How often have you treated someone with a variety of [apparently unrelated] symptoms, only to point out to them that they are all connected because they all related either to one organ/meridian network or to one climatic state? How relieved was that person when you gave them the ‘picture’ in TCM terms? I imagine they were very relieved, because this is what I see every day.

Make use of these images to enhance what you are already doing. Give your client some ‘homework’ to work on. If their Earth Element is deficient you can certainly ask them to dig in the garden but what if they don’t have one! Invite them to visualise their garden, have them create a lush, thriving garden that they tend to in their visualisation. Have them ‘weed’ out the toxins. If they have too much dampness, have them imagine that their garden is lacking in sunlight and they can clear overgrowth to allow more light and warmth in.

This may seem too simplistic to be of value but sometimes it’s the simple things that can do the most good. In our modern highly, technological age we are often too removed from reality to understand that simplicity has great value. Dr Jerry Alan Johnson, in his amazing thome: Chinese Medical Qigong Therapy: A Comprehensive Text, (p.73) states, “The goal of the Qigong doctor is to alter (if possible) the Toxic Qi patterns and help the patient’s body recognize that the formation of the disease is a mistake. In order to reprogram these patterns, the Qigong doctor often assists the patient in using guided meditations that employ vivid imagination, colorful visualizations, and positive affirmations. These images are used to encapsulate the disease and return it to the divine light.” A perfect decscription of both imagery and alchemy.

My clients all appreciate the fact that I include them and engage them in their healing process and often comment that other acupuncturists simply put the needles in and go away – which we know works – but these days many more people want to take an active part in their own healing process. And what better way to achieve it since you already know the information, all you have to do is include it when you give treatments. After all this is the 21st Century and all that we practise in TCM is oh so new age yet oh so ancient!!!

Selected Bibliography

Sheikh, Anees and Pachuta, Donald, Guided Imagery Workshop Training Manual, American Imagery Institute. 1987.
Wilhelm, Richard, The Secret of the Golden Flower : A Chinese Book of Life. Penguin Books London. 1984.
Cleary, Thomas, Immortal Sisters : Secrets of Taoist Women. Shambala Publications Boston. 1989.
Yasukawa, Sally, Metaphysics and Alchemy of the Tao : Reclaiming the Feminine Spirit of Life. Thesis published by Lindlahr Books Perth. 1997
Huang, Runtian, Treasured Qigong of the Traditional Medical School. Hai Feng Publishing Co, Hong Kong. 1994.
Chia, Mantak, Taoist Ways to Transform Stress into Vitality. Healing Tao Books New York. 1985
Chopra, Deepak, Ageless Body, Timeless Mind. Rider Books London. 1993.
Dyer, Wayne, Real Magic : Creating Miracles in Everyday Life. Harper Collins Australia. 1992.
Brennan, Barbara Ann, Light Emerging : The Journey of Personal Healing. Bantam Books New York. 1993.
Johnson, Jerry Alan, Chinese Medical Qigong Therapy : A Comprehensive Text. International Institute of Medical Qigong, Pacific Grove California. 2000.

As I mentioned earlier, we are all modern day alchemists even without employing guided imagery. However, when we do make use of the mind we take that healing to another level. Carl Jung regarded mental imagery as a “creative process of the psyche to be employed for attaining greater individual, interpersonal and spiritual integration”. In other words, an alchemical process. 

Dr Deepak Chopra in “Ageless Body, Timeless Mind” tells us that it is the mind and it’s beleifs that cause cells to age. Change your mind around thinking about age or illness and you can change, because mind directs Qi, Qi controls body. Again, an alchemical process. 

Although alchemy conjures up images of the Dark Ages and underground cults with strange apparatus trying to turn base metals into gold, the real gold is what they were all looking for. And the real gold, I believe, is in finding the truth of our beingness and the understanding that we have powers and abilities far greater than we are ordinarily lead to believe. For me me this has been realised over and over during years of involvement in Chinese medicine and Taoist philosophy and represented in the transformations that have occurred in many clients. Many times real healing has occurred simiply in someone recognising themselves in a pattern of TCM as explained according to traditional imagery. 

Applying imagery in TCM 

We know in TCM that mind leads Qi and that Qi controls body ~ while we can choose acupuncture points and herbs to effect change at the level of the Qi, we can also provide additional infomation regarding these points and herbs. This immediately forms the basis of an alchemical process whereby the client engages their mind and adds it’s weight to the whole of the healing process. I have found this to have remarkable results and while it’s use in TCM is not so well documented, it is certainly well documented in both medical and non-medical arenas. 

Dr Don Pachuta from the John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland uses the imagery inherent in Chinese medicine to help people with life threatening illnesses with great results. In fact, it was while attending an intensive training in guided imagery with the American Imagery Institute in 1987 that Don awoke in me the power and use of images in healing in Chinese medicine [particularly the Five Elements] encouraging me to take it further. Other doctors who use imagery in healing are Dr Carl Simonton from Fort Worth, Texas and Dr Bernie Siegal, a surgeon at Yale, New Haven Hospital who both use visual images to aid their cancer patient’s healing process. 

Since Chinese medicine is replete with images, it really doesn’t take much to incorporate some simple practices into your clinical work. The theories of Yin-Yang and Wu Xing [Five Phases/Elements] provide us with a wealth of imagery that can simply be included in the healing process. 

The Five Elements – Wu Xing – Five Phases of Transformation 

Due to the unusual nature of my TCM training [apprentice to a Taoist Healer/ Acupuncturist] I was given in depth information regarding the Five Phases of Change or the Five Elements as we commonly know them. I was taught that this symbolic representation of Qi flow had many and varied uses, and that somehow it represented a process of spiritual development. [Note: I ultimately wrote a thesis on this to complete a Diploma of Metaphysical Sciences and will submit a future article on my findings.] 

The Five Elements or Wu Xing in it’s simplist form is a most useful beginning place for the use of imagery and thus alchemy. Being that it is a symbolic representation of the macrocosm and the microcosm, the colours ascribed to each Phase are said to be colours of balance (Chia, 1985). Therefore, simply employing the colour associated with the particular organ/meridian system you are regulating opens your healing to the use of imagery and the realm on inner alchemy. 

For example, you are treating a person with a disharmony in their Wood Element/Phase. Regardless of the problem, while the person is lying on the table ask them to think of their liver/gall bladder being surrounded and permeated by green liquid. Since green is the colour associated with the Wood Element/Phase, visualising the liver and gall bladder being surrounded and permeated by a liquid of this colour has cleansing, nourishing and regulating effects [Chia, 1985, & Huang, 1994]. 

Another simple imagery is from Medical Qi Gong [Huang, 1994]. Expanding on from the above imagery, you can take your client through each of the five zang and their associated colours [viz: Kidneys deep blue; Liver green; Heart red; Spleen yellow; Lungs white]. Simply have them visualise or imagine the organs being surrounded and permeated by a liquid of the appropriate colour [except for the Lungs, have the liquid transform to a gas]. Spending a couple of minutes on each organ, breathing slowly and deeply, while also thinking that the colour is cleansing and nourishing that organ system. 

This is a Qi Gong exercise that strengthens the functions of the viscera, dredges the channels, maintains the balance between Yin and Yang, regualtes Qi and blood, expels toxic energy and replenishes deficiency. [Huang, 1994]

The following are some of these findings together with guidelines for incorporating such methods into your own practise of TCM, to enhance the healing process and to empower the individuals you work with to take an active part in their own healing.

Definitions

Imagery: mental picturing; the use of images to enhance healing states; engaging a persons mind in the process of applying healing modalities.

Alchemy: transforming dense matter into something lighter – traditionally believed to change lead into gold.

Chinese medicine is full of images. All Chinese characters are pictograms, providing an image rather than simply a word. The names of acupoints provide us with splendid images that can be made use of in the healing process [when we know them rather than using the easy channel numbering system]. By simply telling your client the nature of the point’s function in regard to their condition allows their mind to take part in the healing process. The correspondences of The Five Elements is also another area we can make use of, and it is the main one I use because it is very versatile and simple.

Alchemists in ancient China made use of their mind to guide and transform their Qi to attain healing as well as spiritual transformation, as detailed extensively in the manual of spiritual alchemy: The Secret of the Golden Flower (translated by R. Wilhelm, with commentary by C.Jung).

As modern alchemists, practitioners of Chinese medicine use acupuncture, acupressure and herbs to aid the transformation of dense matter [physical body symptoms] into something lighter [harmonious Qi flow] in the bodies of their clients.

So, what is imagery?

As the definition above tells us, imagery is the use of mental images to enhance healing states. According the Drs Sheikh and Pachuta of the American Imagery Institute, “Mental picutres extend a powerful force and can be used constructively in the healing process.”

The imaging modality is largely dependent on the right hemisphere of the brain, which permits continued information processing following perception, and lends a sensory character to ideas and feelings. The lexical or linguistic mode is predominantly coordinated by the left hemisphere of the brain, and is particularly effective in integrating extremely diverse phenomena into one language label that permits very rapid subsequent retrieval.

The point is that verbal logic is linear, whereas the image is a simultaneous representation. “The quality of simultaneity gives imagery greater isomorphism with the qualities of perception and therefore, greater capacity for descriptive accuracy.” (Sheik 1975) Think about it for a moment. If I ask you to think of a garbage can, what immediately comes to your mind? The letters that spell garbage can or a picture/image of a garbage can that is familiar to you? I suggest it will be the latter because the image of a garbage can [or anything for that matter] has more likeness with our perceptions and familiarity of such items.

Due to the fact that images do lend a sensory nature to ideas, the use of images in healing then shifts the mind from it’s usual rational, logical way of thinking and dealing with it’s dis-ease, to an irrational and illogical way [which in Jungian terms means connecting with the unconscious]. When we can move to the irrational and illogical, we are less restricted by our beliefs of how something has to be. This then allows for ‘miracles’ to happen and for even spontaneous healings to occur.

If you are wondering what science would make of such an idea I suggest you look up a lecture given by brain scientist, Dr Jill Bolte Taylor, you will find it listed on the website of TED Talks [http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/229]. Jill had a stroke on the left side of her brain, and instantly experienced the vastness of possibilities available to us when we are able to shift our focus from our often over-loaded, rational, box-world left hemisphere and move into our irrational, creative and expansive right hemisphere.

While the practise of Qi Gong or Tai Ji Quan is not exactly the same experience, they do provide you with the opportunity and ability to be able to shift from one to the other more readily. Giving you greater access to the power of your whole mind. This is also much the same as the experience of regular meditators, musicians and artists.

Why is this important? We are so programmed into believing that we have no control over our bodies and that simply by eating healthy food, drinking pure water, doing a bit of exercise and breathing fresh air will keep us in good health. Certainly this is true especially if the food is so fresh that it’s life force or Qi is still in tact [if only!!] and the exercises are Qi Gong or similar, otherwise we are only working on the physical level and neglecting the Qi.

You can elevate you health by using your mind to inform and activate your Qi. However, if your levels of Qi are low, it is very difficult to increase them this way.

Qi is the body’s vital life force; it is the formless aspect of life which disappears at death. Often referred to simply as energy, Qi is really much more than our understanding of energy. It can also be perceived of as Light.

The concept of Qi is fundamental to Chinese medical thinking. In fact , ordinary members of Chinese society know and understand the idea of Qi. There is, however, no English word, phrase or even idea that can adequately capture it’s meaning. Although we use vital life force or energy to gain an impression of the Chinese perspective, it still does not fully convey the concept as the character for Qi would to a Chinese person [particularly one educated in classical Chinese]. The character is made of two parts: one part is the character for rice and the other, reflects the notion of steam rising from cooked rice; this combination gives the imagery of something light, etheric and potent coming from nourishing food.

Chinese see everything in the universe, organic and inorganic, as being composed of and defined by Qi. Therefore, everything in the universe is seen to be the result of the movement and changes in Qi. As stated by Ted Kaptchuk in his book “The Web That Has No Weaver”, “Chinese thought does not distinguish between matter and energy [Qi], but we can perhaps think of Qi as ….. energy at the point of materialising.”

Thus, Qi just is and always has been. It is perceived by what it does, and how it functions. Yin-Yang* are expressions of the Qi of anything. So Qi is always seen as being composed of two polarities, continuously moving and adjusting to remain in balance with one another.

*Yin-Yang like Qi cannot easily be explained, however if you think of positive and negative poles of a magnet or electric current you can gain an impression of what is understood by this term. Bear in mind that the original meaning of these words was: Yin – the shady side of a mountain; Yang – the sunny side of a mountain; and these always change according to the position of the sun. This will give you some comprehension of the movement of Qi as well. Nothing is contstant; it can only be defined by its reference to something else.

Western science, which is based primarily on the principles of Newtonian Physics, views energy as an inanimate and impersonal force. The traditional Chinese view is much more aligned with the modern theories of Quantum Physics. Both these systems know that Qi-energy cannot be studied without taking into account the mind’s influence over it. [Chinese Medical Qigong Theory, by Dr J. Johnson].

Now this last point is vitally important because it brings us into direct relationship with our own Qi-energy, and to the first most important rule or principle of Chinese medical philosophy, which is:

Qi controls the body and mind controls the Qi.