Acupressure for Sleepiness
I’ve been using and teaching about the use of acupressure for boosting energy for a very long time. Since the early 1980s I’ve used pressure and tapping of some specific acupuncture points to give myself a quick jolt of energy. I’ve also had some success in helping patients with chronic fatigue by giving them some acupressure methods to use on a daily basis.
So I was very interested to see the publication of a small study involving 39 students in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. The students were participating in three days of all-day lecture classes. They were taught to apply acupressure – either tapping or massaging – either five stimulating or five relaxing points. The students were not told the intended effects of the different points.
Acupressure stimulation points were:
1. The top of the head
2. The top of the back of the neck on both sides
3. On the back of the hands in between the thumb and forefinger
4. Just below both knees
5. On the bottom of the feet — at the center just below the balls of the feet
Acupressure relaxation points were:
1. Between the eyebrows
2. Just behind the earlobes
3. On the front of the wrists
4. On the lower legs above the ankles and toward the midline
5. On the top of the feet in between the large and second toes
The methods that the students were shown consisted of applying pressure to these points with light tapping of the fingers and massaging with the thumbs or forefingers.
The study was a cross-over design: Half of the students applied the stimulation acupressure regimen at lunchtime during the first day of class followed by two days on the relaxation regimen, and the other half followed the reverse schedule.
The results showed that students reported significantly less sleepiness and fatigue on the days they used the acupressure stimulation regimen. This is a fertile area for research. People have also claimed to be able to fatigue with both Thought Field Therapy (TFT) and Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), and I’ve certainly found them to be useful on some occasions. The challenge now is to replicate this acupressure research and also to try out TFT and EFT in a similar study design.
Technorati tags:Thought Field Therapy, acupressure, sleep, complementary medicine, Qi, Emotional Freedom Technique
Nonlocal Interactions and Entangled Neurons
“Nonlocal” has become a bit of a buzzword recently, so let me explain what it means and why it so very important. It is an idea first proposed by the Irish physicist, J.S. Bell, in the 1960s, that at the microscopic quantum level particles that have been in contact remain permanently connected.
It has been repeatedly demonstrated in the laboratory, but for a long time seemed no more than a curiosity, the effect being infrequent and unstable, and only occurring at the quantum level. But then data started coming in from surprising sources: The “distant viewing” experiments of Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff in the 1970s, and work reported from the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) Laboratory. Then some exquisitely clear-cut research by Dean Radin, first while he was at the University of Nevada, and now at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and finally data on distant healing. Together these have really made it seem very clear that these nonlocal effects do indeed occur in the world of large physical objects. Not surprisingly, this research is so important for our understanding of the world, that it has all been viciously attacked. But the fact is that the data keep coming in, and keep resisting the most ferocious attacks.
Larry Dossey, an important voice in medicine for more than two decades, asserts that we are now seeing the emergence of what he calls Era III or nonlocal medicine that acknowledges that your thoughts and intentions may affect the functioning of other individuals, at any distance, and with or without the awareness of the recipient.
The same Dean Radin whom I just mentioned, has recently suggested the existence of entanglement in biological systems. A study published by a group of scientists from the University of Milan is intriguing. The investigators used cultures of human neurons derived from neural stem cells. What they did is fascinating and important. They split the neurons into two little dishes, and equipped each dish with tiny electrodes to record the electrical activity of the cells. I remember doing something similar back when the world was new, and I was a physiology student. But what we did not do back then is this: one of the dishes was shielded from electrical or optical inputs, so that there could be no ordinary influence of one dish on the other. However, when cells in the unshielded dish were stimulated with a laser beam, the cells in the shielded culture responded at the same time. The team took every possible precaution to ensure that there was no known way of one dish or cells influencing the other, and yet the stimulation of one dish caused the other to respond. This experiment was repeated and repeated over a three-year period. This provides evidence for some form of nonlocal linkage or entanglement between the cells in the dishes.
Interestingly, the authors themselves remain very cautious and despite repeating the experiment in a number of different ways, still worry that some of the laser light might somehow have leaked and stimulated the cells in the shielded dishes. The prospect that they have genuinely found a new force at work in biology is enough to worry anyone whose future is in the hands of grant givers.
Technorati tags: Nonlocal medicine. Larry Dossey, nonlocal, medicine, neurons, intentions
Acupuncture Without Needles
There are, in the United States, over 7 million people who are partially or completely disabled by back pain and another 40-50 million people who suffer from chronic recurrent headaches. Frustrated with my inability to help all my patients with conventional treatments, I have been using acupuncture since 1981. But about ten years ago I started using more acupressure, particularly since I could teach a lot of people to continue treating themselves.
Last month we saw evidence from a study using magnetoencephelography (MEG) scanning equipment that acupuncture reduces the activity of regions of the limbic system of the brain. MEG is a relatively new technology that measures the very faint magnetic fields that emanate from the head because of brain activity, instead of measuring electrical activity itself, which is a fairly blunt instrument. This reduced activity only occurred with deep needling, and when the patient experienced what is known as de qi. In Chinese medicine it is normally considered that the needle has not been correctly positioned until the patient and the practitioner both get the sensation of de qi. By contrast, superficial needling just caused activation of sensory areas of the cortex. Many doctors trained in needling techniques ignore the de qi experience, which is, I think, a mistake. When you are able to elicit it, the efficacy of acupuncture increases enormously.
Keep in mind what I have said before: just because acupuncture is associated with neurological changes, does not mean that they are responsible for the effects of acupuncture.
In this week’s British Medical Journal is an article from Taiwan, showing the effectiveness of acupressure in 129 patients with chronic low back pain. Like every study ever done, it is possible to pick some holes in this one, but overall it appears to be sound.
Now I am interested to see a press release about a form of needle-less therapy. I have written before about Thought Field Therapy (TFT), and the subject of the press release is a development of it called Emotional Freedom Technique, or EFT. While TFT uses tapping at specific points, together with humming, counting and eye movements, EFT is much simpler. It combines gentle fingertip tapping on key acupuncture points with focused thought. It is claimed to effectively reduce – and often permanently eliminating – chronic pain. According to its practitioners, EFT is more than 80-percent effective in treating headaches, back pain, cancer pain, arthritis, and pain from other conditions.
There is the rub: I could find no published research when I did a Medline search. That being said, I have reported elsewhere that I went to California to debunk TFT and became a convert after being treated by its inventor, Roger Callahan. There is a small amount of research on TFT that appears to confirm its effectiveness in some conditions, and I have certainly found it to be very helpful for many people.
Whether the claims of EFT will be born out remains to be seen. I have seen the techniques work, and I have to give credit where it is due. In exchange for your email address Gary Craig, who developed EFT, allows you to download a EFT manual from his website. You may also purchase DVDs from his site to learn more about this treatment modality. As always, I do not suggest using EFT or any other method in place of tried and tested treatments, but it may be a good adjunctive treatment for mild conditions.
In future message and in my newsletter I shall share some of the precise techniques that I have found useful, as well as ones that did not work out for me.
Technorati tags: Emotional Freedom Technique, headaches, acupuncture, acupressure, chronic pain
The Tools of the Emerging Laws of Healing: 1. Qigong
Qigong, which is also sometimes written as Chi Kung, is a component of traditional Chinese medicine that has been becoming increasingly popular in recent years, and is practiced by millions of people every day. It is an ancient system that involves the coordination of different patterns of breathing with specific physical postures, movements of the body and mental disciplines. Qigong is mainly taught for the maintenance of health, but, particularly in China, there are many who teach it as a therapeutic intervention, and medical qigong treatment has been officially recognized as a standard medical technique in Chinese hospitals since 1989. Some forms of qigong are taught in conjunction with the “internal” Chinese martial arts like T’ai Chi Ch’uan.
There are at least three thousand different styles and schools of Qigong, many of which have been modified by Taoist, Confucian and Buddhist beliefs. Most rely on the traditional Chinese belief that the body has an energy field called qi. It is a common error to equate it just with “energy” or with breath. It is more accurately translated as “influence”, and in the language of modern physics we describe it as a field of information – the Informational Matrix – that underlies the energies of the body. More than 25 separate but inter-related types of qi are recognized. In Chinese, “gong” means, “work”, so qigong then, is working with the qi.
Qigong was not allowed to be practiced in China from the time of the Cultural Revolution until around 1976. Most Western medical practitioners, as well as the Chinese government view qigong as a set of breathing exercises and movements exercises, that may benefit health by reducing stress and keeping the body mobile. Others see qigong in more metaphysical terms, claiming that the meditative breathing and movement exercises can influence the fundamental forces of the universe. Some practitioners have claimed to be able to do everything from felling a charging bull, to putting out forest fires. Some also claim that there is a profoundly spiritual aspect to qigong, which is seen as a pathway to spiritual enlightenment through the cultivation of virtue.
The rising popularity of qigong has had one unfortunate consequence and that is the ready availability of books and DVDs which promise to unveil all the secrets of qigong, when in actual fact learning qigong requires intense application and is difficult without a teacher. That being said, there are plenty of simple qigong methods that can be taught quickly and easily by a good teacher, and there are some excellent primers available, to which I shall refer you in a moment.
There is a substantial body of empirical research into the health benefits of qigong, both for health maintenance and for treatment. A literature search completed in January 2006 found 230 papers published over the preceding three years, of which 154 reported data from studies of everything from stress management to modulation of the immune system. Most of the studies were small, and some contained evident methodological flaws. One of the problems in the evaluation of Chinese medicine is that huge numbers of studies are done in China, often involving vast numbers of patients, but many of these studies are not done to Western standards, since in many cases it is felt unethical to undertake controlled studies. However, we have enough data to say that qigong is proving itself for stress management and for pulmonary problems.
But, as I’ve pointed out in many previous postings, your watchword should be “caveat emptor.” I have been looking at some websites that contain the most extravagant claims for what qigong can do, both as prevention and as treatment. It’s a safe bet that if someone claims that one single practice or technique can cure everything from cancer to the common cold, while also transforming you into an immortal sexual athlete, you should take it all with a large pinch of salt.
Most biologists and physicists reject the notion of qi altogether. I did as well until I observed a number of demonstrations, and subsequently learned to work with qi myself. I can now teach most people to feel energy flows in their own body and some are also able to learn to feel it in others. Such trainings are now being offered by teachers throughout the world and generating consistent reports of the subjective sensations and of health benefits. Learning one or two basic qigong exercises is a fine adjunct to other – including conventional – medical practices and some of these materials are available through my University program at success.com.
I have also put a list of resources at Amazon.com. If you click the button on the left hand side under “Resources for you to check out,” it will take you straight there. I have deliberately chosen not to affiliate myself with any particular schools or programs, but for people living in the United States, The American Qigong Association is doing good work in improving the professionalism of this art and science.
Technorati tags: Qigong, Tai Chi Chuan, healing,
Stardust and Dark Matter
Energy Medicine
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." (Hamlet, Act 1, Scene V)
–William Shakespeare (English Poet and Dramatist, 1564-1616)
There has been a lot of talk recently about energy medicine, energy psychology and even energy psychiatry.
What exactly are they, and why do we believe that these therapies only have half the answer?
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine divides energy medicine into veritable and putative. I find these terms a little clumsy. By veritable they mean energies like light, sound and electromagnetism that can be measured. They use the term putative energy fields, also known as biofields, because they have not been measured in a reproducible manner. Treatments like Reiki, Qigong, Shiatsu, Healing touch, Thought Field Therapy and perhaps prayer can all be included under the heading of energy medicines.
A note of caution here. The Scientific and Medical Network, which I had the privilege of serving for a number of years, has had a high-powered study group looking into energy medicine. At its inaugural meeting, the Nobel Prize-winning Physicist Brian Josephson made the important point that we need to be careful about our definitions. Let me clarify that, and tell you why this is such an important issue.
In my book Healing, Meaning and Purpose, I reported the stunning discovery that scientists seem to have "overlooked" more than 90 percent of the universe. This missing piece is being referred to as "dark" matter and "dark" energy. We know very little about it, but some visionary scientists are already wondering if this dark matter and dark energy may have something to do with the burgeoning evidence for the existence of "subtle" systems associated with the body. These subtle systems appear to be of many types, and in Asia have been given names like Qi (Chi) and Prana, or in the West were called the Etheric or the Fifth Element, after Earth, Fire, Air and Water. Why do I say that much that these therapies have only half the answer? I prefer to use the term subtle "systems", to be a little more precise than saying "energies", for these subtle systems are composed of the inseparable twins:
1. Subtle energies and
2. The subtle fields that carry them.
Without energy the fields could not actualize, and without the fields, there would be nothing to carry the energy.
The next point is that underlying the subtle systems is the key to healing. Before even there were the subtle systems, there was an Informational matrix. This is a very scientific and clinical term for something that we also know as the Inner Light or your Inner Divine Spark. You have it: we all do. Aging, illness and death occur when this matrix degrades. Then the subtle systems become chaotic and the biochemical and cellular systems follow. When we treat someone with acupuncture or Reiki, it is not so much that we are squirting "energy" into him or her, but that we are giving that person’s whole organism some cleaned-up information that has a positive effect on the person receiving the treatment.
"Love is the immortal flow of energy that nourishes, extends and preserves. Its eternal goal is life."
–Smiley Blanton (American Speech Pathologist, Psychoanalyst, Writer and Founder {with Norman Vincent Peale} of the American Foundation of Religion and Psychiatry, 1882-1966)
Technorati Tags: More blogs about Energy+Medicine.
Reiki Energy Healing
Some New Research on Acupuncture
Acupuncture has been in use for at least three thousand years and some evidence that our ancestors were first exploring this amazing form of healing seven thousand years ago. We now have several forms of acupuncture being practiced: Traditional Chinese, that operates on a system of yin and yang, of five elements, of Qi and channels along which it flows. It was this system that I studied in China almost fifteen years ago. There are many schools and styles of traditional acupuncture, and distinct forms of treatment have grown up in many parts of the Far East, including Japan, Korea and Vietnam. There is also something called “medical acupuncture,” that ignores the principles and precepts of traditional Chinese medicine, and instead focuses on stimulating tender spots and using simple “recipes” for treating people. This stimulation might be with needles, lasers of electricity. Both types of acupuncture have been subjected to a great deal of research.
It may be that medical acupuncture works simply by stimulating the release of endorphins, or modulating some other chemical transmitters in the brain and spine. But the situation with traditional acupuncture is more complex. Every competent practitioner has seen clinical responses that cannot be explained on that basis alone. I have personally treated people paralyzed by strokes, and have seen them recover far more than we would ever expect in Western medicine. Other odd things too, like the cartilage being restored in people with arthritis. The frustrating thing is that none of the treatments works every time. But when it does, it can be amazing.
Recent studies that have been published in major journals have extended the list of conditions that may improve with acupuncture to include:
- Fibromyalgia
- The side effects of HIV medicines
- Arthritis of the knee
- Overactive bladder in women
- Itching associated with dialysis
On the other hand, I was surprised to see a large study of people with migraine, who failed to obtain much benefit. More than 20 years ago I reported good results using acupuncture for migraine at a conference in London. An esteemed colleague from Chicago immediately disagreed, saying that he had tried acupuncture and it had not worked for him. I think the message here is that it is not just the therapy, but also who is doing it.
Technorati tags: acupuncture Energy medicine Qi
Rooting Out Resistance to Change
It is never easy to change our mind about anything, as long as we remain attached to a particular belief, outcome or line of reasoning. Subsequently, we can become inflexible and intolerant of new ideas. There are several barries to emotional, personal and spiritual freedom and ATTACHMENT is one of the most potent.
In my recently released book, Healing, Meaning & Purpose: The magical power of the emerging laws of life, I discuss 12 major reasons why people resist change. They are:
- Being unaware that change is possible.
- Having entrenched belief systems.
- Having an emotional or habitual attachment to a particular way of doing things.
- Feeling comfortable about where you are.
- Fearing change or the consequences of change, like losing face or risking embarrassment or ridicule.
- Having intellectual reasons for maintaining the status quo.
- Being unaware of information to support the need for change.
- Being unconvinced by the necessity for change.
- Having blockages or perturbations in their energy fields.
- Having a life story that does not leave room for change or evolution.
- Being unaware of the rewards that flow from changing.
- Not knowing how to harness resources to accomplish change.
What are your roadblocks to emotional, personal and spiritual freedom? What is the first step in creating positive changes in your life?
Technorati tags: spiritual growth
