Clearing Stuck Liver Qi

Just about everyone we see in clinic has this diagnosed – and it is easy to see why . .

Most patients have an aspect of civilization walking in the door with them. Placating behaviours/expectations/beliefs that run us. Hence – we all have a degree of angst/frustration at not being fully heard/seen or taken into consideration. Whether this is as obvious as a ‘chip on the shoulder’ or whether it is buried in being ‘nice’/polite/civil/self effacing or some other coping strategy – it all tends to impact up on the flow of Qi.

In practice this is easily identified as often we as therapists can just FEEL it.

Stuck Liver Qi – not getting our own way. Renamed and legitimatized in our culture as ‘stress’. All we have to do – in popular belief – is to put him/it/ them – behind us . . . but there is always residue . . . All conditions – either primarily or as a result of – become entangled with this.

It may be their whole life has been a disappointment – and how to cope but to battle on?
It may be that the eventual dieting /flooding has taken its toll . . and life is just too hard with less Blood to nourish the Shen and a few life shocks on top . .

BACKGROUND

This is possibly as I seem to see a fair number of people who would think that what ails them is ‘hopeless’. They are not pregnant NOW and it is NOT FAIR. Usually the failure (so far) of the medical fraternity and the financial and personal costs of continual loss/grieving for what might have been is substantial.

Their initial constitution/Liver Blood and Kidney Yin/Jing depletion may have never been stunning – leading them into gynaecological and then eventually reproductive technology, after massive chemical and possibly inner results of environmental pollution. And estrogen dominance/bromide issues.

How we personally deal with this – along with the many kilos of artificial chemicals found annually within what we consume, and our automatic exposure to surrounding immersion of air and water and soil background toxicity is dependent possibly on our genetic predispositions. We are all struggling to exist within the overcrowding and chemical clutter.

When we add to this the inner insults of maternally acquired mercury via fetal load in developing neurological tissues, our own dental and vaccination mercury hits and then the potentiating with all other forms of Jing wasters – heat from microwave and other technology resonance streaming through us – it is obvious that what is written centuries ago in another world may need some additions.
We are likely to feel better if we move out into nature – but how to sustain ourselves there?
We are likely to want to take time off to heal – and who pays the mortgage in the meantime?
We also seem to have lost the connection with nature – who grows their own food now?
We have lost the connection to self – who prays/meditates/spends self declutter/defragmentation time daily?
Some may still find time to do repetitive tasks – cleaning and the life can be outsourced and yet they provide a chance to unwind. Who has the time?
What about the total loss of self within the deep meaningful sexual connection with that special other?

We are mammals and primates. We need touch. We need inclusion in the tribe. We also need to feel important as a cog in a wheel. We need to feel as though the world is a better place for having us in it. How many have all these boxes ticked in their own lives?

This has lead to ‘stress’ build up. Modern medicine is starting to recognize the connection in a lot of physical ailments – as seen the explosion of antidepressant and ’muscle relaxant’ usage. Witness the boom also in appliances to help lessen dental damage due to nightly tooth grinding and jaw clenching.

We acupuncturists call it Stuck/Constrained/Stagnant Liver Qi – a few needles and herbs should ‘fix’ it – but what about the ongoing dispute over the housework/ who is going to host the family Christmas/what to do about which school to send the kids to/how to pay that bill?/should I leave him and go with the other guy? And the real distraction – am I safe within this life?

Who is really addressing the needs of the considerable cohort who were raped/sexually violated in some way growing up? Or
who felt that they were? Or
who have buried it and don’t remember but who are run by the subconscious traps to keep ahead of that knowledge?
How does this impact on daily life?

Life as it appears to be still happens and their responses/reactions to what is within them still run the show.

TCM may mention the role of ‘emotions’ in disease causation – but from the country that has had its population in a sci fi version of rewriting of history and life for decades now, is this good enough for our patient base in this western and very precious self absorbed context?

Is there a better model to work with – given that all could be seen to have a component of Stuck Liver Qi that needs to be resolved?

Do we as westerners send our patients off for a talk fest with the local psychologist or do we come up with a model that allows them to ‘move forwards’ really?
Do we suggest that they taking the medications that we know are probably just working as placebos?
Do we try to help them off the cigarettes when we know that they are using them to stifle the silent and very strong screams within?
What happens if they do stop self medicating – what next?

We know that:

Liver Qi has to flow in order for the whole to work.
Liver Qi spreads into the muscles and tendons, nourishing all aspects of the body through the Liver Blood.
When ‘constrained’ it starts stuffing up.

We also have all worked out that the needle stimulation that an Asian practitioner may ‘get away with’ with patients is NOT tolerated in our precious client base.

If we are sensitive, we also know that it is not actually needed. Does the Qi really need forcing? Is there not room for Shen to flow and spirit to go . . . .? Whilst I am just mentioning these dilemmas in passing – there is a lot we can do as therapists – if we actually USE our medicine practically and ground it within our own lives and that of our patients.

Calm the SHEN

I always have taught that the first six or so treatments we are trying to calm the Shen – after that only we may start to see the real problems emerging. Before this – the gut is not working well (the ‘fight or flight’ response – stuck in moderated panic, so how can they have good quality raw materials and circulate them?

The whole person may well be distressed by whatever they have sought treatment for – plus they need to get used to the idea of having someone work within their energy field – and they also need to start to feel OK about change – as good treatment does alter who they essentially are.

So – what to do?
Perhaps move sideways?
Stick to what we know and feel comfortable with – in our cultural context?

I know that all my patients call me a naturopath – and yet ALL have needles and Chinese herbs. Is it ‘easier’ (?) to tell their friends that they are seeing me under a different label? This has always been the case.

Is it because I reframe everything and explain it in western terms – and is it because I get all of them to take away Zinc (no use trying to digest anything without it as we are nearly all highly deficient in it – because of our soils’ deficiency) and Vit B and Magnesium – to try to calm their responses to life down a little?

This is all before I send them off with herbs – as often a bit of dietary change, some decent nutrition supported by some supplements and a few calming treatments do an amazing job of transformation. Had I sent them off with herbs the first time, it may well have been a bit hasty.

Amalgamating massage techniques within the scope of acupuncture practice allows us to cross over into more personal/less clinical pathways. Touch and bare skin may be foreign to the Chinese way – yet is totally acceptable in our society.

By recognising the lack of listening/caring/touch and the attendant skin hunger and depth of inner disconnection we all seem to be experiencing – we may ask:

How can true healing really occur without recognition of our commonalities?
What is real healing?
How is the Heart Blood and Qi to flow when they/we are shut down on so many other levels?

The role of Heart Shock – often from the ‘normal’ and ‘safe’ birthing procedures at a time when we are moving from dependent to independent circulation (see a later article on Dr John Shen’s framework) may set us up for a life of preciousness and fears.

Modern birthing practice has our placental link with mum amputated before our breathing blood has returned to us. The resulting trauma is quite enough to set us into a shock pattern for the rest of our lives.

What do we really think we are feeling on the pulse, if not a record of the Shen’s journey to date?

A Place to Start

Over the years I have developed a feel for ‘undoing’ people:

Starting with touch – not impersonal needles – but the warmth of a caring hand.
Massage whilst talking and letting them unwind – to get ‘invaded’ gradually. This is a variation of a ‘rolfing’ technique, and is performed SLOWLY.
Starting all patients with a stint on their bellies

I have always done some form of unwinding treatment prior to ‘diagnosis’ – this begun when I was in a clinic in the centre of a major city. The hassle for car parks on the street and having to get into the clinic through all that busyness – as it felt back there in the ‘70’s – was such that I felt to feel pulses AFTER I had calmed them down.

Wait a while so I wasn‘t just feeling the angst of ‘where to put the car?
Will I get there on time?
Will she be running late again?

Without moving this through first, I felt I was just feeling life hassle on the pulse as background noise, and I really wanted to move deeper for them. More on this work found here. A great tool was a variation on a Rolfing technique – not so it was excruciatingly painful – but strong enough to release a lot of what they were carrying in with them. After I had liberated that, the whole issue of tonifying Blood, Yin or whatever became a lot more central in the session.

During the time I was touching them; they were either turning off or unloading their day/life. Either way – the actual needed time within the clinic became more potent. Head emptied, and possibly with a few key thoughts to ponder once needles in and I had left – mean that a deeper treatment was possible.

The technique is amazing for releasing tension held structurally. It is really a case of theory in practice. I discovered this accidentally whilst filming the “Birthing – What Dads Can Do” DVD. I had spent all day in a studio being filmed, for the “Massage – What Dads Can Do” DVD, as I had finally escaped the producer and camera crew.

In the little room I had six pregnant couples; I watched as all the women become transformed in response to their partners’ ministrations. I felt the whole energy lighten in the room. The manual that this work is found in here.

The men followed what I had shown them – I went around adjusting their techniques, and giving words of encouragement – and all who got up to go back to their seats did so very regally, sedately and calmly whilst walking taller.

It was a revelation – up until then, I had done this as part of the whole – the needles back, front and upright, the moxa, and the hour’s rest – and here was JUST the Stuck Liver Qi component.

I had only ever done it also one person at a time – and here we were with an obviously altered group of women – and we had only done a little of what I intended for the evening.

All were in very late pregnancy and all had walked in, in various states of hassle – by their bodies, or from moving through the evening traffic in the rain – to get there to experience what they hoped would be a change for the better in their bodies/lives/birthing.

Why This Area Of The Body?

The digestive/emotional/structural/gyne/reproductive all come together here – the nervous circulation to the middle heater.

Our Liver Qi moving is the key to all of these functions working well. It is easy enough to show patients and easy enough for them to do at home. Of course it involves the barrier me/you This may feel tricky/ uncomfortable for some who choose to needle only. I have written this course – just for you – and it is foolproof – I did it up for patients . . Self Care

This may also be very confronting for some who equate touch with bad things – from their past. It thus may bring up a lot of issues that you are previously not aware of. It is also the way to healing for most.

When I have done this and then questioned the person how they feel – all feel taller. All feel lighter/less burdened.

It is usually very painful the first few times, and eases up remarkably quickly with repetition.

The aim is to release – at the level they can cope with – not all of it at once.

Often this armour is there for a very good reason – and we could also ask – what are we doing to ensure that they feel safe when they leave, in such a more open state?

I use Aura Soma as a vibrational and opening tool.

I have studied Aura Soma and used it in clinic for the past 18 years, so am very aware of how much we work on the vibrational – and how little can really be ever ‘evidence’ orientated – as we are all operating from within our own highly personalised webs of deception as to what ‘reality’ really is.

Hence we all respond differently – even if our astrological energy signatures, and the moon phase and various other more resonant and alchemical concerns were irrelevant.

My work with Aura Soma has lead patients far deeper into who they are and what they are prepared to open to – as it gives them permission to see what is possible and what I may be able to help them with – far beyond the sore knee/neck that initially brought them through the door.

We all, when we are real, know that what is ‘wrong’ with us is NOT the bit that we SAY hurts.

Often it is OUR LIFE that hurts. Our attachment to suffering – as the Tibetan Buddhists would tell it.

By working back from the physical. We are far more likely to allow change – if they are open. If we are open. The first challenge is to let go some of the attachment to being ‘right’. We all know this one in our own lives.

The rigidity that Stuck Liver holds.
The preciousness and brokenness that Deficient Liver Blood engenders.
The anxiety and lack of self nourishment that Deficient Heart Qi & Blood contain within.

All part of the human lack of flow. All part of what we can help with – should we look beyond what they walk in with.

The level of who we are. The level of what is being carried in with us/them.

The issues of spiritual emptiness:

of shamanic retrieval being needed as there are really bits missing/out to lunch,
other bits also that for whatever reason are ‘not home’,
and still others that may be coming in for the ride,

– where did the awareness of this go in our medicine?

Switching Gears

Tibetan Medicine sees this as an integral aspect of healing and any study of life and illness. It WAS also originally contained within Chinese medicine.

It is presently politically incorrect to mention what is not censored by the present masters of thought in China and hence the published west – but why do we not see what is so obviously there in front of us sometimes?

If we have the misfortune (?) to have an adolescent/adult in our house/life who perhaps has been experimenting with substances we are very aware of when there is someone home and when not. This behaviour may be prevalent in some of our patients – what to do?

Will St 40 be enough?

Should we sedate it unmercilessly and will that do?
What about the other issues – self sovereignty?
We all can easily find something – even if it is just Emergency Essence that we give them as an addition to the water we offer them to help ground themselves prior to venturing out our door.

Why mention all this here?

Because it doesn’t fit within the system of boxing people onto categories and of attributing points with functions, when we originally had an energy/shamanic medicine that has been hijacked into a modern mechanicalised /herbalised /rational and pseudo-scientific model.

It may suit us to try to validate our career path this way – but does it address the real needs of the patient for us to try to be medical look-alikes?

When we really start to move what has stuck them into the ‘ill’ basket, we may find that more than what the texts say comes up for removal.

What to do if there is a spirit to be released?
As an example . . . I am sure I can’t be the only one who has ‘energy leakages’ sometime in clinic.

No answers here – just mentioning as these things happen when you start delving past the physical and start to really alter flow.

We do let things leave the being. Where do they go?

A more holistic approach is what some expect when they arrive at the doors of an ‘alternative’ therapist.

Little do they know that the currently available ‘alternative’ is not necessarily much different to the doctor – categorise based on ‘evidence’ and treated as per formulae . . .

Offering an alternative to the body/soul can heal is also what may happen.

This is the first step – undoing some of the clutter.
After that, and I believe ONLY after that, we can think about ‘diagnosing’.

Perhaps start with a very different model?
Triage – what is blocking their healing?

To answer these questions, I developed the Self Care course – it is part of the Transformative Healing package.
In this you will find – Foundational Moves – which covers in detail how to perform the Stuck Liver Qi Release.