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Classical Acupuncture Beyond the 12 Meridians: The Eight Extraordinary Vessels
When we experience chronic, unexplained and hard to manage symptoms we can feel powerless, overwhelmed and defeated. Western as well as holistic approaches often focus on the symptoms, and even emotional and/or spiritual aspects are viewed as things that must be fixed.
Symptoms, however, are not something to fight, but something to understand.
In my work, I specialise on acupuncture for adversities, to include chronic and unexplained conditions that leave the person feeling like they have no control over their health and their lives.
This is a specialised type of acupuncture that works beyond the '12 meridian system', which is used
in Traditional Chinese Medicine. This system goes beyond protocols and requires a deep understanding
of the person as a whole.
This type of work engages the body's deepest channels, the Eight Extraordinary Vessels, and is capable of supporting us in reconnecting with ourselves, and the part of us that can help us through life's adversities.
I work with people who have experienced early life trauma, medical or birth trauma, grief, relational trauma, chronic illness, hospitalisation and more subtle experiences of disconnection or chronic stress.
If your body feels overwhelmed, numb, hypervigilant, or stuck, this work may support you.
How does this work?
Everyone of us has 12 Medians, which are used in Traditional Chinese Medicine and most forms of acupuncture. As well as this we also have Eight Extraordinary Vessels. Although TCM incorporates this knowledge, the use and understanding of the Eight Extras remains limited.
These vessels however, represent a powerful aspect of our energetic system, perhaps the most powerful and profound. Why? Because they store, manage and distribute Yuan Qi and Jing, the deepest and most profound energies available to the body. These energies are responsible for conception, growth, reproduction and development, touching all aspects of our lives.
You could compare these energies to the Soul, or to our genetics. They influence us physically, emotionally and spiritually. They provide us with the resources necessary to survive, but when engaged, they can also help us to move beyond survival, into thriving!
Keeping us safe
The Eight Extras support us in keeping us 'safe'. However, when we become 'stuck' in survival mode, whether consciously or subconsciously, we become temporarily disconnected from the resources available to us.
Conception, Growth, Development
The Eight Extras support us in our efforts to move beyond survival. They help us to thrive, transform and blossom, to see the gifts that are already present within us. They do this by putting us in touch our Innermost resources, through our Yuan Qi.
Pre amd Post-natal
These vessels are capable of addressing issues that originate both before and after our birth. They can help us address generational trauma and difficulties, as well as those arising from present life experiences.
This work may require us to review how we have come to where we are. It might require us to review our lifestyle, beliefs,
and patterns.
An Example - the Chong Mai (or Penetrating Vessel)
The Chong Mai, or Penetrating Vessel is considered the birthplace of our authentic Self. As the first vessel that forms as we develop in the womb, it produces the resources necessary for our life's journey.
A powerful reservoir of ancestral information and energy, it links to one's ancestry both in physical and in spiritual terms.
As such, this is a powerful vessel to use when we feel we have lost touch with our authentic Self, if we feel we don't know who we are anymore, or why we are here. The Chong can assist us if we feel life 'happened to us' and we are burdened by a sense of injustice and find ourself questioning the meaning of our life.
It is also a vital vessel when working with conditions that have been passed down through generations, birth trauma, inter-generational trauma and any experience that has affected our sense of Self.
Working with the Chong can help us to treat certain physical or emotional symptoms, but in doing so it also helps us to reconnect, find peace, return to a sense of harmony we may have forgotten. It also helps us to source the strength we need in order to move on, and transform what has dragged us down thus far.
It helps us to find our own answers and return to our sense of Self.
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