Our modern world bombards us with dissonance--vibrations that we tune out of our conscious mind while our body and nervous system continue to endure. The result is a series of little stresses that can add up to larger stress with the potential to break down our entire system. 
                                                                                   Anodea Judith, Eastern Mind, Western Body

     This recent cover of Tricycle Magazine jumped out at me as I walked by. Disturbing image, isn't it? Hard to look at it for long, and probably not a good idea. But it captures something about many people's experience of modern life, and seems an apt illustration of Anodea Judith's insight.
     If you found yourself thinking, "Hmm, that does kind of look the way my head/mind/life feels sometimes," then please read on, because on an energetic level, there's a good chance that you are right. The good news is that you are not Humpty Dumpty, and can indeed, be put back together again, even when you feel shattered.
     A number of energetic imbalances could be imaged in this way. "Fear scatters chi," is a very old Chinese saying, and this image could definitely depict the way that the mind-body system becomes disorganized in the face of fearful events or thoughts. Someone with major disconnects in their meridian networking system--which we refer to as the flow and control cycles, but in Chinese Medicine are more dramatically named the creation and destruction cycles--might also identify with this sense of fragmentation.
     But what this picture most reminds me of is the turbulence in the biofield of someone overwhelmed with emotional static left by trauma. The shards of shock are sustained as disrupted imprints in one's energy field, creating "noise" in the system. New "bombardments," in the form of difficult experiences, emotional challenges, etc., tend to set up resonance patterns with these imprints, triggering outsized nervous system responses.
      Let's get to the good stuff, though. Energy work in general can help move this noise out of the system, but Biofield Tuning is a prime mover. The coherent waves created by the tuning forks can both identify the areas of turbulence, and help your system reorganize and harmonize itself.
     We are, in reality, highly sensitive instruments, constantly buffeted and mishandled by life. We can do many great things--nutrition, exercise, meditation, self-care--to help ourselves, but sometimes we just need some outside support. If you read my last blog about being sick, you'll know how much I believe in having a toolkit for giving yourself energetic first-aid. But I will also say that in the aftermath of that illness, I received a fantastic energy medicine session, and have scheduled another. Because I just have to admit, I can't do it all myself.
     So, now that we've acknowledged that life's dissonance creates vibrations that can break us, let's replace that disturbing image with this one:

I created this light-hearted logo for my Biofield Tuning practice, because I'm convinced we can all become "Brawny Canaries." You know the story about the canary in the coal mine. This sensitive songbird let the miners know when the air in the mine was unsafe. As Anodea Judith notes, we humans sometimes tune out the dissonant vibrations, even while we continue to be affected by them. But some of us are all too aware of what it is like to be affected by these environmental bombardments. We may have grown up being told to "toughen up," or were criticized for being "too sensitive," when, we are, in fact, empaths, or "energy aware." Ironically, we are functioning perfectly as the highly sensitive instruments that we are.
     I believe the world needs all of us to be as empathic and tuned in as possible. This makes us "vital," which helps ourselves and others. As Joseph Campbell said, "the influence of a vital person, vitalizes." We all need support in grounding, clearing, and balancing our energies. Energy work, whether we are practicing it, receiving it, or sharing its benefits with those around us, helps us become Brawny Canaries--sensitive, strong, and resilient--able to keep singing, wherever our journey takes us. So, claim your vitality! Check out my fall specials and classes: join the flock of brawny canaries!
    

I avoid war metaphors. But sometimes the body truly is a battleground, and the unpleasant fact is, I have been in the trenches for the past week fighting a bad infection. I’m out of practice being sick: over the years I’ve developed some great self-care measures that seem to nip oncoming ailments in the bud. So, I was taken off guard by how absolutely awful it can feel to come down with a full- blown sickness.
    However, I’m deeply grateful for Energy Medicine practices that have been helping me cope. These have been easy and few: my self-tests keep telling me to help my Triple Warmer and Spleen meridians. No surprise, since these two are foundational to healing.
    I’ve been using and teaching Energy Medicine for over a decade. I have seen great, often amazing, results. But sometimes it still surprises me when something this simple can be so powerful. And, sometimes even I forget to use my tools. I’ll give you three examples that I hope you’ll find useful.

                                                           Brain Fog and Inertia
    Several days in, I was sitting around in a fog, feeling I “was spinning my wheels.” Slowly it dawned on me that I was probably homolateral—a condition in which most of your energy is not criss-crossing the midline as it needed. Well, duh. Although the correction for this is part of Donna Eden’s daily routine, I don’t usually have this problem in daily life, so I’ve replaced it with other corrections for things that do give me trouble. The key, here, is that pretty much anybody who is sick is going to be homolateral. And at risk of slower recovery as a result. I did the correction, the fog cleared. And I still had trouble remembering to check for homolateral every day afterwards!

                                                          The Unstoppable Cough
    One night, I  got caught in an escalating cycle of coughing. Every cough set up the perfect conditions for making more coughing happen. I’ll spare you the messy details (think Alien). I became desperate to get this under control. I try not to assume what my body might need, and instead self-test (a bit tricky, while exploding with coughs). Sure enough, Triple Warmer was my go-to at that moment. Things began to ease as I held the acupressure sedating points. Then, I tested to see if there was anything else it would be good to attend to. Again, no surprise: Spleen meridian needed to be strengthened. The thing that had been hurtling through me like a Mac truck pulled over quietly, and turned off its engine.
    It was astonishing how fast and effective these interventions were. I could spend time telling you all about these two meridians, and why it makes sense that they were the antidotes in this instance. But, part of my point is, you don’t need that information for this to work. You just need to know that sedating Triple Warmer and strengthening Spleen are very, very, very often just the thing you need when you are sick, sick, sick.
                                                         Abdominal Sorrow
    On another occasion, I had an ugly encounter with an enchilada. Though I felt hungry all the time, most food had the taste and mouthfeel of sawdust and old library paste. For several days, my food consumption measured in the tablespoons. Then one ravenous night, I ordered out for an enchilada. Bliss! It really WAS an enchilada once it got into my mouth. Realizing that it might not be good to overdo things, I ate slowly and stopped early. No matter—within 10 minutes I was gasping as my belly filled with blades and fire. Wondrous how fast that can happen, eh? I’ll admit, I didn’t bother to self-test that time. This was a job for Stomach sedation. Like counting through a strong labor contraction, I sat on the floor holding those points and panting out the proper count. By the time I was done, much of the pain and panic and lifted. Within a few more minutes, the episode was over. Just. Completely. Gone.
                                            Partnering with Your Inner Energy Team
    If you are still with me by this point, congratulations on your fortitude! May this stuff never happen to you. But, I’ll paraphrase the great Thich Nhat Hanh as he reminds us that we are all “of a nature to experience sickness.” That’s why I want to get these practices into everyone’s hands. Literally.
    I would have given anything not to experience this ailment. But it's been a reminder what a gift energy work is. These tools start working right away, and get stronger with use. By practicing them, you enter into a deeper, more trusting partnership with your mind-body-spirit system. And that is a gift that will multiply.

                         Your energy field is highly intelligent—invite it to give you input!
Contact me if you want to find out more about getting in touch with it.