Running Meridians, Feeling Calm: The Theory
Change Your Movement, Change Your Life! http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/789773http:// is coming back Saturday, Jan 10 to Bedford, MA. A day for personal growth through music and movement, journaling and conversation, based on reflex integration techniques.
Most of us have heard the term “meridian” as used in acupuncture or acupressure, but most of us have a hard time actually knowing what it is! That is one of the difficulties when we try to overlay an ancient eastern system onto a more modern western one. The language of energy, which is invisible, is not the same as the language of matter, or the physical things we can see and touch, dissect and put in jars.
But as anyone with a teeny bit of physics – or common sense – knows, both matter and energy make up the world we live in – including our own bodies. So looking at meridians is a way of looking at our bodies from the energy point of view.
“The meridians represent the channel . . . where energy flows.”1 This energy is what is called Chi, or Qi, or Ki, or Sen Lines in different languages . . . but it is easiest to just think of it as energy, period. Along the meridians are points of more concentrated energy, which can be massaged or needled for specific effects, but we won’t go there because we are keeping it simple, simple, simple. Meridian Massage (see the previous post for the technique itself) is done by brushing the air above the broad route map of train tracks across the America of our bodies. We don’t worry about whether to stop in Sioux Falls or Glenwood Springs.
But there has to be a connection between energy and matter, right? Or else one could not affect the other. It has been suggested that the connections between the stuff that hurts – muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones – is interconnected by the fascial system.
Fascia is the stuff that jiggles below your skin when you rub it. It is sort of jello-like, and it forms a pretty complete body-stocking. If you look at the skeletal system, or the muscular system, or almost any other system in the body, is sort of sketches out your shape but it doesn’t really correspond to what we see when we look in a mirror, or at one another. The fascial system, as pointed out by Tom Myers http://www.anatomytrains.com/at/whos-who/tom-myers/ who developed the concept of Anatomy Trains, forms an almost perfect silhouette. “Fascia is the seamless web of connective tissue that covers and connects the muscles, organs, and skeletal structure of our body.”1
In his book Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis http://www.amazon.com/Energy-Medicine-Scientific-Basis-2e/dp/0443067295/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1416753720&sr=8-2&keywords=energy+medicine+jim+oschman
Jim Oschman explains that “the fascia is a semi conducting communication network that can convey the bioelectrical signals between one part of the body and every other part.”1 Okay, so how does that happen? How does a matrix of jello get the information to the brain from the second toe that it is OK to release that shooting pain now?
This is where the meridians come in! “This communication network within the fascia is none other than the meridian system . . . with its countless extensions into every part of the body.”1
These signals are not “touchable” in the usual sense. You can’t touch an electric current the way you’d touch an electric cord - and if you do touch the current itself, you’re likely to get zapped! But our own bioelectric and biomagnetic fields extend out from our physical bodies into the space around them. We also pick up these kinds of invisible signals from other sources – other bodies, computers, cell phone towers . . . Just because they are invisible doesn’t mean they aren’t real.
And just because they are invisible doesn’t mean we can’t touch them in the air above our bodies!
As with a cat, there are two directions to stroke a meridian. One will get you a purr, and one may get you a bite! Stroking in the direction of the meridian flow will get you a better result – it will turn the energy on. Stroking against the flow turns the energy off. (That’s why sumo wrestlers are always rapidly stroking their hands down in the air – they are trying to turn off the opponent’s central meridians!)
The fastest way I know to create a positive feeling is simply to stroke up the central meridian. This “route” goes from between the legs, up the front of the body to the lower lip. To turn this power station “on” just brush your hand in the air above your body up to your chin a few times.
And if some anxiety persists – stroke down a few times, first. Sometimes we need to turn the meridian “off” and discharge the old energy before we can turn it “on” again for a fresh start. It’s like an energetic oil change. Just remember – never leave yourself turned “off!” Always end by stroking up.
You can do this for children so easily and quickly that they never need to know what is happening. Just gesture up their little bodies – or big bodies, for a teen-ager. You can just say something that an upward gesture will illustrate. Any exclamation will do – as long as you keep it positive!
1 Fascia, Chinese Medicine Meridians and Trigger Points, available as a .pdf from www.massage references.com http://www.massagereferences.com/articles/Techniques/Fascia.pdf