July/August 2009 Featured Stories
Energy Medicine for Women
By Donna Eden
Your body's ability to heal a wound, fight off disease, cope with stress, respond to danger, communicate to you what it needs, and reward you with pleasure when you provide what it requests, reflects an astounding intelligence that is totally independent of your mind.
This bodily wisdom is contained not primarily in the neurons of your brain but in energy fields that mobilize your cells into action, that coordinate the strategies used by your organs to maintain your health, and that bathe you in an atmosphere of peace and joy when things are well or in stress and alarm when they are not. Energy medicine shows you how to impact your body's energies and energy fields in ways that markedly enhance your health and well-being.
Energy medicine is particularly important for women. For almost every health condition a woman faces, hormonal imbalances are in the foreground or in the background. Energy medicine shows you how to influence your hormones and improve your health, happiness, and vitality by using energy techniques that are accessible and easy to learn.
Dr. Christiane Northrup points out that not only are we as women innately sensitive to energy, we "are also the healers of our families. When women are healthy and happy, their families are healthy and happy."
As women become adept in working with their own energies, the whole world benefits. Here are some simple energy medicine techniques you can apply right now.
The Metabolism Points
Many of us struggle at one point or another in our lives (from ages 14 to 92) with our weight. Many factors are involved in maintaining a weight that is optimal for your body type. Metabolism is a primary influence. It seems unfair that metabolism would trump diet and exercise, but it often does.
Metabolism is governed by an energy system called the spleen/pancreas meridian. Meridians are pathways that bring energy to specific organs or systems in your body. Acupuncture points sit along the meridian lines. It is harder to metabolize food or burn calories efficiently if the energies moving through the spleen/pancreas meridian are low. You can get your spleen/pancreas meridian to function more effectively by stimulating acupuncture points or other sensitive areas on your skin.
Two spleen/pancreas points that are very responsive to being tapped are found one rib below the base of your breasts, in line with your nipples. Simply tapping these points about 10 seconds before and after eating improves your metabolism. Tap vigorously but not hard enough to risk bruising or in any way injuring yourself.
The Brain Buttons
The spleen/pancreas points are one of three sets of points used in a simple routine for establishing and maintaining positive energies called the "three thumps." Another set of points in the three thumps are sometimes called the "brain buttons." They have become known because they are so effective in helping children improve their learning skills.
Tapping these points sends signals to your brain and adjusts your energies so you will be more alert and able to perform more effectively. They are juncture points, and tapping them effects all your other meridians, energizing you when you are feeling drowsy and focusing you if you are having difficulty concentrating.
To locate these points, place the pointer finger of each hand on your collarbone and move your hands toward one another until you reach the two inside corners of your collarbone. Drop straight down from these points to about an inch below your collarbone. For most people, there is a soft spot or indent there. Then breathe slowly and deeply as you firmly tap with your middle fingers for two or three deep breaths.
The Tarzan Thump
The other points used in the three thumps are over the thymus gland. Tapping them (think of Tarzan) is a simple technique that awakens the body's energies, sharpens the immune system (your thymus supports your immune system), and increases your strength and vitality. When you lose your harmony with your body's needs and design, your thymus' surveillance mechanism becomes confused. Thumping the thymus helps stimulate and reset it.
To do the Tarzan thump, place the fingers of either or both hands in the center of your sternum, at the thymus gland (about two inches below the brain buttons) in the center of your chest. Using all your fingers as you tap firmly, breathe slowly and deeply, in through your nose and out through your mouth for two or three deep breaths.
All Together Now
Tapping your brain buttons, Tarzan point, and spleen points (it is usually done in that order), each for about the length of two or three deep breaths, has a cumulative effect in helping with mental sharpness, immune functioning and metabolism. Do it once or twice each day.
You can extend the benefits of the three thumps by following the routine with a "cross crawl." Simply march in place with exaggerated motions for about 30 seconds (begin by lifting your right arm and left leg high, simultaneously, and continue to march). This facilitates the cross-over of energy between your brain's right and left hemispheres and also helps establish and maintain necessary cross-over patterns throughout your body.
Most people find the three thumps/cross crawl routine to be energizing while helping them think more clearly, move with better coordination and live with enhanced vitality.
Donna Eden, author of Energy Medicine for Women, is also the author of the best-selling book, Energy Medicine, a classic in its field. Eden presents a workshop with David Feinstein on Energy Medicine for Women on July 9-12 in Portland. Visit www.learnenergymedicine.com.
