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The Edge of Grace
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Personal blog of an acupuncturist, who once spent a year living primitively in the wilderness. Exploring diverse streams of spirituality, magic, holistic health, awareness of nature, and the Great Mystery in a world of sublime violence.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'qi'
Absorbing Sick Qi
I was treating a woman for sciatic pain the other day. Toward the end, I decided to enhance my acupuncture treatment with qigong techniques, as she still seemed to be in some discomfort. I started gently moving energy through her leg, and she repor...
The Great “Wallyworld” High Level Teachings
Interesting exercise from qigong master Michael Lomax: Go to your local “really big discount shopping store”. Get into your “qi state.” Go into the store with the single realization, Everyone I meet is me at a different stat...
Stillness-Movement Qigong
For the past few months I’ve been practicing a nei gong system that promised power, fast. I am not, generally, interested in superficial aims like power, but the opportunity came up and I felt that the qigong systems I had been learning were n...
My Spiritual Autobiography, Part 7: The Hermetic Tradition and Oriental Medicine
After finishing massage school, Abigail had to go back to college to finish her coursework and internship, and I tagged along. In the course of events we got married, but that’s another story. I wasn’t really looking for anything new. I...
My Spiritual Autobiography, Part 6: Energy Healing
When I was little, I had a kid’s book on magic tricks. One of the tricks was more of an amaze-yourself brain trick: Stand in the middle of a doorway and press the backs of your wrists against the door for thirty seconds. Then step away from t...
A Year of Medical Qigong, Addendum
I’ve finished my last clinic day here, and several things have happened that have confirmed my conclusions about this program. They fall pretty easily into two categories. First, my experiences actually treating patients have been, by and larg...
A Year of Medical Qigong
This week I am in the fifth and last workshop in a one-year certification program in medical qigong. Since my very first days in the realm of energy healing, when I took a Reiki class, I’ve been interested in learning how to use and manipulate...
Reset
It’s time to start building power. The physical is the basis. I rode my bike today for the first time in a long time. Haven’t lived in a place friendly enough for it in quite a while so it was stimulating and also somewhat foreign. Then...
Hypoglycemia
I have hypoglycemia, a pre-diabetic condition that mandates that I avoid refined carbohydrates, including sugars, starches, and grains such as rice or bread. If I don’t, I very quickly notice it: My energy drops precipitously, I feel dangerous...
One-Finger Shooting Zen
So much for my latest martial art attempt. Having dabbled in Shaolin kung fu, I’m definitely quitting. Next week I move out of this area where my kung fu instructor and former classmate lives. I suppose others have continued to train long di...
Stamina and Qigong
Some friends of mine have suggested that we hike up Pike’s Peak in Colorado this summer. I haven’t decided yet, but, frighteningly, I’m actually seriously considering it. It’s a good sign because it shows how much I’ve...
Down the Rabbit Hole
My first week of qigong training is over. My initial criticisms still stand. I think the course really works best as an intermediate training program. I find that my background in qi, Chinese medicine, and body movement help immensely to make me fe...
Pedagogy in Lalaland
This qigong training is rubbing me the wrong way a little bit, and it’s taking me some time to figure out why. Forgive me as I complain. Basically, it reminds me of a Tom Brown, Jr. class. One week of being bombarded with material, to the poi...
Training in Medical Qigong
I’ve embarked on another step in this journey: Today I started a training program in medical qigong. I’ll only note one thing right now, and that is that I feel that this, which is in some ways touches deeply into the essence of the type ...
Graduating from Toyohari Basic Training
This weekend I graduated from the Toyohari program in Japanese acupuncture and meridian therapy. I have to say that it really revolutionized the way I practice acupuncture, and has honed the way I feel qi. I remember that during the first few months...
Absorption of Psychic Energy: A Digestive Analogue
In the human digestive system, we need to ingest a certain variety of nutrients to stay alive. Generically speaking, we need to eat carbohydrates (sugars and starches), proteins, and fats, as well as fiber, vitamins and minerals, and of course water...
My Cup Runneth Over
I only have seven months left to go until I graduate from acupuncture school. It’s the home stretch. I only entered clinic last year, almost exactly a year ago. There has been so much stress about recruiting patients, and no doubt I will have...
Flows of Energy
I’ve been remiss in my blogging, thanks to finals and thanks to some more traveling as Abigail and I try to get a more solid feel for where we want to live after graduation. Nothing solid to report as yet, but we know that we dislike Texas. I ...
That’s So Cool.
A guy comes in for treatment the other day. He’s down on the table and I start putting needles in him, when he starts complaining that his headache, which had been vague today, was getting worse and worse, like it was really stabbing him like ...
Separating Pure From Impure
A fascinating experience with Japanese acupuncture: On Friday I ate a pear that a fellow student offered me. I don’t know why I thought it was okay, as I usually avoid anything that has starches or sugar, even natural sugars, due to my hypogly...
