 by Joann Flora, Acupressure, Nutrition Counseling, Qigong
June 20, 2003
Afterward, Diane was very excited. "What did you do to her?", she asked. I replied that I didn't do anything to her, but just told her where to do it, and explained a little about JSD point "A" (CV-22) and its relationship to rebellious qi and coughing. "You mean you can do acupressure on yourself?" she asked. This led to a brief discussion of the benefits of self-acupressure. A few weeks later I had a phone call from Diane, who works in Administration at Ketchikan General Hospital. She was organizing a two-day retreat for hospital administrators and department heads and asked me to come give a presentation on self-acupressure. At first I thought she was pulling my leg, but she was serious. Diane was so amazed at the cessation of Anna's cough the night we were at the ballet that she wanted to bring this to the attention of the hospital's administrators. She asked me to come and give them a practical demonstration of self- acupressure. "How long do I get?" I asked. "Thirty minutes each day to two different groups," she replied. I could see the challenge that lay ahead, but it was too important an opportunity to pass up. How was I going to explain the fundamentals of Chinese acu-point theory and its relationship to health; the rings of body armor built by negative emotions as described by Wilhelm Reich; how the stresses of unprocessed emotions impact the disease process; and the concepts of self-acupressure -- in thirty minutes, to a group of health care administrators who might want to see the results of my double blind study? I loved it! And, it was very humbling. Then I realized I had the perfect vehicle for this presentation. In June of 2002, one of my long term diabetic clients who I'll call "Taylor" was involved in a test at the hospital in which he wore a CGMS (continuous glucose monitoring system) for three days. The Sensor took readings of his blood glucose levels every five minutes for a total of 864 readings in 72 hours. The results were then graphed on paper at the conclusion of the test. I arranged through Taylor and the Diabetes Educator to get a copy of the test results when they were printed. Taylor's blood glucose levels had become very unstable. He was very overweight with many of the health considerations related to obesity. He used both slow and fast acting insulin, plus oral meds for insulin resistance and hypertension. The purpose of the test was to try to find patterns to the glucose instability. When he brought me his graph from the test he was all excited. "Look at this and tell me if you see anything unusual." I studied the chart (see graph). His glucose levels were all over the place. In one place, however, there was a smooth, flat line. "What happened here", I asked him. Taylor had a big smile on his face and said, "I was having my acupressure treatment." There it was, in black and white from the hospital: acupressure lowering a patient's blood glucose, physically influencing a disease process by reducing stress. Taylor said, "This is the only thing I do where I always feel better." I passed this chart around at my 30 minute presentations and told Taylor's story, emphasizing the fact that acupressure is the only treatment modality which always leaves him feeling better. I talked briefly about how stress impacts any disease process and that 70% of all visits to doctors can be traced back to stress. Of course, hospital administrators can't afford to be stressed, and this naturally led to holding points. We held JSD #22, 21, and 1, and then placed our hands over the Lower Dantian so we could get out of our heads and feel into our energy. I fielded a few questions and demonstrated pulse taking, and time was up. Most everyone seemed very interested and appreciative, especially the CEO from Peace Health Corp., and the Executive Administrator at Ketchikan General Hospital (no stress there!). I'm hoping that a door has been opened here in Ketchikan between the western medical community and the complimentary field. I believe I have found an inlet for introducing Jin Shin Do (R) and medical qigong to patients and practitioners of western medicine through our local hospital. In time, we shall see.
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