…the lecture today will be on, uh, I think a very relevant topic about anxiety, and there is a lot of misconception that links, anxiety and fear, and in Chinese medicine, and we’ll say fear, we’ll link it with the kidney in the essence of the kidney
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Hello everybody. And welcome. I would like first of all, to thank the American Acupuncture Council for, uh, putting up this lecture and, uh, arranging everything around it. So thank you very much. Uh, the lecture today will be on, uh, I think a very relevant topic about anxiety, and there is a lot of misconception that links, anxiety and fear, and in Chinese medicine, and we’ll say fear, we’ll link it with the kidney in the essence of the kidney, but as you will see, anxiety is actually in some cases may be related to kidneys, but in most cases it is not. So I will start with some slides now, so we’ll follow my lecture. Um, so the lecture, as I say, it will be also based on the clinical and clinical experience, because I always like to teach from the clinic from the clinic and from the thing, the most important information we gather from patients.
And we see actually the effectiveness of our daily acupuncture when we are in the clinic. Next slide, the prevalence of anxiety is actually quite wide. I mean, according to the American psychiatric association, they’ll say 10% of people are affected by anxiety disorder, but really 30%. And I think more will experience it in the life. If you ask me now, after Corolla should be updated thing, then the numbers are much higher and it’s twice often women than men. And it makes sense. I think women just, the more sensitive in men are better in maybe negating or not allowing their emotions to out in America. They’ll say it’s about 40 million people suffering from anxiety disorders and it’s the most common mental illness. So, so it’s a kind of major issue. Next slide please.
And, uh, if you look at the, the way it is described, so anxiety refers to anticipation of future concerns. So there is some concern about something bad that will happen. Actually it can be many things is when you unfold the case in the clinic, it can be a very vague thing, or it can be very real in sometimes very surprising and it may create this avoidance behavior. So people will not do something like they’re afraid to drive the car because there is some fear related to losing control in the car or that something will happen in the car. I have very strange cases like people will drive in the car, but not in bridges or not to pass tracks. Usually it relates to something that we will see later on as a, as a kind of trauma-based things. It, but fear is very different. Fear is in emotional response to some real threat, immediate threat it’s more associated in, in Western medicine was the flight and fright reaction that the body chooses. The sympathetic SIM system becomes very active and it’s either fight or try to escape from danger. Next slide.
So when we look at the pathology, we see the things, it is not the same as fear. And, uh, this one is real and this one is a bit unreal and it’s always something, you anticipate something in the future. And when we look at the symptoms, you will see, it’s not really kidney symptoms that you see in the clinic, which if anxiety will be fear, it’s much more the palpitations, the chest pain, chest oppression. I think almost 50% of people who got come to emergency room with like a threatened heart attack, or they think they have heart attack. It’s actually panic disorder or anxiety disorders. So it’s a very common that all the symptoms more relate to the fire into the heart next line. So you see it’s not the kidneys and, uh, if we can look for the next line. So, um, one of the things that anxiety very much refers to is this kind of, uh, um, being rooted in some trauma, in some memory and, uh, this memory that’s the interesting part can be a root of the memory can be known, can relate to a certain situation, but even more interesting.
It can be unknown next time when it is known, it’s very well, I won’t say easier to treat, but like we use different strategy and, uh, it can be, you know, death, it can be an accident. It can be any event, you know, events in the army like, uh, uh, PTSD. Then usually I, I feel that it’s good to combine acupuncture with some other strategy, with some other kind of behavior modifications like a behavior, psychology, MDR, be a feedback. So when you can pinpoint to is some very specific event, like if somebody got stuck in an elevator for a long time, now he’s afraid to go through an elevator is and anxiety and panic attacks about it. Then maybe, you know, it can be, the acupuncture will be amazing and creating a change, but maybe we’ll need another intervention. It’s more interesting when we go to the unknown area, when there is no real reference, uh, to the, the beginning of this anxiety attack.
And then also it can be prenatal or postnatal next slide. And this differentiation of postnatal and prenatal is, is also important in the clinic. I find it many times the postnatal, uh, if the root is already in the postnatal life, we’ll see more of this heart symptoms, palpitations, arrhythmias, chest oppression, different things around the heart. And even people will be concerned that they have something wrong with the heart. When it’s a prenatal, obviously there is no memory and it will relate to some issue maybe that starts very already at the pregnancy time and maybe even earlier, but I mean, it, some things are running in the family. I can good example if the mother, especially the mother, because the mother and the fetus are very connected through their PO. If the mother has anxiety, she can pass it to the child. Obviously, if there was some traumatic event to the mother and I’ve had many cases that I’ve seen that I can route to, sometimes during pregnancy, like the mother went through an accident or the mother, I know different cases where the mother wanted to do an abortion and then regret it.
So in a way it was traumatic to the child. So then there’ll be a certain anxiety and uncertainty issues around death. And that’s whenever there’ll be, I know a patient of mine, if there’d be some death in the movie, you will go into this anxiety attack. So the prenatal roots are very interesting to watch. And then the symptoms also may shift. You will see more like to do also with breathing difficulty, waking up with difficult breathing, being afraid. There’ll be not enough oxygen, uh, eh, even claustrophobia, strange dreams, fear of losing control. You’ll see a lot of different, weird symptoms, which are initiating the anxiety or coming with the anxiety next slide. So it will be very different, uh, when the root is known or unknown. And also to me, the treatment will be different. And I’ll, I’ll talk a little bit about treatment also of unknown roots.
Exactly. I think it can be really, uh, kind of, uh, beginning of, or the root of many symptoms in the clinic. And this is also symptoms you will find when you look at what symptoms anxiety can provoke. So it can be neurological, digestive, respiratory cardiac, muscular. So you have patients actually coming to you with a chronic fatigue syndrome is fibromyalgia was different abdominal, the disturbances, but actually it is anxiety. And you may treat for a long time, the physical symptoms with very little success. And till you change the strategy and the focus of treatment on the anxiety and the root of the anxiety, and then suddenly all the symptoms will disappear. All will get better. Next slide. So this is very common to me to kind of shift my attention from a physical cause to something which is deeper to a real root of disease, which is deeper.
Let’s go through a simple, not simple like case from the clinic. And then I can explain, um, it’s a patient 29 years old is quite a quiet person. Uh, first I introduced him a little bit, like what I see in the clinic. Um, he kind of, kind of rude himself is very shy and, uh, but it can be also engaging. I mean, if you talk with him, he will look at you. So pat is timid, shy, quiet. He will not initiate a discussion. And when you look in his eyes and maybe you can also see through this, there is something a bit lost and a bit sad and a bit lacking there. Next slide. So, uh, this is like, what do you see in the clinic and how the anxiety manifested in him? Uh, any, when you say since the day I remember myself, I have anxiety and anxiety attacks.
I was very shy as a child and almost not seen in this is something also interesting, like this feeling of not being seen by friends. Although he, he, you know, it looks good is very active, but he always, this has stayed. You know, one of the deepest thing that I can say about myself, I always feel alone. Even that he’s surrounded with people, uh, he has this feeling of being alone and he’s when he is with people, easily feels offended and gets insulted, especially in the group, you know, things that maybe people don’t like him or say something about him and he will immediately withdrawn next slide. So this is like very shy and inward person. And if I asked him about the sentence for the anxiety, he says, I have this tension in the upper part of the abdomen around rent 15 and a, and it says like, when I get this kind of anxiety attack or anxiety feeling, I feel everything is going up to the head very often lately I will have insomnia, especially during time that there is more anxiety and this tendency for short breasts let’s time.
So, uh, you can see that there’s like many symptoms and his, his life is very much kind of the quality of life is extremely reduced. My oldest feelings. So I asked him also what makes him better? That’s a very key question to ask people. And a lot of time we’ll give you actually an insight of, um, both the root of the disease, but also for the path of healing. It’s a very simple question. Uh, but sometimes actually the most important. So he says when I feel loved, which was a very surprising, you know, because it was very honest and, uh, you know, titled as patients, you almost feel like you want to hug him suddenly, you know, cause it’s like bringing this honest pain, but also this there’s something about him and not being seen in any meaning law, which is also very much calling for lab to, to ask.
It’s almost the path of the diagnosis. And he says, when I have a new relationship with when he is in relationship with somebody that he loves and feels connected to enclose, there’s less anxiety and then asked him what it is related to. And I find questions that are one of the most important part in really understanding a case, the answers to two good questions, a good, they can be very simple, are extremely revealing. So he says it’s connected to a fear very kind of deep and morphic theory says the feel of being alone, the kind of feeling of being alone gain related to some kind of, you know, it’s not a fear from something, but it has this kind of being alone and this kind of being lost in this being alone as a key, a feature in his internal life, next slide. So you can see that, that he’s very, um, Inwood person, but in the same times is seeking and yawning for, for, for this love and connection.
And I say, when did it start this kind of fear in itself, it started at a very early age. So probably the root is prenatal, as you will see later, asked him if he in yet other fears, he says, don’t not really fierce, but difficulty in relationship, difficulty in start relationship in intimacy. And, um, it says it doesn’t stay long in relationship and he doesn’t understand why, like you said, only feel close, even if the relationship are good for him. So again, it’s a kind of already hinting as towards something deeper, which is the root of the anxiety, next slide. So, uh, the pals and the tank, so the pulse was on the heart and pericardium, uh, some will call it kidney and very deep and weak. So basically I put it. There’s no fire. The fire pulse is very weak. There’s no fire there.
The tongue is normal. Next slide. So you can see that the gain, another issue, uh, we’ll go now to the diagnosis. Next slide. So the diagnosis in general, there is a weakness and it’s important to see access or weaknesses, always the beginning of diagnosis. And there’s a weak fire, weak meekness, 12 fire, some weakness in the kidney. And I put it as a general tendency feeling of not protected because the treatment will reflect the diagnosis, the treatments we want to bring back this ability to feel more protected, next slide. And, um, so again, and when we look at the diagnosis, so you can see this shyness, this ministerial fire pericarp fire, which very much relates to relationship is very weak and very weak Shan and eyes. And if that is kind of a bit lost as Shen is a bit weak, next slide. So you seek instance deficiency overall of firing and weakness.
Uh, since it’s a day, he remembers itself is a prenatal and this feeling of not seeing again, this points to this week fire. So we want to strengthen tonify this fire in a very deep way into treated this prenatal root of this weakness. And as this easily feel offended, it’s another part of CARICOM and it’s a drain. So it’s a pericardial lever. A lot of time can relate to is next time, next time. So, uh, also the symptoms, you know, very much the divergent channel and divergent channels are a lot of times keen treating anxiety as the divergent channel of the pericarp relates to this area and goes up to the head. So it explains this kind of feeling that he has an insomnia shortness of breath, again, relates to the pericardia, this tightness in the chest and this lack of Dwayne stagnation, next slide. So, um, and again is relates to love relationship. So, um, I it’s very clear like where the case is going to end if this weakness of pedicab, but also relate to the gene level next line.
So this, um, prenatal root is one of the key routes that we want to address here. And we want, that’s where I find it, that the kind of usual acupuncture and send the straight forward, doesn’t bring this deep transformation effect unless we go to some kind of a different usage of acupuncture and next slide. So, um, and the pulse on the tongue, again, re reflect the same thing. So next slide, and we can finalize the diagnosis that there’s this fire, especially pericardial, uh, weakness, and some DJing and kidney essence weakness. Next slide. So the treatment I, I, I used for him was sometimes pericardium, which I will not discussing in this lecture, but it’s the fire of the pericarp very interesting point. And I’ll lose it just on its own, just to one point treatment. And one point needling sometimes create very dramatic effect. And then it was very cut one and do 11, which I want to discuss next time.
Um, this is a picture of the DOMA. It’s part of a project that I’m doing with two colleagues, bottles, Kaminski from Poland, then Rania ya’ll from Israel and took together with the painter from Poland and Matina Yankee. And so we kind of paint and portray them Perigon in a various more special way, but basically in this project, looking deeper into the effect of, by the effect of points and the mechanism and the names of points. So do 11 Shen doubts, look at the name, they do it the way of the Shen, the Dow of the Shan, next slide. So here you can see the picture, uh, from our, uh, book, which will be hopefully ready in a year. You’re already working seven years on itself. I’m still optimistic, but it takes long. We already went through all the points twice and we’ll need more time to finalize it all.
So first of all, this point is located on the level of their heart. And you can see here this, this kind of this pathway, this path of the Shen next slide and the path of the Shen is this path, uh, that, uh, the, the road, which the emperor used to travel in the, to the Imperial too. So it means it’s like to go to this ancestral energy. And when we talk about prenatal, uh, effects, we’re talking about really, uh, ancestral or, or things that are passing in the lineage. And I find in the clinic that many strange symptoms can be related to lineage to, to the parents and to the whole lineage. And then that’s why the patient cannot understand the root, or why has this symptoms? So this point is a very special name. Next slide. This Shen down this way to the clear way of the Dow.
And this is the way the emperor used to go to this ancestral through tubes and all the, the points by two on the upper chest and upper back, uh, relate to this dynamic of the gene, going up to the heart to be transformed into shape, to this deep transformation of water and fire. So if you look at the location of the point, it’s on the level of his bladder, 15, which relates to the heart and bladder 44 also, which relates to the heart. So the location also explain us the dynamic of this deep changes of the heart. Next slide.
So we can use this points to establish this back communication with self, the established, a communication with your own downs, your own inner path, which is special for you, you know, which is special for the patient, which is dependent very much on his individuality he’s authenticity, which I can say, like the background noise of sometimes ancestral noise, different traumas are just taking the person of his own path of his own authentic feeling and path. And when person is connected to this place, then the Shen comes out and then nothing really can disturb you. And this point can be used for anxiety distinction for, uh, for flight and next slide for timidity, and also for shortness of breath. The other point, which is interesting is card one, just use it today. Actually in yesterday, it’s called celestial pool and you see this beautiful drawing that we are a painting.
It’s a drawing of this pericarp channel. And this point is on the pericarp. You can see it’s quite high, it’s on the mountain. So it’s on the chest area, you know, just by the nipple next slide. And the name celestial pool is very special. Next slide it’s to do with this place of, uh, the pre heaven and post heaven meeting, meaning of, of really the root of life, which is heavenly. At this point, there is internal trajectory which are connected to rent 17. So it’s also very good to a lot of chest oppressions and, but even eye disorders. I mean, it’s part of the windows of heaven and windows of heaven are very much related to, um, the divergent meridians, which are balanced deep balancing our emotional life, that the Virgin Meridian, the extremely important in treating emotions and especially deep rooted emotional problems and emotional conflict, it’s also meeting point was liver and gallbladder. So when you see things more related, uh, on the, on the drain level, this point again, has another treated actually was this point, the person who is a glacier who has difficulty of swallowing, uh, next slide.
So, uh, as I said, its name is very special. Heavenly pawn is a place of, of this connection. This is this ascend, early pond is, you know, in all the places and all the classic life are starting from water from this essential poem, which everything is timing for next line. So just to kind of finish up this short lecture. So in his case, it is it, is it fear? No, it is more this weakness of this weakness of fire, this deep deed for love and being in and feeling loved and feeling protected, which is, that’s why the CARICOM is sometimes translated as the heart protector. So there is this weakness of also wood and water, which is not supporting the fire, but the fire is the core in his case next line. And using this kind of points really create a transformation. If you’re interested to hear more about kind of how to use transformation points, I put a whole series actually, during COVID about the different, eh, anxiety disorders. I call it creating the cloud series because it’s to do with anxiety and depression and other, uh, more emotional rooted and understanding better the emotions. And now we can treat them with acupuncture next line.
So as a final note, you know, I it’s, I, I call it by the way, clearing the cloud, because sometimes when you use this, especially windows of heaven point, it’s like you open the window. It’s like the, the image is like, you know, suddenly there is light in the room, or if you walk during the day and there is clouds and suddenly they’re clear and the sky is open. So the whole internal feeling is changing. And to me, the most magical part of acupuncture is this ability to transform, to touch heaven in the patient. And to me, having in the patient is, is a very real thing. It’s the real deep inspiration of being connected to something which is greater than, than you. It’s difficult to put it in words, but it’s a very known feeling when you feel in a place when your heart is at peace, when you feel connected, it’s then it’s when you’re alleviating suffering and clearing this clouds and allowing this real deep healing and change. So next time. So, um, I hope it was helpful for you. And, uh, thank you all for joining, joining in, and thanks again, the American Acupuncture Council for providing this show. Be healthy, feel well. And from Shanta Shan, thank you so much and all the best.