Feng Xie

Spring it in the air! It feels long overdue in the Midwest, where winters are both frigid and dark. With tulips and daffodils slowly making an appearance, the fragrance of apple blossoms and the trees moving quickly from bud to leaf, the seasonal energy is fresh, new and uplifting. Unfortunately, what makes spring so beautiful for many also leads to misery for those who suffer from symptoms of seasonal allergies. According to ACAII, seasonal allergies affect an estimated 40 to 60 million people each year.

When a person inhales the trigger allergen, the body’s immune system reacts with the following symptoms (ordered by frequency):

• Stuffy nose due to blockage or congestion

• Itching, usually in the nose, mouth, eyes, or throat·      

• Puffy, swollen eyelids 

• Sneezing

• Cough

Record snowfall years are often associated with hightened springtime allergies; a good predictor to take into consideration. If spring is just hitting in your area, or if you are currently in the middle of the “pollenpocalypse,” these simple exercises will get your energy flowing, settle your overactive immune response and relieve symptoms including headaches, dizziness, congestion and insomnia.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the Spring season is governed by the Wood element and arrives on the Wind. TCM has long held the belief that Wind is considered the primary disrupter of one’s health and the precursor to the “100 diseases”, being associated with acute diseases like colds, flus AND seasonal allergies.

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“Diseases develop from Wind.”

~Huangdi Neijing, ancient Chinese medical text

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The presence of a Wind weakens the system, making the body more susceptible. Given Wind is “light and airy”, the Huangdi Neijing notes “the damage inflicted by Wind affects primarily the top” [of the body], especially the face, skin, sweat glands and lungs. When the body’s defensive capabilities are weakened, a mismatch in the opening and the closing of the pores is created, resulting in the invasion of pathogenic factors causing disease(s) // symptom(s) such as headache, nasal obstruction, painful or itchy throat, facial edema, abnormal aversion to wind and/or perspiration.”1

Within TCM, this bodily influence from the environment is also referred to as Feng Xie, pernicious influence and (my personal favorite!) the 5 influence devils. External wind and Internal wind are the two pathological Winds. External wind is the focus of this post and is equated with the season of Spring, comes from outside and enters the body through unbalanced or vulnerable meridian acupoints. When the Wind comes in contact with these points, they become portals where your vital life energy flows out and the mischievous effects of the external environment flood in. Conditions arising from this state are acute and common, including: influenza, sinus infection, skin eruption(s), sore throat, rash, cough and eye disorders. 

Along with introducing a topic that is quite unheard of in western medicine (that a force from the outdoor environment can carry various types of external energies into the body including, dampness, dryness, coldness and heat), TCM provides guidance on common Wind entry points. Fortunately, these points can be used within the Eden Method, allowing you to not only assess but also balance important points without the use of acupuncture needles! In addition, there are several acupoints that are well known for clearing energetic residue (liver, lung, large intestine), which are included in this acupoint protocol.  

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“When my son was young, we made annual trips to Florida to visit family. We always stopped at Miami Beach for a bit of sun and sand. It was usually quite windy and when we’d return to the house in the afternoon, my son would spike a fever and get colicky. Every. Single. Time.

His body was trying to communicate the energetic imbalance, but at the time I was unaware of the concept of Wind Points and was unable to interpret the message.”

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Pause to Calm Flight-Flight-Freeze 

Before addressing the Wind and clearing acupoints, it’s critical to STOP the runaway train! When the body is experiencing any type of invasion / symptoms, triple warmer (your body protector) gets over-activated and in turn, spleen becomes depleted.

1. First, calm triple warmer meridian, by releasing excess energy. Begin by tracing your fingers from the inside of the eyebrow, over the top of the eyebrow to the opening of the ear, up and over the ear and smooth down the neck to your shoulders. Give your shoulders a firm squeeze.

2. Second, strengthen spleen meridian by either rubbing the spleen neurolymphatic points on the sides of the body, located ~5 inches below the arm pit atop of the ribcage (see diagram below). Or, practicing the Triple Warmer Smoothie exercise.

3. If these techniques are new to you, take a look at this blog post to learn more.

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Point Locations + Energy Balancing:

Governing meridian runs up the spine and therefore has just a single point (see points denoted in white on diagram). All other meridians in this protocol run on both sides of the body or bilaterally (see points denoted in black on diagram). 

One by one, locate each point. Using firm pressure rub each point to stimulate the area for 4-5 seconds. Once the point is stimulated, slowly trace several figure 8’s over the point(s).

• Lung 7 ‘Broken Sequence’ – Located in the inside of the arm, 2 finger widths above the wrist crease, over the radius bone and in line with the pointer finger

• Large Intestine 4 ‘Union Valley‘ – Located in the webbing on the back of the hand, between the thumb and index finger. *DO NOT STIMULATE THIS POINT IF PREGNANT*

• Governing 20 ‘Hundred Convergences’– Located at the top, center of the skull

• Triple Warmer 17 ‘Shielding Wind’– Located bilaterally behind the ear lobes, on the mastoid bone

• Governing 16 ‘Wind Palace’ – Located in the hallow where the top of the spine joins the skull

• Gallbladder 20 ‘Wind Pool’– Located on each side of the spine, just below the occipital bone

• Gallbladder 21 ‘Should Well’– Located bilaterally above the clavicle in the trapezius muscle (where the neck meets the shoulder)

• Governing 14 ‘Great Hammer’ – Located in the base of the cervical spine (C7)

• Bladder 12 ‘Wind Gate’ – Located on each side of the spine, at the top level of the thoracic spine (T1)

• Bladder 40 ‘Bend Middle’ – Located bilaterally just behind the knees, in the leg crease

• Liver 3 ‘Great Rushing’– Located bilaterally on the top of the foot, in the depression about one thumb-breadth from the edge of the webbing between the first and second toes 

If you are familiar with energy testing you can energy localize each point and test to see if it shows up strong or weak. If you are unfamiliar with energy testing, a good indicator for assessing the health of any acupoint is tenderness or palpable congestion. Another indicator specific to Wind Points is when just being in the wind causes discomfort or immediate symptoms. When in doubt, simply rebalance all points! This 11-point sequence takes about a minute to complete and you can never “over-do” energy balancing! Continue correcting several times per day for 3-5 days or until any symptoms have resolved. And, once you’ve infused your body and Wind Points with greater energetic vitality, get outside (barefoot of course!) and enjoy having Spring in the air!

Own Your Wellness!

ENERGY BALANCING FOR SEASONAL ALLERGIES

Heart Centered

When we hear the phrase “the heart remembers” most conjure images of romance novels, flowery poetry or earnest but flawed chick flicks. What doesn’t usually come to mind are the basic biological principles of the body. The heart does remember, along with learning and making independent decisions, using mechanisms similar to other organ systems – the brain, the gastrointestinal tract and the immune system. Beyond cellular memory, the heart shares a second trait with the brain: it generates a powerful electromagnetic field, one that is 60 times greater in amplitude (measured via ECG/EEG respectively).

The heart’s magnetic field, which is the strongest rhythmic field produced by the human body, not only envelopes every cell of the body, but also extends out in all directions into the space around us. The heart’s magnetic field can be measured several feet away from the body by sensitive magnetometers.

The significant difference between electromagnetic field size of the brain vs. the heart begs the questions – should we be following the advice of our heads or hearts? Additionally, if the heart ‘remembers,’ how do life events and emotions impact heart health?

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In recent years, science has begun to uncover the effect the heart has on both physical and spiritual health – and it is far more ‘energetic’ than previously acknowledged in western medicine. Broken heart syndrome, also called stress-induced cardiomyopathy or takotsubo cardiomyopathy, is a real diagnosis. An individual suffering from broken heart syndrome presents with symptoms similar to heart attack, including shortness of breath and chest pain. While heart attack is generally caused by a complete or near complete blockage of a heart artery, in broken heart syndrome the heart arteries are not blocked. Although blood flow in the arteries of the heart may be reduced, the condition is often preceded by an intense emotional event:

• The death of a loved one

• A frightening medical diagnosis

• Domestic abuse

• Losing — or even winning — a lot of money

• Strong arguments

• A surprise party

• Public speaking

• Job loss or financial difficulty

• Divorce

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Traditionally, the study of communication pathways between the head and heart has been approached from a rather one-sided perspective, with scientists focusing primarily on the heart’s responses to the brain’s commands. Emerging science has demonstrated that communication between the heart and brain is actually a dynamic, ongoing, two-way dialogue, with each organ continually influencing the other’s function. In fact, researchers have discovered the heart communicates to the brain via four distinct means. Communication along all these conduits significantly affects the brain’s activity and the messages the heart sends to the brain can also affect human performance.

• neurologically — through the transmission of nerve impulses

• biochemically — via hormones and neurotransmitters

• biophysically — through specified pressure waves

• energetically — through electromagnetic field interactions

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As far back as the middle of the 1800s, it was recognized that the heart, overtaxed by constant emotional influences and thus deprived of its appropriate rest, suffers disorders of function and becomes vulnerable to disease, which takes us full circle to broken heart syndrome. From a psychophysiological perspective, emotions are central to the experience of dis-ease. On a near daily basis new research is published, highlighting how stress and negative emotion increases disease severity and worsens prognosis for individuals suffering from a range of diseases or conditions. In contract, there is a growing base of evidence supporting how positive emotion and effective emotional self-regulation can prolong health and significantly reduce premature mortality.

The graphs below show the average power spectra of 12 individual 10-second epochs of ECG data, each reflecting heart-field energetic patterns of emotion, comparing appreciation to anger.

The difference in the patterns and thus the information they contain, can be clearly identified. Given every cell in the body is bathed in the invisible energetic frequency, it becomes strikingly clear that we must demote our brains and start living from our hearts.

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“We are so used to letting our heads be in charge of our lives that when we start reacting with our hearts instead, it feels like a miracle, like a whole new existence. And it is! The heart is the center of our body's universe and the center of our feelings. This is as it should be. Your head is way off at the edge of your body. You can't balance when you are living from there. Your head isn't grounded in the reality of your body. Let your heart be the center and watch your whole life transform.” ~Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, Cardiologist

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Every aspect of our lives will influence our hearts. The word healing comes from the Old English word haelan meaning “whole” and thus signifies the process of becoming more whole. And so the question becomes – are you ready to step toward wholeness? To figure out exactly who you are, knowing what makes you happy, knowing your strengths and weaknesses and understanding that while you are not perfect, you can be as perfect as possible? Are you ready to empower yourself with your own personal heart handbook? Are you ready to take over the wheel of your life, to be in the driver's seat, to propel yourself forward toward greater self-care, self-awareness and wholeness?

Energy healing and Qigong are such powerful practices for supporting you in coming home to your heart, connecting in a more profound way with your true Self and moving toward wholeness. While scientific validation is demonstrating what so many of us have witnessed or intuitively recognized, no amount of research will ever surpass personal experience! And do not dismiss the potency, if after one application you do not notice an astonishing, long-lasting change. Just as you cannot control high blood pressure with a single dose of medication, it takes time and consistency to get your body, and ultimately your energies, reorganized.

For those who are interested in starting or continuing to build your energy healing tool box, take a moment to practice these three easy and effective heart balancing exercises.

“It was when I stopped searching for home within others
and lifted the foundations of home within myself
I found there were no roots more intimate
than those between a mind and body
that have decided to be whole.”

— Rupi Kaur

Fight Flight Freeze

With the beautiful Spring sunshine, the new season brings the energy of change, growth, momentum and movement. Spring carries Yang energy, meaning outward, active and masculine. We already exist in a society of perpetual motion and this surge of “take action” energy, can easily stress the system and transform sunshine into rain!

Many adults, and an ever-increasing number of adolescents, are living in perpetual “stress-mode”. As the demands of constantly-connected careers and modern-day parenting skyrocket, unreasonably high levels of stress have become the “new norm.” According to a recent survey by the American Psychological Association (APA), job pressures, money, health, poor nutrition, media overload and sleep deprivation rate as top stressors in the US.1 Most notable is that nearly 66% of Americans reported they were likely to seek help for stress management!

Frequent or unresolved stress can result in significant physiological changes that can be unpleasant in the short-term, and greatly impact health and well-being in the longer-term. According to  Linda Gallo, PhD, Clinical/Health Psychologist and co-director of the San Diego Institute for Behavioral and Community Health Studies, “stress can negatively affect health and even contribute to chronic health problems such as diabetes and heart disease.”2

In bringing the Eden Method (EM) and energy medicine to a broader population, including cancer survivors and those impacted by chronic health disorders, practices to promote relaxation and stress-management have become a central theme. Many feel powerless in changing stress-inducing circumstances and/or environments, and instead, the goal is to support you in changing your stress response! 

There are many effective strategies to help mitigate the effects of stress: meditation, yoga, reading, spending time in nature and journaling. Another approach, which is not as well-known in the Midwest, is balancing your body’s energy system. 

The experience of stress has an immediate impact on every system of the body. Often before the onset of a physical symptom (i.e. headache, fever, heart palpitations) an individual will experience an emotional symptom (anxiety, sleeplessness or even anger). From an energetic perspective, prior to feeling the emotion, there are quantifiable changes in the body’s biologic and energetic pathways, including: biofield, biochemical, cellular and neurological processes.3In other words, the very first response to stress in felt in your subtle energies!

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“The meridians not only feed vital energies to their related organs, they also reflect any pathological disturbances in those organs, thus providing a convenient and highly accurate tool for diagnosis as well as therapy.”

~Daniel Reid, The Essence of Chi-Gung

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Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has used the meridian system for thousands of years to help calm the stress response and restore energetic balance. Meridian energy is an integral component of the EM and you can easily tap into this system to repattern your stress response. According to Donna Eden, founder of the Eden Method, the triple burner or triple warmer (TW) meridian is primarily responsible for helping to better manage stress. In addition to its role in stress, TW is also responsible for immune system function and is therefore a critical pathway for maintaining vitality. When TW becomes activated, the body switches into high alert, to prepare for battle or flee from the hungry wolf. Because these primal behaviors were wired into humans thousands of years ago, they continue to impact the body. Blood is shifted away from the forebrain (which is responsible for reasoning, learning and emotion) to the amygdala (the part of your brain that governs your survival instincts) and stress chemicals flood into the bloodstream.4  This biologically programmed stress response results in the mind/body feeling as if there is an imminent threat; when in reality, you are just dealing with an overbearing co-worker or rush hour traffic.

Are you tired of feeling like your constantly facing mortal danger? Are you ready to start repatterning your stress response? You have the power to reprogram your energetic body to no longer switch into crisis mode when faced with the stresses of modern life. And in doing so, your chemistry (cortisol) will follow, your reasoning skills will stay intact and your body will hold less tension!

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Triple Warmer

Meridian tracing to release excess energy

Release Energy from Triple Warmer Meridian

By tracing TW meridian backwards, excess energy is released and the body’s stress response is calmed and relaxed. This is a very helpful technique to use when you notice your unique response to stress, such as emotional anxiety, neck or upper back tension or increased heart rate. 

1.   Place your right pinky finger at the inside edge of the left eyebrow. Relax your abdominal muscles and take a deep breath in through the nose.

3.   On the exhale trace your pinky over the top of the eyebrow, over the top and around the back side of the ear, down the neck, along the shoulder to the elbow and off the end of the ring finger.

4.   Trace 3 times and repeat on the opposite side.

Triple Warmer Smoothie

A second exercise is the Triple Warmer Smoothie, which amplifies the energy release by tracing TW backwards + holding a specific acupressure point + tapping into Heart Chakra energy.

Take a few moments to watch Donna Eden demonstrate, so that you can add this quick and easy practice to your energy balancing toolkit!

Nourishing Yin Energy

For me (& possibly you?), the end of the year could not come soon enough! After months of action - endless doing, constant creation, perpetual motion – my body and soul are calling for deep rest and replenishment.

January is the month for stillness and reflection, ruled by Water and Winter. The Water Rhythm is the first rhythm of life. Infants emerge from the watery womb and remain in the Water Rhythm for the first years of life (regardless of the season they were born!). In both Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Tibetan medicine, a balanced Water Rhythm allows you to “go with the flow”, feel a general sense of well-being AND easily connect into childlike joy. 

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Revel in the deep nourishment of the season. Do not deny Winter’s gift of renewal, trust and hope.

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Most years, Minnesota offers full opportunity to layer-up, make snow people, fly angel wings, and play snow mountain. And yet, rarely do adults engage in these joyful activities. With winter blues effecting many in the northern region and seasonal affective disorder impacting ~5% of the population, taking a slightly varied strategy may offer significant value. 

The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine, a treatise on health/disease written ~300 BC, reminds us that seasons affect all living things and suggests in the winter we should

“retire early and get up with the sunrise. ... desires and mental activity should be kept quiet and subdued, as if keeping a happy secret.”

One of the simplest energy exercises you can practice is a rhythm wisdom meditation. Say what!? Yes, you read that correctly! Being still is an exercise. And one that does not come naturally in our current culture! In Tibet, ‘taking the 3 precious pills’ is a meditative practice using silence, stillness and spaciousness. You can practice for as little as 7 minutes a day and all you need is a quiet place to comfortably lay, sit or stand. 

In this exercise, you will be sinking into the 3 precious pills to more deeply connect with the rhythm/season wisdom. Begin by taking several deep breaths, allow your shoulders to settle and your chest to open. Now, add a gentle smile on your lips and call in the feeling of gratitude. Recall positive elements of your life. It can be as simple as “I am thankful for a warm house.” or “I am grateful for my ability to read.” The important component is feeling the gratitude in your body. If at first you aren’t ‘feeling it’, don’t fret – trust and practice. 

Next, invite your body to be still and your mind to be silent. If your body twitches, gently call it back to stillness. If your mind wanders, welcome it back to silence. Again, no stress, no straining – just go with the flow. As your mind and body settle into the present moment, allow a sense spaciousness and expansiveness to push away any last tension. Now, recall the Winter season / Water rhythm. You can envision snow falling from the sky or a large body of water, like the majestic Lake Superior. Remembering the wisdom of this season is a state of calm, peace and comfort with the ability to flow around obstacles and easily respond to changing situations. With each inhale, allow this energy to enter your body. As you exhale, release any discomfort and invite blockages to dissolve. Continue for 7 minutes or as long as feels right. As your meditation ends, return to your statements of gratitude. Offer an additional expression of appreciation - to yourself - for taking a few minutes to connect to the healing energy of the season.

Every season holds divine wisdom! By practicing this meditation regularly, you will open to this natural wisdom provided by the five rhythms. In doing so, your spirit will be lifted, your heart will be lighter and your cheeks will certainly be rosier!