Help support Acupuncture under the Social Security Act

Sign the White House Petition to Designate 'Acupuncturist' as a Recognized Healthcare Provider under the Social Security Act

Dear Supporter of Acupuncture,

There are only days left to sign a crucial petition to alert the Obama Administration to the fact that acupuncturists are not currently recognized as healthcare providers under the Social Security Act and, therefore, cannot get reimbursement for services provided to Medicare patients.

The Social Security Act does recognize other healthcare professionals such as dieticians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurse midwives, and clinical social workers.
By changing the compensation structure allowed under Medicare, we can ensure that patients have access to their local acupuncturists.

The petition, started one month ago, needs 25,000 signatures by February 10 to get a response from the White House regarding the inclusion of acupuncturists in the Social Security Act. Currently, we have over 10,000 signatures. If you have not yet signed this important petition, please do so now by visiting the following link by February 10:

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/recognize-acupuncturist-healthcare-providers/NTNpVFnp

Please immediately spread the word and forward this petition to your friends and family as every signature counts!

Thank you for your support and action!

Zhan Zhuang - Wuji Posture

Richard Watson
©copyright Longfei Taijiquan Association of Great Britain

Wuji Posture

The Lower Limbs

Taiji and Wuji are terms that have roots in Chinese Cosmogony. Taiji is itself rooted in Taoist concepts that signify the origin of the duality of existence as manifested from the void (Wuji). Taiji is the mother of Yin and Yang.

This whole concept is a clue to the posture to be adopted; to be formless with absolutely nothing happening, physically, mentally, emotionally with a quiet spirit.

The foundation is in the lower limbs, the feet should be parallel, shoulder width and support the ankle. In turn the ankles will rest directly under the tibia and fibula which in turn support the knee and femur. The knees should be gently pushed out as if a large balloon was being supported and at the same time being inflated. The feet however should be equally weighed from heels to toes and from inside to outside edges. At the same time do not lose sight of the concept of nothing happening.

The Torso

The trunk should be upright. When dealing with the body one should also address the head. The head should be lifted from the crown (acupoint Baihui), the feeling should be as if a balloon filled with air was lightly drawing the crown up. At the same time one can visualise a weight is lightly drawing down the base of the spine. So the feeling visualised is an opening of the vertebrae of the backbone.

In the Wuji posture because the arms are by the sides it can help to relax the shoulders which is important for eradicating discomfort in the shoulder and upper back. The defining line of the trunk would be plumb from Baihui (DU20) and Huiyin (REN1).

It is important to give attention to the relaxation of the abdomen, the inguinal joints, hip joints and the sacro illiac area. This will help to sink the Qi to Dantian. Visualisation can be applied to the relaxation of the internal organs. The overall aim should be calm and loose without collapsing.

Upper Limbs

The arm and hand directives in this posture can be simple. They should hang loosely by the sides with a feeling that a pair of rolled socks were being held in the armpits. The hands and fingers should be relaxed and loose, the hand is slightly dish shaped with the fingers pointed to the ground and at the root of each finger a gap the size of a garden pea.

Head

The head position is important and we have already commented on the raising of Baihui. The tongue rests on the roof of the mouth connecting the two governing vessels, Du and Ren. The eyes must remain relaxed and look directly ahead; alternatively they can be averted down. When the eyes are averted take care that the head remains lifted. This care with the head should also apply when we lift the crown point. It's a common fault with beginners, that when instructed to lift the crown they also lift the chin. This will be counter productive to the relaxation of the neck, when lifting the crown one must also tuck the chin.

As in all meditation techniques all students are confronted with their endless discursive mind. Whatever problems this may present are best discussed with an experienced instructor. With more practice the chattering mind can lose some impetus and the student will adapt his or her approach over a suitable period of time. Remember the instruction to do nothing can be applied on all levels of being.

Breathing

Breathing should be performed quietly through the nose keeping it simple, warm and friendly. The accent is on being natural and treating yourself gently. The respiration should be deep and slow but this should arrive naturally and never forcefully. Remember that any mental effort to govern the breath will be counter productive to some overall relaxation. It is permissable and practical to be attentive to the flow of breath even to count them as an aid to meditation.

Demystifying Qi Gong

By Joseph Davis, LAc
Acupuncture Today
December, 2011, Vol. 12, Issue 12


Qi Gong is broadly recognized for its therapeutic effects in the Chinese medical community, and increasingly in the modern medical community as well, yet it remains a practice shrouded in unnecessary mystery.


What will it take to bring Qi Gong to the place yoga is now, where one can find regular classes at most fitness centers across the country? The question can't be answered in one short article, but our first priority must be in clarifying what makes real Qi Gong different than other methods of health cultivation. After successfully building aQi Gong class in the strange environs of a modern gym, I have a few basic insights to share about how to bring our methods to the mainstream.

Unfortunately, we are starting at a significant disadvantage, as the phrase "Qi Gong" is a long way from having one commonly accepted meaning. For some people it evokes images of exotic people in silk pajamas, moving slowly on a clifftop by the ocean. For others it might be a practitioner laying hands on someone else, using their breath, intention, and energy to heal. And for others it might mean a solo practice of meditation, hard training and creative visualization to build martial and psychic power, or to foster spiritual growth. Frankly, for most Americans, it probably doesn't mean anything.

As Traditional Chinese Medicine providers, it is incumbent on us to approach Qi Gong with an understanding that is not mystical, foreign, or other-worldly. So what is the essence of Qi Gong for TCM practitioners? It is a method of fostering basic awareness of body and breath, coordinated with simple movements, with the aim of cultivating smooth flow of qi to promote health. It is critical to communicate to our patients and students that the gateway to Qi Gong is not through some portal bedecked with dragons and tigers in some far-off land. It doesn't demand faith, special uniforms, ineffable transmissions, or beautiful landscapes. Foremost, it is vital to explain that qi isn't some magical force that emerges once we've purified the body, silenced the mind, and harmonized the emotions. Qi Gong begins with connecting with how your body, breath, and mind feel, exactly in this moment.

If we want people to follow us through the gate of Qi Gong practice, we have to keep it incredibly simple. So, let's try a basic exercise together. Take a deep breath in, then release. No really, do it! What's there? The pressure of your weight on your seat, if you are sitting. The space inside your body changing as the breath moves in and out. Perhaps some tension in some muscle groups. The patter of thoughts, up in the brain. Our mind will naturally come up with names for these experiences. For our purposes, we are just trying to connect with the quality of feeling awareness that is before these names - that, which experiences these different levels of our being. It's critical that we do not try and change anything at this point. Rather, we start with what is actually here right now.

With just a little bit of attention, we begin to see that these sensations, feelings, and thoughts occur in a spectrum - from the very dense sensation of embodiment in gravity (down/earth/yin), to the rarified realm of ideas (up/sky/yang), and the subtler nuance of breath and emotions that happens between these two poles. And here's the real transmission - it is this whole collection of experiences that is actually our qi. This recognition is the portal to real Qi Gong, and it certainly does not require some Qi Gong "master" to point out. Yin, Yang, and qi are experiences that we all have, all day long.

Instead of introducing our patients and students to qi as something distant and mysterious, we start right where we are. As I noted above, I find the phrase feeling-awareness, or aliveness are often better to use than something from a different language. What we are looking to get our patients and students to recognize is this basic subjective sense of being alive, which is the most immediate and concrete thing in the universe. Without trying to define or capture it too tightly in thought, we can then begin working with it in the context of simple movements, coordinated with the breath.

Most everyone agrees that the breath is a great way to bring more awareness to the mind-body connection. Breath is the great mediator between the denser "body" and the lighter "mind" ends of our mind-body spectrum. Respiration is unique because it will conveniently take care of itself if we don't pay attention to it (involuntary/body), but will also obey our commands if we choose to give it a specific task (voluntary/mind). It impacts our emotions, as taking a few deep breaths to calm down clearly demonstrates. Breath is also affected by emotions, as the shortened breaths of someone anxious or stressed shows us. So if we move the body in a simple pattern while coordinating the breath, and pay attention to what's happening, we begin to "fill in the blanks" between the mind and the body, and see that there actually never was a separation.

For many this may seem rudimentary, but then the people reading this periodical are steeped in the sophisticated language of meridians, elements, and different kinds of qi. Our patients, students, and friends may come from a very different place, where it may be a radical idea that doing an activity while actually paying attention to it differs from doing the exact same activity while listening to headphones, reading a newspaper, and watching a television out of the corner of your eye. It often seems like the job of the modern fitness center is to distract you from your body any way possible while you get your time in and your calories off! One day the cable TV was out at my gym, and there was practically a riot.

As non-specific as the phrase "Qi Gong" may be, the key is that we recognize that it is this quality of making the effort to be with your sensations (a practice called "mindfulness" in some communities), which makes it different from other activities. We can do any manner of convoluted visualisations and complicated techniques, but if we aren't starting from basic feeling-awareness, we are just playing mental games. We can push our bodies to the limit, but if we aren't with our sensations, we are also still standing outside of the gate. We spend so much time embroiled in fantasies about places we aren't, planning for the future or stewing over the past, looking to embellish or mask what our basic existence feels like right now. The simple act of coming into our own present-tense can be a profound therapy to address the many ills that result from this preoccupation. We may very well find that in cultivating this habit of presence, a sense of space and ease reveals itself to have always been right here all along.

Qi Gong practice has a long way to go before it becomes as mainstream as other traditional methods of health cultivation. It will have to adapt, just as yoga has, to meet some of the expectations of our fitness-oriented culture. I'm confident that if we can lead our students and patients to the gateway of feeling-awareness, we can preserve what is unique to these time-tested methods. As the baby-boomers age and the gym-going culture realizes that peak fitness is not a viable (or even desirable) goal, Qi Gongwill become an increasingly attractive alternative.

Over the past couple years, I've built a class of very dedicated students in a traditional gym, without turning my class into "Power Qi Gong," or "Qi Gong for a Great Butt." As long as we keep it simple, focus on the present moment sensations of qi, and not lose ourselves in esoterica, Qi Gong's future in the West is promising.

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Joseph Davis is an enthusiastic practitioner and instructor of Tai Ji Quan and Qi Gong. He teaches at the Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Sciences, and at several gyms in the Oakland area. He is also a co-founder and Licensed Acupuncturist at Octagon Community Acupuncture Clinic, where he holds periodic introductory Qi Gong courses for patients and practitioners alike.

The Ermei Sudden Enlightenment School

Reprinted from Qi Journal - Winter 1997

An uncle who had disappeared returned on the day on which Fu Wei Zhong was born in 1949. This uncle, now a monk, blessed Fu Wei Zhong and took him under his care. By the age of six his grandfather and several other masters began training him in Chinese medicine, internal alchemy and the martial arts. By the age of ten, Fu Wei Zhong became a traditional Chinese doctor. By the age of twelve he opened his own practice.

During the Cultural Revolution Master Fu was sent to Manchuria where he worked as a doctor. Traveling the country, he treated patients on his government-issued mule. His patients were not only the people of those areas but also horses, hens, pigs, and cows. Upon his return to Beijing, his one and only recurring dream since childhood of a monk, saw its fulfillment at Guan Ji Temple. There, for the first time, he met His Holiness Ju Zan, the abbot of Guan Ji Temple.

His holiness said, "Ah, you have arrived. It is now time to start your training." Out of a class of approximately ten students for a period of two years, all except Master Fu were sent away. In 1984, after eight years of training, His Holiness Ju Zan empowered Master Fu with the mind/heart transmission; thus making him the thirteenth Lineage Holder for the Er Mei Sudden Enlightenment School which has been handed down from master to student since 1227 AD. Master Fu Wei Zhong was also given the sacred bowl, the sacred staff, and the sacred book of the style.

During the spring of 1985, Master Fu taught his first Er Mei Diagnosis Treatment class with hundreds of masters/doctors in attendance. He continued teaching publicly until 1989, when he then went into retreat for three years. He has successfully treated many Chinese government officials as well as its masses.

The Er Mei Sudden Enlightenment School is one of the most comprehensive mind-body-spirit systems ever created. With a foundation of Wudang Taoism, Er Mei Qigong rests in the heart of the mahayana/ vadrayana tradition of Buddhism. It was formulated during the Southern Song Dynasty a thousand years ago, in the Lin Ji sect of Er Mei.

     

The system provides health care for the injured and sick by transmitting Qi (energy) directly to them or by teaching them specific Qigong techniques to treat their ailments. Health, Healing and Enlightenment are the key elements of this school. There are over one hundred such clinics throughout China and the Far East that use Er Mei techniques and over two thousand master/doctors that are applying them on a daily basis. Er Mei Mountain, located in Sichuan Province on the Tibetan plateau in China has a long history of sages. White Cloud, a Wudang Taoist priest settled on top of Er Mei Mountain during the end of the Song Dynasty (960-1279AD). After his conversion to Buddhism, he became the abbot of the Golden Summit Temple.

Thirteen lineage holders during the last one thousand years have devoted their lives to this school of thought. It has established a medical institute, a Qigong academy, a college of advanced Er Mei training, some in-patient and out-patient clinics, and a medicinal factory. There are now over two million practitioners world wide.

The method by which the lineage holder was selected was changed by the tenth lineage holder Yong Nian. Now, the lineage holder is alternated between a monk and a layman so both may take the knowledge into the world to help the sick, yet preserve the rituals and knowledge.

His disciple Zhou Qian-Chuan became the first secular lineage holder. He took this knowledge out to heal the masses. Master Zhou Qian-chuan passed the lineage to His Holiness Ju Zan, the Supreme Buddhist Abbot of China. His Holiness Ju Zan then passed the lineage to a secular student, Master Fu Wei Zhong. Master Fu's mission is to take it out into the world to help alleviate the sickness which seems to permeate society.

Er Mei Qi Gong has branched off to its own science. The threefold methodology consists of motion and movement, quiet and meditation, and a combination of motion and meditation. In this way it can address the health concerns of the practitioners through their personal energy cultivation as well as the health concerns of the masses. Physical, emotional, and spiritual diseases can be treated. We look at the human body holistically instead of dividing it into compartments. We become sick when we have exhausted our energy.

This can be prevented through cultivation of knowledge by allowing our innate congenital Qi potential to re-arise in our beings. We can also generate our health to a state where you are immune to diseases. This is possible by learning how to cultivate qi in one's own body as well as how to accumulate qi in the dantiens for use either within internal organs or use to externally treat others. This training is combined with the use of sound.

Proper form, proper breathing and proper mental state is essential. These are the basics for good health. The Er Mei school emphasizes the cultivation of energy, the transmission of energy; clinical application of external energy diagnosis and treatment. Acupuncture, moxibustion, opening Heaven's door, opening the meridians, collaterals and spiritual channels, and traditional Chinese medical theory are also employed. This includes tongue diagnosis and pulsology.

Special abilities are yet another level. Some of the special abilities which have been cultivated by Master Fu Wei Zhong are extra sensory perception, clairvoyance, telekinesis, telepathy, divination, energy feng shui, Aura diagnosis, hand sensitivity diagnosis, Third Eye Diagnosis, astronomy, mathematics, divine mapping, iron body and the taming of demons.

There are over 300 techniques of health, healing enlightenment in the first three levels which Master Fu is currently teaching the public. Master Fu has been teaching publicly for ten years at major universities and hospitals, treating Chinese government officials, clergy and an international clientele from President Deng Xiaoping to the common man. James and Ben Taylor traveled to China to study with him.

Documentation shows that he is a famous life scientist. He has been credited with numerous accolades such as "one of the top external energy therapist" and "The Er Mei Wizard" by the Chinese Society of Qigong as a result of his continued commitment and contributions in establishing the "external energy diagnoses and treatment system." People have come from Russia, Europe, Australia, Asia and the United States to study, to seek blessings and, or treatment from him. The sun truly is shining on him and those his energy has touched.

More than twelve of Master Fu's works are published in Chinese. In 1989 the Beijing College Press published The Finger Pointing Techniques of Er Mei. The Chinese Qi Gong Science & Research Institute in 1989 published Er Mei Lin Ji "Wai Qi" Book I as well as Books II and III. In 1993 The International Er Mei Lin Ji Medical Center published two additional books. The 18 Movement Form & Medicinal Recipes was also published. These have been translated into English and now only await publication.

Master Fu is currently conducting seminars throughout the United States where students can begin to learn the three levels of Er Mei Spiritual Essence and Mind Enlightenment. These seminars are scheduled in a number of states including California, Florida, Georgia, as well as Massachusetts, Texas, and New York.

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For information write: Er Mei Sudden Enlightenment, P.O. Box 690121, Flushing, NY 11369 or email: canebvi@aol.com or ermeiqi1@juno.com

Making Yourself at Home with Acupuncture by Ken Rosen

Acupuncture is both clinical and mysterious. It has a long lineage practiced differently around the world by different schools of practice – five-element, Chinese, Korean hand, and Japanese Toyohari to name but a few. I recently found out that there are 30 different schools of acupuncture in Japan alone. And, of course, acupuncture is practiced differently still by individuals. The big point here is that people are getting relief; no matter what style of acupuncture or what individual. 

Acupuncture is rooted in a larger system of medicine which is known globally as Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM. Traditional Chinese Medicine comprises five distinct branches of medicine to help people govern their health. The five branches of Traditional Chinese Medicine are exercise, nutrition, acupuncture, herbal medicine, and structural medicine like massage. Acupuncture, as a branch, has grown globally as well. I have met TCM practitioners from far-away places like Norway, England, India, America, Germany, Israel, Iceland and Thailand, to name a few. People from all over the world are finding relief from serious physical and mental illnesses with this ancient therapy. Acupuncture treatment most likely started with people poking each other in places that hurt with tools in a form of crude massage, or as way to lance boils. Eventually, the Chinese mapped rivers of energy called meridians, or channels, on the body. Much the way energy flows down a river, the same is true in the body. Energy moves quickly in some places, deeply in others, and also stagnates in common acu-point locations. As time passed, the ancients refined specific points on these meridians that created a broad range of action on both physical and emotional conditions. Needles used to be made from bones, then eventually metal. Today, they are made from stainless steel, making them also sterile and disposable. What Happens During an Acupuncture Treatment? After a series of questions, a practitioner of Chinese Medicine will look at your tongue, feel your pulse, and reach a diagnosis. Then an acupuncture prescription will be matched to your diagnosis. The combination of acupoints are needled and heat therapy (moxibustion) or mild electrical stimulation may be added to the needles. Needles are retained in the body for a period of 20 to 30 minutes. During that time, the nervous energy of the whole body tries to push these needles out and tunes into itself for healing. When the needles come to equilibrium with the body and mind, a healing message has been received. Unlike a needle that takes blood out of your body, an acupuncture needle is solid. It is not designed to cut through flesh. It is like putting a chopstick into a bowl of noodles. Instead of cutting into your body, it pushes tissue aside, letting your body’s nervous system grab it, reject it, accept it, and thereby reboot your whole system. This is how acupuncture is able to treat such a wide range of conditions. Needles vibrate within your body to help bring you into balance. The needles vent out built-up qi, which could be manifested in muscular pain, emotional tension, or a chest cold. Ultimately an acupuncture treatment should catapult your whole being into a deep state of ease so your body and mind can overcome energy imbalances, pain and disease.

The soft overcomes the hard – Tao Te Ching

These words from this ancient classic remind me of the tremendous power of acupuncture. Hard needles go into tight or hard acu-points or muscles, but it is the power of your soft body rejecting and then accepting these needles that makes the treatment effective. Your body has to become soft in the reaction to the hard needles. It is only natural.