raditional Chinese Medicine Academic Exchange

On 3 June 2008, the traditional chinese medicine academic exchange was held in TCM center. There were about 30 medial and other retired experts who come from Israel,Australia and other countries visited TCM center Guilin and attended the symposium.

The academic exchange showed the traditional Chinese medicine and natural therapy for health care.The symposium lasted for 4 days. 3 days for academic exchange and one day for land of longevity in Guilin.

The arrangement as follows:
Day 1, Morning: study TCM theory, such as yin and yang, four diagnosis, natural therapy such as acupuncture,cupping and so on.

Afternoon: enjoy the foot massage and experience acupuncture and qigong. View the taiji show.

traditional chinese medicine academic exchange, chinese medicine,natural therapy,diabetes,health

Day 2, study the lecture gave by a famous Chinese medicine expert Dr Mo on chinese medicine.

Day 3, discuss how the chinese medicine and other natural therapy for treating some chronic diseases successfully and keeping health.

For example:
Diabetes is a disorder of metabolism the way our bodies use digested food for energy. Most of the food we eat is broken down into glucose, the form of sugar in the blood. Glucose is the body main source of fuel.

After digestion, glucose enters the bloodstream. Then glucose goes to cells throughout the body where it is used for energy. However, a hormone called insulin must be present to allow glucose to enter the cells. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas, a large gland behind the stomach.

In people who do not have diabetes, the pancreas automatically produces the right amount of insulin to move glucose from blood into the cells. However, diabetes develops when the pancreas does not make enough insulin, or the cells in the muscles, liver, and fat do not use insulin properly, or both. As a result, the amount of glucose in the blood increases while the cells are starved of energy.

According to chinese medicine,the diabetes also called "Xiaoke".The weak between the five organs is one of the most important factor to cause xiaoke.Besides,the imbalance between diet,the irregulation between the emotion and mind are one of the factors.Therefore,diabetes was caused by the yin deficiency,imbalance between diet,irregulation between the emotion and mind and overtired.

The symptoms of the diabetes are Unrelenting hunger,Thirst,Polyuria,Weight loss and so on.

The western medicine can control and lower the blood sugar in a short time.While the chinese medicine not only can prevent the complications of diabetes,improve and lower the blood sugar,but also can get rid of disease completely and effect a permanent cure.

In our center,we use traditional chinese natural therapy such as acupuncture,reflexology,cupping,herbal medication and so on.

The therapy can help the diabetics to lower the blood sugar effectively,improve the kidney function and immunity.And cure diabetes essentially.They are natural,no chemical ingredient,no side effect.

traditional chinese medicine academic exchange, chinese medicine,natural therapy,diabetes,health

Day 4,visit the land of longevity in Yao Autonomous County of Baman,Yongfu county,Guilin.

The Yao Autonomous County of Bama is world-famous for the longevity of its people; many are drawn there, fascinated, to have a look at these old folks.

According to national census data, in 1956 Bama had 15 centenarians; there were 18 in 1958, 50 in 1979, 72 in 1990, and 74 in 2004. The international standard for a "land of longevity" is that there should be at least seven healthy centenarians per 100,000 population; in the Yao Autonomous County of Bama there are 74 in a population of 240,000, making an average 30.8 per 100,000 -- nearly four and a half times the international standard.Huang Buxin, 108 years old in 2005, had rosy cheeks and was hale and hearty. He showed us how he had lived to a ripe old age through his own toil. Rising every morning at six, he went to the fields to pick vegetables.

traditional chinese medicine academic exchange, chinese medicine,herbal tea,natural therapy,diabetes,health
The path from his home to the vegetable plot was wet, slippery and muddy, but he walked steadily across the earth bank and down slopes. On the way home he would wash the vegetables in the river. The steps on the fiver embankment were steep -- over three meters high -- and had no railings. But that did not deter Huang, who walked with strong and steady steps. After eating breakfast at seven, Huang started his dailyphysical labor. We saw him carrying a bucket of water, about ten kilograms, walking steadily. You would never imagine this man was 108 years old.

The symposium was very successful. The medical experts was satisfactory with the arrangement we arrangement for them.

Traditional Chinese Massage (Tui Na) And Exercise Therapy (Qi Gong)

Traditional Chinese massage (Tui Na) and exercise therapy (Qi Gong) are part of a medical system developed over thousands of years (acupuncture and herbal medicine are the other therapies within that system). The aim of these treatments is to improve health by adjusting the flow and balance of the energy within the body.

With traditional Chinese massage this is achieved by gently massaging along specific energy channels and applying pressure to certain points. This massage is usually carried out through your normal clothing. However, muscle tension can also be relieved through gentle stretches and by massaging tense areas with oils.

Traditional Chinese exercise therapy involves performing gentle movements to activate the energy in the channels. For clients that are interested I can draw up a daily programme which would reinforce the massage treatment.

These techniques can be very effective in the treatment of a wide range of both physical and emotional conditions, and to improve general health even if no specific condition is present. They can also help with weight loss (combined with dietary changes), and the recovery from illness or injuries - they are often particularly effective in the treatment of sports injuries.

VITAL SIGNS: OUTCOMES; Acupuncture and Neck Pain

By. JOHN O'NEIL

Acupuncture may have lasting benefits for neck pain, the authors of a new study say.

The study found that people who received acupuncture had less pain three years later than people with similar pain who received a dummy treatment.

Acupuncture has become widely used in the United States and Europe as well as in Asia, though research on its effectiveness for different conditions is mixed. One problem is how to create the equivalent of placebo pills for a treatment that involves sticking needles into patients.

For the new study, published in the June issue of the journal Pain, researchers from the University of Oslo in Norway developed a technique for a sham treatment. Twelve female office workers with chronic neck and shoulder pain received 10 sessions of standard acupuncture and acupressure techniques; another 12 workers had the needles placed in spots a few millimeters away from the points used in a standard treatment.

The intensity of pain reported by the real acupuncture group fell by 70 percent over the course of treatment, and three years later remained at about half the pretreatment level. The pain reported by those in the sham treatment group dipped slightly during treatment, but crept back up afterward; they were in more pain three years later than before the experiment began.

The treatment group also reported a bigger and more lasting drop in headaches.

Exploring Integrative Massage Therapy

By. by Asaf Rolef Ben-Shahar


Integrative Massage Therapy Outlined

Integrative Massage Therapy (IMT) combines bodywork, conscious psychotherapeutic work, unconscious and spiritual levels together. IMT offers you a safe place to explore what it means to be you, and to allow you to express life more fully in yourself - physically and emotionally, sexually, intellectually and spiritually. You are given support, facilitation and guidance to explore deeper levels of being.

Since IMT is personally tailored for each person, every session is different. Various skills and techniques might be used in the sessions, from body rhythms, touch and massage, through trancework and shamanic journeys, storytelling or healing, to reflective listening or playing. Clients are given a chance to observe patterns and discover new choices in a respectful and supporting way. Some sessions may involve only touch, others only hypnotherapy. However, the therapeutic space is a joint journey, and the client is an active agent in the process, not a passive recipient.



Working with TMJ to unlock holding patters in jaw and combining it with trancework

IMT draws knowledge and experience from different modalities, including massage techniques and Reichian bodywork, neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and hypnotherapy, psychotherapeutic skills and stress management, movement, shamanic work and meridian therapies.

I believe that touch is a basic, fundamental need. We all need to touch and be touched. In IMT sessions, I try to use all the resources I have - from within me and from without - to supply you with all the warmth and love I can give you. Together, we create a bond, from which healing is naturally flowing. This bond is the essence of IMT practice. I am reaching out to touch your innermost needs for touch; I am touching your baby. This space of congruent 'I and thou' is what I aim for. From there, the story will blossom without help. All the rest is secondary.

Although the media throughout which IMT is carried are touch and body, in a way IMT is closer to neuro-linguistic-psychotherapy (NLPt) and Ericksonian hypnotherapy, than it is to body-psychotherapy and bodywork approaches. Like NLPt and hypnotherapy, the IMT practitioner joins the client's model of the world - realizing that each person perceives the world differently and constructs a unique and valid reality. Joining the client's reality means using the client's own model of reality to facilitate more life, rather than forcing theories upon him or her. In itself, IMT is (as much as possible) empty from theories, and the theoretical and practical input is chosen ad hoc to best suit the client's reality. However, IMT adds to hypnotherapy and NLPt the body contact and body-psychotherapy, which bring the body into the equation of transformation; but even more important - touch enhances the therapeutic alliance; the human connectedness grows through touch.

Touch solidifies the I-thou connection, like a strong, beautiful kite. Your two legs are strongly touching the ground and the string is firm and long. You can fly your kite so high that you can explore amazing realms of being, expanding your choices. You can do that because you are firmly held to the ground, because you can come back, because you are allowed to fall. Touch grounds you and strengthens the string; touch invites the earth element in.

Therapy is a ritual, and the different modalities of therapy are different myths. The therapist holds her clients, grounding them to free their energies, so their fantasies would transcend beyond what is known to be possible. In IMT, the grounding is the therapeutic relationship, aided by the therapeutic touch. Together, we warm our hands by the fire, and as you are held the story tells itself; a myth is being created. All the rest are techniques, applied mythologies.

This article tells the story of the myths behind IMT.
By the Fire - Therapeutic Mythology

In a damp cave and starless night, some woods are lit and the flames of the fire dance. The storyteller sits somewhere in the circle, and a few people join her, watch the fire and listen. The storyteller enchants her listeners; she holds her crowd. The food and fire ground them to earth, the water allows movement. With her mythologies, they are sent to fly, to dream, to fantasize and find their own answers. When the story is finished they slowly get back; some fell asleep and others are tired. They will all change. Hopefully, they will own their changes, but thank the storyteller. The story was the myth of transition, and they understood it in the best way possible for them.

Now, different storytellers tell different stories. Some move dramatically, and their voices are threatening; others lull their listeners to altered states of consciousness; yet others interact with their crowd. Some storytellers only listen inventively. At times the story will touch the core of your being, shifting everything about you.

At other times a sentence will move something in you; and at times you will remain indifferent. When is a story good? How do you know which fire to join?

There are thousands of different models of therapy or healing, and they all work with some success with some but limited with other people. To date, nobody has found the model that will be all encompassing, that will fit all the problems, all the people. How could it be? Can it be that 'the theory' or 'the therapy' hasn't been found just yet? I think not. We are theory proof creatures; no single system will ever explain us fully. We are non-linear and multi-parallel beings, and we respond to different models of reality (different myths) inasmuch as they appeal to our whole being, inasmuch as they make sense to us - at the moment.[1]

Let me give you a simple example, by examining migraine headaches under different therapeutic models. Migraines can be a circulation or nervous system problem, and can be eased with medication.[2] They can stem from cervical muscular tension or orbital strain, which can be relieved with massage, stretching or aromatherapy.[3] Migraines may be the result of chronic holding patterns (or armouring), manifesting an inability to express longing, in which case relearning healthy body patterns and emotional discharge might be applied in the form of body-psychotherapy, physical manipulation, psychotherapy or even imagery techniques.[4] Migraines can be psychosomatic responses to trauma, guilt, fear, anger or depression and can be helped with relaxation or stress-management techniques, through dealing with the core problem or symptomatically;[5] they can be solved using uncovering hypnotic techniques or submodalities change (NLP) or by gaining conscious insight to their reason.

Migraines can be allergic responses and might be helped with nutritional change and immune system strengthening.[5] They can be manifestations of 6th or 7th chakra blockages or energetic disturbances and can be substantially eased with energy work and chakra alignment.[6] Migraines can stem from pressure on the spinal nerves and be taken care of by hard-tissue manipulation.[5] They may even be a result of past life trauma kept in the body, and relieved with past life regression.[7] Enough? There are so many models, under so many doctrines - and they are all helpful at times and limited at others.

Although IMT uses many practical and theoretical models, it offers no new understanding about how we work, how body, mind and spirit interact or how energy is used. All we do is create a therapeutic bond, and wait. The therapist will metaphorically find a sheltered space and arrange the fire and the food; he or she will watch the person sit and invite the story to come. And the storyteller will let the story of the client tell itself.

In IMT, the therapist joins her client's reality - by accepting the local mythology - and together we look for a better structure, a creative way for the story to expand. IMT can therefore be goal oriented, process oriented or both; short term or long term; difficult (no pain no gain), fun (enjoying growth) or both. Sometimes the therapeutic framework is very ordered (weekly or fortnightly sessions) and at other times the clients come when they need to. The question I ask myself as a therapist is what would be the most elegant, most ecological and lasting way of promoting expansion of life. Then, I try to follow what the client and my heart were answering. At times the IMT practitioner would be provocative, intensively intervening and challenging; at other times the therapist would be accepting and reflecting, bringing little personal input.
The Story Tells Itself

When I was preparing this article, my space was restless. Ideas, feelings, thoughts and bodily sensations kept pulsating strongly in me, and sometimes it was just too much to handle. How can I contain it all? It takes some time to tolerate high levels of excitation, of life energy, and my wife's support was to hold me as I pulsated. A few nights ago, just before falling asleep, I told my wife, "You know, sometimes I think that at the end of the day all the techniques, interventions and theories I work with are façades; it's just the fact that I love my clients that gives them permission to transform." "Of course," she said, "but you cannot just sit there and love them for an hour, you need to put it in a context, to realize it."

John Grinder, co-founder of neuro-linguistic programming, has claimed that all psychotherapies are rituals, aiming to bring congruency between therapist and client about what they are doing. The rest is relatively insignificant.[8]

And indeed, while the context of IMT sessions constantly changes - from soothing massage or deep tissue work, through cathartic emotional discharge to past life explorations (and usually combinations of these and more) - the I-thou contact is the thing that stays solid; a focal point in the therapeutic space. Here I am, for you, willingly giving you love, so you can find your own way to grow.

A little girl walks on a fence, reaching out to hold my hand so she could walk fearlessly; a baby is securely embraced in the womb; a young man is permitted to collapse; an old lady talks about her sexuality. Love is an explicit invitation to live; come - let the springs of your expanding being flow.

IMT explores the patterns and context of a person (and of a problem) and, through trusting the unconscious processes, experience and constant trial and error we find the best story (the most efficient myth) to tell. A typical matrix of a problem is usually quite complex, and to choose consciously the best therapeutic modalities is extremely complicated and confusing, so I don't. In practice, all that is needed is trust (in love, in unconscious processes, in god). When there is love, when the client and therapist are both willing to trust the client's own resources for change - the choices will be made effortlessly. It takes courage to accept the dynamic energetic movement, to surrender to the life principle.

When the client gets to taste how sweet life is, the thriving part of her will become hungry, and the therapist need do nothing but hold the client's hand as she follows her nose into life.
Can It Be Your Story?

IMT is most effective when working with a systemic problem. Of course, the bodywork aspects of IMT can be helpful for plenty of physiological and psychosomatic problems. The hypnotherapy and neuro-linguistic psychotherapy aspects of IMT can aid with emotional or psychological, as well as strategic difficulties. People seek help for chronic pains and chronic disease, for migraines and skin diseases, for phobias and habit control. However, IMT is probably most influential in cases where one system of explanation (one story) is just too narrow. I found IMT mostly helpful to sufferers from depression and sexual difficulties, distorted self-image and body image, to people with eating disorders and people with a history of abuse. Those are usually generic and more life-encompassing problems, requiring a non-specific approach more than a firmly conceptualized theory and practice. In helping these people, IMT can be revealed with its full transformational power.

But IMT can also be an interesting therapeutic journey for people who didn't suffer unbearable childhood traumas. If you are looking to live more fully, in your mind, body and spirit, the journey of IMT might be for you. If you find your beliefs and values limiting and compounding difficulties in your life, IMT might help you. If, for whatever reason, you don't express life as fully as possible - intellectually and emotionally, physiologically and sexually, spiritually and practically - in relationships or at work, the journey of IMT might be an interesting exploration for you.

If you are willing to explore your life stories, to own them and to dare to transcend them to create new enchanting ones, you will surely benefit from IMT.
Taming Wild Horses: A Case Study

Eric, an extremely successful and creative man in his mid-thirties, sought help for his reoccurring panic and anxiety attacks. He had an incredible amount of creative energy, and just as much fear in him. For many years, Eric visited in his mind places of horror, shame and fear that had cumulated to a pivotal moment. One day everything climaxed: where excessive lifestyle, immensely paralysing panic attack, paranoia and sadness all peaked at the same time. From that moment, five years ago, and onwards Eric fought and succeeded to change his life and lead himself into a healthier, happier self. And yet, these extreme mood swings and fears haven't ceased.

I have seen Eric for seven sessions spread over ten weeks.

Eric has sporadically suffered from these paranoid anxiety attacks for over twenty years, manifesting in palpitations and frightening thoughts, terrible nightmares and a feeling of doom. What people said, did or thought had an immense effect on how he felt, on the way Eric perceived himself. While his daily life was that of success, prosperity and liveliness, his fears and dreams carried an apocalyptic nature of doom, murderous suffering and lucid reality. He would wake up from these nightmares tragically sad.

Eric didn't need any help with conscious understanding of his situation; he was perfectly capable of analysing his problems on a cognitive level. All the same he was hiding in his body, breathing shallowly and smiling very little; his eyes kept moving, as if looking for something, or aspiring to a safe place. His body was collapsed and controlled.

Because of the intensity of his feelings, Eric became afraid of them. His decision-making was very dry and clinical, and he wanted more than that. Finding himself increasingly in the media spotlight heightened his anxiety and sensitivity. This catalysed his questioning not only his career choice but also his fundamental role in society. Eric started dating a new girlfriend, and these fears prevented him from fully being himself with her. "These fears," he said, "are lowering my energy flow, and when I get this energy flowing I'm unstoppable, I'm disciplined and creative." And he needed these energies, because he is a writer; he needed them because they could change his life, because he wanted to be with his girlfriend and at the same time be free of anxiety.

When we triggered, through touch and hypnosis, the future feeling of aliveness and flow, of pulsating energy and containment, Eric was bewildered. It tapped exactly into the unstoppable sources of energy in him; the roaring herd of his wild horses are all his.

With his vivid imagination, Eric created a safe place, and this peaceful house on a hill, with a young woman whispering to him, "Don't worry, it's all so insignificant", was a place he came back to many times, consciously and unconsciously, intentionally and unintentionally. His virtuous imagination was, this time, harnessed to help him.

Through regression work we explored Eric's nightmares and fears, stemming from being abandoned and secluded as a child, and from a chain of a few traumatic, claustrophobic incidents at a very young age. We have relived the horrific panic attacks from a distant place, changing elements (submodalities), and sequences (strategies), and bringing the little frightened boy into his own safe place. Eric has integrated the little boy with the man he was. Not surprisingly one of his dreams is to set up a charity for young children. When Eric tasted his ideal safe place, when he experienced it in his body and mind, I knew that a pulling motion was created and the movement towards life began. All it needed now was taming, direction and facilitation.

Together we cleared fear from his body, loosening the intercostal muscles (between the ribs) and creating pressure - Eric's breath expanded and released. Together with breathing fully, emotions surfaced and were expressed - sadness and anxiety, years of frustration and exhaustion, fears. With support, Eric's body was softly sinking into an infant space of being nurtured and growing healthier, of asking for help, receiving it and taking it in.

Gradually Eric's fears decreased, he learned to contain them more. Noticing when an anxiety is approaching,Eric could stop it in the earlier stages. His image was one of taming horses, gathering them into a safe place. It was a process, and Eric wasn't still perfectly grounded in his ability to do that, but as time went by he became better; learning to be the master of his mind and a leader of his herd is a lifelong journey.

In the process of working together Eric experienced extreme panic attacks, but surprisingly emerged out of them much quicker than he ever did before; he survived. Together with balancing his fears, Eric became clearer about his vocation, and started thinking of changing his financially rewarding job into something that would satisfy the whole of him.

To enable these structural changes, and deepen his freedom from anxiety, I've guided Eric to embark upon a journey into the depths of his soul. Guided by a panther, his totem animal, and with expanding energies in his stomach, Eric visited his soul. A fearful boy was handed the gift of panther eyes, so no boy would dare pick on him again; his legs sprouted firm roots into the earth, as Eric grew stronger. The boy was no longer afraid. In a magical pond, a golden coin waited for him to fly and sparkle it down to earth, bringing change unto his soul-land.

Eric learned to integrate these virtues: his feet got bigger, sending roots deeper; his eyes were the eyes of a fearless, wise panther, his child and adult one at the core. Eric's life calling henceforward pulsated stronger; life was calling for him to take it.

Deep tissue massage was implanting the structural changes in Eric's body. The toxicity and fear were disappearing from the muscles as his chest expanded. Eric's energy was the flowing energy of water, the beaming energy of fire, and he needed containing. I gave Eric the touch of earth to nurture the water and contain it, and to create a holding place for the fire. I gave Eric the touch of air to enrich the water and allow movement, to feed and stabilize the fire. Eric's relationship with his girlfriend deepened; his ability to contain his fears grew. His thoughts were his, and as Eric learned to ground himself a deeper, yet more profound change, was taking place inside.

The time came for Eric to start to expand the circle of his actions. His self-hypnosis practice was very helpful, and he started balancing beyond deficiency, towards growth. Deep trance carried Eric further into his dreams, into his fantasy - into his parallel universe. Deep bodywork carried Eric further into himself, into realizing his abilities, into growing.

Eric went on holiday with his girlfriend, and although there were anxiety-provoking experiences, he stayed calm. "These panicking thoughts," he said, "are no longer dominating my life." Eric started to shift his energies into doing what he really wanted; he got back to writing; he plans for the future. The integration journey we took was done with touch and trance, and Eric travelled into a place of solidity and calmness, whereupon rested the freedom to define himself as he wished. A wise person gave him the gift of water and Eric was allowed a glimpse into his future. Yet another mountain is to be climbed, another scenery to be seen. This time, Eric can take his map and walking stick, his panther and compass; on these future journeys, Eric doesn't need me any more.
References

1. Rolef Ben-Shahar A. A Myth of Transition. Anchor Point. 15(9): 3-13. 2001.
2. Youngson RM. The Royal Society of Medicine Health Encyclopedia. Bloomsbury. London. pp350-51. 2000.
3. Davis P. Aromatherapy, An A-Z. CW Daniel. Saffron Walden. pp202-03. 1999.
4. Lowen A. Bioenergetics. Penguin Arkana. New York. pp298-303. 1975.
5. Greener M. The Which? Guide to Managing Stress. Which? Books. London. pp104-09. 1996.
6. Judith A. Eastern Body, Western Mind: Psychology and the Chakra System. Celestial Arts Publishing. California. pp353,407. 1996.
7. Weiss B. Through Time into Healing. Piatkus. London. pp60-61,66-68. 1992.
8. Dilts R and DeLozier J. Encyclopedia of Systemic NLP and New NLP Coding. NLP University Press. California. pp1037-39. 2000.

Saying 'neigh' to traditional therapy

By Melissa Korn


Jay decided regular psychotherapy wasn’t working when eight years of sitting on a therapist’s couch left him with only one insight: He was tired of sitting on a therapist’s couch.

Jay, a resident of Nanaimo, British Columbia, who asked that his full name not be used, is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse who sought help in 1996 after realizing that he had “buried all this stuff that happened to me.” But after years of traditional psychotherapy, he felt he had made little progress in overcoming his severe post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I was desperate,” said Jay, 54. So he decided to give horses a try.

Working with Deborah Marshall, a trauma specialist and proprietor of Generation Farms in Nanaimo, Jay began equine-facilitated psychotherapy (EFP) three years ago. By interacting with the horse to calm himself down or calling the horse close to work on asserting control over boundaries, he finally started seeing results.

An innovative technique that considers horses “co-therapists,” EFP helps patients work on issues like self-esteem and anger by doing more than just talking about them. By completing tasks with a horse and getting feedback from both the horse and the trained therapist, patients learn to assert themselves and be honest with their feelings, often without ever mounting a saddle.

EFP is one of numerous therapies that use animals to facilitate the therapeutic process. Leading a horse without a rope, teaching it to approach without using words or just watching herd dynamics have proved successful in combating depression, eating disorders and substance abuse, EFP therapists say. The method is gaining traction. Membership in the Equine Facilitated Mental Health Association grew 78 percent last year and now includes 730 North American farms and clinicians.

Patients can often bluff their way through regular therapy sessions, talking about daily events to avoid serious discussion until months into treatment. Horses--even untrained ones--are so intuitive, EFP specialists say, that they encourage patients to come clean about their feelings almost immediately.

“That ‘let’s pretend I’m not afraid’ approach really doesn’t work,” Marshall said. Comparing a horse to a biofeedback machine, she said it was possible to see how the horse acknowledges when the patient starts being honest.

The horse will encourage the patient to speak and act sincerely by obeying selective commands, Marshall said. When a patient says one thing but his body implies another--such as when a person gives a strong verbal order while his body is cowering--the horse will ignore the directions.

Robin, who did not want her real name used for fear of being recognized in her small town on British Columbia’s Guelph Islands, found that out when she began working with Marshall in 2004.

“What I’ve really learned to do is go inside myself and be clear with my intentions," said Robin, 56, who sought therapy after her partner had an affair. "I have to be totally honest and present. You communicate on an intuitive level. I have to be very clear about where I am and where my emotions are.” As a result, “I think I speak more honestly with my partner now.”

Patients overcoming eating disorders also perform activities that look deceptively simple. At Horse Sense of the Carolinas, in Marshall, N.C., tasks include getting the horse to stand still while you circle it or encouraging the horse to go over an obstacle without a lead rope.

“Even if through the horse activity they’re not directly dealing with eating, you get right down to the source by dealing with control and safety and self-esteem,” said Liza Sabir, a clinical intern at Horse Sense. She said patients gained confidence through the activities because they were not only talking about accomplishing something relevant to their recovery, but they were also actually doing it.

And in Omaha, Neb., a six-week program at Take Flight Farms, which works with a residential treatment center for teenagers with substance abuse problems, culminates in an obstacle course for horses that represents the hurdles patients are overcoming.

The course, called “Temptation Alley,” is strewn with grain buckets, which represent methadone; haystacks, which signify peer pressure; and other obstacles that represent impediments to sobriety. By verbalizing what the horse, led by a pair of patients, is avoiding, the teenagers recognize their coming battles and recognize the support network they have within the group.

But not all farms use the same activities. Because equine mental health activities are relatively new--the equine mental health association just celebrated its 10th anniversary and the other professional organization, the Equine Assisted Growing and Learning Association, is even newer--there is no oversight board for practitioners.

As a result, some farms offer only equine-facilitated learning, which does not involve therapy and is used for leadership workshops or for treating childhood social problems like Asperger’s syndrome or behavioral disorders.

While equine-facilitated learning is useful for certain emotional issues, it is not intended to treat people with severe psychological problems, practitioners say.

“If you bring up a lot of stuff and haven’t got the psychological, mental health background, are you helping out or are you just stirring things up?” asked Krista Meinersmann, a professor at Georgia State University who recently studied the successful use of the therapy with women who had been sexually abused.

The Equine Assisted Growing and Learning Association offers three certification levels. The association, along with the mental health association, is working to create certification standards, said Sheila Dietrich, chief executive of EFMHA and its parent group, the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association.

In the meantime, Dietrich suggests that people considering equine therapy make sure both the practitioners and entire facility are credentialed. Also, check how long the farm has been open, she said.

“There are a lot of overnight shops that start up,” she warned. “You want to be in a place that’s stable, since you’re probably pretty vulnerable.”

When a patient does find a facility that feels right, and there are hundreds with certified therapists across North America, it can be a life-altering experience.

“Equine therapy is the first thing that ever made any kind of indentation on that severe post-traumatic stress disorder,” Jay said of his treatment. “This was a lifesaver for me.”

E-mail: msk2135@columbia.edu

Traditional Chinese Medicine and Psychiatric Disorders

By Kathleen Rushall


While mental health is often considered a separate issue from one’s physical well-being, the two have always been linked in the practice of traditional Chinese medicine. In TCM, emotions and thoughts are considered to have a direct impact on the physical health of a person, and furthermore, mental and physical health are equally valued. Because of the importance placed on the mind in traditional Chinese medicine, there are many methods available within the profession that are geared toward the renewal, healing, and upkeep of mental wellness.

Over 28 million Americans take antidepressant and anti-anxiety agents, and depression is considered among the most common of behavioral disorders. While there are a myriad of prescription drugs and therapists available for disorders such as depression, there are also some interesting Oriental methods available for this affliction. Peace-providing physical exercises such as Tai Ji and Qi Gong have been known to help align the energetic forces of the body and soothe anxiety. Massage therapy is a well-known stress reliever, and consistent breathing and meditation exercises can have long-term effects on high-strung individuals.

Even the approach to diagnosis in TCM differs. In his article Can Chinese Herbs Help Clients with Depression? Andrew Gaeddert discusses the contrast between diagnosis for psychiatric problems in Eastern versus Western medicine.

Gaeddert writes that in Western medicine, when a person sees a doctor with an emotional complaint, the patient is often quickly prescribed with an anti-depressant to ‘relieve’ the difficulty instead of being carefully diagnosed to ascertain the root cause. In Eastern medicine, Gaeddert asserts “When diagnosing a patient, we do so through the four techniques of looking, listening and smelling, asking, and palpating.” Gaeddert goes on to explain that in Chinese medicine, emotional presentations are treated just like any other disease, since the seven emotions are intimately connected with the health of an individual.

Chinese herbal therapy is one manner of healing mental conditions in traditional Chinese medicine. Wei Liu, LaC, writes in his advice article, Traditional Chinese Medicine for Depression, that “The Chinese herbal formula Mood Smooth (Jia Wei Xiao YaoWan) has been in use for six hundred years in China to deal with depression. The Chinese call this old remedy "the happy pill" because of its well-known anti-depressant effect.” Liu expands on Chinese herbal therapy, writing about other common herbal remedies for depression. These include spleen tonic herbal formula, known as Bu Zhong Yi Qi Wan, kidney nourishing herbal formula, known as Jin Gui Shen Qi Wan, and many other curatives that are widely used with different patterns of depression, treating the organs that may correspond to the emotion.

In his article, Liu also directs his attention to acupuncture as a treatment for depression. Many clinical studies have been performed to test acupuncture’s affect on mental health, and Liu claims that in by the end of one such study, more than half the patients no longer met the criteria for clinical depression. Statistically, this means that acupuncture is just as effective as antidepressants. A study performed by the Health Education Alliance for Life and Longevity is one such example of acupuncture’s triumph over depression. A new pilot study by psychologist John Allen of The University of Arizona in Tucson and Tucson acupuncturist Rosa Schnyer suggests that acupuncture may prove to be at least as effective in the treatment of depression as psychotherapy or drug therapy. The study was a double-blind study, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health Office of Alternative Medicine.

It compared the reduction of major depression in three groups of women. For eight weeks the first group of women received specific acupuncture therapy for depression. The second group received acupuncture treatment for symptoms not associated with depression. The final group was put on a wait-list. The raters who assessed the subjects' degree of depression before and after the trial were also blind to the treatment conditions of individual subjects. At the end of eight weeks, Allen and co-workers found that the women who received specific acupuncture treatment for depression were significantly less depressed than the women who received acupuncture treatment for symptoms not related to depression.
Traditional Chinese medicine can offer an entirely new method of healing for patients suffering from mental health issues. Depression is most commonly discussed, but ailments like anxiety, mania, various phobias, stress, and even schizophrenia can be alleviated by traditional Chinese medical methods like acupuncture, herbal treatment, massage, and qi gong exercises. Above all, patients may find it refreshing that the very process of diagnosis in TCM is different than in Western medicine. The TCM process is thought to be more personal, taking an increased amount of history and examination into account to design a unique treatment tailored to the patient, one that addresses both symptoms and the pattern of disturbance in the energetic equilibrium of the body.

Gaeddert, Andrew. Can Chinese Herbs Help Clients with Depression? The Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine News Source.

Liu, Wei, TCMD, MPH, LaC. Traditional Chinese Medicine for Depression. The American Academy of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (AAA0M).

Health Education Alliance for Life and Longevity. HEALL. Study: Acupuncture Helps Depression.

Cooperman, Oliver, MD. Traditional Chinese Medicine Characteristics in Addiction. Medical Acupuncture. 19 (3): 129.

A Traditional Therapy Finds Modern Uses

By. CAMILLE SWEENEY

QUITTING cigarettes had always been agony for Michele Fenzl, a 55-year-old computer operator from Denver. Pregnancy got her to stop for a while. But in 35 years of smoking a pack a day, nothing else gave her a reprieve.

Last June, her acupuncturist, Karen Kurtak of the Frontier Medical Institute, started affixing tiny black seeds of a Vaccaria plant to specific points on her ears, to quell cravings between twice-weekly sessions with needles.

It is hard to say which aspect of her multipronged program helped Ms. Fenzl stop smoking, but she attributes her success to the seeds taped onto her ears that she calls “life savers.”

Long part of traditional Chinese medicine, “auricular therapy,” as it is called, entails stimulating key points of the outer ear (corresponding to body parts and functions) with seeds or needles as in traditional acupuncture. The practice is now increasingly being used nationwide to treat an array of ailments.

Ear seeds have long been used stateside for addiction treatment. But today, with the growing demand for alternative therapies, there has been an increase in the practice of using ear seeds (or their metallurgic equivalents, acubeads and ear magnets) for health issues from anxiety to pain to insomnia.

“They are used for people in situations of trauma, for example in the aftermaths of 9/11, Katrina, the California wildfires,” said Cynthia Neipris, an acupuncturist in New York and the director of outreach and community education for the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine, which trains students to use ear seeds. “And, because the seeds are worn home, it’s an added plus because it involves the patient in their own healing process.”

It is not known precisely how ear seeds work nor has enough research been done to prove which ailments they help relieve. But licensed acupuncturists as well as doctors from world-class hospitals recommend them.

Dr. P. Grace Harrell, an anesthesiologist and an acupuncturist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston who uses seeds and acubeads to help treat back pain, suggests they may stimulate activity in the brain.

But that is a guess. “We don’t know exactly what the ear seeds do,” she said. “What I do know is that more people are wearing them. I have patients coming in and asking for the seeds.”

Staff acupuncturists at rehabilitation centers like Promises Treatment Center in Malibu, Calif., have long recommended ear seeds to help alleviate “physiological symptoms associated with addiction,” said Donna Markus, the executive director. They have been useful for anxiety and depression as well, she said.

Do the conspicuous seeds draw unwanted attention? “No one has ever commented on them,” said Laura Soncrant, 32, who wears the seeds because of her insomnia. She said that pressing on them throughout the day has improved her sleep to the point that she can’t live without them now. “Since I wear them between acupuncture sessions, and my sessions are once every two weeks, there are even those days when the seeds have fallen off and I want to go to the acupuncturist just for them.”