As a
consultant and coach, I work with people with very different walks of life. Top executives at multinational corporations,
house wives, teachers, kids, babies, elderly in their terminal stages,
recovering patients who had been in accidents, people with lives that look
perfect but who are fighting invisible demons of the past, the present and the
future. Each day is teaching me to be
grateful for and accepting of what is, because that is all there is. And tomorrow whether we call it better or
worse will never be the same.
Each day at
work, with each new person I work with, I am introduced to new dreams and fears
that I am not familiar with. There is a
term called “ring-pass-not.” One
definition for it is, the limit in spiritual, intellectual, or psychological power or
consciousness, beyond which an individual is unable to pass until he evokes
from within the strength and the vision to carry him forwards and over the
circumscribing limits set by that individual's own karma. I use it to simply describe the limits
that I am not comfortable to talk about, face or deal with. Every day I find myself at a crossroads, facing
one road in which I decide to keep my ring as it is, or the other with which I
will need to let that ring of my mine grow wider and even more accepting.
Although I
am still easily surprised by life, I find myself less surprised by the variety
in lives and choices of people. Nothing
is as easily right or wrong for me. Life
is just not that simple anymore.
...
I do not
want to sound judgmental when I will say that I did not appreciate the way
business was done in China. Of all the
things that I saw in China, the way tourists had to do shopping was one thing
that definitely marked my stay there. It
is tough. I bought almost nothing in
China. And now I surely have a deeper
appreciation for people who are doing business with China. One has to do business with China at one
point or another and it is not easy.
China was
not a country I was too much interested in.
Even after I decided to go, unlike me I did not study the country before
going. I usually read about a country
thoroughly when I decide to visit one and most of the time I study the language
at least a little as well. All I did was
to buy a book on Mandarin Chinese at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport a few hours
before I got on the plane. The most of
the work for my trip to China, I left it to my tour company and the tour guides. I was used to travelling alone or with a
small group of friends when I travel to the Far East. My trip to China was different in many ways.
...
China is an
important country in complementary healing.
Acupuncture is an important healing technique recognized by
organisations such as WHO (World Health Organisation). Since 1976, the State of California in United
States certifies acupuncture therapists.
California has always been and still is the complementary healing
capital of the US. And Europe’s capital
in that sense in definitely London.
Traditional
Chinese medicine is a bit more invasive than the techniques that I choose to
use. Acupuncture, moxibustion, cupping,
use of herbs, use of ginseng are methods that I am familiar with yet I prefer
non-invasive energy techniques personally more.
I feel that these invasive techniques may be better practiced by a medical
doctor who chooses to work with complementary healing techniques. Especially for people who are using
medications, it is very important to be knowledgeable about the joint effects
of chemicals and methods.
All healing
methods are about bringing balance to the body, mind and soul and Traditional
Chinese Medicine, TCM as it is usually called, is most of the time about
creating balance in the body, especially in the liver and the kidneys to allow
life energy, Qi, to flow freely through the body. Qi circulates in the blood vessels, in the
tissues, in the meridians. Health is
also defined as a continuous flow as much as balance.
Had I
travelled alone I would have liked to spend more time with a Traditional Chinese
Medicine doctor. However, this is not
something that can be done as a tourist in China. Unfortunately, it is so easy to be deceived
in so many different ways in China that I did not feel the trust to the healers
or healing methods that we came across.
I chose to observe when I was there.
Diagnosis
through checking the pulse together with observing the tongue is one the
techniques of Traditional Chinese Medicine, a technique I am interested to
learn more about. Mothers know a lot
about diagnosis by observing the tongue.
All of our mothers must have done it, and mothers still do. Pulse diagnosis is not an easy technique to
learn, but through observing, sensing the rhythm, volume or the strength of the
blood circulation, a traditional doctor might have a lot to say about your
heart, lung, liver, spleen and kidneys and your health in general. An iridologist can tell so much just by
looking into your eyes. Through reflexology I can touch and feel the feet and
am able to feel and see a lot about the general health condition of a
person. Our body gives out many signs. Our pulse may give out more information than
received by your medical doctor at your local hospital.
After
coming back from China I am convinced that unless I have a very dependable
contact in China, it is best to learn and study Chinese Medicine in Europe or
in the United States. In France there
are also interesting teachers, however my French is certainly not enough to
study there. I did had a few French
teachers, but they were English-speakers who were living in London.
...
Visiting
China was a great way to have a firsthand experience on the talks about China,
Chinese economy and the new way of life in China. Although I am sure that what I have seen
about China in Beijing, Xi’an or Shanghai are what China meant for its visitors
to see and probably not the real China, still I have an insight now, a feeling
about the country I surely did not have before going. China is about survival, China is about a
me-first approach. It is about survival
of the fittest. It is about living for
today and most of the time letting ethics aside. You can buy exactly the same product for 100,
20, 15 or 3 Yuan. And even if you buy it
for 3 Yuan, you might still have paid far too much. And it feels terrible to be person who paid
the 100. If he or she can manage, a
salesclerk will sell you a product for a price thirty times its worth or God
know for how much more. And if you
bargain and decide not a buy a product, be ready to be shouted at or even hit
on the shoulder or the arm. I chose not
to shop, but quite a number of friends were lightly harassed by female sales
clerks for taking too much of their time to haggle over the price of a necklace
or a bag.
In every
purchase in China you are also always unsure about what you bought. Every product is a copy of something. Everything is fake. That is known and accepted. Yet, you might go into a shop knowing that
the products will be fake, but to what degree are you being cheated is always
unclear. That is the main feeling. A lot of people bought suitcases. Some of them were trying to saw with needles
and threads to mend those suitcases the next morning so that they would last
the few days until they made it to Turkey.
For the
whole week that I was in China, I had a small ecovillage in Scotland in my
mind. The Findhorn Ecovillage near the town of Findhorn, which about 45-60 minutes driving distance
from Inverness Airport. How could I
not? Finhorn Ecovillage is a special
piece of land where a special group of people live, where life is all about
being true, honest, just, respectful to people, nature and God. At the Findhorn Ecovillage you might get a
healing session and find yourself being asked to meditate and decide on the
right price to pay your healer. For many
healers that is the way of doing business.
Because they believe that there is a just price, a right price for the
service that they have provided and that you received. And that it is possible for you and them to
tune into that correct information, correct exchange of money for that service. Spending time in China with a mind and heart
in Findhorn Ecovillage is quite like torture. 
Like
everywhere on this planet, there must be trustworthy business people in China.
There must be. However, it is almost
impossible to have a chance to see one as a tourist. And maybe for that reason when we visited a
very old and prestigious Traditional Chinese
Medicine Clinic, it was impossible for me to switch modes and list with an open
heart to the Chinese doctors as a healer, instead of a tourist listening to an
attraction. Both the clinic and the doctors seemed to have an acceptable
energy. Yet, the accumulated energy of
receiving a service or buying something is China was too hard to overcome.
...
Life is
about learning and discovering. My
journey continues. I am confident in especially
preventive powers of traditional complementary medicine and believe that
creating mental, emotional, physical and spiritual balance is essential for us
all. Ancient Chinese have created a
strong path for many of us. Let’s trust
that we will receive the information we need at the right time from the right
source. And as always the power of
intention, positive intention that respects everyone’s freedom of choice as
well as our own, is the most important aspect of healing, health, success and
happiness in life.
May you
have a great week with love and light.
Zeynep
*
Quote of the Week:
“Language shapes consciousness and the use of language to shape
consciousness is an important branch of magic.”
-
Starhawk, Dreaming
the Dark
Affirmation of the Week:
From Louise L. Hay: “I go within
and connect with that part of myself that knows how to heal.”
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