Category Archives: For consideration

Jane Lewis in Saint Louis

jane lewisJane Lewis is a facilitator who works with groups and individuals to help them uncover hidden resources and reinvigorate dreams tucked away on dusty shelves. She is also a skilled and deeply compassionate practitioner of Biodynamic Cranial Touch with a capacity to listen delicately to what is present, but not spoken.

Jane has been practicing and teaching craniosacral touch for over a decade in Taiwan and elsewhere around the world.

We are delighted that Jane will visit St. Louis May 22 through 29 and will offer her healing services at Yong Kang Clinic.

You will be in experienced, respectful hands. This is a rare opportunity to work with a master of art!

 

At Yong Kang Clinic Jane is offering:

  1. The Fortune Cookie Process, a 1.5 to 2 hour inquiry into a thorny problem
  2. Rewriting the Lease on Your Life, for those ready to engage the big (and seemingly impossible) dream or to bridge the chasm between where you are and where you wish to be
  3. Biodynamic Craniosacral Sessions
  4. Frame-Shifting Cranial Touch Workshop, Saturday May 25 (Taster event from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday May 23)

Read on for details. Or for specific questions email Jane.
To book some time with Jane, call the clinic at 314-821-9642.

 

There is no self we can construct that will survive a real conversation. -David Whyte

(1) Fortune cookie process

Let’s say you have a thorny question you are wrestling with, and it’s just not resolving by itself. What do you do? Most people find themselves at times stuck with a problem, not really able to do anything and thus stay stuck. But action is what unlocks everything. The burning question is what action?

lighting the wayWhat if you could just quickly pick up a fortune cookie with the answer inside? Well, it’s not quite that fast, but almost, and there’s lots of great learning as you arrive at your own decision for an action. With a fortune cookie session, people are surprised when a “question only process” opens up their thinking and moves them from stuck with no (or few) attractive ideas, to having a number of good ones to pick from. You’ll be guided through open questions to your own (frequently surprising) decision for an action you are ready to take. Once action starts, things seem to change, by themselves, and you are no longer stuck. This process is great for individuals who have an issue they seem to be constantly stumbling over, and great for groups working on a project as it builds natural teamwork.

The “work part” takes 1.5 hours, but count on 2 hours total with getting settled, and all.
US$150 (suitable for from 1 – 8 people)
When making an appointment, let us know how many people will be coming.

 

“Only when we admit that we have “no way” do we have any hope of finding one.”

 

(2) The “Re-write the Lease on Your Life” process

Ever wish you were another person — or yourself with another life? Maybe you feel split, with a part of you wanting to start a totally new project, and another part holding tightly to a lifeless status quo. Maybe you’ve just run out of juice and those things that feel attractive seem impossible.

It’s time for a new map of the territory … but how to redraw it? Bring on the re-write! fortuneThis process is a deep, fast-moving exploration that taps into multiple intelligence processes. Transforms underlying contradictions into resources, clarifies strengths you already possess and unearths hidden resources to help you navigate the inevitable challenges and opportunities that accompany any journey of change.

At the end of this process you come away feeling things are profoundly different. You will have your own map of what’s there, and how to navigate it. This is about creating from the perspective of the future. And it has a profound effect on your outlook and definition of reality.

There are two stages to this process. In the “learn while planning loop” we go through five distinct and creative Q/A processes that result in a personalized map of the whole territory you are working with.

The second stage involves three follow-up sessions (the learn while doing loop). These sessions will be scheduled at approximately 1-month intervals. The time working together will be at least 10-15 hours over 3-4 months. Be prepared to be surprised by the motivation that just appears naturally for the future for which you have been waiting.

US$1,200.

 

“Let the forces that created the body heal the body”

(3) Biodynamic cranial touch

This work, at a deep level, helps you re-familiarize with your natural state of health. That natural state that perhaps you dimly remember from another time, but over the years has become hidden or masked as a response to past or present emotional and physical injury or disharmony. There is no drug or treatment method outside of yourself that intimately knows your own unique blueprint for wellbeing. This gentle process reintroduces you to that restorative resource that is always waiting quietly inside each and every one of us.

This deeply rejuvenating work can be great at supporting deep lifestyle change of any type. The work is not intended primarily to be therapeutic or medical, although it does have medical and therapeutic effects, and sometimes is downright transformative.

Common issues people come with are -
- Any type of “mysterious” body condition whose source is unknown or is not responding in expected ways
- Repetitive emotional loops
- Anything feeling deep and stuck
- Long-term conditions where you are in an unsatisfying holding pattern
- Nervous disorders
- Long-term stress (it can have the effect of a deep vacation – and you can ask for a double session if it feels like this is what you need)
- Chronic tension of the neck and shoulders

“It has been my experience that presence is a more powerful catalyst for change than analysis and that we can know beyond doubt things we can never understand.  My Grandfather’s Blessings by Rachel Remen”

What happens in a session?

You come in; meet Jane and orient a bit to what you are working on. You lie (fully clothed) on a comfortable massage table.

wavesOnce the session begins, there is minimal talk. It’s quiet, and there is very light touch applied in a way that allows your nervous system to go into a neutral mode and allow for a deep experience of Stillness. You may feel you are dreaming or floating. Or you may feel muscle, breath, or energetic shifts and releases. Some shifts are subtle and barely noticeable, some are like bubbles popping from somewhere inside. Most people come out of a session with an unusually quiet sense of wellbeing.

Cranial touch sessions are US$120 for 1-1.5 hours of work together (count on 2 hours of your time as you may want to linger in the clinic for spell after your session)

Although not necessary, it is effective to book three sessions to encourage the body as it releases orientation to old patterns. (3 sessions, USD$300)

 

(4) Frame-Shifting Cranial Touch
This is a very short focused intervention that can be delivered in as little as three minutes, but having 8-10 minutes brings more profound results.
Through very light and caring touch (to the head and upper chest) all types of pain and discomfort, either physical or mental can be reduced and sometimes completely “dissolved.”

Who can learn and use FSCT?
Massage therapists and other body workers, nurses, parents, aunts, uncles, therapists, hospice workers, acupuncturists, or chiropractors. Really, anyone who works with people butterfliesand is able to lay your hands on them will benefit from knowing how to apply this profoundly quieting and effective technique.

Thursday evening May 23rd at 7-8pm we will be offering a free “taster” at the clinic. Come and try it out, or watch and see how you can learn to do it. (Please RSVP)

Saturday May 25 from 9:30-4:30 Jane will be offering an FSCT class at Yong Kang clinic.
In the workshop, you will learn two levels of FSCT that you can use for other people and yourself. You will not only learn a skill to help your clients, family or friends, but also reduce or release your own pain or discomfort as well.

The tuition is $97, and there is space for up to 12 people.

Jane is also available for doing these sessions at the clinic, the cost $20.

 

Life offers its wisdom generously.  Everything teaches.  Not everyone learns.  Life asks of us the same thing we have been asked in every class:  “Stay awake.” “Pay attention.”  But paying attention is no simple matter.  It requires us not to be distracted by expectations, past experiences, labels and masks. It asks that we not jump to conclusions and remain open to surprise.
My Grandfather’s Blessings by Rachel Remen

The Side Effects of Symptom Control

It’s not just the warnings on the label. The headaches or nausea, issues with balance or continence that go with along with the therapeutic effect of pharmaceutical medication. It is the longer term issues that are also a concern.

How does the drug you are taking now effect your life in 5 years, or 10, or 20? Will the treatment you receive today set you up for other problems down the road? Does the short term effect of cajoling your body into a chemical and peptide imbalance sow the seeds of future illness?


Masking symptoms vs healing imbalances

It is possible, and often quite effective, to still the symptoms that took you to the doctor in the first place. But, like pulling the battery from a smoke alarm’s annoying squeal, you just might put yourself in more harm’s way. It’s a decision that you have to make for yourself. Is it better to pay attention to the alarm’s call, be it a bad case of acne, bout of depression, or menstrual period gone off the rails, or to silence it with medications that mask, but do nothing to address the underlying condition. Lack of symptoms does not mean the underlying condition that gave rise to them has resolved.

Take for example irregular periods. A regiment of birth control pills will regulate the cycle for as long as you take the medicine. But, once those drugs are stopped the irregular periods will once again show themselves. Why? Because while hormones can force the body to march to its endocrinological call, they do nothing to address the source of the irregularly.

Likewise, for those who suffer from acid reflux or GERD, a proton pump inhibitor like Prilosec, Nexium or Prevacid can treat the symptoms, but at the expense of your stomach producing less acid. The problem is not that you have too much acid in your stomach, but that there is a functional imbalance that allows the acid to flow into places that it should not. Having a lower level of acid in your stomach means you will not digest your food as well, and thus end up with deficiencies that lead to weak bones, increased risk of food allergies and disturbances in the beneficial bacteria of the gut that result in the overgrowth of pathogenic bugs like Clostridim difficile.

You can put a fresh coat of paint on water damaged wood, but that does not change the fact that the underlying structure has been compromised.

What does this mean for me in the future?

Most of us would not be willing to buy a house in an area with unstable soil, or that was prone to flooding. It could be a beautiful structure, and with an enticingly low price. But, a glimpse down the road suggests trouble and most of us would give it a pass.

You do have a choice in how you address your health concerns. All those side effects listed in 5 point type on that tissue of paper that comes with your prescription are a clue as to how in the long run these drugs may lead you into a new and entirely different set of problems. Many of the functional imbalances for which pharmaceutical medicine offers only symptomatic relief and side effects can be corrected by your body on its own with the use of acupuncture.

Have questions? Discuss it with your acupuncturist!

 

Resolve

Forget resolutions. Work on resolve. Work on fortitude, on depth, on the core of what calls and informs your greatest joy and foundational dreams.

cup of inspirationForget the small goals of losing X pounds, or making a particular figure of $$$. Forget about the habits you label bad and unleash your inner policeman. Dismiss your constant prayer of “this is not enough, or I don’t like that.” These in fact are the guardians of stasis. These are the ways we keep ourselves small, and distance us from the life that may be lived outside the artificial safety of the rules that we imagine will keep us safe.

Forget about the details, go for the throat of the monster. Dare the dreaming that may discomfort your family and cause the neighbors to whisper and sigh. Forget the specific action or behavior you conjure as a reminder that life is lacking, and instead name the larger process you want to unfold.

Three words. Three guideposts. Virtues, values or guiding constellations. Three guiding principles for the year.

Perseverance. Intuition. Joy.
Commit. Create. Clarify.
Flow. Simplicity. Authenticity.
Depth. Persistence. Bridges.

Perhaps the resolution is “more travel,”but go deeper to the resolve which is “Joy.”
Perhaps the resolution is “lose 20 pounds,” but the deeper impulse is to cultivate the resolve of “Sacred.”
Perhaps the resolution is “not get angry at my spouse,” but the deep well of “Presence” is what seeks expression.

Find your three words. Or better yet, let them find you. You’ll know it when they bloom a certain sense in your heart. Choose three for this year. And work them with resolve!

Found your inspiration?— share them here in the comments.

Facilitative Questioning

This is a demonstration of Jane Lewis using the process of facilitative questioning to get to the heart of what began as an unspoken dilemma. This process can be done with an individual or group to help the inquirer find an action they are ready to take with a difficult problem. Clarity often brings its own pathway to resolution.

The process in a nutshell:

  • Go over guidelines (Total time. Midway break to assess process. At the end an action will be named.)
  • Set a timer.
  • State the question, and have person give 1-2 minutes of background.
  • Then begin with questions about the situation. Answers to be in the form of statements. (helpful to have a note taker to track these)
  • Statements can only be made in response to questions (If someone starts making statements without there being a question. Then pause and clarify the unasked question.)
  • Midway through do a short assessment and revisit original question. Is this still the relevant question?
  • At the end the inquirer names the action they will take.
  • Ask if the process was helpful, and how.
  • Done!

If you would like to get Jane’s help with a sticky question of your own, email her, contact her on Skype at HawaiiBreeze.

 

Low bone density reports from a bone scan are not a Fosamax deficiency

Chinese medicine in Taiwan

When I left the USA early in 2001 to see if I could learn to wrap my brain around the Chinese language there were precious few advertisements on TV for drugs. When I returned again five years later it was as if suddenly the United States population had fallen in a chronic state of dis-ease, as every hour of every day blast forth a televised plea to treat conditions that could be controlled (not cured, but controlled) by some chemical cocktail of molecular magic.

Be it shyness, or reflux, furballs or a general sense of unwellbeing. There is a drug for you. Just ask your doctor.

Time and again we are reminded that health and wellbeing come not from how we live our lives, but from a designer pharmaceutical. That we can medicate away the effects of our choices in life. That there is something wrong in our lives in all their quirky glory, and thus the need for treatment—the need for a drug.

The other day I had a patient who came in and told me she had had a bone scan and the doctor wanted to put her on Fosamax. She was having none of it. “Low bone density does not mean I have a Fosamax deficiency!” she extolled.
Do you see it too? How a test result equals the need for a life-long drug prescription?
What if we made a different kind of sense from those test results?

The information we obtain from lab work, various scans, and biomedical imaging are all useful and relevant. But, what about taking those results and using it as motivation to improve your diet? Commit and follow through on exercise? Use acupuncture, or Tai Chi, or massage, or herbs that can shift your physiology without a lifetime commitment?

Actually, there are options, and plenty of them.

ticket to yong kangIt is common knowledge these days that moderate weight bearing exercise will build your bones. Eating well, increasing the high calcium food, ramping up the green leafy vegetables, and making sure you are getting enough Vitamin D are all things you can naturally do for yourself everyday to support strong bones.

Yes, low bone density is a problem. And there are plenty of side-effect free ways of turning that problem around.

Bone density is but one example; there are plenty of other situations that would also benefit from your attentive intervention. And do consider that health does not come from a pill. It comes from the choices and actions you take on a daily basis.

Are there times when pharmaceutical medications are essential? Absolutely! But, before you fill that prescription from your doctor, ask if there are other ways to achieve the results you are looking for. Or spend some time doing your own research on the Internet. Or ask us if there is something we can do with acupuncture and herbs that will help you gain the balance and robust health and wellbeing you seek.

Remember, test results are information—they are not a prescription!

Discovery

.

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not “Eureka!”, but “That’s funny…”
~Isaac Asimov

We like to think that the practice of medicine rides the rails of reason and logic. That there are codified answers to our inquiries. That an expert has an answer.
Often enough this is indeed the case.

But, there are those moments, and they are not infrequent, when we as practitioners think “huh, that’s weird.” Sometimes we toss it aside as useless and inconvenient. As it is outside our expected norm, we can discard it as inconsequential.  These moments, if taken as a gift of curiousity, can break our frame and give us the opportunity to learn something new.

What makes a good doctor? That is a difficult to answer question, but I suspect that one trait is their ability to notice and act upon that which elicts a “huh, that’s strange.”

 

Gratitude

In our consumer driven world of manufactured discontent, gratitude is the antidote to feeling emptiness and lack. Oddly enough, here in the USA we have a day of gratitude just before the onslaught of advertising that whispers a constant stream of diminishment. Perhaps it is one of those odd “messages in a bottle” that the universe presents as a puzzle of contradiction– that gratitude and connection in a moment of quiet opens the door to the deep reserves of support and abundance that are always waiting, like still water below life’s surface activity.

It is easy to focus on what is missing in our lives. All the more so when advertisement driven media relentlessly suggests and cajoles that what you have, and more importantly who you are, is not enough. That the accumulation of years is to be medicated or surgically enhanced. That the toys in our garage need an update. That our relationships would go better should we possess the product prayerfully flashing out from our flatscreen window of wonder.

There indeed are reasons in life for discontent, but few have to do with the urgent messages extolling us to open our wallets. There are moments in life when we come face to face with the harvest of an ill sown crop. Realize we are following a path not of our own choosing, or lost sight of a guiding star. It might be that life takes away its generous gifts and we feel stranded and alone. Especially in these times when we feel the world shift and our hope ebb away, the practice of gratitude reminds us of the deep resources that only may be claimed– they are not available for purchase.

Gratitude is not a pollyanna practice of propped up smiles, but a deep soulful appreciation for the vast wonder, forgiveness and support that is available even in the dark times. Indeed it can banish the shadow with a just glimmer of its light.

The simple stuff is the most helpful

This is a guest post from Ashley Kuykendall, who interned at Yong Kang during the summer

If you would have told me a year ago that I would be spending the summer before my senior year of high school doing an internship with an acupuncturist, I probably would’ve given you the same look that the curriculum coordinator gave me when I asked her if she would work with me to set up my internship at Yong Kang clinic. Although, I have to say, it’s something I’m very glad I did! I spent about a month shadowing Dr. Max and I learned so much, but so little in comparison to the wealth of knowledge that is circulating the world of Chinese medicine. The majority of my time at YK was spent shadowing Dr. Max as he talked with, examined, and treated patients. I even got to do some pulse and tongue diagnosis of my own. All along the way, I read literature about Chinese medicine and the different techniques that are used, but I found that the most helpful thing I learned was how to do the simple stuff.

The miraculous thing about Chinese medicine is that it incorporates theories that people have put into practice for many, many years. These therapies are gentle and self-stimulating in so far as the change in your health comes from your own body (with the help of some acupuncture needles or herbs, of course). The basic, underlying tenants of Chinese medicine are interesting, and they make me question what I know about how the human body works. As Dr. Max and I discussed, any treatment that makes people say “That’s so weird!” is a good one, because if nothing else, it sparks curiosity for them to want to learn more and ask the bigger questions: “What is this doing?” “How is this working?” “Why do needles in my elbow help my knee pain?” In order to ignite the flame that alternative therapies could be, people need to start asking questions. This is the main reason why I ended up doing my internship at Dr. Max’s clinic. I had a lot of questions about what kinds of therapies he had and why his treatments worked. Even though I had been using acupuncture for a while, but did not know what was really happening in my body.

Beyond the science is the practice, which I learned, can be the tough part of Chinese medicine. I’m certainly not qualified to treat patients or hypothesize beyond a partially educated guess about their conditions, but along the way, I have learned a few things that will help me for the rest of my life. Most of them are to help other people; some will help me to gather information, so I can understand more about them. The best illustration of this came when I was nearing the end of my time at the clinic.

One day, I was sitting at the breakfast table at my office job, talking to one of the girls at work. She commented on the fact that I was drinking ice water, saying that she couldn’t imagine drinking something that cold. It was then that I pointed out that she was drinking hot coffee…and it was 105 degrees outside. I went on to ask her if she had an affinity for other hot things like hot showers, or summer time temperatures. Not surprisingly, she did. She then went on to tell me about digestive issues that she has as well as some problems with headaches. It became clear to me very quickly what was going on with her; however, from her perspective, it was just a bunch of random things happening at the same time. Her obsession with heat, she told me, is “just the way she is.” What I told her was that, from a Chinese perspective, all of her symptoms fit perfectly together in a pattern for internal cold, and suggested that she try drinking some ginger tea to see if that would help with some of her problems. She immediately responded, telling me that she craves ginger occasionally. Her body was already attempting to lead her to a natural remedy. This tea is a really simple solution that I’d heard Dr. Max pass on to several patients–she’s going to give it a try.

Another piece of information that I learned is how to better focus on what my own body is telling me as well as what other people’s bodies are saying. I’ve found that, more often than not, you can gather a wealth of information from what a person is doing or how they are saying something, rather than from the words that they are actually speaking. Personality traits and general body composition play a big role in Chinese medicine, and knowing a bit of background about this area can really help in figuring out whether or not people have a susceptibility to certain health problems, or if they tend toward one particular illness pattern or another. One such thing is spotting a red tip of the tongue with someone who has been suffering from insomnia. While this isn’t a remedy, it is a diagnostic tool. It’s helpful because it serves as a starting point to figuring out what else might be going on with that person. I also learned about acupressure points that can be helpful in ‘curing’ the common cold, neck pain, and headaches. All of these are good remedies to know so that I am more equipped to help the people that I care about, which is really what medicine is all about.

I frequently find myself educating people, ever so slightly, about natural therapies that could be used as alternates to what they’re utilizing. Most of the time, I illicit a response chock full of confusion and doubt, but instead of being discouraged, I view it as an opportunity for growth. Never underestimate the impact that you could have on someone’s life by simply telling them that acupuncture or herbs are options. While at the clinic, I saw patients with chronic symptoms lessen significantly and side effects of chemotherapy diminished. I saw examples of successful fertility treatments, and balanced approaches to curing women’s issues. Acupuncture isn’t for everyone, but it could be. Everyone deserves the chance to have an alternative avenue for healthcare and general well-being. As for us, the people who have already discovered the gift of acupuncture, the best thing we can do is spread the word. Tell someone, or everyone you know about acupuncture and how it can help. Afford someone the opportunity to bring their life and their health into balance the natural way.

How does Chinese medicine work?

I get this question all the time, but I think there is actually another question that is lurking beneath this one–
The real question being “is this stuff trustworthy?”

Acupuncturists commonly point to 1000′s years of collective clinical experience, but this is a poor substitute for how our Western cultivated minds parse life through the filters of modern biology and pharmaceutically targeted molecular chemistry. We understand medicine to be a collection of laboratory facts and figures. But, Chinese medicine is not so concerned with the microscopic symphony, and therein lays one of its hidden powers– its ability to understand how interconnected life processes, unfold, evolve and change.

Western medicine is profoundly powerful at both describing life changes on a micro level and understanding the dynamics of disease processes. But, it is Chinese medicine’s perspective on how life unfolds at the human level and its ability to access and treat both healthy and aberrant life processes that is its greatest strength.

Just as a garden is not simply a spreadsheet of nutrients, chemical interactions and temperature charts, but an act of ongoing cultivation and attention. And like a field biologist learns to dance between micro and macro views of the environment to understand how each interplays with the other, so too do Chinese medicine practitioners learn to connect the dots between observable phenomena and the underlying processes that influence our state of health and wellbeing.

Chinese medicine is not Western medicine. This seems obvious enough. But, when we start to think about Chinese medicine it is almost impossible not to bring along our Western map of the medical terrain. We know how to think about Western medicine– we swim in that ocean. The challenge is that using the Western mind to understand the constructs of Chinese medicine is not unlike taking the grammar of one language and forcing it onto another. Not only are nuance and precision lost, but the basic way we parse meaning gets terribly mangled.

How does Chinese medicine work?
It is like asking a gardener to describe what they do using the language only of organic chemistry. When the real question is how do you cultivate a delicious tomato, a strawberry bursting with springtime, or soil that can not help but bring forth vital life.

In truth, the issue is not “how does it work,” but “will it help me to live a better life?”

Want to know how it can help? Check out the Frequently Asked Questions about Chinese medicine for more on how you can benefit from this medicine!

 

What is right about you

It peppers prime-time TV with its post hypnotic suggestions that your life is lacking. Not enough; deficient, and somehow just a bit below the norm. It could be your naturally slightly shy and inward draw, or the way your smile has wrinkled your eyes, or that your body does not match the latest Barbie doll impossible standard. We are rarely sold on being content with ourselves. So the relentless assault on who we are and how feel infuses the evening airways, as pharmaceutical solutions to man-made problems whispers a constant stream of discontent. Anxious? Take Paxil. Acid reflux? Take this little purple pill. Depressed? Ask you doctor if the drug of the week is right for you. Regardless of what discomfort you have, we have a swallowable solution.

Consider though that what we think is wrong with us, just might be what is right about us.

Feeling sadness over the loss of a loved one, disappointment about a professional setback, anxiety about a new opportunity, or frustration with a relationship that has navigated itself onto the rocks is not necessarily due to the lack of a chemical in your brain, or something missing from your blood. Life brings us the very challenges that will open the next doors of opportunity. It may be inconvenient and it generally feels unsought, but the depression we feel, or anxiety that bubbles up in our throat just might be exactly what we need.

Consider this, do you want to be the kind of person that does not feel empty and destroyed at the loss of a loved one? Why would you not want to feel fluttery and excited about embarking on a new opportunity, where you taking a risk on your own behalf? What if that acid reflux was in fact your key to losing that 20 pounds you have been nagging yourself about, or if that sleep problem was actually your true voice seeking an audience with you?

It just might be that what you think is wrong with you is actually what’s right about you.

What if those lines in your face are the outward traces of your true character? If the weight you carry is the simple expression of your habits– habits that have been begging for an update.

What if the thing you think is wrong about you, in fact is what’s right about you? Imagine making friends with your shyness, grief, sadness, or frustration. What if your loneliness, or love of solitude, or unremitting slight sense of discontent is in fact a vital motive force that keeps you creatively engaged with your world?

Consider that what you think is wrong with you, just might not be something to be medicated away, but a gift awaiting your unwrapping.

Category Archives: For consideration

Jane Lewis in Saint Louis

jane lewisJane Lewis is a facilitator who works with groups and individuals to help them uncover hidden resources and reinvigorate dreams tucked away on dusty shelves. She is also a skilled and deeply compassionate practitioner of Biodynamic Cranial Touch with a capacity to listen delicately to what is present, but not spoken.

Jane has been practicing and teaching craniosacral touch for over a decade in Taiwan and elsewhere around the world.

We are delighted that Jane will visit St. Louis May 22 through 29 and will offer her healing services at Yong Kang Clinic.

You will be in experienced, respectful hands. This is a rare opportunity to work with a master of art!

 

At Yong Kang Clinic Jane is offering:

  1. The Fortune Cookie Process, a 1.5 to 2 hour inquiry into a thorny problem
  2. Rewriting the Lease on Your Life, for those ready to engage the big (and seemingly impossible) dream or to bridge the chasm between where you are and where you wish to be
  3. Biodynamic Craniosacral Sessions
  4. Frame-Shifting Cranial Touch Workshop, Saturday May 25 (Taster event from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday May 23)

Read on for details. Or for specific questions email Jane.
To book some time with Jane, call the clinic at 314-821-9642.

 

There is no self we can construct that will survive a real conversation. -David Whyte

(1) Fortune cookie process

Let’s say you have a thorny question you are wrestling with, and it’s just not resolving by itself. What do you do? Most people find themselves at times stuck with a problem, not really able to do anything and thus stay stuck. But action is what unlocks everything. The burning question is what action?

lighting the wayWhat if you could just quickly pick up a fortune cookie with the answer inside? Well, it’s not quite that fast, but almost, and there’s lots of great learning as you arrive at your own decision for an action. With a fortune cookie session, people are surprised when a “question only process” opens up their thinking and moves them from stuck with no (or few) attractive ideas, to having a number of good ones to pick from. You’ll be guided through open questions to your own (frequently surprising) decision for an action you are ready to take. Once action starts, things seem to change, by themselves, and you are no longer stuck. This process is great for individuals who have an issue they seem to be constantly stumbling over, and great for groups working on a project as it builds natural teamwork.

The “work part” takes 1.5 hours, but count on 2 hours total with getting settled, and all.
US$150 (suitable for from 1 – 8 people)
When making an appointment, let us know how many people will be coming.

 

“Only when we admit that we have “no way” do we have any hope of finding one.”

 

(2) The “Re-write the Lease on Your Life” process

Ever wish you were another person — or yourself with another life? Maybe you feel split, with a part of you wanting to start a totally new project, and another part holding tightly to a lifeless status quo. Maybe you’ve just run out of juice and those things that feel attractive seem impossible.

It’s time for a new map of the territory … but how to redraw it? Bring on the re-write! fortuneThis process is a deep, fast-moving exploration that taps into multiple intelligence processes. Transforms underlying contradictions into resources, clarifies strengths you already possess and unearths hidden resources to help you navigate the inevitable challenges and opportunities that accompany any journey of change.

At the end of this process you come away feeling things are profoundly different. You will have your own map of what’s there, and how to navigate it. This is about creating from the perspective of the future. And it has a profound effect on your outlook and definition of reality.

There are two stages to this process. In the “learn while planning loop” we go through five distinct and creative Q/A processes that result in a personalized map of the whole territory you are working with.

The second stage involves three follow-up sessions (the learn while doing loop). These sessions will be scheduled at approximately 1-month intervals. The time working together will be at least 10-15 hours over 3-4 months. Be prepared to be surprised by the motivation that just appears naturally for the future for which you have been waiting.

US$1,200.

 

“Let the forces that created the body heal the body”

(3) Biodynamic cranial touch

This work, at a deep level, helps you re-familiarize with your natural state of health. That natural state that perhaps you dimly remember from another time, but over the years has become hidden or masked as a response to past or present emotional and physical injury or disharmony. There is no drug or treatment method outside of yourself that intimately knows your own unique blueprint for wellbeing. This gentle process reintroduces you to that restorative resource that is always waiting quietly inside each and every one of us.

This deeply rejuvenating work can be great at supporting deep lifestyle change of any type. The work is not intended primarily to be therapeutic or medical, although it does have medical and therapeutic effects, and sometimes is downright transformative.

Common issues people come with are -
- Any type of “mysterious” body condition whose source is unknown or is not responding in expected ways
- Repetitive emotional loops
- Anything feeling deep and stuck
- Long-term conditions where you are in an unsatisfying holding pattern
- Nervous disorders
- Long-term stress (it can have the effect of a deep vacation – and you can ask for a double session if it feels like this is what you need)
- Chronic tension of the neck and shoulders

“It has been my experience that presence is a more powerful catalyst for change than analysis and that we can know beyond doubt things we can never understand.  My Grandfather’s Blessings by Rachel Remen”

What happens in a session?

You come in; meet Jane and orient a bit to what you are working on. You lie (fully clothed) on a comfortable massage table.

wavesOnce the session begins, there is minimal talk. It’s quiet, and there is very light touch applied in a way that allows your nervous system to go into a neutral mode and allow for a deep experience of Stillness. You may feel you are dreaming or floating. Or you may feel muscle, breath, or energetic shifts and releases. Some shifts are subtle and barely noticeable, some are like bubbles popping from somewhere inside. Most people come out of a session with an unusually quiet sense of wellbeing.

Cranial touch sessions are US$120 for 1-1.5 hours of work together (count on 2 hours of your time as you may want to linger in the clinic for spell after your session)

Although not necessary, it is effective to book three sessions to encourage the body as it releases orientation to old patterns. (3 sessions, USD$300)

 

(4) Frame-Shifting Cranial Touch
This is a very short focused intervention that can be delivered in as little as three minutes, but having 8-10 minutes brings more profound results.
Through very light and caring touch (to the head and upper chest) all types of pain and discomfort, either physical or mental can be reduced and sometimes completely “dissolved.”

Who can learn and use FSCT?
Massage therapists and other body workers, nurses, parents, aunts, uncles, therapists, hospice workers, acupuncturists, or chiropractors. Really, anyone who works with people butterfliesand is able to lay your hands on them will benefit from knowing how to apply this profoundly quieting and effective technique.

Thursday evening May 23rd at 7-8pm we will be offering a free “taster” at the clinic. Come and try it out, or watch and see how you can learn to do it. (Please RSVP)

Saturday May 25 from 9:30-4:30 Jane will be offering an FSCT class at Yong Kang clinic.
In the workshop, you will learn two levels of FSCT that you can use for other people and yourself. You will not only learn a skill to help your clients, family or friends, but also reduce or release your own pain or discomfort as well.

The tuition is $97, and there is space for up to 12 people.

Jane is also available for doing these sessions at the clinic, the cost $20.

 

Life offers its wisdom generously.  Everything teaches.  Not everyone learns.  Life asks of us the same thing we have been asked in every class:  “Stay awake.” “Pay attention.”  But paying attention is no simple matter.  It requires us not to be distracted by expectations, past experiences, labels and masks. It asks that we not jump to conclusions and remain open to surprise.
My Grandfather’s Blessings by Rachel Remen

The Side Effects of Symptom Control

It’s not just the warnings on the label. The headaches or nausea, issues with balance or continence that go with along with the therapeutic effect of pharmaceutical medication. It is the longer term issues that are also a concern.

How does the drug you are taking now effect your life in 5 years, or 10, or 20? Will the treatment you receive today set you up for other problems down the road? Does the short term effect of cajoling your body into a chemical and peptide imbalance sow the seeds of future illness?


Masking symptoms vs healing imbalances

It is possible, and often quite effective, to still the symptoms that took you to the doctor in the first place. But, like pulling the battery from a smoke alarm’s annoying squeal, you just might put yourself in more harm’s way. It’s a decision that you have to make for yourself. Is it better to pay attention to the alarm’s call, be it a bad case of acne, bout of depression, or menstrual period gone off the rails, or to silence it with medications that mask, but do nothing to address the underlying condition. Lack of symptoms does not mean the underlying condition that gave rise to them has resolved.

Take for example irregular periods. A regiment of birth control pills will regulate the cycle for as long as you take the medicine. But, once those drugs are stopped the irregular periods will once again show themselves. Why? Because while hormones can force the body to march to its endocrinological call, they do nothing to address the source of the irregularly.

Likewise, for those who suffer from acid reflux or GERD, a proton pump inhibitor like Prilosec, Nexium or Prevacid can treat the symptoms, but at the expense of your stomach producing less acid. The problem is not that you have too much acid in your stomach, but that there is a functional imbalance that allows the acid to flow into places that it should not. Having a lower level of acid in your stomach means you will not digest your food as well, and thus end up with deficiencies that lead to weak bones, increased risk of food allergies and disturbances in the beneficial bacteria of the gut that result in the overgrowth of pathogenic bugs like Clostridim difficile.

You can put a fresh coat of paint on water damaged wood, but that does not change the fact that the underlying structure has been compromised.

What does this mean for me in the future?

Most of us would not be willing to buy a house in an area with unstable soil, or that was prone to flooding. It could be a beautiful structure, and with an enticingly low price. But, a glimpse down the road suggests trouble and most of us would give it a pass.

You do have a choice in how you address your health concerns. All those side effects listed in 5 point type on that tissue of paper that comes with your prescription are a clue as to how in the long run these drugs may lead you into a new and entirely different set of problems. Many of the functional imbalances for which pharmaceutical medicine offers only symptomatic relief and side effects can be corrected by your body on its own with the use of acupuncture.

Have questions? Discuss it with your acupuncturist!

 

Resolve

Forget resolutions. Work on resolve. Work on fortitude, on depth, on the core of what calls and informs your greatest joy and foundational dreams.

cup of inspirationForget the small goals of losing X pounds, or making a particular figure of $$$. Forget about the habits you label bad and unleash your inner policeman. Dismiss your constant prayer of “this is not enough, or I don’t like that.” These in fact are the guardians of stasis. These are the ways we keep ourselves small, and distance us from the life that may be lived outside the artificial safety of the rules that we imagine will keep us safe.

Forget about the details, go for the throat of the monster. Dare the dreaming that may discomfort your family and cause the neighbors to whisper and sigh. Forget the specific action or behavior you conjure as a reminder that life is lacking, and instead name the larger process you want to unfold.

Three words. Three guideposts. Virtues, values or guiding constellations. Three guiding principles for the year.

Perseverance. Intuition. Joy.
Commit. Create. Clarify.
Flow. Simplicity. Authenticity.
Depth. Persistence. Bridges.

Perhaps the resolution is “more travel,”but go deeper to the resolve which is “Joy.”
Perhaps the resolution is “lose 20 pounds,” but the deeper impulse is to cultivate the resolve of “Sacred.”
Perhaps the resolution is “not get angry at my spouse,” but the deep well of “Presence” is what seeks expression.

Find your three words. Or better yet, let them find you. You’ll know it when they bloom a certain sense in your heart. Choose three for this year. And work them with resolve!

Found your inspiration?— share them here in the comments.

Facilitative Questioning

This is a demonstration of Jane Lewis using the process of facilitative questioning to get to the heart of what began as an unspoken dilemma. This process can be done with an individual or group to help the inquirer find an action they are ready to take with a difficult problem. Clarity often brings its own pathway to resolution.

The process in a nutshell:

  • Go over guidelines (Total time. Midway break to assess process. At the end an action will be named.)
  • Set a timer.
  • State the question, and have person give 1-2 minutes of background.
  • Then begin with questions about the situation. Answers to be in the form of statements. (helpful to have a note taker to track these)
  • Statements can only be made in response to questions (If someone starts making statements without there being a question. Then pause and clarify the unasked question.)
  • Midway through do a short assessment and revisit original question. Is this still the relevant question?
  • At the end the inquirer names the action they will take.
  • Ask if the process was helpful, and how.
  • Done!

If you would like to get Jane’s help with a sticky question of your own, email her, contact her on Skype at HawaiiBreeze.

 

Low bone density reports from a bone scan are not a Fosamax deficiency

Chinese medicine in Taiwan

When I left the USA early in 2001 to see if I could learn to wrap my brain around the Chinese language there were precious few advertisements on TV for drugs. When I returned again five years later it was as if suddenly the United States population had fallen in a chronic state of dis-ease, as every hour of every day blast forth a televised plea to treat conditions that could be controlled (not cured, but controlled) by some chemical cocktail of molecular magic.

Be it shyness, or reflux, furballs or a general sense of unwellbeing. There is a drug for you. Just ask your doctor.

Time and again we are reminded that health and wellbeing come not from how we live our lives, but from a designer pharmaceutical. That we can medicate away the effects of our choices in life. That there is something wrong in our lives in all their quirky glory, and thus the need for treatment—the need for a drug.

The other day I had a patient who came in and told me she had had a bone scan and the doctor wanted to put her on Fosamax. She was having none of it. “Low bone density does not mean I have a Fosamax deficiency!” she extolled.
Do you see it too? How a test result equals the need for a life-long drug prescription?
What if we made a different kind of sense from those test results?

The information we obtain from lab work, various scans, and biomedical imaging are all useful and relevant. But, what about taking those results and using it as motivation to improve your diet? Commit and follow through on exercise? Use acupuncture, or Tai Chi, or massage, or herbs that can shift your physiology without a lifetime commitment?

Actually, there are options, and plenty of them.

ticket to yong kangIt is common knowledge these days that moderate weight bearing exercise will build your bones. Eating well, increasing the high calcium food, ramping up the green leafy vegetables, and making sure you are getting enough Vitamin D are all things you can naturally do for yourself everyday to support strong bones.

Yes, low bone density is a problem. And there are plenty of side-effect free ways of turning that problem around.

Bone density is but one example; there are plenty of other situations that would also benefit from your attentive intervention. And do consider that health does not come from a pill. It comes from the choices and actions you take on a daily basis.

Are there times when pharmaceutical medications are essential? Absolutely! But, before you fill that prescription from your doctor, ask if there are other ways to achieve the results you are looking for. Or spend some time doing your own research on the Internet. Or ask us if there is something we can do with acupuncture and herbs that will help you gain the balance and robust health and wellbeing you seek.

Remember, test results are information—they are not a prescription!

Discovery

.

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not “Eureka!”, but “That’s funny…”
~Isaac Asimov

We like to think that the practice of medicine rides the rails of reason and logic. That there are codified answers to our inquiries. That an expert has an answer.
Often enough this is indeed the case.

But, there are those moments, and they are not infrequent, when we as practitioners think “huh, that’s weird.” Sometimes we toss it aside as useless and inconvenient. As it is outside our expected norm, we can discard it as inconsequential.  These moments, if taken as a gift of curiousity, can break our frame and give us the opportunity to learn something new.

What makes a good doctor? That is a difficult to answer question, but I suspect that one trait is their ability to notice and act upon that which elicts a “huh, that’s strange.”

 

Gratitude

In our consumer driven world of manufactured discontent, gratitude is the antidote to feeling emptiness and lack. Oddly enough, here in the USA we have a day of gratitude just before the onslaught of advertising that whispers a constant stream of diminishment. Perhaps it is one of those odd “messages in a bottle” that the universe presents as a puzzle of contradiction– that gratitude and connection in a moment of quiet opens the door to the deep reserves of support and abundance that are always waiting, like still water below life’s surface activity.

It is easy to focus on what is missing in our lives. All the more so when advertisement driven media relentlessly suggests and cajoles that what you have, and more importantly who you are, is not enough. That the accumulation of years is to be medicated or surgically enhanced. That the toys in our garage need an update. That our relationships would go better should we possess the product prayerfully flashing out from our flatscreen window of wonder.

There indeed are reasons in life for discontent, but few have to do with the urgent messages extolling us to open our wallets. There are moments in life when we come face to face with the harvest of an ill sown crop. Realize we are following a path not of our own choosing, or lost sight of a guiding star. It might be that life takes away its generous gifts and we feel stranded and alone. Especially in these times when we feel the world shift and our hope ebb away, the practice of gratitude reminds us of the deep resources that only may be claimed– they are not available for purchase.

Gratitude is not a pollyanna practice of propped up smiles, but a deep soulful appreciation for the vast wonder, forgiveness and support that is available even in the dark times. Indeed it can banish the shadow with a just glimmer of its light.

The simple stuff is the most helpful

This is a guest post from Ashley Kuykendall, who interned at Yong Kang during the summer

If you would have told me a year ago that I would be spending the summer before my senior year of high school doing an internship with an acupuncturist, I probably would’ve given you the same look that the curriculum coordinator gave me when I asked her if she would work with me to set up my internship at Yong Kang clinic. Although, I have to say, it’s something I’m very glad I did! I spent about a month shadowing Dr. Max and I learned so much, but so little in comparison to the wealth of knowledge that is circulating the world of Chinese medicine. The majority of my time at YK was spent shadowing Dr. Max as he talked with, examined, and treated patients. I even got to do some pulse and tongue diagnosis of my own. All along the way, I read literature about Chinese medicine and the different techniques that are used, but I found that the most helpful thing I learned was how to do the simple stuff.

The miraculous thing about Chinese medicine is that it incorporates theories that people have put into practice for many, many years. These therapies are gentle and self-stimulating in so far as the change in your health comes from your own body (with the help of some acupuncture needles or herbs, of course). The basic, underlying tenants of Chinese medicine are interesting, and they make me question what I know about how the human body works. As Dr. Max and I discussed, any treatment that makes people say “That’s so weird!” is a good one, because if nothing else, it sparks curiosity for them to want to learn more and ask the bigger questions: “What is this doing?” “How is this working?” “Why do needles in my elbow help my knee pain?” In order to ignite the flame that alternative therapies could be, people need to start asking questions. This is the main reason why I ended up doing my internship at Dr. Max’s clinic. I had a lot of questions about what kinds of therapies he had and why his treatments worked. Even though I had been using acupuncture for a while, but did not know what was really happening in my body.

Beyond the science is the practice, which I learned, can be the tough part of Chinese medicine. I’m certainly not qualified to treat patients or hypothesize beyond a partially educated guess about their conditions, but along the way, I have learned a few things that will help me for the rest of my life. Most of them are to help other people; some will help me to gather information, so I can understand more about them. The best illustration of this came when I was nearing the end of my time at the clinic.

One day, I was sitting at the breakfast table at my office job, talking to one of the girls at work. She commented on the fact that I was drinking ice water, saying that she couldn’t imagine drinking something that cold. It was then that I pointed out that she was drinking hot coffee…and it was 105 degrees outside. I went on to ask her if she had an affinity for other hot things like hot showers, or summer time temperatures. Not surprisingly, she did. She then went on to tell me about digestive issues that she has as well as some problems with headaches. It became clear to me very quickly what was going on with her; however, from her perspective, it was just a bunch of random things happening at the same time. Her obsession with heat, she told me, is “just the way she is.” What I told her was that, from a Chinese perspective, all of her symptoms fit perfectly together in a pattern for internal cold, and suggested that she try drinking some ginger tea to see if that would help with some of her problems. She immediately responded, telling me that she craves ginger occasionally. Her body was already attempting to lead her to a natural remedy. This tea is a really simple solution that I’d heard Dr. Max pass on to several patients–she’s going to give it a try.

Another piece of information that I learned is how to better focus on what my own body is telling me as well as what other people’s bodies are saying. I’ve found that, more often than not, you can gather a wealth of information from what a person is doing or how they are saying something, rather than from the words that they are actually speaking. Personality traits and general body composition play a big role in Chinese medicine, and knowing a bit of background about this area can really help in figuring out whether or not people have a susceptibility to certain health problems, or if they tend toward one particular illness pattern or another. One such thing is spotting a red tip of the tongue with someone who has been suffering from insomnia. While this isn’t a remedy, it is a diagnostic tool. It’s helpful because it serves as a starting point to figuring out what else might be going on with that person. I also learned about acupressure points that can be helpful in ‘curing’ the common cold, neck pain, and headaches. All of these are good remedies to know so that I am more equipped to help the people that I care about, which is really what medicine is all about.

I frequently find myself educating people, ever so slightly, about natural therapies that could be used as alternates to what they’re utilizing. Most of the time, I illicit a response chock full of confusion and doubt, but instead of being discouraged, I view it as an opportunity for growth. Never underestimate the impact that you could have on someone’s life by simply telling them that acupuncture or herbs are options. While at the clinic, I saw patients with chronic symptoms lessen significantly and side effects of chemotherapy diminished. I saw examples of successful fertility treatments, and balanced approaches to curing women’s issues. Acupuncture isn’t for everyone, but it could be. Everyone deserves the chance to have an alternative avenue for healthcare and general well-being. As for us, the people who have already discovered the gift of acupuncture, the best thing we can do is spread the word. Tell someone, or everyone you know about acupuncture and how it can help. Afford someone the opportunity to bring their life and their health into balance the natural way.

How does Chinese medicine work?

I get this question all the time, but I think there is actually another question that is lurking beneath this one–
The real question being “is this stuff trustworthy?”

Acupuncturists commonly point to 1000′s years of collective clinical experience, but this is a poor substitute for how our Western cultivated minds parse life through the filters of modern biology and pharmaceutically targeted molecular chemistry. We understand medicine to be a collection of laboratory facts and figures. But, Chinese medicine is not so concerned with the microscopic symphony, and therein lays one of its hidden powers– its ability to understand how interconnected life processes, unfold, evolve and change.

Western medicine is profoundly powerful at both describing life changes on a micro level and understanding the dynamics of disease processes. But, it is Chinese medicine’s perspective on how life unfolds at the human level and its ability to access and treat both healthy and aberrant life processes that is its greatest strength.

Just as a garden is not simply a spreadsheet of nutrients, chemical interactions and temperature charts, but an act of ongoing cultivation and attention. And like a field biologist learns to dance between micro and macro views of the environment to understand how each interplays with the other, so too do Chinese medicine practitioners learn to connect the dots between observable phenomena and the underlying processes that influence our state of health and wellbeing.

Chinese medicine is not Western medicine. This seems obvious enough. But, when we start to think about Chinese medicine it is almost impossible not to bring along our Western map of the medical terrain. We know how to think about Western medicine– we swim in that ocean. The challenge is that using the Western mind to understand the constructs of Chinese medicine is not unlike taking the grammar of one language and forcing it onto another. Not only are nuance and precision lost, but the basic way we parse meaning gets terribly mangled.

How does Chinese medicine work?
It is like asking a gardener to describe what they do using the language only of organic chemistry. When the real question is how do you cultivate a delicious tomato, a strawberry bursting with springtime, or soil that can not help but bring forth vital life.

In truth, the issue is not “how does it work,” but “will it help me to live a better life?”

Want to know how it can help? Check out the Frequently Asked Questions about Chinese medicine for more on how you can benefit from this medicine!

 

What is right about you

It peppers prime-time TV with its post hypnotic suggestions that your life is lacking. Not enough; deficient, and somehow just a bit below the norm. It could be your naturally slightly shy and inward draw, or the way your smile has wrinkled your eyes, or that your body does not match the latest Barbie doll impossible standard. We are rarely sold on being content with ourselves. So the relentless assault on who we are and how feel infuses the evening airways, as pharmaceutical solutions to man-made problems whispers a constant stream of discontent. Anxious? Take Paxil. Acid reflux? Take this little purple pill. Depressed? Ask you doctor if the drug of the week is right for you. Regardless of what discomfort you have, we have a swallowable solution.

Consider though that what we think is wrong with us, just might be what is right about us.

Feeling sadness over the loss of a loved one, disappointment about a professional setback, anxiety about a new opportunity, or frustration with a relationship that has navigated itself onto the rocks is not necessarily due to the lack of a chemical in your brain, or something missing from your blood. Life brings us the very challenges that will open the next doors of opportunity. It may be inconvenient and it generally feels unsought, but the depression we feel, or anxiety that bubbles up in our throat just might be exactly what we need.

Consider this, do you want to be the kind of person that does not feel empty and destroyed at the loss of a loved one? Why would you not want to feel fluttery and excited about embarking on a new opportunity, where you taking a risk on your own behalf? What if that acid reflux was in fact your key to losing that 20 pounds you have been nagging yourself about, or if that sleep problem was actually your true voice seeking an audience with you?

It just might be that what you think is wrong with you is actually what’s right about you.

What if those lines in your face are the outward traces of your true character? If the weight you carry is the simple expression of your habits– habits that have been begging for an update.

What if the thing you think is wrong about you, in fact is what’s right about you? Imagine making friends with your shyness, grief, sadness, or frustration. What if your loneliness, or love of solitude, or unremitting slight sense of discontent is in fact a vital motive force that keeps you creatively engaged with your world?

Consider that what you think is wrong with you, just might not be something to be medicated away, but a gift awaiting your unwrapping.

Category Archives: For consideration

Jane Lewis in Saint Louis

jane lewisJane Lewis is a facilitator who works with groups and individuals to help them uncover hidden resources and reinvigorate dreams tucked away on dusty shelves. She is also a skilled and deeply compassionate practitioner of Biodynamic Cranial Touch with a capacity to listen delicately to what is present, but not spoken.

Jane has been practicing and teaching craniosacral touch for over a decade in Taiwan and elsewhere around the world.

We are delighted that Jane will visit St. Louis May 22 through 29 and will offer her healing services at Yong Kang Clinic.

You will be in experienced, respectful hands. This is a rare opportunity to work with a master of art!

 

At Yong Kang Clinic Jane is offering:

  1. The Fortune Cookie Process, a 1.5 to 2 hour inquiry into a thorny problem
  2. Rewriting the Lease on Your Life, for those ready to engage the big (and seemingly impossible) dream or to bridge the chasm between where you are and where you wish to be
  3. Biodynamic Craniosacral Sessions
  4. Frame-Shifting Cranial Touch Workshop, Saturday May 25 (Taster event from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday May 23)

Read on for details. Or for specific questions email Jane.
To book some time with Jane, call the clinic at 314-821-9642.

 

There is no self we can construct that will survive a real conversation. -David Whyte

(1) Fortune cookie process

Let’s say you have a thorny question you are wrestling with, and it’s just not resolving by itself. What do you do? Most people find themselves at times stuck with a problem, not really able to do anything and thus stay stuck. But action is what unlocks everything. The burning question is what action?

lighting the wayWhat if you could just quickly pick up a fortune cookie with the answer inside? Well, it’s not quite that fast, but almost, and there’s lots of great learning as you arrive at your own decision for an action. With a fortune cookie session, people are surprised when a “question only process” opens up their thinking and moves them from stuck with no (or few) attractive ideas, to having a number of good ones to pick from. You’ll be guided through open questions to your own (frequently surprising) decision for an action you are ready to take. Once action starts, things seem to change, by themselves, and you are no longer stuck. This process is great for individuals who have an issue they seem to be constantly stumbling over, and great for groups working on a project as it builds natural teamwork.

The “work part” takes 1.5 hours, but count on 2 hours total with getting settled, and all.
US$150 (suitable for from 1 – 8 people)
When making an appointment, let us know how many people will be coming.

 

“Only when we admit that we have “no way” do we have any hope of finding one.”

 

(2) The “Re-write the Lease on Your Life” process

Ever wish you were another person — or yourself with another life? Maybe you feel split, with a part of you wanting to start a totally new project, and another part holding tightly to a lifeless status quo. Maybe you’ve just run out of juice and those things that feel attractive seem impossible.

It’s time for a new map of the territory … but how to redraw it? Bring on the re-write! fortuneThis process is a deep, fast-moving exploration that taps into multiple intelligence processes. Transforms underlying contradictions into resources, clarifies strengths you already possess and unearths hidden resources to help you navigate the inevitable challenges and opportunities that accompany any journey of change.

At the end of this process you come away feeling things are profoundly different. You will have your own map of what’s there, and how to navigate it. This is about creating from the perspective of the future. And it has a profound effect on your outlook and definition of reality.

There are two stages to this process. In the “learn while planning loop” we go through five distinct and creative Q/A processes that result in a personalized map of the whole territory you are working with.

The second stage involves three follow-up sessions (the learn while doing loop). These sessions will be scheduled at approximately 1-month intervals. The time working together will be at least 10-15 hours over 3-4 months. Be prepared to be surprised by the motivation that just appears naturally for the future for which you have been waiting.

US$1,200.

 

“Let the forces that created the body heal the body”

(3) Biodynamic cranial touch

This work, at a deep level, helps you re-familiarize with your natural state of health. That natural state that perhaps you dimly remember from another time, but over the years has become hidden or masked as a response to past or present emotional and physical injury or disharmony. There is no drug or treatment method outside of yourself that intimately knows your own unique blueprint for wellbeing. This gentle process reintroduces you to that restorative resource that is always waiting quietly inside each and every one of us.

This deeply rejuvenating work can be great at supporting deep lifestyle change of any type. The work is not intended primarily to be therapeutic or medical, although it does have medical and therapeutic effects, and sometimes is downright transformative.

Common issues people come with are -
- Any type of “mysterious” body condition whose source is unknown or is not responding in expected ways
- Repetitive emotional loops
- Anything feeling deep and stuck
- Long-term conditions where you are in an unsatisfying holding pattern
- Nervous disorders
- Long-term stress (it can have the effect of a deep vacation – and you can ask for a double session if it feels like this is what you need)
- Chronic tension of the neck and shoulders

“It has been my experience that presence is a more powerful catalyst for change than analysis and that we can know beyond doubt things we can never understand.  My Grandfather’s Blessings by Rachel Remen”

What happens in a session?

You come in; meet Jane and orient a bit to what you are working on. You lie (fully clothed) on a comfortable massage table.

wavesOnce the session begins, there is minimal talk. It’s quiet, and there is very light touch applied in a way that allows your nervous system to go into a neutral mode and allow for a deep experience of Stillness. You may feel you are dreaming or floating. Or you may feel muscle, breath, or energetic shifts and releases. Some shifts are subtle and barely noticeable, some are like bubbles popping from somewhere inside. Most people come out of a session with an unusually quiet sense of wellbeing.

Cranial touch sessions are US$120 for 1-1.5 hours of work together (count on 2 hours of your time as you may want to linger in the clinic for spell after your session)

Although not necessary, it is effective to book three sessions to encourage the body as it releases orientation to old patterns. (3 sessions, USD$300)

 

(4) Frame-Shifting Cranial Touch
This is a very short focused intervention that can be delivered in as little as three minutes, but having 8-10 minutes brings more profound results.
Through very light and caring touch (to the head and upper chest) all types of pain and discomfort, either physical or mental can be reduced and sometimes completely “dissolved.”

Who can learn and use FSCT?
Massage therapists and other body workers, nurses, parents, aunts, uncles, therapists, hospice workers, acupuncturists, or chiropractors. Really, anyone who works with people butterfliesand is able to lay your hands on them will benefit from knowing how to apply this profoundly quieting and effective technique.

Thursday evening May 23rd at 7-8pm we will be offering a free “taster” at the clinic. Come and try it out, or watch and see how you can learn to do it. (Please RSVP)

Saturday May 25 from 9:30-4:30 Jane will be offering an FSCT class at Yong Kang clinic.
In the workshop, you will learn two levels of FSCT that you can use for other people and yourself. You will not only learn a skill to help your clients, family or friends, but also reduce or release your own pain or discomfort as well.

The tuition is $97, and there is space for up to 12 people.

Jane is also available for doing these sessions at the clinic, the cost $20.

 

Life offers its wisdom generously.  Everything teaches.  Not everyone learns.  Life asks of us the same thing we have been asked in every class:  “Stay awake.” “Pay attention.”  But paying attention is no simple matter.  It requires us not to be distracted by expectations, past experiences, labels and masks. It asks that we not jump to conclusions and remain open to surprise.
My Grandfather’s Blessings by Rachel Remen

The Side Effects of Symptom Control

It’s not just the warnings on the label. The headaches or nausea, issues with balance or continence that go with along with the therapeutic effect of pharmaceutical medication. It is the longer term issues that are also a concern.

How does the drug you are taking now effect your life in 5 years, or 10, or 20? Will the treatment you receive today set you up for other problems down the road? Does the short term effect of cajoling your body into a chemical and peptide imbalance sow the seeds of future illness?


Masking symptoms vs healing imbalances

It is possible, and often quite effective, to still the symptoms that took you to the doctor in the first place. But, like pulling the battery from a smoke alarm’s annoying squeal, you just might put yourself in more harm’s way. It’s a decision that you have to make for yourself. Is it better to pay attention to the alarm’s call, be it a bad case of acne, bout of depression, or menstrual period gone off the rails, or to silence it with medications that mask, but do nothing to address the underlying condition. Lack of symptoms does not mean the underlying condition that gave rise to them has resolved.

Take for example irregular periods. A regiment of birth control pills will regulate the cycle for as long as you take the medicine. But, once those drugs are stopped the irregular periods will once again show themselves. Why? Because while hormones can force the body to march to its endocrinological call, they do nothing to address the source of the irregularly.

Likewise, for those who suffer from acid reflux or GERD, a proton pump inhibitor like Prilosec, Nexium or Prevacid can treat the symptoms, but at the expense of your stomach producing less acid. The problem is not that you have too much acid in your stomach, but that there is a functional imbalance that allows the acid to flow into places that it should not. Having a lower level of acid in your stomach means you will not digest your food as well, and thus end up with deficiencies that lead to weak bones, increased risk of food allergies and disturbances in the beneficial bacteria of the gut that result in the overgrowth of pathogenic bugs like Clostridim difficile.

You can put a fresh coat of paint on water damaged wood, but that does not change the fact that the underlying structure has been compromised.

What does this mean for me in the future?

Most of us would not be willing to buy a house in an area with unstable soil, or that was prone to flooding. It could be a beautiful structure, and with an enticingly low price. But, a glimpse down the road suggests trouble and most of us would give it a pass.

You do have a choice in how you address your health concerns. All those side effects listed in 5 point type on that tissue of paper that comes with your prescription are a clue as to how in the long run these drugs may lead you into a new and entirely different set of problems. Many of the functional imbalances for which pharmaceutical medicine offers only symptomatic relief and side effects can be corrected by your body on its own with the use of acupuncture.

Have questions? Discuss it with your acupuncturist!

 

Resolve

Forget resolutions. Work on resolve. Work on fortitude, on depth, on the core of what calls and informs your greatest joy and foundational dreams.

cup of inspirationForget the small goals of losing X pounds, or making a particular figure of $$$. Forget about the habits you label bad and unleash your inner policeman. Dismiss your constant prayer of “this is not enough, or I don’t like that.” These in fact are the guardians of stasis. These are the ways we keep ourselves small, and distance us from the life that may be lived outside the artificial safety of the rules that we imagine will keep us safe.

Forget about the details, go for the throat of the monster. Dare the dreaming that may discomfort your family and cause the neighbors to whisper and sigh. Forget the specific action or behavior you conjure as a reminder that life is lacking, and instead name the larger process you want to unfold.

Three words. Three guideposts. Virtues, values or guiding constellations. Three guiding principles for the year.

Perseverance. Intuition. Joy.
Commit. Create. Clarify.
Flow. Simplicity. Authenticity.
Depth. Persistence. Bridges.

Perhaps the resolution is “more travel,”but go deeper to the resolve which is “Joy.”
Perhaps the resolution is “lose 20 pounds,” but the deeper impulse is to cultivate the resolve of “Sacred.”
Perhaps the resolution is “not get angry at my spouse,” but the deep well of “Presence” is what seeks expression.

Find your three words. Or better yet, let them find you. You’ll know it when they bloom a certain sense in your heart. Choose three for this year. And work them with resolve!

Found your inspiration?— share them here in the comments.

Facilitative Questioning

This is a demonstration of Jane Lewis using the process of facilitative questioning to get to the heart of what began as an unspoken dilemma. This process can be done with an individual or group to help the inquirer find an action they are ready to take with a difficult problem. Clarity often brings its own pathway to resolution.

The process in a nutshell:

  • Go over guidelines (Total time. Midway break to assess process. At the end an action will be named.)
  • Set a timer.
  • State the question, and have person give 1-2 minutes of background.
  • Then begin with questions about the situation. Answers to be in the form of statements. (helpful to have a note taker to track these)
  • Statements can only be made in response to questions (If someone starts making statements without there being a question. Then pause and clarify the unasked question.)
  • Midway through do a short assessment and revisit original question. Is this still the relevant question?
  • At the end the inquirer names the action they will take.
  • Ask if the process was helpful, and how.
  • Done!

If you would like to get Jane’s help with a sticky question of your own, email her, contact her on Skype at HawaiiBreeze.

 

Low bone density reports from a bone scan are not a Fosamax deficiency

Chinese medicine in Taiwan

When I left the USA early in 2001 to see if I could learn to wrap my brain around the Chinese language there were precious few advertisements on TV for drugs. When I returned again five years later it was as if suddenly the United States population had fallen in a chronic state of dis-ease, as every hour of every day blast forth a televised plea to treat conditions that could be controlled (not cured, but controlled) by some chemical cocktail of molecular magic.

Be it shyness, or reflux, furballs or a general sense of unwellbeing. There is a drug for you. Just ask your doctor.

Time and again we are reminded that health and wellbeing come not from how we live our lives, but from a designer pharmaceutical. That we can medicate away the effects of our choices in life. That there is something wrong in our lives in all their quirky glory, and thus the need for treatment—the need for a drug.

The other day I had a patient who came in and told me she had had a bone scan and the doctor wanted to put her on Fosamax. She was having none of it. “Low bone density does not mean I have a Fosamax deficiency!” she extolled.
Do you see it too? How a test result equals the need for a life-long drug prescription?
What if we made a different kind of sense from those test results?

The information we obtain from lab work, various scans, and biomedical imaging are all useful and relevant. But, what about taking those results and using it as motivation to improve your diet? Commit and follow through on exercise? Use acupuncture, or Tai Chi, or massage, or herbs that can shift your physiology without a lifetime commitment?

Actually, there are options, and plenty of them.

ticket to yong kangIt is common knowledge these days that moderate weight bearing exercise will build your bones. Eating well, increasing the high calcium food, ramping up the green leafy vegetables, and making sure you are getting enough Vitamin D are all things you can naturally do for yourself everyday to support strong bones.

Yes, low bone density is a problem. And there are plenty of side-effect free ways of turning that problem around.

Bone density is but one example; there are plenty of other situations that would also benefit from your attentive intervention. And do consider that health does not come from a pill. It comes from the choices and actions you take on a daily basis.

Are there times when pharmaceutical medications are essential? Absolutely! But, before you fill that prescription from your doctor, ask if there are other ways to achieve the results you are looking for. Or spend some time doing your own research on the Internet. Or ask us if there is something we can do with acupuncture and herbs that will help you gain the balance and robust health and wellbeing you seek.

Remember, test results are information—they are not a prescription!

Discovery

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The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not “Eureka!”, but “That’s funny…”
~Isaac Asimov

We like to think that the practice of medicine rides the rails of reason and logic. That there are codified answers to our inquiries. That an expert has an answer.
Often enough this is indeed the case.

But, there are those moments, and they are not infrequent, when we as practitioners think “huh, that’s weird.” Sometimes we toss it aside as useless and inconvenient. As it is outside our expected norm, we can discard it as inconsequential.  These moments, if taken as a gift of curiousity, can break our frame and give us the opportunity to learn something new.

What makes a good doctor? That is a difficult to answer question, but I suspect that one trait is their ability to notice and act upon that which elicts a “huh, that’s strange.”

 

Gratitude

In our consumer driven world of manufactured discontent, gratitude is the antidote to feeling emptiness and lack. Oddly enough, here in the USA we have a day of gratitude just before the onslaught of advertising that whispers a constant stream of diminishment. Perhaps it is one of those odd “messages in a bottle” that the universe presents as a puzzle of contradiction– that gratitude and connection in a moment of quiet opens the door to the deep reserves of support and abundance that are always waiting, like still water below life’s surface activity.

It is easy to focus on what is missing in our lives. All the more so when advertisement driven media relentlessly suggests and cajoles that what you have, and more importantly who you are, is not enough. That the accumulation of years is to be medicated or surgically enhanced. That the toys in our garage need an update. That our relationships would go better should we possess the product prayerfully flashing out from our flatscreen window of wonder.

There indeed are reasons in life for discontent, but few have to do with the urgent messages extolling us to open our wallets. There are moments in life when we come face to face with the harvest of an ill sown crop. Realize we are following a path not of our own choosing, or lost sight of a guiding star. It might be that life takes away its generous gifts and we feel stranded and alone. Especially in these times when we feel the world shift and our hope ebb away, the practice of gratitude reminds us of the deep resources that only may be claimed– they are not available for purchase.

Gratitude is not a pollyanna practice of propped up smiles, but a deep soulful appreciation for the vast wonder, forgiveness and support that is available even in the dark times. Indeed it can banish the shadow with a just glimmer of its light.

The simple stuff is the most helpful

This is a guest post from Ashley Kuykendall, who interned at Yong Kang during the summer

If you would have told me a year ago that I would be spending the summer before my senior year of high school doing an internship with an acupuncturist, I probably would’ve given you the same look that the curriculum coordinator gave me when I asked her if she would work with me to set up my internship at Yong Kang clinic. Although, I have to say, it’s something I’m very glad I did! I spent about a month shadowing Dr. Max and I learned so much, but so little in comparison to the wealth of knowledge that is circulating the world of Chinese medicine. The majority of my time at YK was spent shadowing Dr. Max as he talked with, examined, and treated patients. I even got to do some pulse and tongue diagnosis of my own. All along the way, I read literature about Chinese medicine and the different techniques that are used, but I found that the most helpful thing I learned was how to do the simple stuff.

The miraculous thing about Chinese medicine is that it incorporates theories that people have put into practice for many, many years. These therapies are gentle and self-stimulating in so far as the change in your health comes from your own body (with the help of some acupuncture needles or herbs, of course). The basic, underlying tenants of Chinese medicine are interesting, and they make me question what I know about how the human body works. As Dr. Max and I discussed, any treatment that makes people say “That’s so weird!” is a good one, because if nothing else, it sparks curiosity for them to want to learn more and ask the bigger questions: “What is this doing?” “How is this working?” “Why do needles in my elbow help my knee pain?” In order to ignite the flame that alternative therapies could be, people need to start asking questions. This is the main reason why I ended up doing my internship at Dr. Max’s clinic. I had a lot of questions about what kinds of therapies he had and why his treatments worked. Even though I had been using acupuncture for a while, but did not know what was really happening in my body.

Beyond the science is the practice, which I learned, can be the tough part of Chinese medicine. I’m certainly not qualified to treat patients or hypothesize beyond a partially educated guess about their conditions, but along the way, I have learned a few things that will help me for the rest of my life. Most of them are to help other people; some will help me to gather information, so I can understand more about them. The best illustration of this came when I was nearing the end of my time at the clinic.

One day, I was sitting at the breakfast table at my office job, talking to one of the girls at work. She commented on the fact that I was drinking ice water, saying that she couldn’t imagine drinking something that cold. It was then that I pointed out that she was drinking hot coffee…and it was 105 degrees outside. I went on to ask her if she had an affinity for other hot things like hot showers, or summer time temperatures. Not surprisingly, she did. She then went on to tell me about digestive issues that she has as well as some problems with headaches. It became clear to me very quickly what was going on with her; however, from her perspective, it was just a bunch of random things happening at the same time. Her obsession with heat, she told me, is “just the way she is.” What I told her was that, from a Chinese perspective, all of her symptoms fit perfectly together in a pattern for internal cold, and suggested that she try drinking some ginger tea to see if that would help with some of her problems. She immediately responded, telling me that she craves ginger occasionally. Her body was already attempting to lead her to a natural remedy. This tea is a really simple solution that I’d heard Dr. Max pass on to several patients–she’s going to give it a try.

Another piece of information that I learned is how to better focus on what my own body is telling me as well as what other people’s bodies are saying. I’ve found that, more often than not, you can gather a wealth of information from what a person is doing or how they are saying something, rather than from the words that they are actually speaking. Personality traits and general body composition play a big role in Chinese medicine, and knowing a bit of background about this area can really help in figuring out whether or not people have a susceptibility to certain health problems, or if they tend toward one particular illness pattern or another. One such thing is spotting a red tip of the tongue with someone who has been suffering from insomnia. While this isn’t a remedy, it is a diagnostic tool. It’s helpful because it serves as a starting point to figuring out what else might be going on with that person. I also learned about acupressure points that can be helpful in ‘curing’ the common cold, neck pain, and headaches. All of these are good remedies to know so that I am more equipped to help the people that I care about, which is really what medicine is all about.

I frequently find myself educating people, ever so slightly, about natural therapies that could be used as alternates to what they’re utilizing. Most of the time, I illicit a response chock full of confusion and doubt, but instead of being discouraged, I view it as an opportunity for growth. Never underestimate the impact that you could have on someone’s life by simply telling them that acupuncture or herbs are options. While at the clinic, I saw patients with chronic symptoms lessen significantly and side effects of chemotherapy diminished. I saw examples of successful fertility treatments, and balanced approaches to curing women’s issues. Acupuncture isn’t for everyone, but it could be. Everyone deserves the chance to have an alternative avenue for healthcare and general well-being. As for us, the people who have already discovered the gift of acupuncture, the best thing we can do is spread the word. Tell someone, or everyone you know about acupuncture and how it can help. Afford someone the opportunity to bring their life and their health into balance the natural way.

How does Chinese medicine work?

I get this question all the time, but I think there is actually another question that is lurking beneath this one–
The real question being “is this stuff trustworthy?”

Acupuncturists commonly point to 1000′s years of collective clinical experience, but this is a poor substitute for how our Western cultivated minds parse life through the filters of modern biology and pharmaceutically targeted molecular chemistry. We understand medicine to be a collection of laboratory facts and figures. But, Chinese medicine is not so concerned with the microscopic symphony, and therein lays one of its hidden powers– its ability to understand how interconnected life processes, unfold, evolve and change.

Western medicine is profoundly powerful at both describing life changes on a micro level and understanding the dynamics of disease processes. But, it is Chinese medicine’s perspective on how life unfolds at the human level and its ability to access and treat both healthy and aberrant life processes that is its greatest strength.

Just as a garden is not simply a spreadsheet of nutrients, chemical interactions and temperature charts, but an act of ongoing cultivation and attention. And like a field biologist learns to dance between micro and macro views of the environment to understand how each interplays with the other, so too do Chinese medicine practitioners learn to connect the dots between observable phenomena and the underlying processes that influence our state of health and wellbeing.

Chinese medicine is not Western medicine. This seems obvious enough. But, when we start to think about Chinese medicine it is almost impossible not to bring along our Western map of the medical terrain. We know how to think about Western medicine– we swim in that ocean. The challenge is that using the Western mind to understand the constructs of Chinese medicine is not unlike taking the grammar of one language and forcing it onto another. Not only are nuance and precision lost, but the basic way we parse meaning gets terribly mangled.

How does Chinese medicine work?
It is like asking a gardener to describe what they do using the language only of organic chemistry. When the real question is how do you cultivate a delicious tomato, a strawberry bursting with springtime, or soil that can not help but bring forth vital life.

In truth, the issue is not “how does it work,” but “will it help me to live a better life?”

Want to know how it can help? Check out the Frequently Asked Questions about Chinese medicine for more on how you can benefit from this medicine!

 

What is right about you

It peppers prime-time TV with its post hypnotic suggestions that your life is lacking. Not enough; deficient, and somehow just a bit below the norm. It could be your naturally slightly shy and inward draw, or the way your smile has wrinkled your eyes, or that your body does not match the latest Barbie doll impossible standard. We are rarely sold on being content with ourselves. So the relentless assault on who we are and how feel infuses the evening airways, as pharmaceutical solutions to man-made problems whispers a constant stream of discontent. Anxious? Take Paxil. Acid reflux? Take this little purple pill. Depressed? Ask you doctor if the drug of the week is right for you. Regardless of what discomfort you have, we have a swallowable solution.

Consider though that what we think is wrong with us, just might be what is right about us.

Feeling sadness over the loss of a loved one, disappointment about a professional setback, anxiety about a new opportunity, or frustration with a relationship that has navigated itself onto the rocks is not necessarily due to the lack of a chemical in your brain, or something missing from your blood. Life brings us the very challenges that will open the next doors of opportunity. It may be inconvenient and it generally feels unsought, but the depression we feel, or anxiety that bubbles up in our throat just might be exactly what we need.

Consider this, do you want to be the kind of person that does not feel empty and destroyed at the loss of a loved one? Why would you not want to feel fluttery and excited about embarking on a new opportunity, where you taking a risk on your own behalf? What if that acid reflux was in fact your key to losing that 20 pounds you have been nagging yourself about, or if that sleep problem was actually your true voice seeking an audience with you?

It just might be that what you think is wrong with you is actually what’s right about you.

What if those lines in your face are the outward traces of your true character? If the weight you carry is the simple expression of your habits– habits that have been begging for an update.

What if the thing you think is wrong about you, in fact is what’s right about you? Imagine making friends with your shyness, grief, sadness, or frustration. What if your loneliness, or love of solitude, or unremitting slight sense of discontent is in fact a vital motive force that keeps you creatively engaged with your world?

Consider that what you think is wrong with you, just might not be something to be medicated away, but a gift awaiting your unwrapping.