We are ourselves our best diagnostic tool

We often tend to forget that we have, in ourselves, the very best and most essential of diagnostic tools by which to track down our patients’ guardian elements.  For it is only through us, rather than through medical equipment or clinical tests, that we can work our way towards a diagnosis. It is our own sense of smell, our eyesight, our hearing and our emotional antennae which create the sensory mediums through which we assess what is coming from the patient towards us.

 

Above all, though, none of the diagnosis we make through our senses, however acute they may be and however accurately they lead us towards a particular element, will be sufficient in itself to encourage a patient’s elements to respond well to treatment directed at them, unless the practitioner has first managed to establish a good relationship with their patient.  It is the strength of this relationship which helps the patient’s elements to respond positively to treatment.

 

We often overlook the need to establish the groundwork for this relationship as early as possible.  The elements will be reluctant to respond positively to treatment, however well it is focused on the correct element, if this relationship has not yet established itself on a secure enough footing to make the patient relax sufficiently to trust his/her practitioner.

 

The order of priority in treatment should, therefore, always be, first to establish a good and caring relationship with your patient, and then to concentrate on trying to pin down their element, rather than doing this the other way round, which we often tend to to.  If our patient is at ease with us, it means that we are offering them something which is helping to relax their element.  It is then by taking steps to trace what it is within ourselves that we are actually offering our patient that we will find that, often unconsciously, we are basing our interaction with our patient on a correct assessment of their needs.  And that means that at some deep level we are responding accurately to our patient’s element.  And we should, of course, then use this information to help us in our diagnosis, 

             

The hidden pathways of energy which flow through us

As five element acupuncturists we often take for granted that the medium through which we work is created by lines of energy running through us, and from the world outside us, connecting all things in an inextricable web of energy.  We take this for granted whenever we do a seasonal or a horary treatment, for we are assuming then that each of us is linked into nature’s energy and will respond to it when we stimulate these points.  But each time we lift a needle and prepare to treat a patient, we will be effecting a similar transfer of energy between the patient and practitioner, and of course through both of them with the cosmic forces which feed us all.

 

We also need to accept that there is much more going on between us and our patients which underpins our treatments at a deep level, and may determine whether they are successful or not.  This helps explain why exactly the same treatment with the same points on the same element from one practitioner can appear to be falling on fallow ground, whereas the same treatment from another practitioner proves remarkably successful.  What may well differentiate the two practitioners may be their belief in what they are doing.  I learnt that this might be so from a comment from a fellow practitioner some years ago, who told me that he could not understand why the treatments he was offering his patients did not seem to have the same results as mine.  I realised that this might well be because he had told me he doubted the efficacy of five element treatment, and eventually moved on to practising another form of acupuncture.  His spirit which doubted what he was doing appeared to be affecting the treatment his hands were offering his patients.

 

This was the first time that I began to be aware of the power of the practitioner’s spirit in determining the outcome of the treatment he/she was giving.  The most profound lesson of all that I learned was when JR Worsley told us that he did not really need to light a moxa cone because his fingers warmed the point to the same degree.  Rather arrogantly, I thought I would see if I could also do this, and was amazed when my patient said,”Hot!” as my fingers hovered over a point, with my intention firmly focused on warming the point.  I never repeated this experiment, probably because I saw this as belittling the power of what JR had told us he could do.

 

Another profound experience of a slightly different kind was when I was marking up the points for a Husband/Wife treatment, and, being very early on in my practice, was concerned that passing energy from Metal to both Water and Wood as part of this procedure, would somehow be harmful to what I thought of as my Metal patient.  (It isn’t, because I would have followed the H/W procedure immediately with the Metal source points.). As I finished marking the points, and hesitated before actually inserting the needles, my patient suddenly said, “It does sound a dangerous thing, that Husband/Wife imbalance which your teacher mentions in his book.”  I sent thanks up to whatever spirit guides this universe, and carried on with the treatment.   I am still in awe of what was happening at some deep level at that moment in the practice room.  It was as though my patient had picked up on my doubts, and somehow felt she must reassure me that the Husband/Wife treatment was necessary.  She had never mentioned before that she had read JR Worsley’s book, and never mentioned it again, but some need in me was being answered by what she said.

 

Another instance of the power of the forces we engage with when we needle was given me during a possession treatment.  In those days, I think I was not focused enough to clear possession through the Internal Dragons, and so moved on to External Dragon treatment which involved needles in the AEPs (back shu points) of Water.  Once all the needles were inserted, my patient suddenly called out in pain, “Something is hurting me on my back!”.  When I looked, I could see that the AEP needle on one side of the Water AEPs was being dragged under, almost disappearing below a fold of skin, as though the needle was trying to position itself slightly higher than I had placed it.  I tried to remove the needle, but couldn’t, as it was held so firmly held in place.  All I could do was wait and see if the needle’s tug on the skin would lessen, and I could then take it out, which it did very easily after a few minutes.  I realised, too, that the treatment had cleared the possession.  Thinking of this afterwards, I interpreted this as my having marked the Kidney AEP point wrongly on one side, and the patient’s energy had directed the needle towards where I should have placed it.  

 

Again, this was one of those incidents which made me aware of the forces I was dealing with, and how much a patient’s own energy was trying to support the treatment I was trying to give.  These few examples have convinced me of the power we can unleash if we focus our thoughts clearly on what we are trying to achieve.

 

Finally, I am always thankful for whatever universal forces hovering above me have helped me in treating very ill patients, when I was given no time to carry out even the most basic diagnosis, since they could not even talk to me.  One such patient was somebody who had suffered a severe stroke, and another who was so severely ill from cancer that she could not speak to me.  I always felt that some hand was hovering over me, guiding me towards the correct diagnosis of these patients’ elements, and the treatment I should offer them.  The universe, I felt, was leading me to help my patients when I could not carry out he usual procedures.

 

As I have said before, I am not a fanciful person or one who had much belief in powers beyond me before I started my acupuncture practice, but my experiences over the years have taught me that what I am doing with these often rather clumsy fingers of mine can often stir into life some of the profound forces which surround us. 

Helpful hint 8: Learning to observe change in our patients

Detecting change in a patient as a result of treatment is one of the skills a five element practitioner has to learn.  These changes can be obvious both to the patient and the practitioner, but some are more subtle, and are perceptible perhaps only to the practitioner.  

 

I often gauge whether treatment has led to any changes in my patient by the way I feel about them.  They feel different to me, in a way which is often difficult to pin down ,but is quite clear to me.  I see this as proof that treatment is working.  It is when there is no change at all that I start becoming concerned that I am not directing treatment at the right element.

 

Sometimes we are fortunate, and a patient experiences some clear improvement after just a few treatments.  In other cases, changes can take longer.  Practitioners get better and better at detecting even tiny changes as they become more experienced.  Changes that we should be looking out for are slight improvements, such as a patient talking loess about something which used to obsess them, or holding a practitioner’s hands more firmly as pulses are being taken.

 

Any change is to be welcomes as a sign that the patient’s elements are responding to the treatment being offered.

A new insight into the relationship of Fire to Metal

 I love it when I get a sudden new insight into an element, or, as happened recently, into the relationship of two elements to each other.  I use myself as the source of many of these revelations, and have always done so.  I’m not sure how far other practitioners look to themselves in quite so studied a manner as I do.  It may, after all, be one of the characteristics of Inner Fire that, in trying to sort out its encounters with the world, it is constantly querying its own reactions to what is going on around it, as I always do.  It may well be that other elements are not so intent on looking inwards to discover an explanation for their relationships to other elements. I just know that everything I am aware of has to be filtered carefully through my own interpretations of the significance of what I am experiencing.

One of these acts of filtration occurred whilst I was planning future work with our Chinese students.  Much of my current teaching in China is now done with my good friend and former student, Guy Caplan.  Together we have developed many quite innovative ways of helping our Chinese students learn as much as they can in an environment where they only have few opportunities to learn in person from experienced five element acupuncturists, as Guy and I had the fortune to do over many years.  To help our students overcome this handicap we have developed many creative approaches.  What has, of course, also contributed to our success in doing this is the fact that much of the groundwork has already been laid for us because of what each Chinese student absorbs from birth as part of their cultural inheritance. 

 

Their understanding of the elements, for example, is so ingrained in them that I have no need to go through the often laborious procedures with which I try, sometimes unsuccessfully, to help English students to an understanding, not only of the existence of the elements as a philosophical concept, but of their practical and visible presence in each one of us.  Often I have been asked, “But are you sure that there are qualities called elements which we can feel, see, smell or hear?”  Some of my English students could not make the initial leap of faith necessary to allow them to accept the existence of the elements.  I myself never needed to convince myself of the truth of what I was learning because the startling effects of my first acupuncture treatment had confirmed to me that five element acupuncture did indeed base itself on a truth about human nature.   

 

In China, the elements are symbolic qualities which define all life and determine human behaviour as much as they dictate the cycling of the year from season to season.  Chinese students are therefore already well on the way to an understanding of the basic principles of five element acupuncture.  This is a blessing when we consider that all we can offer them are the few weeks of our twice-yearly seminars.  It is therefore very encouraging that in the 12 or more years of these visits, they have developed so rapidly in their understanding of five element practice that a large group of them is now running their own introductory seminars all around China in preparation for our visits.  

 

They will therefore be pleased to discover that I have made a further step in my understanding of the two elements which Guy and I represent.  I always like to make us living examples of our elements so that they can, if they are attentive enough, gain a deep personal insight into those we display so clearly in front of them as we teach.  These are the Metal element, which is Guy’s, and the Fire element, which is mine, and specifically both the yang officials of these elements, Guy’s the Large Intestine and mine the Small Intestine, the yang of Inner Fire.

 

I think it is no coincidence that these two officials are so tightly linked together by name, which represents not only their close physical relationship in the human body, but their much deeper emotional relationship. When I realised this, which I did only recently, it made me smile, because it helped explain why the two of us have worked together so closely and so harmoniously over many years.  The physical link, where the Small Intestine joins the Large Intestine, is reflected in the deeper mental and emotional associations.  So I set myself to work out exactly what this close relationship told me about the nature of both elements, and particularly of their yang officials, and how they interact with one another.  Here then is what I consider to be one of my most significant findings.  

 

We are both extremely sensitive to those aspects of our relationship which our close association over the years has taught us might well be areas of tension or disagreement between us.  I can only look at those which I have personally had to deal with, leaving it to Guy to explain his side of things if he chooses to do so at some point.  I know what he finds disconcerting is my, to him, disturbing habit of suddenly confronting him with having to deal with what is often a series of new ideas which I have come up with in the most fertile time of my day, which is the early morning.  It is then that all sorts of new ideas crowd my mind, and I am eager to discuss them with him when we next meet.  Guy, on the other hand, quite understandably needs time to absorb these new ideas, whereas I have learnt that my mind is quite able to dart from idea to idea quite easily.  Having seen the strain this puts on our relationship, by observing the somewhat startled look on his face as I launch into what I want to tell him, I have learnt to interpret this as a sign that I must hold back and give him time  to absorb each new project of mine at his own speed and definitely one at a time.

 

I see Guy’s reaction as an expression of his Metal element, and specifically his Large Intestine, which is the Metal official in control of expelling what it feels it needs to discard.  It needs longer than I do to assess new ideas to give it time to decide which it thinks should be kept and which should be rejected.  I used to want him to match my multi-dimensional thought processes, whereas what he needs is the time to work out his response to my ideas one at a time.  This has made me see that one of the Metal element’s qualities is that it needs to work on what is there, on what it is presented with, rather than what it itself initiates.  In our relationship, it is I who tend to initiate, and Guy who tends to work upon the ideas I present him with  In our work together over the years, I now recognise that it has been my task to initiate new approaches to teaching five element acupuncture, and it has been Guy’s to work upon what I have initiated, by modifying it or also quite firmly setting aside what he does not consider to be useful.  By contrast, I am much more concerned with formulating new ideas, but often forget to work out the implications and ramification of what I have formulated.  It is precisely at that point that Guy comes into his own, often with his Metal sword cutting my suggestions down to size or completely rejecting them. 

 

I also need to remind myself of the place in the cycle of elements taken up by Metal and Fire, because this reflects the focus of their activities, and helps add to my explanation of how well Guy and I work together. Although the elements create a never-ending cycle, without an actual starting- or end-point, we like to think of it as beginning with Wood, as a reflection of spring in the cycle of the seasons in nature, followed by Fire, Earth, Metal and Water.  There is a logic to this, because in nature the buds which Wood displays start the cycle of activity ending in autumn.  Each element in this cycle represents a particular aspect of every activity, just as much of a thought as of a season.  My Fire builds on Wood’s energy as it emerges from Water’s slumbering seeds bringing the cycle to full blossom, as nature shows in the blaze of a summer’s day, before passing this on to Earth to bring to full fruition.  Earth than hands over to Metal to draw meaning and value from all this activity, as autumn draws nature down towards the yin of the year.  I see Guy’s and my relationship in similar terms.