Return to the Garden

I went to see my acupuncturist Saturday. I haven’t been sleeping well and usually a treatment by him will do the trick to alleviate this condition. The first thing he asked me was if I were under stress. We talked about that for a while and I explained that I had encountered some people this week that just seemed to hurl their negative energy at me while draining me of my own. He replied, “You need to be transparent and just let their energy flow through you.”

I’m not surprised that he would tell me this. There is a concept in Taoist thinking called wu wei. Basically, it is a state of being active through inaction. It is bringing change through non-resistance. In this case I would take the action to deal with my internal stress by being inactive towards those who are inflicting their negative selves onto me. This notion of non-resistance is not limited to Taoist thinking. What comes to my mind is that classic teaching from the Sermon of the Mount where Jesus tells his followers to not resist an evil person and to turn the other cheek.

As usual, a concept like this grinds against the grain of my essential personality. Those who know me know that I tend to respond to provocation especially when I feel like I am being treated like a door mat or personal punching bag. So this will be a little experiment for me in energy mastery. I’ll keep you posted in how transparent I become and how successful I am in letting bad energy flow through me.

I told a friend about this conversation and how I basically need to become a piece of glass. He said that I was not a mere glass, but a piece of fine crystal. I appreciate that. I just hope I don’t crack and shatter in the process.

Lori G. (c) 2008

I came across this video clip and decided to share it with you. I have visited this clinic and have benefited greatly from the experience. This clip demonstrates a typical acupuncture treatment session.

CLICK HERE to see the video.

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Artwork by Lori G. (c) 2006

My acupuncturist is a really smart guy. He knows that wellness is more than just physical, and he always takes a few minutes during each session to assess my emotional state and how it may be affecting my body.

For example, today I told him that I had to deal with several annoying people this week and that I felt my energy sapped because of it. He validated my feelings by explaining that negative energy from others often does disrupt one’s own “Chi”, or vital energy.

In my own profound wisdom, I smugly stated the obvious: “I guess I’ll have to change my attitude towards those people since I sure can’t change their behavior.”

He laughed and then simply said, “Smile.”

“Excuse me?”

“The next time someone causes you stress, smile at them. Good energy changes negative energy. After a while, they will stop doing those things that annoy you.”

Pretty trite and simplistic I thought, and if he really knew me then he’d know that teaching me the art of smiling at irritating and obnoxious people is like teaching a squirrel how to drive a semi-truck. It’s going to take a very long time and a lot of people are going to get run over in the process.

However, I’m open-minded and agreed to give it a shot.

In the meantime, while I’m learning how to “smile”, I’m getting a t-shirt that reads: Don’t mess with my chi……

Image: “Qi Mandala”, 2006

Text: Lori G. (c) 2007