I began practicing acupuncture (as a student at first), 30+ years ago. Someone had suggested that I see an acupuncturist to aid my recovery from knee surgery. I was skeptical, but also curious. My first session was an awakening. Previously, I had gone through life with fear and distrust of my body. Hospitals and doctors can sometimes do that to a small boy. My experience with mainstream medicine and surgery had taught me that when it came to illness and health, my only option was to put my faith in people in white coats, pills, and invasive procedures rather than seeking to understand the energies which animate the body and move the spirit.
After the acupuncturist inserted the needles into my body for the very first time, I felt a warm wave of energy moving through the body, opening up blockages and bringing a sense of deep inner relaxation and flow. Experiencing this ease and flow did not immediately instill the confidence and intuitive understand which would enable me to easily introduce others to this space. Old emotional habits of doubt and mistrust interfered with my awakening connection to my heart. Acupuncture practice felt mechanical, formulaic for years, but I kept practicing – refining my needling skills, observing the diverse physical, psychological, and emotional predispositions of all my clients. I took continuing education classes and learned different styles of acupuncture as well as cranio-sacral therapy. And most important of all, I continued to explore my own mind-body continuum through meditation, silently asking questions about the nature of life, death, and how best to help others achieve their full potential.
And to this day, I realize that there are no easy answers, but resonate with the poet Rilke who asks us to “learn to love the questions.” In many ways, meditation is a process of asking questions, silently, not expecting or seeking an answer in words, but merely resting in the space of not-finding words, touching the truth beyond words and concepts. In Buddhism, this is called meditation on emptiness, but as a practitioner of healing arts, it is only truly relevant when combined with meditation on compassion and an understanding of interdependence. Which brings me to an experience with a client that I had today.
Normally this person – from an Asian cultural background – is very reserved. Feedback on the progress of treatment had been minimal. “How are you feeling?” I would ask at the outset of a new session. “A little bit better”, came the terse reply. As an accountant, I intuited that their mental disposition was somewhat influenced by a professional association with numbers. Perhaps the treatment was approached by them as something quantitative, something to be measured incrementally, something that could be dissected and summed. But one day after an Energy Healing session treatment they shared something which opened a much broader understanding and connection between us.
They described a spiritual experience in the language of their culture and religion, an energy sweeping over them, opening them to light,
love, and universal connection. I’m paraphrasing here since to be completely honest, I’ve forgotten the exact conversation but I still remember the sense of delight and open heartedness of that conversation. Another person, after an energy session, told me that I had saved their life several times over the years. I had no idea that this was the case until they told me. Acupuncture and energy healing can do that.
How? What exactly do I do to facilitate these transformations in my clients? As little as possible! If I were to attempt to put the process into words – a difficult proposition – I would say just this: I connect with the person’s innate healing energy and then get out of the way. I do this in a couple of different ways. Firstly, when they arrive, I ground my own presence in source/truth/God/love/Buddha – whatever you wish to call it. I allow the person’s energy field to connect with mine. On the table, I remain in this meditative awareness, inviting a higher energetic resonance to happen as I insert the needles. I tune into the person’s craniosacral rhythm. And then – metaphorically, I gently nudge the vessel of their spirit away from the beach, out into the ocean, so that it can move freely towards their own healing without interference.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Lama Tsong Khapa Day, Blessings of the Solstice and the return of light!
