Resonance, 感應 gan ying, is an aspect of Chinese philosophy that runs through many aspects of our medicine.
We see resonance as we look through the unfolding of life through the five phases. The way we see east, spring, liver, green, beginnings and wood as having shared energies; the way they resonant the phase of wood.
We see it in the how the six conformations express health or illness through five phase relations that are emblematic of each side of the conformation. The way Tai Yang can express with the cold of the Urinary Bladder, or the heat of the Small Intestine. The way Shao Yang Gall Bladder and San Jiao tend to go outwards, while the Jue Yin aspects of Liver and Pericardium move inward.
Resonance is built into how we work. And in this conversation we explore how resonant nature of music and vibration can be used in our clinical practice. Along with a look at the kind of knowing that arises when you have the ability to cozy up to irrationality.
In This Conversation We Discuss:
- How Mary Elizabeth got from opera to acupuncture
- Singing as a powerful way to move the qi of the entire body
- Art and Science as being complimentary aspects of perception
- Getting cozy with irrationality
- The Chiron tuning fork
- Presence, listening and receptivity are key to operating in clinic
- Using the corpus colusum to balance the two hemispheres of the brain
- Attending to the sound of the tuning forks as both treatment and diagnosis
- Technology as a reliable but unimaginative way to offload certain aspects of our mental capacity, and how it
reshapes the student-teacher relationship - Inviting not being right
- Sometimes when things seem to go really wrong, keep going
- Buckle up if transformation is on the menu
- Presence to another in the midst of change is rooted in our own cultivation and healing
- The perspectives of R.D Lange and Stanislav Groff on breakdowns and break throughs
- Rites of Passage and transformation
- Our society does not allow women to age in the same way as men
- The unfolding of live under the influence of planetary influences is going to at times bring transition and transformation
As a child who grew up in the Midwest with severe asthma, I am always conscious of breath, and consequently make sure that my patients breathe from their Dantien. This takes them out of their heads and into their bodies, and the present moment, which is magically healing and transformative.
I have discovered that, when needle-phobic patients make a non-verbal sound (like Ah!, etc.) and I insert the needle on their exhale, they access their right, non-linear, creative brain, and hypervigilance is alleviated. Do try it; it works!
I am Mary Elizabeth Wakefield, L. Ac., M. S., M. M., and I have authored two books to date, Constitutional Facial Acupuncture (Elsevier UK, 2014), which introduces the reader to facial and constitutional treatments, and, more importantly, highights the transformational aspect of facial acupuncture. This focus permits the individual to seek after “true” beauty, which is un-selfconscious, and reflects the most profound depths of the soul.
My second, more recent, book, Vibrational Acupuncture™: Integrating Tuning Forks with Needles, to be published by Singing Dragon UK in March 2020, has been co-authored with my life partner and colleague, MichelAngelo. This book is our “love child,” and, for me, it is enriched by the experiences and understanding that I gained during my musical life and background as a professional operatic soprano and flutist.
I have learned that every season of life is rich with significance, and the promise of rebirth. Every step of the journey is an adventure which challenges me to be present, vital and grateful for the gift of life!!
An opera singer, classical composer, pianist, astrologer, healer, diviner and writer, MichelAngelo will appear as a presenter at the 30th Institute of Vedic Astrology conference in Kolkata, INDIA in December 2020, where his topic will be “A Western Astrological Model of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians of Chinese Medicine for Diagnosis and Treatment”.
Links and Resources
You can find Mary Elizabeth's book Constitutional Facial Acupuncture over on the big river of books.