Pain, Movement & Prevention

Cultivating a Supple, Strong and Stable Body with
the Philosophical Origins of Chinese Medicine 
by Dr. Jen Jorgensen, R.Ac, Dr.TCM

Thank-you Live Yoga in White Rock for hosting me to talk a little about Chinese Medicine philosophy in treating and preventing pain and movement issues. 

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My three takeaways for you in this post:

 1. Consider the level of your inner substance. What truly builds you, your replenishment? Think of essential nutrients, rest, a hobby that evokes joy or peacefulness.

2. Consider the quality of your energy. Is it positive, reciprocating, self-regenerating? Is it genuine? integral? How are you fostering it through the lifestyle pillars of activity, food, connections and purpose?

3. Consider the flow in your body, your mind, and your behaviors. How to call yourself to remain consciously aware, to soften, to live with sincerity, to yield for growth to unfold? How do you allow life energy to circulate smoothly- through practices, through meditation, through therapeutics that support the regulation of flow in your body and life.

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Read on for the context ~

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.When it comes to pain and restrictions in movement, acupuncture has a reputation for how it can bring relief and sometimes even resolution to an issue:       

• Mechanical things like frozen shoulder, kinks in the neck, arthritic pain
• Systemic issues like migraines, neuralgia, fibromyalgia
• Surgical rehabiliation for pain and mobility, as well as scar pain
• Referred body pains, Phantom limb pain
• ‘Unexplained’ pain, the allopathic mystery that often acupuncture theory can understand

If you look up acupuncture and pain/mobility, you’ll learn about its role in the physiological pain response: endorphin release, nerve signalling, promoting blood flow, and benefitting healthy inflammation. Did you know that acupuncture also treats physical issues that have emotional roots, like symptoms that begin after difficult life events, or when issues feel worse with stress? It does.

In neuroscience, emotional pain and physical pain are experienced by the same part of the brain– which I will discuss in my eventual post on the bio-emotive body and brain.

Similar to scientific findings of the recent century, ancient Chinese Medicine philosophy views that both physical and emotional issues arise from a common landscape of energetic behavior. 

The medicinal philosophy behind the entire system is to maintain wellbeing, which naturally results in preventing experiences, and the conditions that cause pain or movement challenges. The principles are fundamental to stamina, resilience, and generally feeling good.

The origins of Chinese Medicine formed from observing the natural surroundings– watching the levels and the movement of waterways, the interrelationships of every part of the landscape, as well as noticing the effects of temperature. For example, with warmth, things flourished, but if too warm they dried out, and with coldness, energy went deeper in, and flow slowed or froze causing tightness in the land and water sources.
People paid attention to how life energy thrived or suffered, and designed their own lives as a reflection of what they learned so as to cultivate and maintain vital harmony.

There is a phrase in one of the foundational Chinese texts, the Huang Di Nei Jing, that says: ​

“Tong Zi Bu Tong, Bu Tong Zi Tong”.
“Where there is free flow, there is no pain;
​where there is not free flow, there is pain”

Following this philosophy, tending to how well energy circulates can cultivate and preserve feeling good in body and in mind. It can benefit 
organ function and the processes that generate energy. It can nourish joints and tissues, ensure the physical body is fueled, supple and able to stabilize. Tending to our energy and how it flows can preserve mobility, healthy parts, and can lessen the likelihood of pain and issues becoming chronic in the body.

We access acupuncture
​and the mindset of maintaining flow and harmony
to support the innate homeostatic functions of body and mind ~

--to benefit strength, mobility, recovery and repair.
​We lean into its intelligence in order to support the nervous system and the landscape of bodymind in processing our experiences, thoughts, emotions, so that the energy of consciousness flows without any holding in the body.

Re-visit the three takeaways at the top of this entry, and ponder each over the next days. Is there any refinement in your life-living practice that can benefit you in your goals, replenishment, connections, or avenues of meaningfulness?
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These three principles can help to keep the landscape of your physical body and your life supple, strong, and available for fully living, for feeling authentically you, and integrated as a whole.
All the best, Jen