the healing power of acupuncture

Jul 31, 2016 | Tao Philosophy & Practices

healing-power-of-acupuncture

summary

To mark national Acupuncture Awareness Week in the UK, this interview explores my therapy work with acupuncture and its vital role as part of the emotional and spiritual healing process.

You’ll learn:

 

  • why not all acupuncture is the same ~ the different approaches to acupuncture in the West
  • why acupuncture is so powerful when combined with emotional counselling and coaching work
  • how the ancient Taoists viewed emotional and spiritual health and why they only consulted a doctor when they were in good health
  • and, perhaps controversially… why acupuncture has never cured anyone!

listen to the podcast

If the audio player above does not work you can also listen here.

full teaching transcript

Alexandra Lees:

Acupuncture is now becoming recognised as an effective mainstream complementary therapy in the West. If someone is choosing to try acupuncture for the first time it can be rather confusing as to which style of acupuncture would be best for them or which acupuncturist to consult. Are all forms of acupuncture essentially the same?

David James Lees:

There are three main forms of acupuncture practised in the West: Five Element Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine Acupuncture, and Medical Acupuncture (often called Western Acupuncture), and there are important differences between these three approaches.

The form that has been practised in the UK the longest period of is Five Element Acupuncture. For a while this was the only type of acupuncture practised here and of course it’s still practised and is a very relevant part of the whole body of acupuncture work today.

Traditional Chinese Medicine or ‘TCM’ Acupuncture is, as the name suggests, a method that thousands of years old and was practised only in China until relatively recently. It came to the West when Chinese doctors started to leave China and practice more widely.

I studied at the College of Integrated Chinese Medicine in Reading, UK, for 4 years where they integrate the teachings of both Five Element Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Acupuncture.

Five Element Acupuncture is more about working with what the Chinese call the ‘element’ of the individual, which can be one of five categories: fire, earth, metal, water or wood.

A Five Element Acupuncturist will treat the person in relation to what is called their CF or causative factor – this is essentially their underlying ‘root’ or ‘foundation’ element.

So, for instance, if a patient consults a Five Element Acupuncturist with a bad back the acupuncturist will normally aim to first diagnose the underlying CF or causative factor of that patient. Using this information they will then strengthen and rebalance the CF of the patient by using particular needle points related to that element.

This is done on the basis that, by treating the root or foundation causative factor of the patient, this will in turn indirectly resolve the presenting symptoms or ‘imbalance’ that caused the lower back problem.

By contrast, a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner will typically treat the presenting symptoms more directly. So if a patient with lower back pain goes to a Traditional Chinese acupuncturist they will needle points on the energy channel or ‘meridian’ that relates to the physical location of the pain.

When I observed the work my Chinese Masters and the Doctors in China one of the most important things I learnt was how they always treated the presenting symptoms as a priority. Although I’m trained in both Traditional Chinese Medicine and Five Elements Acupuncture I tend to predominantly use the TCM method in my practice.

So now if somebody comes to me with a painful arm, leg, back or neck, I will first of all treat those presenting symptoms to relieve the immediate physical discomfort and pain. Once I’ve done this I can then begin to look for any underlining cause or the weakness or deficiency in the patients Causative Factor, so that I can treat this ‘root imbalance’ to prevent the problem from reoccurring.

I often find that emotional issues such as stress and anxiety can aggravate or prompt the onset of many common physical health complaints and so this is where I use my talking therapies in tandem with the acupuncture to help with this.

The third form of acupuncture, and the type that most people receive when they go to a GP or physiotherapist in the UK, is what’s called Western Acupuncture or Medical Acupuncture. This focusses on the needling of smaller number of ‘trigger points’ to treat bad backs, shoulders, necks etc.

This form of acupuncture has now been taught in the West for the past few decades, mainly by doctors or physicians to other doctors or physicians, and you can learn these Medical Acupuncture trigger points and how to do a needle insertion in a relatively short period of time.

My observation is that Medical Acupuncture can be effective as a form of treatment for a limited range of physical health issues, typically those associated with muscular pain.

In China there’s a great saying that ‘diseases may be the same but the people suffering from them are different’.

I think this makes the case well for treating both the presenting symptom and the person and the particular approach of integrating TCM with Five Element Acupuncture, which is what I do regularly.

For me as a practitioner this essentially means dealing with the presenting symptoms first, which hopefully can be cleared up very quickly within one or two sessions. This then allows me to move on and explore the underlying reason as to why the treatment was needed in the first place. My analogy for this would be: making sure I put out the fire first before investigating what caused it!

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AL: Within a typical client session for emotional and spiritual support you’ll combine an acupuncture treatment with your Wu Wei Wisdom talking therapy work. This integration of acupuncture with personal counselling or coaching is quite unusual – do you find that some clients are sceptical about how and why you use the acupuncture?

DJL: Most clients come to me via a referral or recommendation by someone they know who has already been to me. This means their friend or family member will have already explained to them how I work and how powerful it can be to integrate treatments such as acupuncture, Qigong healing and meditation with talking therapies such as counselling, hypnotherapy and NLP.

Occasionally a new client may be a little bit fearful of the idea of the acupuncture needles. They think they’re going to be similar a doctor’s hypodermic syringe, but actually they’re nothing like that at all! The needles are thinner than a hair and most people don’t even feel them being inserted.

The whole experience of acupuncture can be quite a positive revelation for new clients and certainly different from what they’re expecting.

Once inserted into the body, the acupuncture needles activate the healing Qi spiritual energy of the client, and for most people this gives a very pleasant, peaceful and calming sensation. In fact the acupuncture treatments I give at the end of my sessions can be so relaxing for some patients that they regularly doze off on the treatment bed!

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AL: Although you treat and work with patients with a wide range of health problems you do specialise in emotional and spiritual health issues. How have you come to this place in your work?

DJL: Before I trained and practised Chinese Medicine I had a professional background in counselling and I have since gained qualifications in hypnotherapy and NLP (neuro-linguistic programming). Running in parallel, and very much interwoven with this professional training, has been my study and practice to become an ordained Taoist. For me this is a spiritual and philosophical journey that I will continue forever!

I have always been very interested in talking to my clients and understanding their lifestyle, their thinking and beliefs, and tuning into the authentic essence of who they truly are – even if they themselves do not know who that person is yet!

For many clients it is these core issues that may be affecting their wellbeing and their physical, emotional or spiritual health. Over the years my particular interest in emotional and spiritual health issues has naturally grown and I guess, by the Law of Attraction, I tend to attract patients who have emotional and spiritual imbalances.

In my practice now I really enjoy combining my Taoist philosophical understanding of how to lead a healthy and balanced life, along with my Traditional Chinese therapies of acupuncture, Chinese herbs, Qigong healing and meditation, and my more modern Western ‘talking therapies’ of counselling, coaching, hypnotherapy and NLP.

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AL: What would you say is a Taoist or Traditional Chinese Medicine approach to emotional or spiritual health?

DJL: In Taoist philosophy and the practice of Traditional Chinese medicine, emotional imbalances are referred to as ‘Shen disturbances’. The closest translation in the English language of Shen is ‘spirit’.

So essentially a disturbance of the ‘emotions’ is viewed as a disturbance of the ‘spirit’ of the person. When a client is suffering from an emotional problem that would be typically be referred to in the West as: stress, anxiety or panic attacks, I would view this as a ‘Shen disturbance’ or ‘Shen imbalance’.

I would first work with the client to help them to relax and calm their mind and body, so that together we could then progress on to explore and discover what had disturbed their Shen. I normally find that this is connected to a misunderstanding a client’s thinking or beliefs.

Acupuncture can be very effective as part of this whole process because, in the first instance, putting needles into certain Shen points of the body, can settle and soothe the patient. This then helps to clear their thinking – it’s almost like clearing the water in a muddy pool.

Although this initial settling of the client’s emotions may only last for a relatively short period of a few hours or days, it gives us the time and opportunity to calmly explore and work through their thinking and beliefs together. It also offers the client the mental and emotional space to see the issues or situations they are confronted with, from a fresher, broader, and more balanced perspective.

Using acupuncture in this way, often in combination with meditation and Qigong healing, allows me to be much more effective with my talking therapy work. It’s almost as if ‘fast-tracks’ the whole therapy process, so much so that I truly believe that together we can achieve something like three years worth of counselling work results within a matter of a few months.

Sadly, I think that in the West emotional disturbances and mental health issues may be almost like the new health epidemic and it’s something that we should all take care to address. Our society seems to hold great value in looking after our physical health, but even now in these more enlightened times, imbalances in our mental and emotion well being still can be very much misunderstood and stigmatised.

What I’m trying to do with all my work, whether it be with my private clients, my public talks and workshops, or my writing and broadcasting, is to break through these misunderstandings and show how vital and precious your mental, emotional, and in turn your spiritual health, really is to you and your unique divine potential.

I have noticed that there are more men now coming to see me for help with emotional challenges. A while ago, my work with emotional issues would have been about 80% female to 20% male clients but now this is changing.

My experience is that, despite the pervasive stigma within our society, men of all ages are becoming much more aware about their mental and emotional health, which is great news.

I believe that everyone, regardless of age or sex, should value and make time to manage their emotional wellbeing in the same way they would manage their physical wellbeing. Simply by spending 10 minutes a day doing some kind of meditation can make a huge difference.

This doesn’t necessarily mean sitting cross legged in front of a Buddha – it could mean walking the dog, going for a bike ride, relaxing with some gardening or crafting, practising deep breathing exercises whist waiting for the bus.

Anything can connect you to your spirit and it’s whatever works for you and helps stop your mind from running around and around, so that you can take control of your thinking and bring yourself into a more balanced, calm and authentic way of being.

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AL: Is it true that in ancient China patients would only pay to see the Chinese Medicine doctor when they were well and healthy?

DJL: This was one of the first things that I learnt when visiting China and this concept was quite interesting for me as it is profoundly different from the way we relate to our doctors in the West.

In ancient China every village had it’s own Chinese medicine doctor and the villagers would only pay the doctor with produce from their fields when they were well enough to work. So as soon as they became ill they could not work their land or pay the dues to the doctor.

This meant that the Chinese doctor would give them advice and treat them when they were fit and healthy, maintaining their Qi energy so that it was flowing, balanced and strong, and keeping them in good health.

So the whole concept of Chinese medicine, whether it’s acupuncture, Chinese herbs, Tui’na massage or Qigong meditation, is built on the premise that wellness and ‘being in balance’ is something that should not be taken for granted and that care should be taken to maintain good health and prevent illness rather than just treating illness when problems occur.

Ancient Chinese philosophy and the principles of Taoism are based on the understanding of how to best achieve and maintain this wellness of internal balance and flow, by avoiding stagnation and blockages in your Qi energy, and finding your unique harmonious flow in life or ‘Wu Wei’.

When you’re in this place of Wu Wei or ‘effortless-effort’ this means you’re well, happy and balanced in your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual self.

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AL: You controversially once said in a lecture that: ‘acupuncture has never cured anyone’. Surely that statement goes against everything you practice and believe in?

DJL: Ha, yes… I think it’s important to see beyond the headline here and look deeper into the point I was making!

I consider that wellness occurs when you’re physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually in balance and in your flow. This is actually a most natural state of being, it’s your birth-right. Another important thing to consider is that we are all natural healers. We all have the ability to self-heal.

It therefore frustrates me a little when I hear health practitioners of any type saying ‘I cured this’ and ‘I cured that’ because I believe this misrepresents what is actually happening.

I consider that what acupuncture does do is to help move and clear the blockages and stagnations of Qi or energy within an individual that are creating their ill-health. This then allows for the natural flow of energy within the body to step in, take over, and for the body to begin to rebalance and heal itself.

It’s like clearing a dam in a river, once you remove the rubble and debris from the river bed the water will flow effortlessly!

So when I say acupuncture has never cured anyone, what I mean is that people cure themselves. Acupuncture simply lends a helping hand, and it can be incredibly powerful in helping facilitate and speed-up what is a natural process of self-healing.

Viewing the role of acupuncture and many other supporting therapies in this way does not diminish their value or relevance. This approach can be empowering for both the client and for me as the therapist as we are both working together with the same love and intention to stimulate and reinvigorate the healing process. This is the wonderfully vital and precious flow of energy that unites all of us and every living thing within the Cosmos.

A client’s mind-set and intention, or what the Chinese call ‘Yi’, is very much critical to this therapy approach. To ensure that the natural healing process I’ve described is fully mobilised, it’s incredibly important for the client to take full responsibility for maintaining and balancing their own health.

They should not just assume that someone or something else can do this for them and that they have no role to play. Without their commitment and positive intention the healing cannot be truly effective. For this reason I always encourage my clients to pro-actively participate in their therapy work and treatment plan with me.

Whether it’s from them booking sessions only when they choose to, to them taking session notes, keeping a review diary, or them knowing that they can always challenge me when I suggest something they don’t understand or agree with. This connects the client to the therapy process and their healing, and this is absolutely the way it should be!

The open and honest dialogue that this type of client-therapist relationship creates is essential. I want my clients to challenge me when I say something they disagree with, because I believe in that moment of ‘challenge’ or ‘discomfort’ there is often a profound healing to be found.

This can be either because I have said something wrong, which is fantastic for me because this means I can learn something new, or, often if it doesn’t ‘FEEL’ right for the client this can also mean we have touched upon, almost like a raw nerve, a fundamental misunderstanding their thinking.

Often it can be this misunderstanding that is at the foundation of their health imbalance – in which case we have struck gold!

When working through the emotional issues that may have affected a client for a many years or even a whole lifetime, there is no doubt that it takes effort and determination from both parties involved. Both of you have to be committed to rolling up your sleeves and have the intention or ‘Yi’ to work as hard as it takes to sort it out.

One of the things I like the most about working in my own therapy practice is that there is no such thing as a typical client and that is what makes my job so very interesting! Just last week a girl of 12 years old came to me with her mum and then later that day I treated an elderly gentleman in his 80’s. I love working with such a wide spectrum of people, each with their own story, needs and expectations.

I often say to my new clients during our early sessions that ‘I may have been in these woods before, but I’ve never been on your path’. Everyone’s healing path is individual to them just as everyone’s misunderstandings and imbalances are unique to them.

It’s my job is to highlight my client’s root misunderstandings and imbalances, help facilitate their natural healing ability, and re-connect them back to their true spiritual and divine potential.

Ultimately, however, only they have the power to make the choice, with their own free-will, intention and self-determination, as to whether or not they return to that place of self-reliance, self-love and self-healing.

I feel truly honoured to be able to work with my clients through this process of personal discovery and enlightenment and to share their journey to optimum health and well being.

Yi Tao Qi Tao

David

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