Appropriate Anger

ANYONE can become angry - that is easy. 

But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way... that is not easy.


Aristotle   "The Nichomachean Ethics"

Mobilization of a Movement

Acupuncture became legal within the state of IL in 1996... and it has taken nearly 50 years to gain a professional foothold within a medical industry dominated by pharmaceuticals.  Within two decades the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) industry has evolved from a potentially felonious activity unto the present day; here at the tail end of 2011 you will find TCM practice within every major city, recognized by insurance and state law, regulated, licensed, and trusted by a growing patient population.  In that time, and with the continuing development of integrative therapies, our medical industry has realized the great potential for self-care and has openly accepted the effectiveness of TCM, yoga, meditation and misunderstanding.

Yes....     MISUNDERSTANDING.
Alternative therapies are a buzzword, sought out by a multi-billion dollar consumer base, and understood by a sad small number of well-read citizens. 

Yes, information is available online.  No, the general populace do not know how the human body functions.  We are not a country that looks deeply.  Perhaps a quick glance to find out buzzwords on the latest fad... but how many folks have taken the time to explore an understanding of the mysterious "new" methods for healthy living?  What's this yogi all about, like, anyway?  Why do we push people to take up exercise, eat right, etc etc etc... but they leave without an understanding of why?  Do they have the right... or... do they have the responsibility?

We have the information.  Most of it is available in handy infographics lost in the vastness of an electronic wasteland.  I hope to connect some of that information through my website and blog, so stay tuned.

But wait there's more!

MISUNDERSTANDING.  Shared with ignorance, bias, and assumption.

Physical Therapists are a respected industry, alongside chiropractors and MD's and psychiatrists.  If you have ever had physical therapy, it is likely that you received some benefit.  Good.  Great.  But what if they told you that after a weekend course, they are now going to stick needles in you?

There is a battle being fought over this specific practice right now, nationwide, between a traditional medicine that has survived for 2000 years and a biomedical industry that wants to grab every available dollar.  Due to a misunderstanding of the language, theory, and application of TCM (specifically acupuncture) we are now seeing a trend in medical offices towards adoption of the needling...

They ignore thousands of years of theory, ethical considerations, and development of protocols.  They take the part that is most profitable.

A licensed acupuncturist (L.Ac.) is responsible for nearly 2000 hours of training; the industry is led by brilliant minds that have a hugely varied background.   The important common characteristic is that they have the capacity to develop a whole new understanding of the world, how it works, and how it feels.  It is not uncommon to find TCM practitioners with a doctorate in oriental medicine.  It is a vastly intricate and delicate medical approach that requires artistry, practice, and a deep understanding of patterns found within the human body.

If you hand a Physical Therapist several packets of needles, a few hours of training, and a strong political influence, you are promoting ignorance.  We might as well give a child a butcher knife and tell it to carve steak.

Please support the Coalition for Safe Acupuncture Practice (CSAP)

Traditional Herbal Cooperative

Building community is extraordinarily beneficial to the continued growth of future generations.  A healthy social culture provides stability while assuring the inheritance of important aesthetics and habits.

There is an unfortunately short supply of community in America.  Our culture has grown to support the "individual" in a way that denies self-expression; our people are encouraged to purchase style without substance or quality, and slowly killing connections between strangers while choking the trust and respect out of our most basic everyday relationships.

It is worrying that Traditional Chinese Medicine, historically the result of a practitioner treating generations within a community, now an industry where 90% of U.S. practitioners are flying solo, unable to support innovation or adaptation.

We cannot survive if this continues.  If you consider our industry a living entity, it is barely thriving.  Yes, TCM has survived 2000 years, but it will only exist in a state of struggle if we do not develop the appropriate organs for accessing our innate intuition.  It needs to be able to adapt to the paradigm and that means growing organizations; fueling those organizations with our support (re: money); and continuing to diversify and educate our consumers.

We need something that combines a sense of community with the adaptable nature of our human intuition.  This is my motivation for the Traditional Herbal Cooperative.

Molecules of Emotion: Candace Pert

Within the male-dominated field of scientific research, one woman stands out as the mother of the current paradigm.  She opened the doors to the study of neurotransmitters, giving us the basic chemical messengers that have become so vital to understanding modern physiology.  Her journey is a story of struggle in a culture deprived of feminine intuition, and her triumphs have led to a paradigm shift into positive correlations between biomedical studies and the success of body-mind therapies such as meditation.

She writes:
"We tend to deal with the physical aspects of keeping ourselves healthy and ignore the emotional dimension -- our thoughts and feelings, even our spirits, our souls.  Yet, in the light of the new knowledge about emotions and the psychosomatic network, it's obvious that they, too, are a part of our responsibility to manage our own health.

The tendency to ignore our emotions is oldthink, a remnant of the still-reigning paradigm that keeps us focused on the material level of health, the physicality of it.  But the emotions are a key element in self-care because they allow us to enter into the bodymind's conversation.  By getting in touch with our emotions, both by listening to them and by directing them through the psychosomatic network, we gain access to the healing wisdom that is everyone's natural biological right." p287

She has discovered, through a lifetime of scientific research and networking amongst various healthcare modalities, that emotions illicit chemical responses with the potential to build up and eventually cause disease.  If you do not direct your emotions towards a balanced state, they will cause harm.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) holds an equivalent translation of this concept; established over thousands of years of observations and pattern diagnosis, TCM practitioners know that qi (in this case in the form of emotions) will stagnate and cease flowing properly when effected by strong emotion.  When qi ceases to flow smoothly the result is disease.  This basic concept has survived and been observed for thousands of years; as with many concepts in TCM, it is a matter of translation.

Traditions: Essays on the Japanese Martial Arts & Ways

Introspection, incessant willingness to critically observe progress, reflect upon it, and strive for improvement no matter how long you've practiced or how perfect the technique....

This attitude is called    ((  ryomi  ))

It is an intense, ongoing process of self-evaluation for the martial artist or anyone else who hopes to make something worthwhile in life.

App for That?

Hello,
It occurred to me (while riding the train in Chicago) that I would really like to know what all these people are hearing around me; in their private dance parties, possibly lectures, and no doubt the occasional podcast on class war.  Many of these people seem to really enjoy bouncing their heels... and I want to know what it's all about.  I want to discreetly tune in without breaking their rhythm... find joy in music I never suspected existed and maybe expand my social network along the way.

Is there an app for that?

Switching between users while walking through a crowd, large silent gatherings in crowded plazas with individuals synced in disconnected groups as artists are experienced in a mesmerizing display of rhythm...

Peace de Resistance

http://artofmemetics.com/

The art of recognizing new species...

Quotes : Albert Einstein

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant.

We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift."

-Albert Einstein

http://occupychi.org/

Tao Te Ching 32 (67)

   All under heaven say that I am great,
              great but unconventional.
Now,
        Precisely because I am unconventional,
            I can be great;
        If I were conventional,
            I would have long since become a trifle.

        I have always three treasures
            that I guard and cherish,
        The first is compassion;
        The second is frugality;
        The third is not daring to be ahead of all under heaven.

Now,
        Because I am compassionate,
            I can be brave;
        Because I am frugal;
            I can be magnanimous;
        Because I dare not be ahead of all under heaven,
            I can be a leader in the completion of affairs.

If, today, I were to
        Be courageous while forsaking compassion,
        Be magnanimous while forsaking frugality,
        Get ahead while forsaking the hindmost,
            that would be death!

For compassion
         In war brings victory,
         In defense brings invulnerability.

        Whomsoever heaven would establish,
        It surrounds with a bulwark of compassion.