Energy Healing: Encountering Negative Energy

Q: I’m very interested in Energy Healing.  I’ve been working on trying to open my heart so I feel more connected to doing this.  The other day I interacted with a person who I felt negative energy from.  It wasn’t anything specific, just a feeling I got that made all of my defenses go up.  What can I do about this? How do I come from my heart when I feel negative energy I should protect myself from?

A: What a deeply provoking question.  This gets into a concern that many people studying Energy Healing have.  I’ll do my best to address some important aspects of this.

First, it is ok for our defenses to go up.  We have them for a reason – to help keep us safe.  The key is to notice that they are going up and not ignore them.  Then we ground ourselves to find our heart, which may be something to work on over time.  It’s not bad or a failure to not be able to find our heart in this case – it can be very difficult and that’s ok.  Just be curious about how someone like the Dalai Lama is able to do it.  If he can, well then… we can learn too if we have the desire to do so.

There are 2 scenarios that come to mind here, and they are directly dependent on how much experience and training we have, plus our personal views on life and spirituality.

In the 1^st scenario, we may be somewhat inexperienced and new to Energy Healing.  We may feel our heart is not fully open yet, or we feel fear that seems too strong to “get over”.

In this case, I recommend learning and practicing an Energy Protection Meditation.  There are many methods available in different schools of thought.  Since my training is in Medical QiGong – based in Taoist Philosophy and Oriental medicine – I prefer a specific and very old Shamanistic Meditation called “Ren Wu Zang” (Man 5 Animals).  Here’s a link to a really nice article an Acupuncturist wrote with directions for the meditation:  http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/mpacms/at/article.php?id=32831

When learning and practicing Energy Protection Meditations it can be very helpful to involve space clearing techniques like burning sage, sweetgrass, or moxa.  Other options are spritzing Rose Hydrosol, diffusing essential oils from protective trees like Cedar, Birch, Fir, or Pine, and even wearing a protective essential oil or attar blend – choose from oils known for their sacred or spiritual connection like Frankincense, Champaca, Blue Lotus, or Kamala Attar.

When you have practiced the meditation on a daily basis until it becomes somewhat easy to “call up” on the spur of the moment, use it whenever you feel the need to energetically protect yourself.  As long as you have a dedicated practice of self-cultivation going on, the stronger you become inside, the less you will need this meditation.

In the 2^nd scenario, there has to be the understanding that ultimately no one has the “power” to harm our Spirit. Someone or something may have the power to create fear – doubt – confusion within us, but then it is our own emotions that harm us and we only think it is them.

Can you send the negative person thoughts of unconditional love, that they may find their own heart and experience peace?  They are only an aspect of you in the realm of Oneness.  Or think about them briefly and then repeat something like the Ho'Oponopono mantra to the Universe for a while.  No need to spend any of your energy and effort on them beyond this.

A Note on Receiving Energy Healing:

If you ever feel that someone can read your energy or try to "heal" you and it is happening without your consent or full trust, remember that true healing comes from a place of love.  If what they are doing is not coming from this place, they are only doing something to themselves and not to you.  What I mean is that, someone may pick up and be able to empathically feel your energy, but if they don't know what to do with it, it's only their experience – positive or negative.

 Anything they try to tell you or manipulate you with is purely their own ego.  Anything they try to heal is only an expression of their own ego.  The only way it can affect you at all is if you allow it to through fear/doubt/confusion.  And in that case, it is your own fear causing any effect, not really the "power" of the other person.

A true healer will set up the circumstances for healing to happen and then allow and encourage it to come from within YOU, not force it or do anything to you.  The healer’s energy and support may be a catalyst for you, but ultimately healing comes from inside of YOU.  The circumstances happen in the energy of love, and part of life is being here to create this for ourselves and others.

~Cynthia McMullen is a Certified Medical QiGong Therapist who studied this Energy Healing art with Tao Shih Pei Wo Lun in Anchorage, Alaska, author Jerry Alan Johnson in Pacific Grove, California, and numerous Taoist priests from China.

INSIGHT: Emotions Stuck in our Earth Element

Insight: Last night in Acupuncture class we were discussing the Earth Element and how the emotion of "worry" or "rumination" wears down our Earth Qi.

"Rumination" is like chewing on something, then bringing it back up rather than swallowing it and allowing it to digest.

This made me think of the times we have some kind of emotionally impacting EVENT, and then can't seem to get that event out of our minds - it keeps popping back up into our thoughts, or we keep bringing it back up in our conversations.

We say "why can't I just LET IT GO??" Here's the insight: We don't have enough Earth Qi to finish chewing and swallow it so it can digest. If it's in our digestive system (Metal Element) we can let it go - but it's not getting there.

This also makes a lot of sense with an old esoteric Acupuncture treatment that uses a series of points along the Stomach (Earth) meridian to clear toxic emotions that overwhelm us to the point of not being able to function normally.

I think it would be worth the effort to strengthen our Earth Element in the case of emotional events we can't seem to process and let go. How do we do this? Here's a few ways off the top of my head, I'm sure there's many more:

Do these with a conscious intention to allow the emotional event to process and be purged.

1. Abdominal massage with essential oils. We could even use an oil specific to the type of emotion or event. (Emotional Energy of Aroma is my essential oil workshop topic for April)

2. Moxa Belly Bowl with 64-point acupressure treatment to the lower legs, emphasis on the ST & SP meridians.

3. Acupuncture along the ST meridian while receiving Medical QiGong Qi emission to the middle burner. (See my upcoming workshop, joint with Lamar on April 6th.)

Also consider doing a short cleansing fast or home enema (internal bath) AFTER one of the above treatments, and only if it feels right. In some cases the bodywork may need to be repeated several times, sometimes once will do the job.

This follows the treatment concept I find immensely effective of putting the body in the right circumstances energetically to heal, and allowing it to use it's own internal intelligence to handle the details. In this way, we don't concern ourselves with figuring out HOW to emotionally resolve the event, we ALLOW the event to resolve.

If this sparks any insights for you, or you work with this concept I would love to hear your feedback on it. Thanks! 

Learn tons of great information from my On-Line Essential Oils Course series. You can study here at our school in Alaska from anywhere in the world!

TCM Cupping Therapy

By Danielle Shones

Traditional Chinese Medicine is rooted in the ancient philosophy of Taoism and dates back more than 2,500 years. TCM is better known for the use of herbs, acupuncture/moxibustion, massage therapy, TuiNa and Tai Chi to treat and even prevent illness.  Although Cupping is a lesser-known treatment it is a big part of Oriental Medicine.  Cupping is a term applied to a technique that uses small glass cups or bamboo jars as suction devices that are placed on the skin. Once suction has been established, the cups either sit stationary over a particular point, such as the Shu Points, along the back or may be gently glided along the skin. The suction of the cups causes the skin and superficial muscle layer to be lightly drawn upward. Cupping is much like the inverse of massage, rather than applying pressure to a muscle, it uses gentle suction to pull the muscle and surrounding tissue upward. Generally, cupping is combined with acupuncture in one treatment, but it can also be used alone. The suction and negative pressure provided by cupping can encourage blood flow and promote healing. In addition it will help break adhesions between the skin and underlying connective tissue, allowing for freer moving joints and looser muscles.

Archaeologists have found evidence of cupping therapy being practiced from as early as 1000 B.C. and not just in China. Cupping Therapy developed all through the Middle East and Egypt and even Japan. Of course the history of Chinese cupping is a long history of healing and innovation. It was an ancient Taoist medical practice widely used in the courts of Imperial China. This ancient method proved to be effective against common disorders associated with the pulmonary system. The Chinese expanded the use of cupping technique to surgery, this was called wet cupping. Other ancient cultures including the Egyptians and early Greeks also embraced the therapeutic uses of cupping. Even Hippocrates, known as the father of modern medicine, used cupping for internal diseases and structural problems. Cupping techniques soon spread through the medicine world, throughout Asian and European civilizations.  Each country used their own name for cupping and had their own unique methods. Ge Hong was a practicing Taoist, an alchemist, and a medicinal herbalist.  He was the first to introduce cupping to Imperial China, as stated in the Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergencies. Ge Hong along with other medicine men used animal horns for cupping. To this day in some medical articles of the empire, cupping is referred to as the horn technique of healing. This has led researchers to believe that cupping was indeed a Chinese invention and its practice is older than recorded in history. These ancient cups were mostly used to draw out pus and blood in the treatment of boils but as TCM evolved, cupping evolved with it. Other styles of cups were made out of sections of bamboo, pottery and eventually glass. Today, most acupuncturists use cups made of thick glass or plastic, although bamboo, horn and pottery cups are still used in some countries. Glass cups are the preferred methods of delivery, because they don’t break easily such as pottery or deteriorate like bamboo, and they have the added benefit of allowing the practitioner to see the skin during treatment.

 

There are several different techniques in using the cupping therapy. The most traditional method and probably best known is fire cupping – A small cotton ball is lightly coated with alcohol. The cotton ball is then ignited and inserted inside the cup which will evacuate the air.  Once all the oxygen is burned up the cotton ball burns out and suction is formed inside the cup against the skin. Air cupping or handpump method - similar to fire cupping except no flame is needed instead the cups are equipped with a nipple that a pump can easily attach to and the suction is created via pumping the air out of the cup. Lastly there is the method of moist or wet cupping – this is the oldest and according to most literature the most effective method. The skin is punctured before treatment. When the cup is applied and the skin is drown up, a small amount of blood may flow from the puncture site, this is believed to help remove harmful substances and toxins from the body. Once the suction is established there are several techniques that can be done with the cups. Herbal cupping consists of applying the appropriate herbal tincture to the inside of the glass, and then the glass cup is applied to the skin with the appropriate amount of suction. With stationary cupping the cups are applied to the skin and then left in the same spot for up to 15mins. Massage or gliding cups are slightly different. This is done by applying oil to the skin first, inducing only a small suction inside the cup and then gently lifting the cup and gliding it across the skin but still maintaining the vacuum effect. With Momentary cupping the cups are “popped” on and off the skin rapidly, this is most easily accomplished with the handpump system.  Hot cupping is done with Moxa, also known as mugwort. Acupuncture needles are warmed with smoldering dried mugwort, and then applied to the appropriate area with the cup creating a vacuum effect around the needle. 

In 2008 the British Cupping Society (BCS) was established by a group of medical professionals and cupping therapy experts. The BCS was the first society to conduct a scientific investigation into the effects of cupping therapy and continue to promote the benefits of cupping today. According to the British Cupping Society & WebMD cupping therapy can be used to treat:

§  Blood disorders such as anemia & hemophilia
§  Rheumatic diseases such as arthritis & fibromyalgia
§  Fertility and gynecological disorders
§  Skin problems such as eczema & acne
§  High blood pressure (hypertension)
§  Migraines
§  Anxiety and depression
§  Bronchial congestion caused by allergies or asthma
§  Varicose veins

While cupping is considered reasonably safe especially air cupping, which does not include the risks involved with fire. There are still things to consider before using cupping therapy. Patients with inflamed skin, cases of high fever or patients who bleed easily are not suitable candidates for cupping. In addition pregnant women should not have cupping on their stomach or lower back. And if you are moving the cup along someone’s skin it should not cross any bony areas such as the ridges of the spine or the shoulder blades. The bruises that appear are a result of the skin being drawn up into the cup where the blood vessels at the surface of the skin expand; leaving circular marks anywhere a cup was applied. These bruises however are usually painless and disappear within a few days of the treatment. Leaving the clients body feeling looser, detoxed and well on their way to healing. 

References:

1.       National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine (NCCAM): http://nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/chinesemed.htm

2.       Academy of classical Oriental Sciences-History of Chinese Medicine Cupping: http://www.acos.org/articles/chinese-medicine-cupping/

3.       Acupuncture Today – Cupping:

http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/abc/cupping.php

4.       WebMD – Cupping Therapy:

 http://www.webmd.com/balance/guide/cupping-therapy?page=2

5.       British Cupping Society:

 http://www.britishcuppingsociety.org/

What to do With Expensive Essential Oils

Post by Touch of Tao.

Essential Oils for the Heart Center (Fire Element)

Flowers are the Heart (Fire Element) of the plant. We can change the vibration of our Heart Center energy by applying a diluted Flower essential oil to acupoints such as:

Pericardium - 6 (Nei Guan)
Pericardium - 8 (Lao Gong)
Conception Vessel / Ren - 17 (Shan Zhong)
Conception Vessel / Ren - 6 (Qi Hai)
Stomach - 41 (Jie Xi)
Personally, I would make a small bottle with 12 drops essential oil to 1 oz carrier oil, apply it to all of these acupoints & do Tai Chi so I could feel the flow of the energy.

2 of my favorites right now:

Ginger Lily, Wild CO2 extraction: elegantly sweet with a sense of purity and innocence. Slightly more yin.

White Champa Leaf: vibrant, passionate, sweet with a sense of mystery. Slightly more yang.

Learn tons of great information in my On-Line Essential Oils Course series. You can study here at our school in Alaska from anywhere in the world!

Bodywork Series: Water Element

Want to listen to this post? Now you can on our Podcast link.

In learning the 5-elements, massage therapists have a wonderful opportunity to recognize signs and symptoms that an element is out of balance, and use a combination of massage techniques, acupressure, and energy work to assist re-balancing this element – all during a 1 hour massage.

Let’s look at the Water Element being out of balance and some things we might see in clinical experience.

Physically we may see:

Low back pain, knee pain, broken – brittle or weak bones like osteoporosis, or the person appears much older than their stated age.

There might be dark circles under the eyes or hair that is thinning.

They may use language that refers to feeling drained, exhausted, or overwhelmed – my energy level feels so low compared to what it used to be.

The person might feel cold and ask for a space heater or extra blanket.

Symptoms might include anxiety, any chronic illness that has been present for more than 1 year, cloudy or foggy thinking, some forms of infertility, hormone imbalances, feeling a lack or loss of purpose in life.  There can also be any physical issues with the fluids of the body – lymph, too much fluid like edema or too little showing as dryness, blood – which is about 83% water, saliva, tears, and urine.  There can also be any physical issues with the organs of the Kidneys or Bladder.

Using the actual words “in fear of”, “scared of or scared to”, “I’m afraid that…”, “I can’t do that”, “I would, BUT” and other things on this line.  It’s very interesting how our language and the words we spontaneously choose pick up our energetic health.

There can be various forms of subtle fear, such as: no self-confidence, staying in an unhealthy job or relationship, not following dreams or passions, an unusual fear of death – for the self or others.

Mentally a person might say they feel a lack of creativity such as writer’s block, an artist that can’t come up with an idea, or someone who doesn’t see any options to a situation.  Or there can be a lack of motivation to do things or complete projects that are started, leaving a pile of unfinished business.

So these are some of the basic and common things a massage therapist would likely come across.  And luckily, a massage that addresses the Water Element can have immediate benefit for some of these things.  Regular massage that continues to work with the Water Element can even have very deep and long lasting effects.

In modifying a massage to address an Element there are 3 main things to consider:

First - What specific techniques can be used?

Second - What meridians and acupoints can be stimulated?

Third - What can I bring into my own energy field to change the current vibration into a vibration that will carry a healing tone for this person?  (This is a fascinating aspect of bodywork.  Our science can show that during a healing session, the heart waves of the healer – massage therapist in this case – can be found in the recipient for a period of time after the healing session has ended.  This is profound information.  For more on this topic you can look into the HeartMath Institute which puts out incredible research in this area.)

To answer #1, What specific techniques can be used?  2 ideas I would consider are that water likes flow and fluidity.  We can make our massage strokes very graceful and flowing.  Next, round rubbing the lower back through the sheet, to warm that area which brings Qi and Blood to nourish the kidneys right where they are located.  An advanced Oriental medicine therapist may choose to do some Moxa if appropriate, or use an essential oil blend that addresses the specific symptoms.  A few of my favorite basic essential oils for the Water Element are Ginger, Fennel, and Juniper Berry – then Frankincense if anxiety is a symptom.

To answer #2: What meridians and acupoints can be stimulated?  On the front of the body we can very easily stimulate the Kidney meridian in the lower legs during effleurage strokes.  We can choose several strong acupoints to stimulate, such as Kidney 1 , Yong Quan and  KI-3 Tai Xi.

On the back of the body, we can stimulate the Bladder meridian in both the back and legs, and use the Kidney Shu points.

To answer #3: What can I bring into my own energy field to change the current vibration into a healing tone for this person?

For this, we need to look at the emotion of fear and how to embody the opposite of this.  Can we imagine someone we would call fearless?  What kind of characteristics does this person have?

They stand strong and tall, look you in the eye and smile, there’s a deep sense of confidence, they know that no matter what the situation they will act to do something – even if they don’t know exactly what that something is – they are creative and have a million options, they are at ease with life and allow life to have a spontaneous flow, they feel ALIVE – like they’re in the Zone.

So this aspect can take some practice – which is where meditation, QiGong, and Medical QiGong practices can really help a lot.  But we can still start somewhere, such as internally saying a mantra like “I am strong” “I am confident” “I have so much flow in my life”….. and then feel these things as we say them.  You might find that if you really get into a kind of groove while thinking these and doing the massage at the same time, you experience an energetic connection and strength that is powerful and healing.

How to Make an Essential Oil Wound Spritz

by Guest Blogger, Becky Makool

One morning in mid-October, I jumped off my treadmill in the middle of my workout to try to grab a small piece of rawhide bone—a potential choking hazard—from one of my dogs before she could swallow it. Because it was early morning and I was tired and distracted, I forgot all about the proper way to get back on the moving treadbelt. I just jumped right back on it, and the treadmill immediately showed me who was boss! I fell on the treadbelt and scraped up my left leg and right knee. It was very painful at the time.

I had an appointment with Cynthia McMullen a few days after my fall. She has been my massage therapist/‌‌healer for more than a year now, and I’ve also been attending her Essential Oil workshops for the past year. I am fascinated and impressed by Cynthia’s ability to create magic healing potions to address all kinds of health issues. She is a master alchemist who works in harmony with Mother Nature.

After I showed Cynthia my injuries, she decided to create a Wound Spritz (a hydrosol-essential oil blend) to protect them from infection and help them heal more quickly and to also help alleviate pain. She selected three Oshadhi brand hydrosols (Yarrow, Helichrysum, and Witch Hazel) and three essential oils (Ginger, Helichrysum, and White Champa Leaf) and placed them on a stool in front of me so I could watch her wizardry. She also set out a bottle of pure liquid Aloe and a small, 2‑oz. brown glass bottle to hold the concoction.

Cynthia explained why she selected each ingredient for the formula:

HYDROSOLS

·         Yarrow – It’s anti-inflammatory, and it will help heal wounds and anything that’s bleeding.

·         Helichrysum – It’s the “go to” choice for healing bruises and wounds.

·         Witch Hazel – It’s somewhat antiseptic for wounds and also really nice on the skin.

ESSENTIAL OILS

·        Ginger – It helps with pain and is very nurturing.

·        Helichrysum – In this blend, the essential oil will help support the wound-healing aspect of the    Helichrysum hydrosol.

·        White Champa Leaf – It’s a more spiritual oil, and it will help provide insights around the    emotions involved.

ALOE VERA

·      Aloe – The liquid Aloe Cynthia used came in an Oshadhi hydrosol bottle, but she explained that it’s not a hydrosol. She included it because it’s very soothing to the skin.

Cynthia wanted the Wound Spritz to be concentrated and more potent to help heal the injuries, so she didn’t dilute the formula with water. She combined equal amounts of each of the three hydrosols in the brown bottle, leaving about half an inch of empty space at the top. Then she added the Aloe and the three essential oils. Here’s the formula:

WOUND SPRITZ FORMULA

Yarrow (hydrosol) – 33%

Helichrysum (hydrosol) – 33%

Witch Hazel (hydrosol) – 33%

Ginger (essential oil) – 6 drops

Helichrysum (essential oil) – 2 drops (Cynthia used less of this because it’s supporting the hydrosol.)

White Champa Leaf (essential oil) – 4 drops

Aloe (pure liquid) – 10 drops

I was instructed to always shake the bottle really well to thoroughly blend the oils and water-based hydrosols before using the spray.

Cynthia spritzed my wounds during the session, and the smell was very strong. It didn’t affect her, but it made me cough a little. Although inhaling it isn’t harmful, I made a point of trying not to breathe it in when I used it at home. Cynthia said that the Ginger essential oil was causing my coughing and that if she were to make the formula again, she would only add 2 drops of that instead of 6 drops. Another option to cut back on the intensity of the smell would be to pour some of the blend on a cotton ball and simply dab it on the wounded area.

I ended up spritzing my wounds two or three times a day and taking photos each night to document the healing process. I typically bruise easily (although the bruising sets in gradually), and both bruises and wounds on my legs tend to heal very slowly. This time, however, no additional bruising set in, and the healing process was noticeably faster.

The largest scrape on my left leg was a little swollen when Cynthia first sprayed it, and the swelling was gone that same night. By the end of the second day, that same scrape was drier and looked more like a scab. There was redness around all of the wounds that did not increase over time, and the wounds themselves began to dry up more and more and shrink a little with each ensuing day. By the fifth day, the largest scabs on my left leg and right knee had shrunk substantially. By the seventh day, they looked even better. The photos below document these healing results. 

 

Photos (left to right): Left leg on first night of treatment, on fifth night, and on seventh night.

  

Photos (left to right): Right knee on first night of treatment, on fifth night, and on seventh night.

VARIATIONS

During my session, Cynthia described her thought process for determining which of the ingredients from Mother Earth to use in a new blend. She begins by asking herself, “What do I have on hand? And out of what I have on hand, what would work really well for the situation?” She explained that she could have made a variation on the Wound Spritz with half of the ingredients that she ended up using. “If I just had two of the hydrosols, I could still do quite a bit with those. Even if I just had one, I could still do quite a bit with it,” she said. After selecting the hydrosols, she then looks at which essential oils would enhance the blend.

Cynthia said that another variation on the Wound Spritz could be made with just the three hydrosols, if someone only had those on hand. She explained that the essential oils make the spritz stronger and shape the overall feel of the blend, but it would still be effective with just the hydrosols. This option (without the essential oils) would even be safe for use on children and pets. Cynthia cautioned, however, that for use on children or puppies less than 1 year old, the hydrosol blend should be diluted with 50% purified water.      

STORAGE

If the Wound Spritz will be used on a short-term, regular basis, it doesn’t need to be refrigerated but should be kept out of direct sunlight and heat. If it will be used sparingly and stored indefinitely, then it should be refrigerated. Cynthia said that it will be good for about nine months to one year.

Learn tons of great information from Cynthia's On-Line Essential Oils Course series. You can study at Alaska Institute of Oriental Medicine from anywhere in the world!