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Energy Balancing
Energy Balancing is a routine approach to working
on the path ways within the body, releasing blockages and allowing
the energy to resume along its natural paths. This is a one hour
session and you are lying comfortably on a massage table and with
the use of my hands and a small amount of pressure I check out your
complete system and releasing blockages and bringing new energy
into the area.
THE MERIDIANS
In addition to qi, acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine
recognize a subtle energy system by which qi is circulated through
the body. This transportation system is referred to as the channels
or meridians. There are twelve main meridians in the body, six yin
and six yang, and each relates to one of the 7 major organs.
To better visualize the concept of qi, and the meridians, think
of the meridians as a river-bed, over which water flows and irrigates
the land; feeding, nourishing and sustaining the substance through
which it flows. (In Western medicine, the concept would be likened
to the blood flowing through the circulatory system.) If a dam were
placed at any point along the river, the nourishing effect that
the water had on the whole river would stop at the point the dam
was placed.
The same is true in relation to qi and the meridians. When the qi
becomes blocked, the rest of the body that was being nourished by
the continuous flow, now suffers. Illness and disease can result
if the flow is not restored.
Concept of Qi, Chi or Ki
Shiatsu acts on the subtle anatomy of the body
described as qi in Chinese or ki in Japanese. Qi is a fundamental
concept of the traditional oriental medicine and is considered as
our "life essence" which maintains and nurtures our physical
body , mind and spirit. In traditional Indian medicine it is described
as prana. Qi is everywhere. It moves and changes quickly from moment
to moment and can easily be replenished on a day-to-day basis. The
human body is a field of continually moving energy, circulating
through cells, tissues, muscles and internal organs.
The Chinese word qi translates as "breaths". A Japanese
dictionary defines qi as mind, spirit, or heart. Japanese vocabulary
has hundreds of expressions which use the word qi, most of them
ordinary ways of talking about human moods, attitudes, or character.
Qi is often characterized as energy.
Within the organ and meridian systems, energy is constantly being
exchanged. The energy circulates to fill areas where it is lacking
(Kyo) and drain off areas where it is excessive (jitsu). The entire
system is designed to be self regulating. Most energy imbalances
correct themselves without effort. Treatment is only required for
stubborn and persistent blockage or lack of energy in a certain
area, which is where Shiatsu and related disciplines come in.
There are a variety of exercises you can do to experience qi and
feel its effect on your body. Qi is a real force, made up of electric,
magnetic, infrasonic and infra-red vibrations, which can be intuitively
perceived and mentally directed. It can be photographed using Kirilian
photography. Like air that we depend on for our life, qi is the
very source of our vitality. It is the force within us which gives
us initiative, which drives and inspires us to move forward in life.
When the qi leaves us, we die. According to the ancient philosophers,
life and death is nothing but an aggravation and dispersal of qi.
"Qi produces the human body just as water becomes ice. As water
freezes into ice, so qi coagulates to form the human body. When
ice melts, it becomes water. When a person dies, he or she becomes
spirit (shen) again. It is called spirit, just as melted ice changes
its name to water." Wang Chong, AD 27-97
The Meridians
The Orientals believed that energy circulated and nourished the
whole person through specific pathways, or meridians as they are
usually called. In Indian medicine, this is called a nadi or river.
Meridians form a crisscross network of interconnected pathways that
link the organs, skin, flesh, muscle and bones in a unified body.
(This may be compared to the Interstate highway network in the United
States.) The qi that circulates within them may be more Yang in
nature, defending the body on the outside, or more Yin in nature,
nourishing the body on the inside. These channels run from deep
in the organs out through major meridian branches to smaller and
smaller ones, ending up at the outside of the body in the skin;
then they go back again, just like the pattern of other major body
systems such as the nervous and blood systems.
Location of the meridians.
Each of the twelve organs is linked with a meridian or channel of
energy, named according to the internal organ it affects. The meridians,
like rivers of energy, ensure proper nurturing of qi or life force
throughout your whole being. When you are healthy, the flow of qi
proceeds unimpeded, like the water in a free-running river, and
energy is well distributed throughout the meridian pathways. When
the river, or meridian, is blocked for some reason, the qi is prevented
from reaching the specific area it is supposed to nurture. The result
is that the cells, tissue or organs in the affected area will suffer.
IDENTIFYING MERIDIANS
Meridians are numbered from 1-12 according
to the flow of energy through them.
All meridians start or finish in the head, chest, hands or feet.
1. Lung - Starts on chest in front of shoulder, finishes in thumb
2. Large Intestine - Starts in index finger, finishes at side of
nostril
3. Stomach - Starts under eye, finishes in second toe
4. Spleen - Starts in big toe, finishes at side of chest
5. Heart - Starts under armpit, finishes in little finger
6. Small Intestine - Starts in little finger, finishes in front
of ear
7. Urinary Bladder - Starts at inside corner of eye, finishes in
little toe
8. Kidney - Starts on sole of foot, finishes at top of chest
9. Heart Constrictor - Starts beside nipple, finishes in middle
finger
10. Triple Heater - Starts in fourth finger, finishes by outside
corner of eyebrow
11. Gall Bladder - Starts at outside corner of eye, finishes in
fourth toe
12. Liver - Starts in big toe, finishes on front of chest or below
nipple.
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