It surprises people that as an acupuncturist, my patients/clients reveal so much personal information to me. Particularly about past trauma, deep fear, old grief and feelings trapped in the body. Often when this personal information is revealed there are tears and many are surprised that they have suddenly opened their hearts and shared so much with someone they hardly know.
I’m used to it by now. Some stories are more difficult to hear than others, some touch too close to my own and often I cry too. It’s been a part of my practice since I started to practice, since I was a student actually. Why? I didn’t know, I could just feel myself open wide up to whomever was sitting across from me. I would hear myself responding and wonder where it was coming from.
My heart. When I am in clinic I am guided by my heart. Only after about ten years did I begin to recognize it. In doing so I am more capable of helping my patients/clients recognize the power of their own hearts.
Especially the heart in relationship to health of the whole being. It’s the old body, mind, spirit connection. The foundation of Traditional Chinese Medicine recognizes our wholeness, the new science, with the Heart Math Institute as a leader in the field, reveals the heart storing our experiences, our memories, our pain as well as our hopes and dreams.
When we are 3-4 feet from another person our hearts begin to find resonance. When we are aware of that coherence with another person we can begin an incredible transformation. The neurons of the heart store our past experiences and they can also learn new ones. Authentically connecting with another, with oneself can be so powerful.
It blows my mind regularly how treating the body help open a pathway into the heart. How recognizing what’s held in the heart can initiate healing in the body. We must create a space of awareness and acceptance of the mysteries of everything we hold inside our hearts; it is said in TCM that the heart is the Supreme Monarch and rules over all the organs. Blood becomes a messenger that couriers to and from the heart from the whole being.
Joy and connection are attributes of the heart. For any of you aching, suffering, take heart. Old hurt can be released, new patterns of love and connection can be formed. It takes time, it takes effort, it takes trust and space. I learn this with my patients/clients and through myself. Through my own heart that, slowly, like a bud, learning to open.