I didn’t arrive at birth with a life manual. Nope. I must have forgotten it. I was busy pushing into this beautiful chaotic world. Anyway, I didn’t have any pockets being naked.
I think we are here to create the manual. The manual of our existence. The manual of our healing. The manual of our Destiny if we are lucky.
I am an Energy Channel Practitioner trained under a long lineage of brilliant energy masters. I am “in training” in this complex study of Classical Chinese Medicine (C.C.M.) and will be till I die. Never a Master but an apprentice. Just as I am with my life manual.
Walk with me into my world for a few minutes…
Last week in my Quebecois Village I stood on the banks of my Gatineau River. Here in Canada, we are in deep autumn. As I stood surrounded by leaves turning yellow-gold, an amazing breeze danced around my body. It was so soft. Almost sensual. It carried with it a sense of peace. Have you ever felt such a wind?
Contrast that with a wind that is out of control, destructive. Like the wind that picked up Dorothy’s house in the Wizard of Oz… (I can still see the witch’s red shoes sticking out from under the house!) Perhaps you too have experienced that kind of wind?
In Chinese Medicine, the concept of Wind plays an important part in the evolution of dis-eases. It is one of the climatic conditions (along with cold, heat, dampness and/or dryness) that messes up our health.
At first, these Chinese Medicine ancient concepts of healing can seem obscure, even abstract to some, and often poopooed by the Western scientific minds with its many specialties that are keen to be measuring.
Yet this Classical Chinese Medicine (C.C.M.) approach to healing gives me (and my clients) a greater motivation and understanding as to why we need to pay better attention to what is happening within and elicit changes in lifestyle in order to heal.
For example, excess dryness in the body can lead to dry lips and more wrinkles superficially, but on a deeper level it could well mean that the stomach is unable to digest foods properly (thereby not producing adequate fuel for your body to thrive).
It’s the correlation between one thing and another that is key to understanding the C.C.M. approach. Let’s take dryness as an example. Lack of hydration in the body = dry lips/skin = lack of stomach fluids = strain on the heart/kidneys. It is this wholistic matrix of seeing that I find so very fascinating.
To my mind, Classical Chinese Medicine is more of an artform, ancient as it is. It deals with the whole body, mind and spirit. That wholistic approach is often based on observation, listening, palpating, etc.
Sidebar: Classical Chinese Medicine is ancient teachings/knowledge that focuses on four energy channels: the luos; the sinews, the 8 extraordinary and divergent channels. I believe these to be deeper energetic doorways allowing my clients to become aware of their potential and unlock it.
It sees the body as a garden where the ecological conditions can be improved. Where the body can self-heal under the right conditions as long as we ingest what’s appropriate for our unique self. No one size fits all. Your energy and healing are as unique as your fingerprint.
Both Eastern and Western approaches are valid but different. Yet with the same goal: the lessening and/or prevention of dis-ease.
As a Channel Practitioner in Classical Chinese Medicine (C.C.M.), I’ve come to realize that those uncontrolled Wind movements are simply the body speaking to us. Sometimes it speaks gently, but over time, if ignored, severely, i.e., a stroke forcing us to change lifestyle, the foods we eat and the emotions we breathe.
So Wind in the body is a harbinger for change.
I’ve experienced Wind first-hand when I was deep into Lyme disease. Lyme disease takes many forms. Some will be crippled in the joints. Some, like me, experience malaria-like symptoms. I eventually became a vegetable as the disease ravaged my brain and central nervous system. The Wind that I experienced was like there were 1000s of ants running up and down my spine all night, every night, making sleep and work impossible.
Sounds like the stuff of madness? No. Simply Wind in the “energy channels” of the body where there is vacuity in mediumship (i.e., deficiency/lack of blood or blood movement, lack of fluids and/or Qi/energy, etc.)
We rebuild mediumship with good foods that nourish the body, i.e., thick home-made soups and stews, bone broth, good fats… and energy work and calming the mind. These easy solutions apply to all forms of wind from tremors and ticks to stroke or stroke-prevention, etc. (see sidebar for list of wind symptoms). For myself, as I filled the vacuity in the channels, the wind symptoms disappeared (no more ants)!
From a C.C.M. perspective all fixable with changes in lifestyle, energy work and diet. From a Western perspective, all differing specialties requiring specific approaches.
As I write this my dear friend Cal is in recovery from a stroke. He is not familiar with the work that I do in C.C.M. so this essay is dedicated to him and his well-being (& he is doing splendidly). About his recovery, he says,
Wind Symptoms: Ticks, tremors, uncontrolled shaking of any kind, i.e., Parkinson’s; dizziness; pain that moves from one place to another; unexplained rashes; and (sometimes one-sided) numbness and tingling in the limbs, headaches, spasms in tendons/muscles, headaches; loss of movement: strokes, paralysis, coma, arthritis; and weird movement sensations inside the body (like my ants). This is only a partial list, but you’ll get the idea!
“I don’t play the victim. I do my exercises every day. I am resting lots. I am so very blessed to have all the helpers in my life especially my partner Eva and the dogs. Please tell your readers about F.A.S.T.”
Many stroke victims have symptoms in advance of the event, i.e., headache, numbness or tingling. Many ignore the messages. Don’t we all do that? “Oh, it is just a headache. It is just a wee bit of numbness… I must get this report written…”.
Most of us must be forced to STOP to pay attention. In fact, approximately 16 million people annually suffer from stroke. The key is to take F.A.S.T. action. This F.A.S.T. knowledge could well save a life. So if you think someone is having a stroke, do the following:
F – Face – Ask them to smile. Is one side of their face drooping?
A – Arm – Ask them to raise both arms. Is there weakness or numbness on one side? Is one arm drifting below the other?
S – Speech – Ask them to repeat a simple sentence. Listen for slurring or jumbling of words.
T – Time to call 911! Call immediately. Even if symptoms have resolved, this is still an emergency. Immediate assessment and treatment are still needed to prevent another event.
As I work with clients with tremors and watch those tremors disappear after a few weeks–through changes in diet and lifestyle and thought–I am in awe of the human spirit: our tenacity, our beauty, our inner wisdom.
Learning to hear the body’s messages is the key to well-being…these messages are our way home to new learning, new lifestyles, new life.
I close with the words of Jill Bolte Taylor after her stroke…
“I must be willing to give up what I am in order to become what I will be.”
― Jill Bolte Taylor, My Stroke of Insight (I highly recommend her book.)
Tips to Aid with Wind
- Listen to your body.
- Build mediumship to reinvigorate your body (good thick home-made soups and stews, good fats, bone broth, congee, fish of all kinds, seaweed, etc.)
- Find a good energy worker to assist.
- Study Chinese Medicine’s approach to Foods for Healing.
- Keep your energy humming with Daily Energy Routines, Qigong, Yoga, etc.
- Find ways to calm excessive emotions.
- Know that alcohol and rich foods and any kind of stimulants feed wind. Reduce or eliminate them.
- Know that you can heal yourself.
- Welcome changes in lifestyle.
With love from Wakefield Quebec
Helene Anne Fortin – www.kindmentor.com
Helene Anne Fortin • kind mentor 