Japanese Acupuncture for Spiritual Healing Acupuncture is rapidly becoming a common alternative therapy for various physical disorders. But most people do not realize is that acupuncture has been used for centuries as a method to calm the spirit, balance the emotions and ultimately to support the individual's Divine destiny. According to one ancient Chinese medical text, there are three classes of acupuncture. The first and most basic class of pertains to earth and deals with the removal of painful symptoms. The second class pertains to humankind and deals with balancing the patient's constitution and preventing future disease. The third and highest class pertains to heaven and deals with nourishing the individual's destiny in order to prolong life in alignment with the Divine. From a clinical perspective, it is useful to keep these distinctions in mind when treating a patient. Is the main goal of treatment to remove disease or to treat the whole patient? And beyond this, can we do anything that will help the patient to align with his or her Divine destiny? In Japanese acupuncture, we always strive to accomplish all three goals. The basic premise of Japanese style acupuncture is that we are all born with a specific set of constitutional tendencies. These tendencies are determined at conception and are influenced by the "qi" or Life energy contained in the ovum and sperm provided by our parents, as well as our Divine destiny, which our soul brings from Heaven. At the moment of conception, these tendencies are set and the underlying blue print of our body, mind and personality are formed. Of course, environmental influences will play a role in the continuing process of maturation, but the foundation is formed at conception. With this foundation comes certain inherent weaknesses and strengths that manifest in all areas of life - the body, mind and personality. As physicians, our first job is to examine the patient and try to make a determination of his or her inherent weakness. We call this weakness the "sho" or the inherent pattern of imbalance. It may seem somewhat negative to just look for the weakness and ignore the strengths, but actually this makes perfect sense. In order to make a chain strong and lasting, we need to find and strengthen the weakest links. We don't need to worry about the strong ones. Likewise, in dealing with the health of the person, if we can identify and strengthen the person's weakest energy meridian, a whole array of symptoms will automatically be resolved and many future diseases will be avoided. From a more positive perspective, good health is all about maintaining proper balance. Let's take the ancient view that our body, mind and spirit are made up of different forms of Life-energy combined with the physical elements. When Life-energy and the physical elements are balanced in a particular way, we enjoy good health and a positive attitude about life. Disease occurs when any of these components are driven out of balance by stress, negative thinking, inappropriate diet, insufficient rest, environmental toxins, climate or seasonal changes. From this perspective, the key to health lies in maintaining proper balance in all areas of life. But when there are certain inherent blockages or weaknesses in the body and mind, we are constantly getting thrown off balance. So, again, we come back to the unavoidable fact that unless we address the weakest link in the chain, we cannot achieve balance. We find the "sho", or pattern of imbalance, not so much by listening to the complaints of the patient but by listening to the body. Our tools for listening are our senses. We touch the abdomen, listen to the quality of the voice, feel the texture, moisture and temperature of the skin, look at the colors of the skin, nails and hair, palpate the pulses and even smell the skin. From these examinations, we can determine the underlying imbalance and proceed to treat it. From the perspective of Japanese acupuncture, psychological or spiritual imbalance is usually the result of disorders of "qi" or Life energy. There is either insufficient qi or the qi is not circulating properly. From this perspective, depression, which is by far the most common spiritual imbalance in this country, is considered a form of fatigue. When we look at the clinical manifestations, this makes perfect sense. Because of insufficient or blocked Life energy, the spirit is fatigued or unable to shine in its fullness. Or, from a western clinical perspective, the brain is unable to acquire the proper chemicals in the proper amounts and the result is a gradual shutting down of systems and a subjective experience of lifelessness, fatigue, emptiness and even despair. The organs that are primarily associated with production of qi are the lungs and the spleen. The organ that is responsible for proper circulation of qi is the liver. So, in Japanese acupuncture, we look first to the lung, spleen and liver meridians as the most likely places to begin our examination. If we are lucky, we can find an immediate sign of deficiency in one of these meridians. But most patients aren't so cooperative. Often, the pattern if imbalance is hidden or complicated by overlying imbalances which obscure the core issue. This is where the experienced physician can look through all the confusing signs and symptoms and zero in on the underlying pattern of imbalance. And then, it is a simple procedure to strengthen the particular meridian that is weak and disperse the excess energy in any meridian that might be too strong. This is called the root treatment. A skilled physician will make the diagnosis and perform the root treatment in about 10 minutes. After we have performed the root treatment, the main objective is completed. It could be that the patient has come in with insomnia, or fatigue or depression or a whole host of other possible symptoms. But for a moment, the physician has to ignore all these complaints and search for the root imbalance - that inherent weakness that must be addressed before all else. After balancing the meridians, we are then ready to listen more closely to the patient's complaints. This is the second phase of the treatment in which we address the branch of the imbalance, or the patient's symptoms. It is true that eventually, the root treatments will bring the body and mind into a state of balance. But in the meantime, the patient may have some symptoms that are difficult or unpleasant. If the patient is experiencing fatigue, depression, insomnia, or any other symptoms of spiritual imbalance, there are specific techniques to remove the symptoms quickly. Sometimes, several treatments are needed. But for the most part, these methods will give the patient some relief until the root treatments can begin to take effect. Both the root and the branch treatment are important in order to maximize the overall effect of the treatment. So, going back to the ancient proverb about the three classes of acupuncture, we have addressed the first two. We have removed the symptoms and we have addressed the patient's inherent pattern of imbalance and in doing this, we have balanced his or her constitution. So what about nourishing the patient's Divine destiny? For this phase, there are no techniques or magic points. In Japanese acupuncture, we simply make our intention clear and take it as a given that when the body and mind are in balance with their original constitutional pattern, the individual will be in the best possible position it fall into alignment with Divine destiny. This is where two key factors come to play to give the treatment success on the spiritual level. First is the physician's clear intention. Second is his or her ability to establish rapport with the patient on an energetic level. In the traditional acupuncture of China, Japan and Korea, there are many other sophisticated theories of psychological disease or spiritual imbalance. It would take many volumes to cover this subject thoroughly. But the simple approach of Japanese acupuncture is to put all these theories aside and simply asks the fundamental question - where is the constitutional weakness? Having strengthened the person at his or her foundation, the body and mind will often respond, the spirit will again shine and destiny will be fulfilled. Bibliography |
