This is Nikki. She is full of power, agency, awareness, and pleasure. She has 12 primary channels flowing with qi and blood that move her through the world. 16 Luo vessels that store her emotions. 12 divergent channels that hold her childhood experiences. 8 extraordinary channels that hold her ancestors’ stories and wisdom. Nikki has over 365 acupuncture points. Awareness of this system empowers her to keep her body healthy and vital, connecting her physically to her emotions and the spiritual world.
This is a Map.
It is very old, precious and astonishingly accurate. Learning to read this map teaches us fluency in the language of sensations in the body. Feelings of discomfort transform from inconvenient obstacles to be overcome, into enlightening messages to be understood. Biomedicine perceives pain as our bodies fighting against us. This map shifts our perspectives. Our bodies are actually sending us love notes.
When the body hurts or stops working, it is a signal from our inner world to the conscious mind. The messages are telling us where the system is out of balance or breaking down. When we learn to listen, when we learn how qi flows through our bodies, we can trace the pain to its source.
I don’t understand... I’ve been doing this thing forever, and it’s never hurt me before....
We are resilient, the human body is built for adaptation. Noticing sensations before they become painful, takes practice. As we become familiar with the language of the body, our awareness expands, allowing us to see how certain repetitive actions or situations we find ourselves in, may be compounding physically in our bodies.
I get a headache when I haven't hydrated or eaten, when I stare at a screen for too long, when I carry a heavy bag on one shoulder. Even though I’ve been able to sustain these behaviors until now, my body’s signals are getting louder... these actions are causing pain. My muscles are dehydrated and tight, qi is blocked in my channels and qi blockages cause pain.
My back hurts when I'm working long hours and haven’t had enough time to rest. My body intuitively sends messages to slow down, stretch, take a nap. When I listen, the sensations improve. If I ignore the messages, the sensations become stronger. Eventually my back hurts so much, I can’t even get out of bed.
Taking time to learn the language our bodies speak, empowers us with balance, resilience and deeper awareness.
The capitalist system, and its cultural effects, separates us from our bodies. From a young age, we are taught to ignore the body -- to submit it to the rules of competition and exploitation. We dull the signals with drugs and develop a dependency on doctors whose specialized language we can't understand. We give up our autonomy. We treat ourselves by purchasing remedies that turn off the signals, until we can’t hear them anymore. We learn to despise these signals. Disconnected; the love notes from our inner world never reach us.
The meridian system is a map of the body’s internal healing structures. Learn the map, feel it in the body, down to the subtlest sensations. Learn the emotions and patterns that correspond to different channels and points. Sensations become indicators, lessons, gifts.
When I feel full, bloated and uncomfortable in my stomach, I touch points that help to increase digestion. These points are tender and can be traced to emotions; frustration or worry. Awareness of the emotions indicate that I wasn't breathing. Stimulating these points induce relaxation as I become aware of my breath. This relaxation allows blood to flow freely to my digestive system. My whole body relaxes, as I release the emotional and physical tension that was causing the bloating.
We come to learn what full awareness feels like in our bodies.
This wisdom details the vast intricacies of how qi and blood flow through the body. We are a reflection of our environment. Water flows from mountain tops, across landscapes and down to the oceans, sustaining life’s natural cycles. Our bodies are landscapes that blood and qi flow through. The reflections of the microcosm in the macrocosm are infinite in every direction. As above so below.
It is abundantly clear that humans are living unsustainably. The lack of awareness that is compounding into pain and dysfunction in our bodies is strikingly reflected on Earth and amongst our society. Visions of living in alignment with our environment are becoming ever more clear, as we strive towards caring for ourselves, each other and the planet.
