Pacing

We have been car-less for nearly two weeks now & it has inspired me to review how I move through the world - literally. 

With the exception of short term car rentals on the weekends to enable me to reach my teaching gig, the whole family has been busing everywhere. And one thing, I've learned is that riding public transportation is a very trenchant example of how outlook is everything. 

I have found it to be relaxing and a wonderful way of forcing me to slow down. It also requires me to really decide what is essential that I carry with me. Do I really need to pack for every natural disaster?! I'm sure I can find a place to buy a bandaid if I really need one.

It is also the great equalizer. No matter how you're dressed or where you're going, you are in the same boat/bus with everyone else from every other walk of life. When someone doesn't realize this and fights against it, it also has the power to create camaraderie among the remaining passengers.

One gentleman got on the bus the other day and spent every stop slamming his cane into the ground with aggravation and grumbling at whoever was getting on or off the bus as though they were intentionally going slow in order to make him late. He also barely contained his desire to backseat drive when the bus driver would err on the side of caution. The rest of us at first responded to him in kind, and then with amusement, and finally with offers of help, which he declined. 

In truth, we can either fight against what is - the route the bus is taking, obstacles in our life, someone else's agenda - or we can take the time to be with what is and flow with it as best we can. It doesn't mean we don't continue towards our own destination, it just means we have a better time getting there. 

A friend of mine is currently in the hospital with a severe emphysema attack and we talk about his allowing his body to relax rather than strain against the constriction in his breathing. Tensing against it only makes it worse. I know this from my own asthma attacks in the past. My friend says that when he manages to "take himself to the Grand Canyon" and "breath the big sky", his lungs relax a bit and it is the tiniest bit easier to breathe. He is still up against a terrible illness... and he is practicing flowing with it as best he can.

I think of him, as I sit on the bus, wanting it to move faster to get me where I'm going. And I relax, sit back, and enjoy the ride.

Recent Reminders

My own acupuncturist & mentor said to me the other day, “There is nothing in the ancient texts about doing things! It’s all about being. We’re all really just here hanging out between birth & death.”

And he’s right. I had gotten all caught up in my to-do list and a sense of scarcity rather than abundance.

The fact is that there will still be things on the list when we die. There will still be dirty laundry.

And my life is rich with love and possibility.

That’s not to say that there’s not work to be done, food to be prepared, household chores to be maintained... and yet, it’s a completely different approach to think, I’ll just do a few of these things while I’m here hanging out between birth and death.

My 6 yr old son has just started taking capoiera lessons. He loves it. One thing his teacher stresses is the difference between being ice and being water. Ice resists things and gets hurt in the process. Water lets things flow through and around it and remains flexible. Now when we begin to have cross words in our house, my son will say to me, “Momma, be water.” And he’s right. It doesn’t mean that I don’t have to teach him things and guide him toward more positive behavior. It’s the way that I do it that makes the difference. And water gets a much better response than ice – as is true with any of us.

The Tao Teh Ching, chapter 8, begins by saying: “The highest form of goodness is like water. Water knows how to benefit all things without striving with them.”

So, as we face the energetic beginning of Summer this Saturday (May 5^th), I wish for us all a babbling brook of activity and joy and love while we’re hanging out here between birth and death.

Enjoy.

Describing the Elephant: Modern Science & Ancient Wisdom

As an acupuncturist, I have the intellectual hobby of following ideas & discoveries in modern science & medicine and then "translating" them into Chinese Medicine theory - particularly that of the Five Element model.

Yesterday, I was listening to Studio360 on National Public Radio and they did a segment interviewing Adrian Bejan, the founder of Constructal Theory. In short, Constructal Theory says, "For a flow system to persist in time (to survive) it must evolve in such a way that it provides easier and easier access to the currents that flow through it".


In many ways, Constructal Theory speaks to both the art of Feng Shui (the arrangement of items in our environment to create the smoothest & most beneficial flow of energy through a space, which results in a greater sense of comfort & ease) and to what I endeavor to achieve with my patients in the treatment room every day.

I do not profess to fully understand Constructal dynamics at the moment, although I intend to study it further. However, it appears to be addressing the flow of qi both in animate and inanimate forms. While none of us are designed to live forever, acupuncture as a medicine seeks to reduce impediments to one's ability to live as well as possible or in constructal terms, "to evolve in such a way that it provides easier and easier access to the currents [of energy/qi/life] that flow through [us]."

It always tickles me when modern science and ancient energetic wisdom line up like this. We are all, indeed, just the blind men describing the elephant.

I wish you well & thanks for reading.

peace,
Janice

Who Has The Time?

I've been thinking a lot about time lately. When I was little, I'd asked my dad what he wanted for a present and he's always laugh and say, "time". So, one year, I bought him a bottle of "thyme" as a joke - not really understanding why he felt like he had so little.

Later in life, as many of us finally got around to having children in our 40's, I can remember my friend, Steve's remark after the birth of his first child: "Ohmygod, the time I wasted! What was I doing with myself all those years?!"

Now, I've reached a point in my life where I'm beginning to understand how my dad felt. And I am seeking to recapture that sense of timelessness that I had when I was younger. As children, an afternoon lasts a lifetime. Next week might as well be next year. And a year... well, that's an eternity. Children are present to the joy of being alive on a moment by moment basis.

I look at the ever growing "List of Things To Do" and despair of having the time to get it all done. Am I just cramming more into my day? or am I not drilling down into each moment for all its worth? I have a sneaking suspicion that it's the latter. And I know I'm not alone.

As adults, we find ourselves ever tilting forward towards life. "I can't wait for the weekend." "When I retire, I'm going to..." "In my next career...." And the days just blur by, we're exhausted, and we miss so much... until the future finally begins to look a lot shorter and a bit scarier, and we find ourselves looking back. What did we do with all that time? Where were we? Racing to the future. Trapped in the past. Somewhere in between.

Every time my son tells me he hates my cell phone (because I'm often leashed to it), I am reminded of my mother's main piece of parenting advice, "Give your children your time." Life happens right now. In this moment. Don't miss it.

Put down the cell phone and schedule joy first. This is my reminder to myself.

I tell my patients this kind of stuff all the time and I need to hear it too. Today, it was from a patient, who shared his new list of goals with me. They are:

1) Be one with his environment.
2) Understand what people tell and show you, not what you want to see.
3) Be inquisitive.
4) Seek pleasurable experiences.
5) Try new things.

If not now, when?

I'll close with my favorite quote - one that I hope will be my epitaph:

"Living is
A thing you do.
Now or never?
Which do you?"
~ Piet Hein

I wish you joy... right now.
Thanks for reading.

peace,
Janice

What Do I Do?

When I tell people that I am an acupuncturist, they immediately think of the needles. Oddly enough, this always surprises me. It's like saying a poet works with pencils.

In short, my “cocktail party answer” for what I do is that 1) I make grown-ups lie down and 2) I help them – body, mind, & spirit – remember how to respond to life the way they did when they were little.

If you watch a small child, they have what we call a smooth flow of qi. They eat when they're hungry, they sleep when they're tired, they're happy when they're happy, they're sad when they're sad... they experience pain and yet don't suffer from it. They skin their knee and cry while it hurts and when it stops, they're on to the next thing. If you bring it up later, all they have to say about it is, “Look, I got a cool bandaid!” They aren't attached to the past, reliving the pain, or worried about pain in the future. They just roll along in the present.

As we age, we start to get attached to the past or the future. We begin to buy into what people say about us or what we say about ourselves. We learn to override the signals we get from our bodies: “I'll skip lunch and get this done.” “I'll just push through tonight & sleep tomorrow.” etc. And as a result, we no longer roll as smoothly. We begin to clunk along. And those clunks start to show up as physical pain, emotional upset, poor mental habits. 

All the needles & I do is ask experienced, intelligent questions that remind that version of life that is you how much smoother things could be. Really, it's you & your energy that do all the work.  

Welcome the Water Dragon!

Happy Lunar New Year!

According to the Chinese, this year we will experience good luck in comparison to the mixed bag we had in the Year of the Rabbit. Things will get better. Recovery may be slow and yet the chaos in the world should calm down a good bit. All in all, a good year ahead.

In that vein, I have decided to connect more with people, seek out like minds, and generally have more fun doing what I love. This blog is part of that venture & I look forward to connecting with folks & hearing what you think. My goal is to update it weekly. Please check back in & toss in your two cents as you see fit.

peace,

Janice