Zusanli- 3 Mile Leg and the Art of Balance

There is a point in the Yin treatment that is the most nourishing. And I experienced its full power today.
Zusanli is a point just below and to the side of your knee. They call it 3 mile leg because the Chinese used to needle this point in soldiers because it made it possible for them to get an extra three miles out of them walking.
I love the history.
I told Janet I love the learning as much as the treatments. It is for me the ancient revived and relived. The reason and the points and what they do capture me as much as the energy they stir. I have had nothing but Yin treatments since my second visit and I told her today that I feel very guided to continue the Yin. I am very strong in my Yang energy and in many ways I have joked over the years I am a king of clubs. A man in a woman's body which is confusing as hell to men. A fearless leader, a risk taker, strong and capable, and yet very much a woman at the same time.

She laughed and held her hands beside each other palms down.
"We misunderstand" she said. " Balance is this" she said as she made small up and down motions with her hands in opposite directions never moving very far. "We are in constant motion, to achieve balance. But we believe if we have too much of something that we must remove that. In fact we must raise the other. Add instead of subtract. To subtract is to believe something is wrong, to add is to nurture and bring balance to the system."

And I thought about how much I intuitively knew I needed the Yin energy. The vulnerability and the opening. The nurture, and in essence the self love. The journey is inward, and in that space, the nourishment comes from me. To find balance we must fill the space of self love as only we can to become whole.

I described to her feeling very soft, almost insulated. The space I am in, is gentle and healing. I am fully present for the first time in my life and I know that, because my surroundings are unfamiliar. And yet, I have no worry, and I have released any fear. She laughed and said that makes sense, for you are shifting and you are in new energy. Time has ceased to have meaning for me and space is being opened up around me. My vision is changing and I can see with new eyes. I am grounded and taking my time to do self care I have avoided for a very long time. I am loved and I am loving.

I had the sensation today of someone putting a hose into my leg and turning on a tap. I am laying on my back so I couldn't see where it was or if it was one of the points or not. When she returned to the room after letting me sit in the energy I explained what was happening. She placed her hand on my right leg and I guided her to the spot. She touched it and I jumped as it was energetically very charged.
"That is Zusanli! It is the most nourishing point!"  I told her whatever it was they were filling me up in a big way and we both had a giggle. This is the strangest, most miraculous journey, isn't it?
Thank you to the Universe for filling me up with such wondrous energy.
I have no words.
Kat

Yin, the Nourisher

When I told Janet I heard the word "Gateway", she brightened up.
"They want me to open the four Gates" She exclaimed! "We are doing a Yin treatment! "

This time I was laid on my back.
A Yin treatment, she explained was an Opening. The greatest Vulnerability, but in the safest space. It is mother energy. The energy of Love. They wish me to open myself up to love. What a beautiful energy to be held in. What an understanding that we must choose to open to experience what is always present.
We must be opened to be able to nourish the body, and nurture the soul. She places three points in my ears, one is Shen Men (the spirit calmer), Point zero ( grounding) and one other I can't recall. By the time she places those I am already beginning to drift.

As she is working I tell her I have had one of my dreams. I was in a bright sunny chasm in red rock. I can see blue sky and sun in front of me and there are many ledges of red rock I am climbing down. When I look straight down I feel what a base jumper must feel, although I am not at all tempted to jump. I can see ten thousand feet down as clear as a bell. I am so high I cannot imagine falling and yet I am at very real risk of falling. My feet scatter pebbles as I carefully make my way. I freeze in fear, and as I do a 17 and 19 year old, two boys rush past me in socks. "Take off your socks or you will fall" I shout as they slide past me and suddenly slip off the ledge and hang in mid air. And then I see the ripples and my heart instantly releases and they move off out of sight. It's water!!!! So clear I can't see where it begins or ends. I laugh loudly at my own fear and say outloud you can't fall through water.

Water for me is spirituality. That chasm, symbolic of the Universe in it's grand immensity. And those that guide me showed me two things. "Those were your boys" Janet said as I looked at her blankly. Yes. They were. Right down to the ages ( aren't dreams wonderful? What would make me describe age when I couldn't remember what they looked like). The went past me without fear and slipped easily into what I couldn't see. For all the worry, for all the fear, they will surpass me in this journey and with ease and grace. I can let go. And mostly my guides wanted to show me that no matter how vast it is, all that they have shared will catch me and support me. One cannot fall through water, no matter how deep.

I looked up the dream. The red rock canyon kept bringing up a place in Mecca. It is a holy place. To dream of descending down steep rocks speaks to fear and difficulty but the red, signifies deep connection and spiritual grounding.
The clear water means I am in touch with my true nature, my spirituality and I can see my way clearly, flowing in ease and grace.

She continued with her points and their beautiful names as I was sitting in the energy of feeling nurtured and nourished and she came to the last four points. She place two needles just below my collar bone on the right side and she smiled. "These are to help you see your way forward with clarity and vision, just like your dream. These are the windows of the soul." My heart once again cracked wide open under her hands and my eyes leaked releasing all that I have held on to for so very long.
The energy so swallowed, so controlled for many years is moving again. She placed a point between my brows and a great purple eye began wildly blinking on my forehead. I watched in awe. She place the last point at the crown of my head and there was a burst of light and then a deep sense of release, and peace.                                                                                                                                               The Chi is tracing lines that have been tightly held, racing to nourish every inch of my body, to retrace ancient pathways and bring them back to life. My back is yielding, and my body is healing itself little by little. I am shifting on levels that I have not been able to reach on my own, with the help of this gentle healer. I am awed by this process. And I am in full surrender to my own divinity.

We must learn to listen when something calls to us. For it calls with a whisper, not a shout. We must get quiet enough to hear what is murmuring to our souls. At 15 the energy of acupuncture marked my soul. Perhaps I have used it in another lifetime. Who knows? But finding it again is like welcoming an old friend into the space of my heart. My body knows this healing art. It has awakened my energy in a way that nothing else has. I feel full of quiet gratitude to the Universe for leading me home. 

The Wisdom and Gift of Change

It's been a while, but there is always more to share, it is my joy in life.

Someone told me once that if you can befriend change, you will master life. You meet it equally in every moment. It was the most wise thought anyone has ever shared with me.

I find myself in beautiful space, in the midst of what is supposed to be the worst recession in many years. You see change for me now at 46 is simply a gift. Something different, a chance for a new experience. We have been working hard to look after those we love these past few frantic years and now, there is space again, time again. I find myself able to visit with patients and enjoy my time in a way that has not been possible in a while. A less frantic pace, and more time for what really matters. The connection. The relationships.

My back had been troubling me and I sought out the services of an acupuncturist. A referral from a friend to someone who had trained under a man who healed me over 30 years ago, of a painful tendonitis that had plagued me for two years as a result of a skiing accident. I had cried all the way there. I hated needles, but more than that I thought my parents didn't believe me. That they had taken me to a quack.

I sat in a small examination room and a small Chinese man came in. He seemed very kind and he quietly place two small needles in my ear, told me not to worry, and then laid me on a table and I remember waking up a while later drooling, with my cheek stuck to the white paper that covered the table. I don't think I had ever felt so relaxed. I saw him three or four more times and I never had that issue again. I was healed.

When I walked into Peridot Acupuncture, I couldn't actually remember much of my experience at 15. Just what I told you above. Janet took a very thorough history and then did much the same as he had done. I laid face down on the table and when she put the needles in my ear I had an extraordinary experience. I was once again 15 years old in that small examination room. And I remembered everything. She gently placed all of the points explaining what each was named and as she did I felt them connect into a sort of golden fishing net across my back. I could feel the energy connecting each point and as she moved her hand over them emotions surged through my whole body. I started to cry. She asked if I was alright, but the emotion was not sadness. It was relief, love, joy, safety and a thousand other things. I felt her teacher, my healer in every touch of her hands. I told her I felt he was in the room, although he is still living. Energetically I could feel him guiding her hands and the gratitude was overwhelming. I felt safe in a way that is hard to explain. Cosmically protected. Cosmically Loved.

The second time I saw her, she did the same kind of treatment and as she was describing the points and what they did, I would hear the names and then say them just before she did. She didn't remark on how odd that was ( they have odd and not very guessable english names) and I didn't share what was happening for me I was too absorbed in what I was hearing.

The third time I saw her, I told her what had happened during the last session, and she smiled and said she had been aware that I was hearing the names. As I stepped into her space I heard the word "Gateway", so I took a chance and shared that with her. She smiled brightly and said " Ah! They want me to open the four gates! And off we went on another energetic adventure that I will share in another moment.

I have waited so very long for a true energy healer.  And she has taken me on a remarkable journey into the centre of myself. And in that space I have found all I have ever searched for and more.
In love and light,
Kat