The Spiritual Pivot

One of the earliest recorded works of medicine; the fundamental doctrine of Chinese Medicine is the Huang Di Nei Jing So Wen Ling Shu, dated approximately two centuries BCE. These two volumes (Su Wen and Ling Shu) comprise a dialog between the Yellow Emperor and his physician, Qi Bo, on the workings of nature as it pertains to the human body, the origin of disease and its cure. The second volume, called the Ling Shu or Spiritual Pivot, discusses the theory and application of acupuncture.  Chapter 8 of the Spiritual Pivot makes the recognition, “Before needling, one must be rooted in spirit.”  My interpretation of this sentence is that until one is in touch with one’s spirit – both the practitioner’s and the patient’s, the treatment will be ineffective.

All rue healing comes through the heart, the home of the spirit. If we take this all the way through, there are no healers, unless their primary motive is to bring one in harmony with one’s spirit, where all healing originates.

I teach and work with a community of practitioners whom I consider experts in Chinese medicine and fertility. I don’t call them healers; nor do I refer to myself or anyone else as a healer. We are so cut off from the healing power of our own spirit, if we place our healing in the hands of another; we potentially place ourselves at the mercy of someone who is one step further away from the healing power of our own heart. The word pivot refers to an essential turning point, where one turns away from outer help and toward the power of ones own inner wisdom.

Chinese medicine has shamanic roots where unless a turn is made to the spiritual source within, there will be no remedy, no cure. One will continue to be overtaken by what used to be considered evil spirits. These are no different than what we would consider origins of disease:

External pathogens;

Dietary or environmental toxins;

A posturing of anger that keeps one in a state of internal distress;

A state of victimhood, where one is at the mercy of another;

Unexamined, subconscious fear.

These can show up as chronic inflammatory conditions, hormonal imbalances, cancer, strokes, bleeding disorders, reproductive disturbances, heart attacks, you name it. Where disease has appeared, its origin is in losing ones resonance with ones own heart and place in the world.

Healing can be addictive, if one continues to rely on outside sources for ultimate healing. If there were a true healer, they would render their work irrelevant and put themselves out of business. So, in my view, real healing is helping someone to raise their energetic level to the point where they become their own healer. They transcend the need to be healed.

TCM Diagnosis

The Infertility Cure lays out some of the diagnostic parameters to assess someone’s patterns of imbalance, and thereby discover methods to bring one into harmony with life. The ancient texts of Chinese medicine state that disease states arise from being out of harmony with nature. When we lose our essential harmony with life, tension arises. Stress results. We enter states of “dis-ease”, at the level of the physical body, emotional resistance, mental patterns that do not serve us, and spiritual unrest.

The beauty of the system of Chinese medicine is that it allows us to delve deeply into each area of our life, and uncover areas where the way we have responded to our life situation, and how we interact with our environment, are the cause of all states of imbalance. These patterns of imbalance result in physical symptoms, including the inability to bring forth life, a natural and inherent tendency that we all embody during our reproductive years.

When we utilize this diagnostic system, we can chart our course in life without resistance. Our lives start to flow more freely. Unhealthy patterns fall away. I often hear from retreat participants, “This is the way I always knew life could be.” I remember in my own experience when I first felt a deep sense of well being, which preceded my ability to conceive. What a gift that was!

That sense of well being guides me now, and never lets me down. I no longer am at the mercy of life, anyone else’s opinions about my life, my health, or well being. I, and only I, am responsible for my life. How empowering… but, also, how daunting this was at times. I could no longer blame doctors, my past, life situations, or anyone else for any difficulty that arose. My response to life was up to me. Nobody else.

As I said in The Infertility Cure, this is not a process for the weak at heart. Nor is fertility; nor is motherhood. It is the most courageous journey you can take. It will never let you down.

What is Your Role in Creation?

This time of year is a great time to address some of the spiritual questions that are a part of the fertility journey. Obviously, we are not the creators of babies. Assisted reproductive medicine may make you think that human power has this one under its control, but you know better. We would like to believe that someone has the power to make this happen. If it’s not me, and it’s not my doctor, it must be God.

What is God? If God is the creator, then what role do I have in creation? Any? What role does a rabbit have in producing baby rabbits? What role does a tree have in producing seedlings? Any?

When we look through the lens of reproductive medicine, we place the power of creation in our doctor’s hands, and pretty much out of our own. When we place creation in God’s hands, we move out of the picture almost entirely, other than where our beliefs about God are concerned. This opens up a whole can of worms. Now religious and moral values overshadow whether or not we will be worthy of creation. “Will I be a good mother?” “What about the abortion I had when I was 18?” “What am I being punished for – focusing on my career?”  I don’t believe rabbits or trees suffer from these same delusions.

Chinese medicine views all parts of existence as holographic representations of the whole. The whole is in the part. That’s why we can treat the entire body by needling just one ear, or one hand. The human body is seen as a microcosm of the macrocosm; of having all of the elements of creation at its disposal. You might say that the creator is in the creation; and therefore the creation has all the powers of creation at its disposal.

That means you are the very essence of the creator; not separate from it. Everything about your consciousness reflects the power of creation. Your beliefs about unworthiness or punishment become manifest in your body/mind.  That’s why rabbits and trees aren’t affected by their beliefs… they don’t have any. They simply allow creation to move through them, unimpeded.

Internalized messages like, “I am not worthy” contract the kidney energies – the very ones through which the reproductive energies arise. And we keep creation from manifesting. Worry knots the qi, and prevents the spirit energies from interacting with the source energies, from which life itself emerges.

Unfortunately, many people don’t want to take on the full responsibility for creation. It is easier to hand over our power to another deity, be it a doctor or a religious figure. The Fertile Soul process brings you in as a full participant in creation, from your rightful place – prior to it. You don’t manipulate the elements to bring forth life – you occupy the space where miracles arise. From this space, you have full awareness of and participation with the energies that either obstruct or open to life.