Definitions

The Shen 神

/ Amy Buckley

    In Chinese Medicine the Shen is energy located in the center of the chest. The Shen is said to be the equivalent of the Emperor or Empress and as such he/she is in charge of all the other organs in the body (which also have ‘jobs’ in the Emperor/Empress’ Court).  When the Shen is present in his/her Palace – located over the physical heart, then the Shen can be seen in a person’s eyes and in their face.  The Shen indicates the overall health of the body.  

    Through energy balancing the Shen (and the body) becomes healthy and happy and the ‘face’ a balanced person shows the world can be strikingly different than the face they had when they were ill/imbalanced.  To illustrate this concept I’ll share here an email I wrote to a friend that I was doing energy balancing with:  

Hi,

I wanted to make sure I mentioned this before we got too far away from yesterday…
But I saw what I would describe as your Shen being fully in your body yesterday – and it is so amazing.

You’ve said in the past you can’t see or feel the difference but to me it is so striking, so amazingly different. So much so I feel I have to tell you about it.

What does it look like?  I’ll try to explain…
Mostly I see it in your face.  And it is definitely like how seeing people’s Shen has been described in class.  Your skin tone has more color, more yellows and pink tone rather than blue and beige.  Your smile is much broader and wider. Which then makes a difference in your cheeks and the overall shape of your face…being rounder/softer shapes.

And your eyes are the nexus of it all.  They are so alive and full of joy.  They seem to be so many colors at once.  And actually when I see this in you and look in your eyes it’s so captivating I loose track of what I am saying; 

And the feeling you emit is open, inclusive, and warm.  Other times you lead with your boundary layer but at these times it feels like your heart and compassion are shining out from beyond your boundaries and that’s what greets people in the world.  Your boundaries are still there, but underneath.

It’s really incredible. And I’m so reminded of the line in that Chinese poem I showed you….  ‘When there is light in the Shen, there is beauty in the person’.

When I see what I feel is your Shen in you, like yesterday…..You are so beautiful.
And I mean that in the most celestial way.
It’s that Universal beauty you may have seen when you look at the night sky, far away from city lights…the beauty of thousands of stars forming the Milky Way….a beauty so great that it fills you with awe and wonder.  And you are immediately captivated and speechless.

That’s what I saw yesterday when I looked at you.

-Amy.

Chakras Part 2

/ Amy Buckley

My original post on Chakras (July 2011) was written based on a book published in 1990, click on the link to go to that post.  Since then I have worked extensively with the Chakras and have discerned many more things about them.  Below is a summary of the Chakra numbers, colors, and associations that I perceive and have found most useful.

chakrasiiia

My perception of Chakras 1 – 8.  Original photo by diez-artwork, modified by A. Buckley.

In the pictures I have put a small black circle for the umbilicus and a small x for the third eye position.  The most notable difference I see with other Chakra pictures is with the 6th and 7th.  Most pictures show the 6th Charkra as indigo and the 7th as violet. I perceive the 6th as purple and the 7th as white.  (I have also seen that these are just the most common color associations and that the Chakras actually change colors.  But let’s keep it simple for now).

The other difference with my pictures vs most others is the existence of the 8th Chakra! I perceive the 8th Chakra as being 18″ above your head and 18″ below your feet, so I have designated these two points as 8+ and 8- in the chart below.  The 8th Chakra creates a complete Maroon colored sphere around you.  I believe this Chakra has two main purposes: (1) It is a form of energetic protection and (2) The position of 8+ and 8- ‘pull down’ the next set of Chakras into place.  More on that below the next picture.

chakras-w_assoc

Chakra Colors, Numbers and Main Associations (that I have found most useful).  Original picture by diez-artwork, modified by A. Buckley.

Chakra 8 continued:  There are actually thousands (or potentially an infinite number) of Chakras.  In my experience, once you have gained a certain amount of lessons from your current Chakra set (#1-#8 to start with) and energetically cleared them enough, then you can pull down the next ‘set’ of eight.  In this case, Chakra 8- would pull down Chakra 16- bringing with it (and putting into place) Chakra 9 where Chakra 1 is located, Chakra 10 where Chakra 2 is located, and so on.  In my experience all previous chakra sets (and their lessons) remain available to you.

If this is the first time you have heard of your 8th Chakra then some clean up will be needed!  Imagine the maroon bubble around you.  Now take a closer look.  Is the maroon color very dark?  Does it have black spots in it?  Is part of it missing?  Is it misshapen?  These are all common issues.  See if you can change or fix these things.  Ideally, the 8th Chakra should be a deep maroon color but not too dark. If you can’t figure out how to fix it (or if you can’t imagine the 8th Chakra but would like to) then click here or on the Contact tab above and make an appointment with me, I can help.  And if you live far away from me, don’t worry, we can work together remotely over the phone.

Help! Something is (still) wrong with me!

/ Amy Buckley

Feeling like something is wrong with you?  Been to many ‘doctors’ or ‘experts’ and still feel not quite right?  Don’t let people try to convince you it’s in your head!  Below is some collective wisdom from my 5 and a half year journey back to being 100% healthy.  According to regular medical doctors I was ‘doing everything right’ – exercise, eating healthy, taking vitamins, sleeping well, etc.  Yet I was still massively sick!  It turns out western medicine, the only kind I knew when I got sick, is only looking at one aspect of our (very complex) bodies.  Read below to see if you have covered all these ways to investigate your body.

Here are the layers of the body that can be contributing to a problem and who can help:

  • The MD‘s (medical doctors) will be checking your physical body organs to see if they can diagnose anything.  Very often, if you don’t fit a commonly accepted diagnosis or disease category they can’t help you.
    ND‘s (Naturopathic Doctors) also diagnose physical body organs but can offer alternatives when you don’t fit into any medically accepted disease category.
  • Call a Chiropractor to see if any of your bones are out of alignment and causing the trouble ….ask me if you don’t know why this could cause digestive distress, emotional issues, muscle aches, behavioral problems, etc.!
  • Fascial Planes – someone who is trained in Cranial Sacral Therapy or Reiki can check this important structure which is all over your body. Fascia is the way your body maintains it’s physical shape and is your body’s communication highway.  Communication problems within your body equates to physical problems that you can feel.  Often if chiropractic changes ‘won’t stick’ then a patient is sent to get their fascial planes worked on and then the chiropractic changes stay in place.
  • Energy – Energy Medicine Practitioners, Acupuncturists, (some) Massage Therapists, and Shiatsu Practitioners, work with your body’s energy systems (which have been used and documented for over 3000 years) to fix the body, mind, and spirit. To be more specific:
    • the body = all items listed in 1. – 3. above
    • the mind = emotions, thought patterns, behavior, etc.
    • the spirit = how balanced and connected we feel in our lives

As you can see, to save yourself time and money, you may want to start with a practitioner in this Energy category – since they can work on all body areas at once.

CHAKRAS

/ Amy Buckley

I have found the ideas behind the Chakra system to be helpful in understanding what's going on with my body physically, mentally, and spiritually.  This one page of notes I took long ago has served me very well on my healing journey.  There are seven Chakras or 'energy centers' that correspond to different aspects of the body as noted below.  

My notes from the book, Chakra Healing, by Rosalyn L. Bruyere  1990

1.  RED – Physical Body Sense

Chakra Location:  at the perineium.

Prime body part: Pelvis.

All nerve endings connect to here.  Survival needs, pleasure, and pain are all located here.

Psychological growth stage:  4 years old – self separate from others.

 

2. ORANGE – Emotional Body

Chakra Location:  below the belly button.

Prime body part: Intestines.

Where all feelings are processed.

Psychological growth stage:  7 years old – want others to feel as they feel.

 

3. YELLOW – Mental Body

Chakra Location:  above the belly button and below the V in the rib cage.

Prime body part:  Spleen, stomach, kidneys, adrenals.

Where all thoughts, opinions, and judgements originate and are controlled.

Psychological growth stage:  12 years old – digesting data.

 

4. GREEN – Astral Body

Chakra Location:  to the right of the actual heart.

Prime body part:  Thymus, Auto-immunity.

Bridges real world and the spirit/dream world.

Psychological growth stage:18 years old – consider other before selves, make no decision without considering higher ideals and dreams.

 

5. BLUE – Eupheric Body

Chakra Location:  over the throat.

Prime body part:    Thyroid (controls growth and metabolism).

Controls time and speech.

Beginning of god-like abilities.  "Knowing the right time for things".

Psychological growth stage:28-35 years old – idealistic especially in regards to justice and truth, concept of perfection.

 

6. INDIGO/VIOLET – Celestial Body

Chakra Location:  on forehead, between the eyes and slightly above them.

Prime body part: Pinneal Gland (a light sensitive neurotransmitter).

Holds your individual future and is our access to understanding the future.

Realm of light that allows us to "see the Light" from a clairvoyance perspective.  Home of insight, inspiration, intuition, psychic phenomena, visualization. "The Third Eye".

Psychological growth stage:  45-50 years old – wiser self.

 

7. WHITE (Rainbow, all colors) – Catheric Body

Chakra Location: on the crown of the head; ie. on top of head even with the ears.

Prime body part:  N/A.

The record of your whole spiritual life is here.  Oneness with God is here.

Psychological growth stage::  Ageless – higherself, most like god we can be at this time.

 

How Big is a Blood Cell?

/ Amy Buckley

This is a must-see interactive "slide" for any one with blood cells – that means you!. . . it takes you from the size of 12 point font down to a picometer (that's 1/trillionth of a meter)!  And along the way you pass by a blood cell, e. coli bacteria, the flu virus, an anti-body, etc.!  (Hint: move the tab below the picture).

I'm in love with this creation:    Cell Size and Scale

Thank you University of Utah!

Bio-resonance – History

/ Amy Buckley

One of the first 'Bio-resonance' machines was created in the 1950's by German Engineers who heard about what the Chinese were doing with Acupuncture points.  Acupuncture is based on stimulating or opening the body's energy points.  The smart German engineers said 'Where there is energy it can be measured'.  And they set about creating a machine to measure these supposed energy points on the body.  They were successful and found that acupuncture points have several times more electrical activity than a point on the skin only a fraction of an inch away.

Today the machines have evolved and many companies make their own versions for different purposes from stimulating the acupuncture points (electronic acupuncture) to using the device for overall health screenings (bio-resonance testing, electronic homeopathy).  It is the use of bio-resonance to improve a person's health that intrigues me.

NMD

/ Amy Buckley

Naturopathic Medical Doctor – NMD – This term logically fits for US or Canadian Medical students graduating from Medical School at one of the 6 accredited Naturopathic Medical Schools in North America (1 more school is in the process of accreditation).  When students graduate from these four year schools they have the same education and training as a Family Physician (MD) with additional training/education on multiple naturopathic modalities.  The graduates can then take State Board Exams to get licenses in states that license ND's or NMD's. If a state does not license ND/NMDs then the person is limited in what they can do for patients but they can immediately go into practice.   CNME (the board that the US Dept. of Education recognizes to accredit Naturopathic Medical Schools) explains that anyone graduating with a 'Doctorate of Naturopathic Medicine' degree can call themselves an "NMD".  However, only the state of AZ currently confers a medical license termed "NMD".

WARNING:  If a state does not license ND/NMDs then any one can legally call themselves a Naturopathic Doctor (ND or NMD) no matter what training they have or lack there of!! There are lots of ND degrees for sale – patient beware! 

For more links and information on accreditation, one of the accredited schools, SCNM, has a great summary page.