A Young Mind On Ancient Therory

By Shoshanna H.

                When enrolling at Alaska Institute I was very aware of the eastern influence within the curriculum. I could have assumed what that would have meant, most likely come up with answer regarding Tai Chi and oneness with the universe. I wouldn’t have been wrong to say that but I wouldn’t have been 100% correct either.

                In attending Alaska Institute we’ve covered many topics ranging in diverse directions. The basics of the human body were giving in anatomy and physiology in the first courses of the program. While it’s hard for me to believe that a majority of people enjoy their core classes, there is a feeling of accomplishment in knowing you’ve learned something, which is what I got out of it. These core classes were essential for continuing this educational process. Upon completion of anatomy and physiology this got exciting and new foreign methods were introduced to me.  

               Theory of yin and yang became to mean more to me then opposition. I now understand it’s a complete balance of everything, from day to night, from winter to summer. Yin is passive in nature and yang is aggressive. There is harmony with yin in yang when they they are equal yet separate shedding light on the other lacks creating wholeness.

               After grasping yin and yang we slammed right into Chinese five element theory which to be honest I’m not the best at. Listed below are some key concepts to know.

Qi pronounces chi is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi is frequently translated as "life energy", "life force energy".

Meridian also called channel is a traditional Chinese medicine belief that qi flows through. There are twelve main meridians in the body which are heart, pericardium, spleen, lungs, kidneys, liver, small Intestine, triple heater, stomach, large intestine, urinary bladder, and gall bladder.

               Five Element Theory is one of the most popular theories of Traditional Chinese Medicine. This theory helps people understand how natural changes within body and outside environment affect people’s health. The five elements are wood, fire, earth, metal and water. They were selected based on the observations of ancient oriental philosophers who conceived that the natural world embodied these elemental characteristics. Oriental Medicine uses this time-tested, diagnostic model to evaluate how the various parts of a person's body and mind interact to affect health. A general list of relations to the elements are seen below.

            Qi, meridians and the five element theory is the base of traditional oriental medicine. This knowledge is not only practical to a massage therapist in assessing clinics in how to incorporate energy movement.  I can also apply this to my own self cultivation, as in when I feel angry for no logical reasons that I know of I can work on letting my wood element flow by wearing the color green and applying pressure to my liver and gallbladder meridians while focusing on the qi moving through the channel. Life, this world and the universe is full of patterns and balances, I’m just ecstatic that ancient Chinese philosophers figured all this out long ago, so that Alaska Institute has full knowledge to teach me.
 

Essay on "Meridians & Points" Class

We started to learn about higher level healing massages than the basic relaxation healing patterns. We learned several complete patterns of healing massage, such as:

- one involving the bladder meridian
- one for nausea
- one for deficient kidney qi
- one for knee pain
- one for sciatic pain
- one for head aches &
- one to revive yang.

We learned the 5 elements;how each is different, and how they interact. This helps me to see the many aspects of an individual. If I refine my [health] intakes over much time I may be able to see more fully who my clients are, and how to treat each individual.

I believe we were all inspired by the movie, "9000 Needles." It truly showed the power of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) healing. I was also inspired by the movie, "Something Unusual is Happening, We don't Know What."

We learned when to use toning & tonifying.

We learned and focused on ways of bringing the best and highest good from ourselves and others. This is a very good space for a healer to be in. This included a "Pay it Forward" exercise.

Having our red book, "Fundamentals of Chinese Acupuncture" will be good for referencing the points and meridians to use for acupressure point holding. In our yellow book, "Traditional Acupuncture - The Law of the 5 Elements", I like the section on "Traditional Examination." I can foresee incorporating these suggestions into a good complete intake, especially for longer-term clients. The book, "The Web that has No Weaver" has given me a very good overview of the societal mind-set that includes Traditional Chinese Medicine. I start to be able to think more in this way. It is good for letting my Western-raised mind see/feel into what TCM really is.

We have learned and practiced "Smiling Heart Qi Gong" 3 times per week. This has become one of my favorites. I have also been practicing a daily hour-long qigong for my own specific health issues; for several weeks now. This has become more important to me. And, as I learn more, I may be able to suggest qigong to clients who may be open to it.

Being introduced to [health] intakes from the complexity of TCM [Traditional Chinese Medicine] means seeing a person much more thoroughly as an individual. Therefore, I may be able to help clients better as who they are; rather than from the perspective of a very brief Western style [health] intake and diagnosis. Knowing the acupressure points and meridians will help me help specific clients. And, it also gives me a direction to go towards more thoroughly learning specific helpful points.

acu-therapy

After five months of massage therapy school, our class got to the part we had all been waiting for : Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Points and meridians was one of our TCM classes. What are points and meridians? Meridians are invisible pathways on our bodies that connect acupoints to each other, as well as internal organs. The qi (energy) flows through these meridians. The meridians are like highways, when you experience a strong emotion, such as grief or anxiety, your qi gets blocked, similar to a traffic jam. Acupressure restores the smooth flow of qi. Acupoints are specific body points through which qi of organs and meridians can reach the body surface.


You can use acu-therapy to treat:
- headaches
- ortho issues
- weight loss
- addiction
- fertility
- colds
- insomnia
- the list goes on and on.

Basically, any disease you can think of, can benefit from acu-therapy. As a massage therapist, I would not be able to perform acupuncture, but can use non-needling techniques on points. Acupressure is a technique that we have frequently used. Our class has learned acupoint patterns to combat nausea, fatigue, frozen shoulder, sciatica and knee pain.


Now for the fun stuff. Moxa, cupping and gua sha, oh my. Moxa is quite possibly the most delightful herb in existence. It is a variety of mugwort, that is compressed and then burned. You can use it on specific points and meridians that are deficient. By the end of a session, I feel warm and tingling, it is an amazing feeling. Cupping and gua sha are two methods that help remove stagnation, and when I say stagnation, I pretty much mean pain. We have all had those "knots" the size of a golf ball that won't go away. After 15 minutes of having a suction cup placed on the knot and two more cups along the meridian, my pain was 90% gone. Gau sha brings stagnation to the surface, by using a tool to scrape the area. I am sure this might sound painful to some of you, but these treatments are WONDERFUL! I am excited to use them in my practices.

Blindfolded Massage 09/10/10

At the beginning of our massage course the instructors had mentioned a blindfolded massage, I instantly felt a little nervous about it! But thought that it would be at a latter date and I would work through the anxiety. Then one day Michelle announced that the following class would be the day!! The anxiety had worn off but unfortunately physically I was not feeling well. I woke up with pain in my neck, shoulders and back all of which made me feel exhausted and sensitive. Because I was feeling so tired Carrie and I decided it would be best if I gave the first massage so that I could wake up a little bit. Beginning the massage was the easiest part. Being able to sit down was great because I didn't have to use my spacial awareness as much, I was grounded and the table was right in front of me! Going through the head and face felt good but there was some worry of poking an eye or finger in the mouth etc. Once it was time to stand up things got a little more complicated, for a couple of reasons....one being the use of oil, it was hard to gauge the amount that was coming out of the bottle until there was too much. Also the draping and wanting to be respectful of the hand placement. It was a lot of fun to mentally visualize the individual muscles that I was working. I was fortunate that I am familiar with Carrie and her body, I think that it made me more comfortable and also easier to know where her body parts were based on "landmarks". For example: for both draping and massaging her legs, I first found her knee and was able to judge where her hips were because of my familiarity of her body length. As far as making the 1 hour time limit I think that I was only about 5 minutes over. It was great not looking at the clock and thinking about how much time had passed or was left.

Receiving the massage felt pretty much the same, except with more giggling! It was fun and light hearted. I look forward to trying another blindfolded massage again after working in clinic for a while!

Blindfolded Massage

My classmate and I gave and received blindfolded massage last week. I found it to be a rich experience. I received first, and contrary to my usual trance, I worked hard to pay attention to the sensations.
Starting at the head in the usual pattern, it felt kind of tentative, and slightly off center, but as Trinity progressed she seemed to gain more confidence in herself. the rhythm was good, not a lot of fumbling and stumbling. She paced the massage well, and did a 1 hour pattern pretty close to on time.
When I was blindfolded, I was disoriented a bit at first. The blindfold was pressing against my contacts funny, and they kept feeling weird throughout the massage. Working on the head and face pattern was different, not used to not being able to see, but the hardest part was worrying about poking her in the eyes. I had to switch out oil bottles because the first one I had felt wrong, didn't glide right. It was a little awkward doing the pecs, first worrying about draping and exposure, and then I bonked her on the chin when I switched sides. I was informed that my arm and leg draping was good, did covered abdomen massage, and covered glute massage. I slipped off of the center of the back a bit during the back section, but once I got centered again it worked better.
When giving a blindfolded massage, you can tell where you are by the muscles themselves, and you can gauge your pressure easily. My only big issue was being unable to gauge how much oil I was getting from the bottle. Several times I had to squirt more onto my hands, and once or twice I had to wipe off a bunch. I think that if I had been using a pump bottle I might have done better on oil amounts, but I haven't practiced much with one in regular use.
I think that giving blindfolded massage can make you a better therapist, because you rely on your sense of touch more and you listen more for feedback from your client. Working in dim light is often very relaxing for the client, and I have occasionally caught myself working on someone with my eyes closed. Touch and hearing are really the only senses you need; I haven't figured out what help smell and taste give, unless you are using moxa or incense or scented candles.

Six Week Case Study

Over the course of six weeks we were given the assignment to massage only one person. We were given this assignment so that we as massage therapists would have the oppurtunity to experience the changes in a single persons body wheather it be muscle tension or any mental as well as physical improvements. I chose to work on a 32 year old licenced massage therapist who for the past couple of years has been experiencing alot of pain around her upper back and shoulder area.

Some of this pain could stem from her spinal/ hip missalignment. since she happens to work for a chiroprachtor she is able to receive spinal adjustments as often as her schedule allows her to. She told me her spine and hips have improved significantly due to the adjustments ,yet she like most hard working massage therapists forget or don't even consider to take time out for themselves. over time all that physical work begins to wear you down physically and mentally. In my first session with her we sat down and went over all her medical history I scanned the form looking for any specific areas that stood out or seemed out of balance. she was very open to the idea of receiving any kind of massage for six days a week. Due to her past massage school experiences she had been exposed to the concept of oriental medicine but they had only touched on the subject very briefly. oriental exercise and medicine had always held her intrest so she was very eager and facinated to learn more about the practice.

On day one I gave her just a general relaxation massage to introduce myself to her body and get a feel for her muscles. throughout the massage I used very long soothing strokes feeling for any areas of tension. throughout the next couple of days I found she was tight and knottted usually in the same areas which was around the neck , trap , and shoulder area. some of the sessions she seemed very down and emtionally distraught, so with her permission I incorporated very calming anti-anxiety accupressure points such as stomach eight and stomach forty. Throughout our massages I tryed to channel very calm, loving, and compassionate energy. I gave her some chi-gong exercises to do to help improve her motivation and open her heart center, such as smiling heart chi-gong she told me she loves that chi gong and does it every morning which helps her to start the day off right. The experience was a very rewarding and awe inspiring awakening to the power of massage. throughout those six weeks her stress and tention areas began to melt away she was able to have the motivation to get up early and workout, and she felt everything about her life had completely shifted in a positive way. In the end she requested that I be her only massage therapist which really filled my heart with joy.

Case Study

(s) My client is a 55 year old female. She's in good shape and eats healthy. She's suffering from migraines and bouts of insomnia. She also claims to get very anxious at times. Her right rhomboid is sore as well as the right shoulder. She thinks she has frozen shoulder and tendonitis on that side. Her main goal is to relieve shoulder pain, stress relief, better sleep, and general relaxation.

(o) My client relaxes easily, partly due to her being comfortable with me and partly because she is looking forward to some quiet time. Her traps, neck, rhomboids and levetor scapulae are constantly tight and dense- these muscles include teres minor, supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and subscapularis. The erector spinae group of muscles down the back always seemed to have knots in them. This was more so on the low back. Biceps in the arms felt a bit more tense in the right arm. The IT band was problematic and tight. Rectus Femoris also tight with knots/ "speed" bumps. I could not do a deep clearing stroke on the legs. Throughout the massages I noticed the right shoulder gained more range of motion and flexibility. The IT band also let up over time. She was seemingly happier and more relaxed. She didnt slouch or slump her shoulders as much as she was before. She also said she felt more energized, pain reduction in the shoulder, and could sleep better at night. It took about 3 sessions to really notice a significant difference in how she felt.

(a) Throughout out time together I made sure to move very slow through the head/scalp massage to relax my client. I taught her 3 centered meditation for during the massages and to use outside of our sessions. On days that her anxiety level was high I would do a nice foot massage first and do some energy work to draw the energy down. When she experienced headaches I would work the pain path in the arms, including points LI 11,10,9, and 4. I also incorporated the S.I points 11 and 12 and L.I 16 all located around the shoulder to help with the shoulder pain. Energy work in the arms to draw the energy out through the fingertips and open up the pathway for the pain to travel out. Lung 1 and 2 were also included into the treatment plan, more towards the end. I used the LV/GB grasping down the legs to open up the meridians. This will help wood imbalance, manifested in the nails being ridged. The upper back got extra attention around the rhomboids and made sure to work S.I 10 on the scapula. Deeper pressure was often applied the erector spinae and focused more on the low back. When shoulder pain and headaches were at a high i would focus more on the arms, shoulders, neck, and back, and skip the legs completely besides compression. All these teqniques seemed to work for my client over time with pain relief and over all sense of well being.

(p) I plan to keep working with this person for as long as I can. I would like to assign and teach some Qi Gong movements to help her low back, which would include: Reaching for heaven and earth, accept the moon qi, and painting the world. Rowing on the lake would also be good for range of motion in the shoulders. I would also like to use the 9 points to revive the yang for depression issues and to restore energy. I would like to draw up a 5 element chart and map out imbalances to help her further. My client is very curious about chinese medicine, and would love to see some more results. I would also like to do a moxa/kidney treatment that we recently learned to help the low back and kidney qi. I will encourage her to use the meditation daily, especially before bed. I would like to practice Smiling Heart Qi Gong with her as well because its my favorite Qi Gong and opens the heart center

In conclusion I would say that I could see a significant different in body tension and some internal changes. Its amazing what a month and a half of consecutive massage can do. I am excited to learn more about Oriental Medicine and use it in the practice. I feel like the things i have learned here at OHAC are beneficial to my practice and make a tremendous difference. They can be life changing and are always positive. I cant wait to see what other positive changes I can make in my life and others.

Case Study

My case study included six massages spread out over a period of nine weeks. Ideally, I would have liked to have seen my client at least once a week, but because of our different schedules and time constraints it took nine weeks to complete all six massages.

My client was a 42 year old female. During the first intake the client told me that she was on blood thinners (Coumadin). In January of 2009 she was experiencing pain in her legs, sever fatigue and dizziness. She ended up in the emergency room and it was discovered that she had many blood clots in her left leg. She was admitted to the hospital and stayed for a week under close supervision until she was stable enough to go into surgery where the Doctors placed a filter in her Vena Cava. The filter was put in place to help catch the clots so they would not go through her heart, into her lungs and cause a possible pulmonary embolism.During this time she was also placed on blood thinners, namely Coumadin, to help prevent further clotting. Her leg gets achy when she is on her feet all day and she has been told to elevate it at the end of the day. She now takes blood thinners daily and sometimes hydrocodone for the pain in her legs. The Dr.’s say she will probably have to be on Coumadin for the rest of her life. Because of the blood thinners she tends to bruise easily. She used to go in for lymphatic drainage massage (usually only the axillary and clavicle area) twice a month but doesn’t do this anymore. She has been cleared by her Dr. for regular massage therapy.

During her time in the hospital she also drastically lost weight. Since then she has had low energy and no regular physical exercise plan and has put on a lot of weight. This makes her upset and sometimes sad and frustrated about her lack of energy. She experiences swelling in her legs after extended periods of being on her feet (walking, standing, ect..) and has had difficulty staying active because of this and stress with kids, work, and everyday life. She has said that when she can fit in regular exercise her leg feels less achy and she sleeps better.
Also during the intake she indicated that she has a medium stress level and holds her stress in her shoulders and low back. She also tends to get very bad headaches when she gets very stressed out. Works in an office and has for most of her professional life.

My client’s main goal for her massage was relaxation. I could tell by the way she spoke and the concerns she had that her thoughts seemed hurried and rushed. Her eyes looked tired and tended to sigh often while she talked. Her skin was healthy and soft, well tanned. Although she had not been doing regular exercise and had gained some weight, her muscle tone was still good and her energy felt strong but tired. She had lots of tension in her neck and upper traps, with a large knot in the left occipitals. She was very sensitive in the neck area. Small bump on palmar side of right forearm (says it has been there since she was young) that could be a possible ganglion cyst. Her left leg was noticeably more swollen than her right from the iliac crest to her ankle, seemed to be more so around thigh area. Edema but not pitting. Feet were both cold and limited ROM in hip area. Some tension in low back and erector spinae and knots in L levator scapulae and R rhomboids. All shu points on back felt good except for small pluckable knot in R LV shu point.

Because of the clients blood thinner medication I used only light/moderate pressure with lots of soothing strokes. She was sensitive in certain places, liker her neck, but liked a little more pressure on her back and so I adjusted accordingly. I spent a good amount of time on face and head massage to open up and relieve tension in that area to help with headaches. I did more detailed work on her neck and upper traps to help loosen and break up stagnant energy. On her arms I emphasized strokes toward the body to help with lymph drainage and included Li 11, 10, 9 &4 to open up arms and give stagnant energy a place to go. She did not want abdominal work during the first few massages but during the last two sessions I did do some work through the sheet. On days when she had a head ache I was sure to include grasping down the GB meridian and lots of scalp massage, Li 4. Strokes on her legs were all towards the body to help with lymph drainage and I always gave a very nice foot massage to help soothe and relax. Points in her feet and legs included following Ki merdian from Ki 1, 2, 3 & 7 (8x). Lv 2-3 (50x). and St 36 (8x). On her back I used a little more pressure. Mostly long gliding strokes with focus on knots in levator scapulae and rhomboids. Sacral roll on low back and grasping. All shu points were included and stimulated 24x. On our last session I did reviving the yang to help with her low energy level (Ki1, Ki3, Sp6, St36, Cv12 Pc8, Li4, Gv15)

Over the course of the 9 weeks of treatment I saw some alleviation of tension in the neck, specifically the knot in L occipitals released. Tension also decreased in shoulders and rhomboids. When massages were weekly I noticed that her left leg was not as swollen most likely due to lymph drainage and increased circulation to that area. Her headaches were not as frequent and were always gone by the end of a massage. She really enjoyed all massages and felt very relaxed and rested. She and I plan on continuing to work together once our schedules settle into a regular routine. Now that I have learned the 64-point acupressure foot massage I would like to include that into the massage for her left foot/leg. Also, I would recommend a longer session with time at the beginning for a QiGong. She is open and interested in QiGong and I was hoping to start showing her the Dragon QiGong, which is good for weight loss and tonifying the meridians.

Arthritis Case Study

Nearly one in five Americans have arthritis or chronic joint symptoms. So not surprisingly there are two people in my household with some form of arthritis. With so many people having an issue with arthritis I chose it as my topic to research in pathology class so I would be more knowledgeable when I need to help a client with arthritis and so I could learn to better help the people close to me.

The person I chose for my case study has arthritis in her hands and ankles, a degenerative disk in her low back, and had recent surgery for a bowel obstruction. In the five elements of TCM arthritis would fall into the wood element, the low back pain would be influenced by the water element, and small intestine issues are part of the fire element.

For her six weeks of weekly massages I started out with the general one-hour relaxation pattern with some extra attention to her hands, ankles, and knees. I taught her the Small Intestines qigong for the dragon qigong we do in class to help with her digestion, but also because the movement rotates the wrist and arm up to the shoulder blade where she holds a lot of her tension. After two weeks with that qigong I showed her the Painting the World qigong to give some range of motion movements to her low back and also to massage the abdomen. I showed her yin-yang palms to get her wrists moving and the blood flowing. I told her how to massage her own abdomen with oil in a clockwise motion to help her heal from the surgery and to get her bowels moving.

Depending on what concerns she had the day of the massage I used some different acupressure points. Large Intestine 20 for her sinus headache along with the Large Intestines pain path down the arms for headaches. I used Stomach 8 to help calm her mind on a day she was noticeably stressed out, and spent some extra time on Stomach 41 for anxiety which I always use in a massage.

After six weeks of weekly massage she told me that she was pain free in her hands for 10 hours after the massage and pain free for 8 hours in her back. She really enjoyed the qigong movements. there was less inflammation in her back, the muscles around that vertebrae were less tense, with less chronic pain overall. she also commented that she felt a huge difference the next day in whether she drank a lot of water or not. Not drinking enough water left her feeling more achy the next morning.

If I was to continue working with this client I would make sure to keep up with the qigong movements, adding more when she felt like she had the ones I taught her memorized. I would make sure to spend extra time round rubbing her joints and low back. Now I know how good it feels to have a lot of time spent on round rubbing, especially rubbing clockwise on the low back, I would make sure to include it in her massage. I would get some Po Sum On oil to use when massaging her hands, Po Sum On oil is warming, helps to relieve pain and aids in circulation.

She loved getting massaged and was a great person to work with. Even with out the changes in her chronic pain she was very happy just to be relaxed after her long hours at work.

Healing a Dancer

A dancer in my class moves very stiffly and rigidly. Though she tries very hard and loves the class, she keeps getting frustrated over not having the same fluidity in her hips as the others. She would love to see me for a massage session.

The first thing I would check for would be to make sure there is no physical injury or condition that caused stiffness or inhibition of movements.

1. Upon examining her Mu and Shu points I expect that I would see that her kidney points, GB25 and BL23 are depressed to hollow, along with her bladder points, CV23 and BL 28 and her liver points may be a bit harder and blocked, LV 114 and BL 18. There is probably a deficiency in kidney and bladder points as well as an excess in the liver points, there may be some personal issues and discomfort with herself.

2. The major sign I expect to see in her tongue is that it is probably pale and swollen, possibly moist, denoting a deficiency in her yin energy and a definate yang deficiency. I would not be surprised to see redder, scalloped edges, some cracks, or a depression of the kidney area at the root of her tongue.

3. Although I see problems in almost all of her elements, the main one that I see would be a deficiency of her water element, the kidney and the bladder. I see this manifested by her stiffness and lack of sense of where her body is in space. I would also classify some of this stiffness as a problem with her wood element as her core, the spine, is stiff and lacks flexibility. She no doubtedly feels a bit of frustration and this would manifest as some slight excess in the fire side of her being.

As for a massage, I would start off with a nurturing energy, trying to open up the bladder and kidney meridians, wanting her to be comfortable in her body and with the feelings that the dance brings out in her. I think I would spend some time nurturing the liver as I expect there is some anger that is causing some stagnation there. I would want to add some exercises that twist and bend the spine and core. I would want to help her to see her body as it takes up space and be able to visualize it on the different planes in space, right, left, up and down and to be able to visualize how the movements that I try to teach affects how her body moves through space.

Seeing the stiffness is not an uncommon thing. First of all, the fluidity very rarely comes with a new dancer, it is something that comes over time. A woman of western culture frequently has problems with many of the movements if she does not come from a movement background, as we in the west are taught to move in a way foreign to the movments of oriental and eastern dance, using parts of our body that are kept stiff and reigned in with western culture. Often a dancer comes with a past history of abuse or stifling of emotions that takes a while to work through and this can be seen as a stiffness in the body or a lack of ability or awareness of the body as it relates to it's place in space (of course this is barring physical injury, condition or limitation on her movements). In some cases, there may be an excess of heat or fire as there may be a deep seated anger at past treatment or experiences or an inhibition in the sexual power that comes out from feeling comfortable in one's own skin, and it takes time to work through those things until the individual is secure in themselves and ready to surrender to the joy that the movements of dance can bring.

Most of all, I would encourage this dancer to give herself time and love to bring out the beautiful woman and dancer that is hidden inside.