Pt.1
Ben: Gabriella, What are The Tao, Yin/Yang & Qi Energy?
Gabriella: So we’re going to start by talking about the Tao, which is technically not something we can put into words! And once we’ve er… not put the Tao into words, we’ll go on to discuss Yin/Yang - which may be easier to put into words, perhaps because it’s a little bit closer to the way our binary minds work, it’s the concept of complementary opposites, one existing by virtue of the other. And finally for today, we’ll talk about Qi Energy, the vital life force that flows through all living beings.
Ben: OK great! So, using words, what is the Tao?
Gabriella: I’ll give words a go then, Ben. Thousands of years ago, Lao Tzu, the legendary Taoist philosopher said, “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name.”
Now, you may ask, ‘Why is she talking about all this Tao stuff when what we’re here to discuss is acupuncture?’ and it’s a great question. It might seem unrelated, but understanding the philosophical background of acupuncture is essential. My late father-in-law, a wise lama from the Himalayas, used to say, "You Westerners are so impatient. You want a roof without building the foundations."
Ben: I see. So, why is it important to set this context and understand where acupuncture arose from?
Gabriella: How the ancient Chinese perceived the world is intricately tied to the practice of acupuncture. So, understanding this philosophy helps us to grasp the essence of acupuncture.
So, who do I think I am to sit here and even attempt to describe the Tao? Well, describe it I can’t, because the very nature of the Tao is something beyond our grasp. “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name.” Lao Tzu is telling us that no human can fully understand it.
What’s the point of that? Us humans are funny aren’t we? Many of us seem to believe we CAN understand everything, or that one day Science will explain everything. I don’t believe that will happen, or even that it’s meant to happen. Where would we go with no mysteries left? We can contemplate though. Pondering life’s great mysteries is something I find a lot of fun.
So… The Tao. I cannot sit here and tell you all I know about the Tao, because I “know” nothing.
Ben: But if you know nothing and the Tao is indescribable, how are you going to attempt to talk about it?
Gabriella: Well, I may be able to give a few pointers to a concept. And if you’re willing to go along with my words, perhaps we can scrape together an inkling of an idea, the tip of the iceberg that is this un-nameable Tao.
When I was little, I didn’t see why my brothers should get to stay up later than me, just because they were older. So I’d set up the camp bed in my brother’s room and we’d end up talking into the early hours. One topic I loved was the universe. Lying there in the dark, I’d ask Nick how the universe began, and he’d explain the Big Bang to me. Yes, but how did something come from nothing? How did it start? There must have been something before? What’s outside the universe? How can it have no end? My young, linear mind could only go so far until there was another unanswered question. It’s pretty much the same today, okay my mind is quite a bit older, but still fundamentally linear. Perhaps I now know a few more facts but still the same mind-blowing concepts remain unanswered, things I still can’t get my head around. Physics can explain everything since the Big Bang. But it can’t explain before. “Give us one free miracle and we’ll explain the rest” (as observed by the late Terence McKenna). Draw a circle.
Ben: ‘Why have you just drawn a circle, Gabriella?’
Gabriella: Well, it could represent ‘all-encompassing’ - but already it’s completely inadequate. Because the line denoting the circumference separates the inside from the outside. So it’s only showing part of the story. There is no line in the Tao. No inside or outside, no beginning and no end. Or shall we say inside and outside exist in the same plane, or they aren’t different to each other. The Tao is the One, non duality.’
Ben: So am I getting this straight? Is the Tao describing the source of all matter and energy?
Gabriella: Let’s quote from Lao Tzu again, “There exists something which is prior to all beginnings and endings. Which, unmoved and unmanifest, itself neither begins nor ends. All-pervasive and inexhaustible, it is the perpetual source of everything else. For want of a better name, I call it Nature. If I am forced to describe it, I speak of it as ‘ultimate reality’
Lao Tzu’s quote kind of answered my questions about the universe, although I’m still left a bit like I was when my children would pursue a question and corner me until the only possible way out was to answer ‘just because’.
The Tao just is: ‘all-pervasive and inexhaustible’
A few other words that might inadequately touch on it could be: Nature, Way. Path, Route, The fundamental or true nature of reality. Everything that ever is, was and will be - yet more than that because it doesn’t separate out into you, me and everything. It is one.
I’ll leave you to ponder the Tao, and maybe suggest we regroup in an aeon or two to share our findings. Or perhaps just conclude that Lao Tzu was onto something.
Pt.2
Ben: The Tao, wow, so that’s blown my mind, can we move on to Yin & Yang now please, I think that’s a concept that may be slightly easier to grasp!
Gabriella: Well okay then Ben! Expressed within the Tao is the Yin and the Yang. I’d hazard a guess that most of us are familiar with the symbol that represents Yin and Yang: a circle, two equal parts, **intertwined, interdependent. One black, one white. Inside white, a small black circle. Inside black, a small white circle.
The black dot inside the white represents that there is nowhere that exists that is pure, uninterrupted Yang.
Likewise, the white dot inside the black shows there is nowhere that exists that is pure, uninterrupted Yin. Every living thing is a combination of both.
And here our human, binary minds can start to grasp a concept. We live in an endless world of contrasts and opposites, Yin and Yang. We kind of get that. Things like black and white, night and day, hot and cold, hard and soft… The Yin Yang symbol represents this concept of all opposites.
The Chinese said that certain qualities were either more Yin or more Yang in nature. So let’s ponder a few of each:
Yin is said to be feminine, dark, heavy, deep, the moon, slow, water, quiet, still, introvert, cold, damp, soft, night.
And in contrast, Yang is said to be masculine, light (that’s in contrast to both dark and heavy), shallow, the sun, fast, fire, loud, moving, extrovert, hot, dry, hard, day.
And so on…
Ben: But, what about the North Pole in winter, it’s consistently dark for a few months isn’t it?
Gabriella: In the poles of our planet, we have polar nights and polar days, or ‘the land of the midnight sun’. For example, Svalbard in Norway is a place where the sun doesn’t set from April to August, giving light 24 hours a day for these months, known as polar days. But because the Earth is tilted on its axis, there are times of the year when the Northern hemisphere of the Earth is further from the sun and times when it’s nearer to the sun. And likewise with the Southern Hemisphere. So, in these parts, light or dark increases or decreases according to the tilt. So this means that part of the year is light, or Yang, and part of the year is dark, or Yin. You may have near-day for three months of the year and near-night for three months, but each shifts into the opposite, so you cannot have the dark months without having the opposite, the light months, and vice versa. So there is no place of permanent light or dark. This is an exaggerated version of night and day, which happens in most places on the planet on well, a daily basis.
Yin and Yang represent balance. Heavy vs light for example, we can all imagine a set of scales with heavy matter on one side and light on the other. We simply add or subtract something to or from one side to create balance.
Did you play on a seesaw when you were young? Do you remember how you had to move up or down it to make it tip if there was someone heavier or lighter than you on the other side? Or two or three vs one? The triumph of finding the exact sweet spot of balance between the different weights on each side. Through play we were experiencing the balancing of the Yin and the Yang. We didn’t need to think about it, we just did it with our bodies.
Everything is at some point between two extremes, like night and day, summer and winter, life and death. The movement of Yin and Yang keeps things in balance and harmony, whether you're talking about nature, people or whatever.
Ben: OK I think I've got it! That was certainly easier to grasp. So what about Qi energy? And what does Qi energy have to do with acupuncture?
Gabriella: Qi Energy is the word for the vital life force that flows through our bodies and through every living thing. Qi energy is what we are affecting when a needle touches an acupuncture point.
Ben: Ok, but… How do we know that Qi Energy exists?
Gabriella: Well, it's based on observations of natural phenomena. Chinese medicine recognises that there are five different types or phases of energy. And conveniently we can most easily observe these differences, the qualities of each by observing and understanding what’s happening in nature in each season. The five different types of Qi energy are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal & Water. We’ll be talking more about these in future episodes.
Ben: So, why do scientists say it doesn't exist?
Gabriella: Some scientists may argue that there's no concrete evidence for its existence, while others demonstrate proof of its existence. Scientists often point out that Qi Energy can't be seen or detected with conventional equipment, (funny that I’ve learned to detect it with my fingertips though. Modern technology… pft…) which leads to skepticism about its existence. It's one of those things that's hard to measure by Western scientific standards.
Let’s think about the Higgs Boson Particle, which scientists knew existed for decades, but its existence was only recently proven - it took a large Hadron collider and many years to actually find this tiny particle. I believe we can draw a parallel here to Qi Energy. Science doesn’t necessarily believe in its existence because it can’t ‘see’ it. Acupuncture practitioners believe in the existence of Qi because we can observe it with our senses and can feel it with our hands as we notice changes in the patients energetic pulses.
Ben: As a patient, I already know the answer to this question, but for the benefit of our listeners who may not have experienced acupuncture, I’d like to ask it anyway. Can the patient feel the Qi when you needle them?
Gabriella: Yes, patients themselves can feel the sensation of Qi within their bodies during and sometimes even after treatment. Even the most hardcore sceptic patients I’ve had have admitted they’ve felt something, even though they can’t explain it. And then had to admit that symptoms have gone away, saying “whether that’s to do with the acupuncture I can’t say”, to which my response is usually a knowing and slightly cheeky smile while thinking ‘well, you may not like to admit that you’re feeling better, but that IS what you’re paying me for’.
You can insert a needle less than 1mm away from an acupuncture point, and the patient won’t feel anything at all. But if you place it 1mm the other way, precisely on the point, they then feel a strong sensation. This can’t just be nerve sensation because well, firstly, hitting a nerve would be excruciatingly painful! And secondly, they often report a pleasant, tingling sensation radiating from where the needle was placed and sometimes they may feel something in a completely different part of their body as well as an instant change in their demeanour.
The trained practitioner also feels a different sensation running through the needle when they hit the point vs. not hitting the acupuncture point. Something rather than nothing. This all suggests that it's more than just placebo. Something tangible is happening to the patient. Additionally, it's interesting to note that animals can also respond to acupuncture, which raises questions about how they could possibly experience a placebo effect.
Ben: How do you as an acupuncturist learn to feel Qi?
Gabriella: An acupuncturist develops the ability to feel Qi energy over time. I would describe it as a vital and buzzing, sometimes warm sensation at the acupuncture point. You can feel this on any acupuncture point on the body. "Men" is the Chinese word for the acupuncture point, so I get to feel "men" all day! Joking aside, from the patient's perspective, after a needle is inserted, they often feel a flowing sensation, either at the site of insertion or sometimes in a completely different part of their body. So for example I might needle a point on the foot and the patient will say ‘I felt that in my stomach’.
Ben: OK so you’ve described how we all have Qi energy, but where do we get it from?
Gabriella: Well Ben, we pop down to Tesco’s and buy a bag of Qi! Seriously though, here perhaps Western science and Chinese wisdom can concur. We all agree, everything needs energy in order to exist. And Qi comes from various sources. We’re born with a type of Qi called ancestral Qi which gives us the characteristics of our ancestors and that energy is then further enhanced by the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the liquids we drink.
Ben: So how come you can needle in one place and a sensation be felt somewhere completely different?
Gabriella: Ah, well that’s because Qi isn’t just in our bodies in a whole bunch of isolated acupuncture points. Qi exists in every cell of the body but it’s channeled through meridians or pathways, like little rivers along which energy flows. So Qi flows throughout the body along this incredible network of interconnected meridians.
Ben: How many of these meridians are there?
Gabriella: There are 12 bilateral meridians, that is, the same meridian runs symmetrically on the left and the right side of the body. The meridians feed their organs or functions with vital Qi energy. There are also two meridians that run right through the centre of the front and the back respectively. These are more like reservoirs, that feed the other meridians. A bit like the trunk of a tree, the meridians being the branches. So therefore there are 14 channels or meridians that we use in Five Element Acupuncture.
Each meridian flows through an organ and extends the energy of that organ through whatever part of the body that energy flows. So for example, the heart meridian has a deep pathway that flows from the heart to the small intestine and up again through the throat and into the mouth and it also has a superficial pathway that starts inside the armpit and flows along the arm and down to the little finger.
Ben: So that’s why I have felt something in my stomach when you needle that point on my foot then!
Gabriella: Exactly! When I put a needle in your foot, that point is nearly at the end of a meridian that starts just below the eyes, runs down through the chest and abdomen and continues through each leg until it reaches the second toe. So the point in the foot has activated one further up!
Ben: Wow! So, there are superficial AND deep pathways? What’s the difference?
Gabriella: They contain the same Qi, the difference is that we can reach superficial pathways with a needle and deep pathways aren’t accessible - unless you wanted to needle a major organ which I’d suggest is probably not advisable.
Conclusion
Ben: So, what’s the point?! What do The Tao, Yin/Yang & Qi Energy have to do with Five Element Acupuncture?
Gabriella: The Chinese saw the human body as the microcosm of the macrocosm. So the idea of “the one” in the Tao teaches us that, we aren’t separate bits like a liver or a gall bladder and affecting one of these will affect everything.
Ben: We are the whole.
Gabriella: Truth, and nothing but the truth…
In Five Element Acupuncture we bear the whole in mind when treating a patient, if we are to change the energy flowing into one organ, we need to be aware that this will affect everything else within that microcosm.
Ben: We heard about Yin & Yang, the concept of complimentary opposites. We discovered that you cannot have one without the other and this principle extends to the functioning of the human body, for example we’re neither all hot nor are we all cold, we’re just the right balance.
Gabriella: Yes just as Goldilocks discovered! In order for us to operate at our optimum, we need to be a blend of both hot and cold. Just right!
Ben: Exactly, we learned that if you extend this concept to every other function within the body, you will see the significance of the natural balancing effect that we call Yin & Yang.
Gabriella: We also discovered that Qi energy is the force we are interacting with when we insert needles into acupuncture points. The points are found along meridians or pathways of energy.
Ben: Yes and we learned that by rebalancing and stimulating this energy, the patient gets better!
Gabriella: A-Star student!
Ben: I want a gold star.
Gabriella: Haha, we’ve got a little way to go before I’m handing out the gold stars Ben!
Ben: No fair!
Gabriella: Make sure to listen to this season’s bonus episode where Ben will ask me more infuriating questions and we’ll dive a bit deeper into these concepts. Access the bonus episode by subscribing to the podcast or becoming a member of our Patreon page.
Ben: Great, so we’ll either see you there or back here next week for the next episode, What are The Five Elements?!
Gabriella: Goodbye for now
Ben: Bye!