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individuation
SPLITS IN WESTERN
CONSIOUSNESS FROM AN ACUPUNCTURE PERSPECTIVE
Michael T Greenwood, MB
ABSTRACT
Behind
the current focus on evidence-based medicine and outcome studies lies
an assumption that things are unacceptable as they are and need to be
changed. I posit that such a view reflects a profound sense of alienation
in Western consciousness, which necessarily affects both practitioner
and patient in the therapeutic encounter. This article explores this
and other Western psychological splits, relating them to Oriental
energetic philosophies, and discusses the peculiar impact of "individuation"
on the development of symptoms in Western man.
KEY WORDS
Acupuncture,
Individuation, Anxiety, Compartmentalization, Five Elements
INTRODUCTION
In my medical acupuncture practice, I regularly
witness what appears to be an extreme split between mind and body in
my clients. Westerners appear to have a unique energetic predisposition
that emphasises individuation, our Eastern counterparts less
so. The philosophy of Oriental medicine addresses the separations of
Mind/Spirit, Mind/Heart, and Mind/Body in terms of Yin and Yang. I wonder
whether the ancients ever contemplated the degree to which these splits
have evolved in Western culture...
The Westerner's strong ego, combined with a
materialist bias and emphasis on the body as a machine in need of repair,
infers that the quest for healing generally needs to include some fundamental
reframing of experiences to feel more directly connected with what is
going on. The Westerner must not only reestablish balance and smooth
flow of energy to stabilize any gains, he/she then faces the daunting
task of transcending and integrating those primal splits in consciousness,
which give rise to the sense of separate identity in the first place.
One way this topic might be approached is to
explore the way our collective consciousness has structured its sense
of separate identity; comparison is then made to the Taoist view. These
splits have been broadly classified as: Existential (primary
dualism), Life-Death (secondary dualism), Mind-Body (tertiary
dualism), and Persona-Shadow (quaternary dualism).1
The Existential Split
The
existential split is so fundamental that it might be said to be an inherent
feature of Western consciousness. In a remarkable reflection of the
Genesis myth, the birth process thrusts us out of the primeval Eden
of the womb to begin the process of building an individual self, an
ego, or separate self. The Eastern perspective, by contrast, is perhaps
less separating. From that standpoint, man is not necessarily thrust
out of anything. Since the Tao is all encompassing,
as an observer of reality, man is regarded as "the eyes of the universe
looking at itself."
In the Taoist
view, man assumes the place of the Chonq Qi, the primal Qi that mediates
between Yin and Yang, which puts him in the position of mediating the
smooth flow of Qi between Yin and Yang.2
The implication is that if Westerners felt appropriately connected to
life, we might be able to allow the smooth flow of Qi (Fig.
1).
However,
modem Western man is very defined by his separate identity, which he
vigorously preserves and protects, feeling anything but connected. The
price of placing value on ourselves as separate individuals appears
to be that we then have to feel the separation. To some extent, the
downside of consciousness of self, as relayed in Genesis, is a feeling
of alienation, of being tossed out and not allowed entry again. Therein
lies the source of our Western angst.
This sense
of alienation, which is at the root of Western man's "beingness," manifests
as background anxiety and might best be called existential anxiety.
My opinion is that this existential anxiety is a key factor in the modem
Western patient, perhaps much more so than might be found in China,
India, or other Eastern cultures where the importance of the individual
is less emphasized. Indeed, those who travel to the East are often surprised
at how happy the people are despite their abject poverty. Existential
anxiety is perhaps the hallmark of the West; therein lies my belief
that it is behind the unique manifestation of Western illnesses, ranging
from addictions to insomnia to depression.
The tragedy
is that the existential anxiety we are trying to escape is our life
current, the basis of our existence. It feels bad because we misinterpret
its meaning, think of it as a threat to the ego, and resist it. Life
energy resisted feels like anxiety; the same energy allowed to flow,
feels like bliss. My belief is that more importantly than anything else,
a therapeutic approach for the Westerner
must address this fundamental issue.
In Chinese
medicine, the smooth flow of Qi is governed by the Wood element. If
we feel separated or excessively alienated, the Qi will flow erratically
or become distorted in some way. This would present primarily as a blockage
or stagnation of flow, leading to "stagnant Liver Qi," perhaps the reason
why that particular disharmony is so common in the West. Secondary manifestations
would be in the Water and Fire sectors, presenting as varying degrees
of severance between Yin and Yang. These would range from a fear paralysis
(too much Yin), to anxiety, insomnia, and the "empty fire syndrome"
(Yin deficiency or ungrounded Yang) (Fig. 2).
The Life-Death Split
One
consequence of the existential split is a fear of death. When we realize
that we exist separately from everything else, we also realize that
we will have to die some day. The inevitability of death looms greater
as life progresses. To begin with, we deal with the problem of anxiety
by simply ignoring or denying the issue. As one gets older, the issue
of looming death can generate increasing anxiety until it becomes an
overriding issue, often dwarfing any actual physical pathology that
might be present.
The desire
to avoid death at all costs becomes a real nightmare in modern medicine,
and fuels many interventions in a futile attempt to avoid the inevitable.
Our hospitals are rife with inappropriate death-defying medicine, furthered
by anxious patients, family, relatives, and physicians. As a culture,
we tend to deal with this issue by avoidance and denial. As physicians,
we often hide behind the ethical premise that we should always preserve
life.
In Oriental
medicine, the issue of death and renewal reflects the Metal element.
The Metal energy governs the letting go to allow in something new. If
there is an excessive anxiety around dying, with its associated inability
to let go, then the natural flow of transformational energy becomes
blocked and we will exhibit clinging-type behaviors. If patient and
physician focus on symptom suppression while ignoring the underlying
energetic imbalance, then the stage is set for more anxiety and increasingly
fruitless medical interventions.
As Yang
becomes increasingly separated from Yin, blockage of flow back toward
Yin exacerbates any previously existing anxiety and leads to many secondary
problems related to the inability to let go. The increasing Yin deficiency
means the "empty fire" syndrome tends to get worse. The focus of energy
stagnation now shifts toward the elderly person's obsessive states,
depression, and bowel problems (Fig. 3).
 The
Mind-Body Split
For
many of us, our sense of identity is experienced as a "little person"
or "Wizard of Oz" figure located between and behind the eyes, operating
the machinery of the body. The desire to avoid feeling our existential
anxiety has led us to comer our sense of identity in the safety of the
mind. Because the anxiety is felt in the body, we cut ourselves off
from the body as much as possible. For this cerebrally-located ego identity,
the body is a complete mystery, some thing
to be used but not to be trusted.
There
from our observation post in the gallery of the mind, safely encapsulated
in our cerebral locus, we look out at a threatening world and try to
figure out how to stay safe. It is from here that the ego decides that
the body's language should not be trusted; it is from this point that
we seek to explain away our existential anxiety by paradoxically worrying
about every ache or pain. Having retreated to the safety of the mind,
the ego attempts to contain the anxiety in the body through muscular
armoring. It rationalizes the body as separate from itself without realizing
that the separation exists only in its imagination.
The ego's
2 main strategies to avoid feeling anything are "containment" and "disassociation."
Containment produces muscular armoring, which eventually surfaces as
pain, tension, and joint breakdown. In addition, the intrapsychic war
it represents soaks up all our available energy and leaves us with chronic
fatigue. Disassociation, on the other hand, can co-exist with a remarkably
tension-free physical body. However, it leaves the body mysteriously
prone to falling apart with inexplicable neurological conditions simply
because we are not "present" to detect what is going on (Fig.
4).
Compartmentalization
After one successfully cuts off the mind
from the body, the ego then takes the process further and like a skillful
surgeon, begins to cut off the body from itself in an increasingly desperate
attempt to distance itself from its own anxiety. The ego's 2 strategies
of containment/disassociation lead to the construction of somatopsychic
compartments, in which walls of tension are built to resist the movement
of orbidden energies. At least 4 major bands of tension arise as frontiers
of containment. The first, at the level of the neck and jaws, represents
a physical manifestation of the mind-body split. Three further bands,
in the pelvis, diaphragm, and upper chest/shoulders, create the compartments
known in Traditional Oriental Medicine (TOM) as the 3 Jiaos.
The pelvic zone contains the energies of sexuality,
urinary function, and defecation; this roughly corresponds to the energies
of Water and Metal (and Wood). Diaphragmatic tension produces symptoms
in the mid-zone, which includes the stomach and issues of personal power,
and roughly corresponds to the energies of Earth (and Wood). The upper
chest contains the lungs and heart, and tends to concern energies relating
to Fire (also Wood and Metal) (Fig. 5).
Fire mediates
the upper Jiao, Earth the middle Jiao, and Water the lower Jiao. Wood
and Metal traverse the 3 Jiaos, Wood in an upward direction and Metal
in a downward direction. This analysis is not a complete synopsis of
Oriental medicine; the Water, Fire, and Earth energies also traverse
the 3 Jiaos. However, Western man's tension compartments often sever
Yin from Yang and Fire from Water to produce this kind of picture...
 Compartmentalization
and Trauma
A traumatic experience will superimpose
its unique compartment syndrome on top of any pre-existing arrangement
that might exist. For example, an injured arm may lead to a containment/disassociation
phenomenon in which the entire limb is compartmentalized and summarily
dismissed from the ego's notion of self. I recall a female patient whose
right arm had been electrocuted. Despite the fact that the arm had tested
neurologically normal, she complained of numbness and poor motor control,
both hallmarks of compartmentalization. Furthermore, she admitted to
an intense dislike for the extremity, and had so dissociated the arm
that she preferred not to look at it.3
Multiple Selves
Compartmentalization has both somatic and
psychic manifestations. Zones of tension contain different psychic energies;
their existence reflects the existence of separated personas within
a single individual. For example, someone with habitual pelvic tension
who has contained sexual energy there will have his/her sexual energy
compartmentalized. Once this occurs, sexual energy can only be accessed
through entering an altered state of consciousness, rather like a multiple
personality. Anne Stirling Hastings has written extensively on this
subject, and has dubbed that particular compartment the "shame compartment."4
From an energetic perspective, such splitting of psyche and soma is
so common that one could infer that everyone has multiple "selves,"
each one being dependent on a particular contextual frame for its expression.
That view has been postulated by Dr Brugh Joy.5
Thus, the classic "multiple personality" might simply be a variant of
a common imbalance; one end of a continuum of compartmentalization patterns
in which the various psychosomatic states are effectively sealed off
from each other.
A significant mind-body or body-body split
is present in almost everyone. The hallmark of the split is an undue
suspicion of bodily symptoms, combined with a desire to rationalize
or figure out "what is wrong." At times, the compartments can be physically
detected by palpating temperature differentials around the body, especially
across the 3 Jiaos. In an extreme mind-body split, the head and neck
may be hot to the touch while the rest of the body is ice cold (such
a patient will often complain of severe headaches or migraines). Blocks
in any zone will pro duce altered sensation across the block, creating
symptoms above, below, inside, or outside the block.
Addressing the mind-body split requires more
than opening a block with acupuncture; it requires giving the patient
an understanding of how he/she is habitually containing and disassociating.
Without such an understanding, patients will simply re-establish their
habitual energetic configurations. Thus, it is not simply a matter of
treating symptoms, but rather of encouraging patients to become aware
of their own particular avoidance strategies so that they may consciously
terminate them. However, this approach is not without difficulty; the
mark of success is a resurgence of existential anxiety, which patients
do not want to feel.
Energetic considerations eventually force patients
to confront the issue of personal responsibility; sooner or later, all
of us must face our own anxiety. If mind and body are one, the patient
does not have a problem; he or she is the problem. Succinctly, whoever
is presenting with a problem is the problem. From an energetic standpoint,
we don't acquire an illness - we are the illness.
The Persona-Shadow Split
We enjoy
thinking that our mind and bodies are separate because it allows us
to maintain the illusion that our ego is completely innocent, while
we look around to find something separate from us that we can rationalize
is the cause of the problem. Then, we can attack that "cause" with righteous
vigor, all the while maintaining our innocence and lamenting the vicissitudes
of life. Surely, such an approach has worked quite well for many infectious
diseases, which may be why the germ theory remains so popular today
and why we take antibiotics for so many things.
Pretending
we are separate from our bodies encourages an adversarial approach to
all illnesses. By maintaining the illusion of a mind-body split and
projecting the problem elsewhere, we can blame microbes for attacking
us, allergens for making us allergic, politicians for betraying us,
or our physical body for failing us; we simultaneously pretend that
we have nothing to do with the problem.
This deferral
and projection of responsibility leads us to yet another split, one
between different parts of the ego itself. The ego, wanting to believe
in its own innocence, splits itself into what it likes (the persona),
and what it doesn't like (the shadow), which it then rationalizes as
belonging to someone else. It is very common to encounter this problem
in illness; not only do many people not want to "own" their illness,
but those same people would like to believe their illness is someone
else's responsibility. The assumption is so all-pervasive that it is
usually seen as self-evident, and patients are often quite affronted
by the suggestion that they might in any way be responsible for the
process going on in their bodies.
For example,
many patients I see who are in chronic pain are extremely angry at everyone
and do not realize that the anger is precisely what is keeping their
muscles so tight. They will frequently deny the anger in themselves
while simultaneously blaming everyone around them for being unhelpful.
Quite often, they look at me incredulously if I hint that they might
be the source of their own tension.
This should
not be misinterpreted as the physician being callous or uncaring. It
is only natural for the ego, habituated as it is to a "victim" position,
to instinctively recoil when faced with the idea of personal responsibility.
It then usually musters a spirited defense of its blameless position,
rather than consider the benefits of adopting a more responsible perspective.
The value of accepting personal responsibility is not to make the ego
wrong, but rather to shift the locus of control back to the self where
it rightfully belongs. It is not a matter of blame; quite the contrary,
we accept responsibility because we want to be free.
The hallmark
of a persona-shadow split is in the deferral of personal responsibility.
Patients with this level of split firmly believe that everything has
an external cause; they will often expend much time and energy trying
to eliminate whatever they have rationalized as the cause of their problem.
If they cannot find an external cause, they expect the doctor to find
one for them and may get upset if their expectations are not met. To
avoid such friction, physicians may feel
pressured to diagnose some plausible theory of disease causation that
does not implicate the patient. My belief is that this is the wrong
approach.
The Five Elements and Persona-Shadow
Splits
It is at the persona-shadow level that
the Five Elements system becomes a useful metaphor. The directional
vector of a patient's natural energy dictates the likely distortion
that the energy will take when the patient's rejected energy becomes
projected (Fig. 6). Such an exploration is beyond
the scope of this article; readers are referred to available acupuncture
texts .6,8
For the purposes of this discussion,
the question is this: having moved the energy associated with the elemental
imbalance, how does one go deeper and address the pre-existent mind-body
and existential splits so that the energetic shift can be stabilized?
It has been my experience that without addressing those more primal
levels, any energetic imbalance to which the patient is prone will simply
reassert itself. The following vignettes illustrate the various levels
and how they present. In any given situation, the solution may or may
not involve acupuncture, but the question of "intent" is highly relevant.9
CASE REPORTS
A Persona-Shadow Level Presentation and Traumatic Compartmentalization
The
Wood energy reflects creativity and upward movement; symptoms can arise
in any of the areas along the trajectory of the Shao Yang/Jue Yin axis.
The rejected energy is likely to be anger/hostility; because of its
transpersonal nature, it may take on mythical proportions. Projected/rejected
Wood energy often presents as passive-aggressive hostility.
I recall
"Joe," a patient who presented with chronic pain in the left groin and
had a history of 5 surgeries in the area. The first 2 were for an undescended
left testicle as a small child. As an adult, Joe strained his groin
in a workplace injury and subsequently developed an inguinal hernia.
The surgical repair included insertion of a mesh, but because of continuing
pain, he had a further revision and eventual removal of the mesh. The
pain continued and by the time I saw him, he had an "attitude problem"
and was hostile toward virtually everyone.
- This patient's persona-shadow split
involved projected hostility.
- His rage was compartmentalized in the
left leg, from which he had disassociated.
- His mind-body split involved mind-body
dissociation, and a major band of tension in the diaphragm.
- His primary split, his existential anxiety,
was expressed through addictions to cigarettes, antidepressants, and
a variety of painkilling medications.
I initially
worked with the Shao Yang/Jue Yin axis, which invoked extensive myoclonic
shaking10 in the left leg,
and used the Principle of "intention" to help him connect to his rage.
After a few sessions in which I focused on creating appropriate rapport,
Joe indicated a readiness to "explode." In the context of a "safe container"
(a residential setting and support staff), I needled LIZ 3 and GB 40
to open the Jue Yin/ Shao Yang axis, LIZ 10 to focus the energy in the
groin, and LIZ 14 and LU I (the exit-entry points) to open the diaphragm
and encourage the movement of energy into the Shao-Yin. Within moments,
he went into an altered state, began to growl like a large cat, pawed
the floor as if he had claws, and even tore up the mattress cover with
his teeth.
When he returned to normal consciousness, he
revealed that he had felt and acted like a panther, and had experienced
the energy of the animal entering his body. Interestingly, the panther
image was one in which he had always felt a profound affinity, and with
the recapture of such a primal energy, his hostility transformed to
softness and warmth. With this experience, he became intensely curious
about energetic approaches and so began an integration of his personashadow
split.
Next, to
encourage integration at the mind-body level, my strategy was to open
the pelvis, diaphragm, and neck, and help the patient to reframe the
rage, represented by the panther as positive. Because the panther energy
might be understood to represent the Hun and Po (Ethereal and Corporeal
Souls), in the next session I needled BL 47 (HunMen), BL 43 (PoMen),11
and Window to the Sky points, GB 20 and TH 16 .12
These points were intended to embody the panther energy and to make
a connection between mind and body. With these points, the patient went
into a deeply relaxed state.
However
impressive it was, this work might have been in vain if Joe had done
nothing to address his existential split. To be sure, he had a big release
and felt better temporarily. But he was accustomed to mistrusting his
body, living life from a place of invalidism, and doing nothing creative
with his life. His illness had become his "raison d'etre," the
creative expression of his Wood energy. Without his symptoms it was
not long before he was plunged into major anxiety as he began to contemplate
the implications of his experience.
A Mind-Body Level Presentation
Another
patient I recall, "Karen," was a long-term Vipassana practitioner who
presented with the troublesome symptom of ongoing nausea and a sensation
of things going round and round. Despite being no stranger to daily
spiritual practice, she was puzzled about I why she was not improving
despite years of introspection.
Karen's
constitutional was probably Earth; she had symptoms in the center, a
slight yellow tinge to the skin, a sweet smell, and a melodic voice.
However, her problem had less to do with a personashadow split, which
might have presented as food allergies or chronic fatigue, and more
to do with a mistrust of the body, a hallmark of the mind-body split.
I began
my approach with the Yang-Ming orbit, adding ST 25 as a centering point,
and Window to the Sky points such as ST 9 and LI 17. But it was at the
mind-body level that she made the breakthrough. I asked her, "What would
happen if you trusted the impulse to move around?" She was open and
willing to try most anything.
We removed
the needles as she began to move in a circular fashion, arms and legs
circling rhythmically, responding to an inner compulsion she had resisted
for 15 years. A few moments later, she stood up and began to dance,
her arms moving round and round. This movement went on for 10 minutes.
She then collapsed in a heap, her nausea totally abated.
There was
little problem persuading Karen to introduce a daily practice of meditation
to her existing routine of spiritual practice. Her physical problem
was entirely based in her mind-body split, which had
gone unrecognized.
A Life-Death Level Presentation
A presentation
that clearly involves the life-death split is terminal cancer. Tim,
an abuse counselor, presented with a pleural effusion caused by secondaries
from a non-specific adenocarcinoma, the primary site being unknown.
Tim was desperately seeking alternative treatment after being told there
was no conventional treatment other than possibly a trial involving
Taxol (among other things), an antineoplastic derived from the West
Coast Yew tree. This patient was aware of the minuscule 5-year survival
rates for someone in his condition. However, he remained outwardly in
denial, insisting he was going to "beat" the disease.
In his career,
Tim became friendly with a "band elder" who previously had encouraged
him to take part in a ritual that involved ingesting a traditional potion
from the Yew tree. Personally collecting the bark was part of the ritual.
Tim found a grove of Yew trees in a forested area. However, as he approached
the trees, he was overcome by a sense of anxiety and was unable to proceed.
He determined
to "ask permission" from the trees to continue. Vulnerable and to a
point of surrender, Tim shed his clothes, plunged 'into a nearby river,
and then posed his question, "Is it all right if I take some of your
bark?" Surprisingly, an answer presented immediately, "Yes, you must
take some now." Tim reported feeling a type of "inner explosion." He
forgot this experience and thought little more of the Yew trees until
mentioning it to me. Furthermore, he had made no connection between
that experience and the present situation of his ambivalence over enrolling
in a Taxol trial.
This was
a dramatic recollection of his story and both of us were in awe of the
mysterious workings of the Tao. In the end, Tim was not treated with
acupuncture but instead, I suggested that he return to see the band
elder, meditate on the mystery of death, and reflect on integrating
his experience.
I saw Tim
a few months later, 2 weeks before his death, in a peaceful state, grateful
for his life, and looking forward to the next stage of life.
The Existential Level
The
quintessential presentation at this level is anxiety, which is worth
remembering if someone presents directly with the symptom. However,
more often that not, patients present with the anxiety buried under
several other layers of symptoms. It comes to the forefront as the treatment
progresses. It is bound to surface sooner or later and when it does,
it can be shocking to everyone.
The surfacing
of existential anxiety forces a confrontation between the ego's "view
of itself" as separate, and "reality as it is." It often surfaces at
the moment symptoms begin to improve. When one is well, plans for the
future must be confronted. Illness absorbs our existential anxiety,
and so deals with the primal problem of alienation that justifies the
attitude itself. The rationalization is: "If the universe weren't out
to get me, then why have I been so ill?"
Consequently,
the threat of getting well simultaneously plunges one into a huge cognitive
dissonance as the whole rationale for alienation is thrust into question.
Herein lies the ultimate secondary gain of illness.
When the anxiety resurfaces during treatment, it is often too much for
the ego to handle because the ego has structured its own selfimage around
the problem of alienation. Thus, from the ego's alienated perspective,
improving appears very much like annihilation. Faced with that possibility,
many people retreat back into their symptoms.
This is the true
test of whether the patient is sincere in his/her desire to heal as
he/she struggles toward a more authentic sense of self, or allows the
opportunity to pass. From a practitioner's standpoint, a situation exists
in which clear intent is mandatory. The emergence of existential anxiety
plunges the patient to the entrance of the Golden Gate, the gate of
destiny. "The practitioner must encourage the patient to pass through
the gate, but be willing to allow an uncertainty as to what will emerge.
The patient mentioned
earlier, Joe, experienced this situation. His repressed soul was contacted
in a dramatic way. While he was initially ecstatic, his joy quickly
gave way to an attack of existential anxiety, making him so tense that
within a few days, his symptoms returned. Helping a patient traverse
the existential crisis can call on the practitioner's greatest skill.
- At the constitutional level, the patient
could be given repeated experiences of energetic flow, while reinforcing
the notion that the experience of flow is positive rather than negative.
Technically, this might involve nothing more than the use of source
points on the meridians reflecting the constitutional type, plus local
points in the symptom zone. In Joe's case, this would imply the Jue
Yin/Shao Yang axis and the use of local points in the area of pain.
- At the mind-body level, the "Window
to the Sky points," based on constitutional type and local tenderness,
could be used. 12 These
points are situated in and around the neck, anatomically located at
the interface between mind and body.
- At the level of intrabody compartmentalization,
the bands of tension, wherever they are found, can be repeatedly opened.
For example:
Pelvic tension
Water Focus
Metal Focus
Dai Mo |
|
CV4, GV3, 4, BL 22, 23, 28
ST 25, 28, BL 25
(GB 4 1, TH 5, GB 26) |
Diaphragm
tension
Yin exit-entry blocks |
|
CV 12, BL
20, 21
SP 21 - HT 1, KI 22 - MH 1,
LR 14 - LU 1 |
Upper Chest tension
Fire Focus
Metal Focus
Water Focus |
|
CV 17, GV 10, 11, BL 14, 15
LU 1, 2, GV 12,13, BL 12,13
KI 23, 24, 25
|
At the level
of Yin and Yang, the Chong Mo might be opened. As the central axis,
the Chong Mo mediates a direct connection between the Ming Men, the
Heart, and the Mind.14
From an
existential perspective, points that directly mediate the connection
between Heaven and Earth might be chosen, such as: CV
4 (Origin Pass), CV I (Meeting of Yin, Golden Gate), GV 4 (Gate of Destiny),
and GV 20 (Hundred Meetings.
Dynamic Meditation
Ultimately,
patients must negotiate the passage for themselves; for that, most people
must eventually take up a regular contemplative discipline. Avery useful
technique that integrates mind and body is to have clients take up a
meditative discipline, and then encourage them to make part of the routine
a self-directed dynamic experience. That is because frequently, people
will use quiet sitting meditations in an entirely mental way and in
so doing, inadvertently strengthen their mind-body split. To be effective
at overcoming the split, the meditation must become embodied. Moving
meditations such as Tai Qi or Qi Gong are ideal for this purpose,15
but if an individual prefers a sitting discipline, then he/she may add
a few minutes of dynamic, body-centered work at the end.
The key
to dynamic meditation is to begin to allow physical movement while in
the state of mindfulness engendered by meditation. With this approach,
it is often possible with little coaching to teach people how to open
the flow of their blocked energies on a dayto-day basis. Such home practice
simultaneously impacts all the various levels of split:
- The ego-shadow split reintegrates as
we familiarize ourselves with the previously rejected energy.
- The mind-body split reintegrates as
we learn to trust the messages coming from the body.
- Existential anxiety and fear of death
gradually transform into bliss as the experience of anxiety is increasingly
interpreted simply as energy flow.
CONCLUSION
Western
man's emphasis on individuation leads to a peculiar energetic imbalance,
one that often leaves one extraordinarily resistant to healing as long
as one holds tightly to the ego's self-image. Indeed, for many of us,
healing will require that we transcend our egos before we can find a
resolution. My belief is that such a solution goes beyond what acupuncture
as a technical skill can provide. It demands that the practitioner encourage
the patient to begin a contemplative discipline as part of the therapy.
Since the best teaching is through example, it places the onus on us
as physicians to embrace a contemplative discipline as well.
Practical
value lies in becoming aware of and transcending one's own sense of
separation; much of the stress of medical practice can be related to
this issue alone. Difficulties arise as we view disease, diagnosis,
the patient, and/or ourselves as separate entities. Despite what we
might imagine from our training and upbringing, separation is not a
reality but only the perception of it. The Tao from which one can separate
is not the real Tao. 16
The ideas
that the patient is separate from his disease, or that the practitioner
is separate from the patient, are expressions of our own alienation.
They are rooted in the idea that we are outside the loop of Yin
and Yang, from which position whatever we might do is likely to
distort the smooth flow of Qi. We should remember this concept before
we quickly reach for the prescription pad, contemplate a procedure,
or needle an acupuncture point.
The core
issue is this: the primal split in consciousness, which lies immanent
in most of our patients, is not an issue we can treat in the usual
way. The very idea of "treating" is rooted in our own existential split.
If that issue were honestly faced, it would profoundly affect everything
we do and change the face of medicine beyond recognition.
No longer driven to change anything, we would be free from the constraints
of theory, free to be ourselves, and free to allow healing to emerge
as it will.
REFERENCES
I . Wilber
K. The Spectrum of Consciousness. Wheaton, III: Quest Books;1993:94-147.
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3. Greenwood MT. Braving
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5. Brugh Joy W. Avalanche:
Heretical Reflections on the Dark and the Light. New York, NY: Random
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6. Hammer L. Dragon Rises
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Foundations of Chinese Medicine: A Comprehensive Text for Acupuncturists
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86-87, 80-81.
12. Deadman P, A]-Khafaji
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13. Jarrett L. The loss
and return of original nature: the law of Husband/Wife. Am J Acupuncture.
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14. Helms JM. Acupuncture
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15. Wang ZG. Taoism
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Graphics were designed by Dr Greenwood's
son, Richard Greenwood.
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Dr Michael
Greenwood is the Medical Director. of the Victoria Pain Clinic, a residential
facility in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Dr Greenwood's specialty
is working with chronic pain and illness patients, developing techniques
integrating the body, mind, and spirit. His books, Paradox and Healing,
reviewed in this issue and co-authored with Dr Peter Nunn, and Braving
the Void, reflect this interest in healing and complementary medicine.
Michael T. Greenwood, MB,
BChir, CCFP, CAFCI, FRSA
Victoria Pain Clinic
365 Hector Road, RR#3, Victoria, BC, Canada V8X 3XI
Phone/Fax: 250-595-1486 - E-mail: mgreenwo@islandnet.com
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