ensuring that classical
Chinese medicine, including five element acupuncture, now takes its rightful
place at the forefront of modern medicine as a profound medical discipline in
its own right.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Finally, I want to
express my admiration for the team of translators, led by the book’s editor,
Heiner Fruehauf, who have made such a tremendous job of creating an English
version which reads so beautifully and eloquently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a former translator in another life, and
still a translator from French into English of Elisabeth Rochat’s work, I
appreciate from a very personal point of view the many hours, days and weeks of
hard work such an excellent translation would have demanded.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-61902618451439940492019-05-16T07:07:00.002+01:002019-05-16T07:07:35.869+01:00More on Entry/Exit blocks<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">I do not myself rely only on my pulse-taking to help me diagnose a block
of any kind. As I have said on many occasions, pulse-taking is a very complex
art, much more complex than I think we like to admit to ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In effect we are attempting to read the state
of the five different elements and their 12 officials with what I always like
to think of as the rather blunt instruments of our finger-tips.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course we get more adept at doing this as
the years pass, but I have never forgotten the lessons I learned comparing JR
Worsley’s pulse-readings with my own, even after I had been more than 3 years
in practice (plus 3 undergraduate years training myself to read thousands of pulses).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">He would tell me one of my patients had an Entry/Exit block or a Husband/Wife
block when I simply could not feel this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Conversely, what I rather simplistically thought to be some kind of a
block would turn out not to be that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
other words the delicate art of accurate pulse-reading was something I realised
would take me many years to learn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in
the meantime I realised that I had to look for other indications in patients
which would help me suspect the presence of a block.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">It is always good to remember, too, that it never matters if we try to clear
a block of any kind, from Possession to a simple Entry/Exit block, if the block
is not there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is then only like
trying to open a door which is already open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So it is better to err on the side of treating for a block even if unsure
of its presence, rather than ignoring what might be a block.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Since I am always somewhat suspicious of the accuracy of my pulse
readings, I like to supplement what I think they are telling me with what I see
as corroborating physical or other evidence of a block’s presence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If energy is blocked, such blocks
can occur at any level of body, mind or spirit. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">In the case of a Husband/Wife block, for example, we must never forget that this represents an attack upon the Heart, and a patient must be showing signs of some desperation, of almost wanting to give up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They may not articulate this in words, and some may like to hide their despair, but as good five element acupuncturists we should always be looking below the surface to see what is really going on deep inside a patient. </span>Unexpected outbursts of anger or irritation, too, are therefore
as much pointers to a block involving the Wood element, as feeling that there
is excess or lack of energy in the Wood pulses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Over the years I have observed many physical and emotional
indicators which may suggest the presence of an Entry/Exit block to help me
supplement what the pulses tell me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
can read more fully about these in my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Handbook
of Five Element Practice.</i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">It is very rare to find an Entry/Exit block between the two paired
officials within an element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In all the
many years in which I observed JR Worsley taking pulses, I never once heard him
say that he had found such a block.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
fact, I remember quite clearly his telling us that the yin and yang officials
try as hard as possible to share their energy in order to bring harmony to their
element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is why he said we should
always start by treating both yin and yang officials equally within any
treatment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even when he diagnosed a
patient as having the Gall Bladder rather than the Liver as their Guardian Official, we should not neglect the Liver.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> And</span> as I am still not sure of my
ability to diagnose which official is the dominant one, I therefore continue to treat both yin and
yang officials.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">The only exception is when I diagnose Inner Fire, and specifically therefore
the Small Intestine, where I try as far as possible to concentrate treatment
upon the many Small Intestine points, having been told early on in my training
that the Heart is considered a sacred meridian, and therefore should always be
approached with care. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "arial";"> </span></o:p></span></div>
Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-71759403542420996242019-05-07T12:25:00.001+01:002019-05-07T12:25:19.369+01:00An amazing response to simple Inner Fire treatment
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Occasionally the treatment we give can have what are to me
even now quite startling results.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
such outcome<span style="font-family: Arial;"> occurred during my last seminar in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Beijing</st1:place></st1:city>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A young man of 18, who by chance happened to have been educated up to
the age of 11 in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">England</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
and therefore spoke excellent English, came for treatment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was finding life very difficult, probably
because of his difficulty in integrating himself into the Chinese educational
system after all those years in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">England</st1:place></st1:country-region>
in a very different kind of a school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because his knowledge of written Chinese was very limited, he had been
placed in a class which was 2 years behind his age group, a difficult thing for
any child to cope with, and this, I think, had caused him most of his problems.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I diagnosed him as Fire, and he responded to me in a way
which I felt was very characteristic of Inner Fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had had some previous treatment on Fire
early on his treatment some months back so I felt that we did not need to give
him the four treatments on Outer Fire first, as we should always do before
turning to Inner Fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(The reasoning
for this is that we need to strengthen Fire’s outer defences before addressing its very heart).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I therefore
thought it was reasonable simply to do the source points of Outer Fire, and
then move on in the same treatment to Inner Fire, again with its source points.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We therefore needled a total of only 4 points.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I thought he looked and felt very different as soon as we
treated the Inner Fire points, but I was not expecting what he said, as he
walked towards me after the treatment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I feel as though I’ve
just come out of a coma.”</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">No wonder I love what I do! </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
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Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2964519133159095090.post-69359212587316620992019-05-03T13:58:00.003+01:002019-05-05T12:38:26.792+01:00Procedure for diagnosing 130 budding five element acupuncturists in one day<span style="font-family: "arial";">I am often asked how on earth we have attempted to offer a
five element diagnosis to the many hundreds of acupuncturists in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region> who have
come to our seminars over the past eight years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I am just returning from another week’s seminar in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Beijing</st1:place></st1:city> where we have tried yet again to do
just that, so I would like to describe the procedure we have worked on over the
years to do this.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Of the 300 or so practitioners who attended, some 130 were
new to us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All these had previously attended
one of the many preliminary five element courses in many towns all over China organized
by the more experienced of our five element group of practitioners, now
promoted to the role of five element teachers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>By the time Mei, Guy and I arrive at a seminar all those attending
will have been given a provisional diagnosis of their element as a starting
point from which we work.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">I<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">n <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
nobody seems to worry at all when I explain that all diagnoses we make are only
a first attempt at finding their element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They are very unconcerned when we change these preliminary diagnoses,
and may change them again during the week of our seminar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is probably because I always emphasize
that none of us can ever truly “know” the guardian element until treatment has
confirmed that we are on the right track.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">As encouragement for myself, and for others, I always like
to remember JR Worsley telling us when we were students that we would all be
able to diagnose as quickly as he did when we had as much experience as he had
after his 45 years of practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have
now had 30 or more years of five element practice to help me, and if I add
these years to those of Guy and Mei, I like to think that together we reach
JR’s total of years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly to my
surprise, every time to we return to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the three of us are getting better and better
at our diagnoses, and quicker and quicker at making them, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we work together very well as a team.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">So here I will describe the procedure for carrying out these
multiple diagnoses which we have developed to cope with the ever-increasing
number of those attending our seminars who wish to have some idea of their own
element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we know, all five element
acupuncturists should as far as possible be sure of their own element as an
essential pre-requisite for their practice, for without this we do not know
what shadow our own element unconsciously casts over our patients.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And all those attending quite rightly crave a
diagnosis from the most experienced five element practitioners they can find.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I therefore think we have a duty to offer
them our expertise in diagnosing the elements, with the proviso that we make
these diagnoses in a rather idiosyncratic way to take account of the sheer numbers
involved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Chinese, bless their
hearts, willingly accept this without complaint.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">This is what we do:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>To help us, we are given photographs of the new practitioners grouped
together according to the element to which they have been assigned in the introductory
seminars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We then count the total number
for each element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This seminar (April
2019) the numbers were: </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Wood: 17, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fire: 10, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Earth: 32, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Metal: 21, Water: 42, plus 11 still left undiagnosed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">From experience we know that if we work quickly, we can get
through this large number in a day, divided into a morning section from 8.30 –
12, a long lunch-break of 2 ½ hours from 12 to 2.30 (the Chinese always take a
nap after lunch), and an afternoon session from 1.30 – 5.30.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Five chairs are placed on the raised platform
at the front of the large seminar room, and Mei, Guy and I sit in the front row
of the audience group, with many people sitting on the floor all around us, and
everybody else seated behind us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
is always a scramble for people to get as close to us as possible, because they
want to hear the discussions we carry on between us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">This time we started with one of the larger groups (when our minds were fresh!),
choosing Earth first, because starting with the largest group, Water, was
likely to give the room a more uneasy feel (Water’s fear showing itself as it
is asked to talk in front of such a large group of people).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An Earth group is much more at ease, and this
helps to settle the room down nicely at the start. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Five of the each group sit down in turn on the platform in
front of us, and we look at this small group as a whole to see how far they
seem at ease with each other (or not), and whether any particular person stands
out from the group in some way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then
each of the five is asked to talk a little about anything they want, as we
listen to their voices (the audience group is told to do this with closed eyes
for part of the time), and observe them closely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over the years everybody coming to our
seminars has got much better at spotting the odd person who doesn’t seem to fit
in with the rest of the group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This may
be the one who sits forward whilst the others sit back, the one who turns to
look at the person talking, whilst the others look straight ahead, or is
constantly moving whilst the others remain still.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have found that the audience as a whole
has become surprisingly good at pointing out any significant differences.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Mei, Guy and I then put our heads together and decide
whether or not we agree with the provisional diagnoses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We discuss quite openly where we have doubts
and why this is so and which element group we think a person should be
re-allocated to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">When we have gone through an element group as a whole, we
ask all those we still think are that element to stand together on the platform
for us to take a look at the group as a whole.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And here we may change our diagnosis again, because in the large element
group, one or two will now stand out as feeling different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These we then re-allocate to join another
element grouping during the day.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">At previous seminars Guy had the bright idea of providing
coloured stickers in the five element colours, which we would put on those we
had diagnosed so that everybody could see from a distance which element we had
provisionally allocated to those attending.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This time, instead of a coloured sticker, each person was given a much
more visible ribbon to wear around their neck, the colour of which could be
spotted a long way away to help us if we decided to change a diagnosis.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">After this seminar I totted up how many changes we made for
each element. For Wood it was 5 out of 17, for Fire it was only 1 out of 10,
for Earth it was 17 out of 32, for Metal 8 out of 21 and for Water 8 out of
42.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From this random survey we could
conclude that the Chinese five element acupuncturists running the preliminary
seminars are better at diagnosing Fire (nearly 100% right), than Earth (only
about 50% right)!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For some reason there
are always a large number of Water people at our seminars, and practitioners
over there therefore have a lot of practice in diagnosing this element.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">This may seem a rather complicated procedure, but it works
surprisingly well, and is an excellent way of helping a large group of
practitioners learn more about diagnosing the elements in one day than they
will learn from seeing only a few patients at a time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We do the diagnoses at the start of a
five-day seminar, which leaves us nearly four days in which to change our
minds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you are sitting in front of
a roomful of people, all wearing very visible coloured ribbons around their
necks, it becomes surprisingly easy to see those who respond to what is going
on in an expected way and those who don’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was delighted that the last thing I did as I left the platform on our
last afternoon was ceremonially to remove the red ribbon around a young man’s
neck and replace it with a yellow ribbon to great applause in the room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had been talking about the Fire element, and
in my usual Fire way had stoked up a lot of laughter in the room, except in
this young man who only looked puzzled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“He looks worried as though trying to process something, and isn’t his
colour yellow?” I asked myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“He must
surely be Earth, not Fire”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He himself
was delighted at the change, as he had felt that he didn’t really fit in
amongst his fellow Fire practitioners.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">We have also added another simple diagnostic technique to
our teaching, which is to ask the group whether they feel a patient coming
before the class makes the room feel “up” or “down” (i.e., yang or yin).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If “up”, then it is likely to be either Wood
or Fire, if “down” then Metal or Water, with Earth “neither up nor down”, or
“both up and down”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is again a
surprisingly simple way of helping those new to five element acupuncture start examining
the feelings different elements evoke in them.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>Nora Franglenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627535638144210306noreply@blogger.com1