THE JOURNEY INWARDS: THE ROLE OF ACUPUNCTURE AND MINDFULNESS
LEAVING SOME SPACE
There was an interesting moment in history, during the 15th & 16th centuries, where Europeans began to make maps with empty spaces. This was very different than the previous way of either filling the unknown with a large monster or simply pretending the world wholly consisted of Asia Africa and Europe. The New World had yet to be discovered.
The empty map was an interesting psychological development, which gave room for new discoveries, as it admitted there are things we do not know. It fueled the fire of scientific research and technological advancement.
ACUPUNCTURE & THE NEW FRONTIER: INNER EXPLORATION
If you've ever seen the film The Truman Show, starring Jim Carrey, there is a funny moment, where the teacher asks the main character what he wants to be when he grows up. Truman answers "an explorer" to which the teacher answers: "too late, everything has already been discovered." The teacher then points to a map of the known world in a cruel attempt to control and limit young Truman’s destiny.
I think we live in an interesting moment where our outer world, due to advancements in technology, is increasingly known, but our inner world remains a vast unchartered landscape. The empty maps of today are within us. And this is clearly where there is the most room for growth … as humanity stands on the precipice of self-extinction largely as a result of unconscious behaviors.
Due to the restrictions during the pandemic, the most repeated comment that I have heard was 'once the pandemic is over ... I cannot wait to travel again.’ Fair enough. But I'd just like to say that there is a vast inner territory that you can already be traveling to, making discoveries, and bringing those discoveries to the surface, into your life, and for the benefit of all.
DALAI LAMA QUOTE:
The inner peace of an alert and calm mind is the source of real happiness and good health.
THE ROLE OF MINDFULNESS & ACUPUNCTURE
Experienced travelers typically discover that it is more potent and powerful to stay in the moment and improvise than it is to move with a goal-oriented approach. As an example, attempting to visit the “top 5 places” in a certain location, is usually less rewarding and less fulfilling than simply being in the new environment, remaining open to all the surrounding sights, smells, and events. The same turns out to be true in everyday life. If we allow ourselves to be spontaneous, innocent, and available to what’s around us, we notice the unfoldings of a vast, beautiful, and ever-changing world.
Flow State ORIGINATING From The Heart-Mind
The founders of classical acupuncture understood that there is a fulcrum between your inner world and your outer world that makes you available to Life. The fulcrum is your heart, and it is mindfulness that opens this doorway. This may seem like a contradiction (heart vs mind) however the same Chinese character is actually used to depict both “heart” and “mind.” The ancient Chinese saw the two as one inseparable “heart-mind.” When the heart-mind is fully available, life takes on a different quality and can approach an effortless dance, where synchronicities abound, and ‘things’ somehow just feel in their natural place. This is now often referred to as flow-state.
Long before I started practicing acupuncture in Williamsburg my discovery of the concept of mindfulness, in my teenage years, changed my life. However, my understanding of mindfulness has evolved over time. It’s worth noting, as I’ve pointed out, that mindfulness is the domain of the heart-mind. Others will also claim that mindfulness includes dimensions of the higher mind or higher self. Here, I’ll make a different argument, which is perhaps a bit less meta, and say that, based on my clinical experience, mindfulness includes the totality of your body, and notably includes your vital organs.
What is meant by ‘Holistic Health’
This is where acupuncture comes in, and where it gets interesting. If people correctly speak of ‘holistic medicine’ (and are not using the term as a marketing gimmick, which is now, unfortunately, often the case) the basic idea is that there is a fundamental integration of the mind, body, and spirit in such a way where a positive effect of one level can heal other aspects of a person’s being. All of the levels, mind, body and spirit, refer to and influence each other, and therefore need to be addressed in a unified manner.
This is the healing process that five element acupuncture sets out to initiate. As qi is stimulated through needle activation, each of your vital organs animates this process of regeneration along its particular meridian channel. By the organs regaining their balance and strength thru qi stimulation, they begin to accrue energy which they can then distribute throughout the organ-meridian network, benefiting a person’s entire being.
I have often noticed and joked that clients often begin treatment for migraines but remain clients for mindfulness.
With the body at ease, the mind clear, and the spirit calm, a person will naturally and more frequently enter into a state of mindfulness, where they can discover a full-bodied experience of emptiness and potentiality.
David J. Leeds
Acupuncture in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Five Element Acupuncture
