Lessons from Water

Dancing with the Flowing Element

I'm not unaware of the ongoing political shitstorm and general convergence of crises on earth. One way I respond is by going slow, or trying to (“the times are urgent, we must slow down,” as a Yoruba elder said to Bayo Akomolafe). By tending one person at a time.

In the face of it all, I'm thinking about Chinese medicine today and the small bits of magic that happen in clinic. I’m idly wishing—sure—that our political leaders would make themselves available for this kind of work: cleansing, tuning, purging if necessary (and oh, is it necessary). But mainly I’m thinking about how acupuncture allows for deep and intimate engagement with the elements, forces which live also within us.

In the Saam acupuncture style I practice, we supplement the Urinary Bladder to bring cold water into play. This treatment can be likened to turning on the garden hose or accessing a mountain stream. Naturally we tend to use this approach for hot, dry people and conditions. Cold water cools and moistens, after all: this is five elements 101. But water has other gifts as well, as a recent patient reminded me.

image credit: Pixabay, via pexels.com

On the table, with the Urinary Bladder needles placed, the patient reported feeling a gentle river-like flow. The treatment seemed to be going in the right direction, so I gave him 30 minutes.

When I came back, he had a water story to tell. That gentle river flow had intensified, he told me, and caused a bit of panic as the felt sense of waters deepened. (I wondered if the water had been too much, assaulting his Heart fire, but what

he told me next allayed that concern.)

Strong emotions started floating to the surface, along with desires he hadn't let himself feel in too long. (Water can float things.) He got the distinct image of a pressure washer spraying off a mud-covered object (Water can cleanse and reveal.) Until the object’s contours became clear. (Water can clarify).

By the time the treatment was over, he had realized what he wanted at this point in his life. And was equally clear on what needed to happen to get there.

That's all: a simple moment of clarity for someone, a moment of getting back in touch with himself. A pivot point in his day and week that might echo out in larger ways in his life, or not. I’ll see him again soon, and will get to learn how things have unfolded. We’ll continue the intimate dance that happens in clinic, listening for the next right step.