Jennifer Moffitt, L.Ac., Dip. OM
We have been exploring the importance of the basics of self-care during the summer months, to
maximize the benefits to your health. If you remember our last few columns, the primary focus
has been on qi, the body’s vital energy, and how to cultivate more of it from the food we eat and
drink and our daily lifestyle. You already know that the body uses vital energy for all its
physiologic processes, such as endocrine functions, cellular function, and especially the healing
process.
The importance of bodywork as a part of general maintenance cannot be overstated, and the
topic is so vast I almost don’t know where to begin. First, let’s clarify what I mean by bodywork:
chiropractic, therapeutic massage, acupuncture and oriental massage, bioenergetics, feldenkrais,
and yoga therapy are just the tip of the body-work iceberg and play an important role in both the
healing process and general preventive maintenance.
In the beginning…
One of the basic tenants in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is the adage “Where there is
blockage, there is pain.” We learned it on our first day of graduate school, and continued to hear
it throughout. From the standpoint of TCM, whenever the free-flowing nature of qi is blocked or
moved from its natural course, it will accumulate and cause pain or internal disease. To keep
things simple, we will discuss a few basic reasons for this: excess, deficiency and
stasis/stagnation. You may find it helpful to keep in mind the idea of a stream bed for this
principle.
Picture, if you will, a mountain stream with ample water running through it so that the water
moves freely, and is clean, clear; it stays within its natural boundaries, and it is fresh – nourishing
to what surrounds it. This is a good metaphor for the movement of qi through the body in the
absence of disease. Now a river at the end of the summer or during times of drought has less
volume moving in the creek bed; it pools up in places because there is not enough water to push
through the rocks, due to a deficiency. When water pools, it becomes stagnant (with all the bugs
and scum floating on the top). Now translate this principle into the human body: when there is
a deficiency of qi so that there is not enough to flow through its natural course, it will pool and
stagnate. If left unattended, it will accumulate to cause pain or disease (maybe that is our layer
of scum at the top of the pool…)
Similarly, a creek bed in the springtime after the snow melt will often overflow the banks, with
water flooding outside the normal course. This is due to too much water flowing through the
river bed, causing flooding and damage to the surrounding area. This also results in stagnation –
only this time due to an excess, which also will cause pain or disease if left unattended.
Continued...
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medicine, but will interest his patients in
the care of the human body, in diet, and in
the cause and prevention of disease."
Thomas Edison
