Revision

– we all know this, although you may not have seen it presented this way before. Reading from the RIGHT to the left – we see what our culture wants us to see – just the first aspect – the physical ORGAN liver. If we move back towards the left, we see what acupuncture has taught us.
WESTERN MEDICINE
MORE ESTOTERIC ACUPUNCTURE
TCM ACUPUNCTURE

We all know what the Liver Qi services – and what happens when it is somehow unable to perform.
What do we do past thinking sedating a Liver point? Herbs?
Suggesting life changes?

A lot of what we see is overlain with Stuck Liver Qi. Possibly if we moved some of this first, a lot of what it is doing to the other aspects of everything – that we may erroneously make a hasty diagnosis upon – may also change.
WARNING - it is painful sometimes initially

To start here I suggest that the person is warm, and lying comfortably face down. Your hands must be warm and inviting. This is a lot easier the more YOU do and also the more the technique is applied on the person. I would not suggest it happen the first time for someone who is premenstrual, or if very upset as already they have the Liver Qi antagonized.

You need to start laterally close to the spine, having ‘walked’ the skin backwards from the sides of the body, with your palmar surfaces of your whole hand. The thumb pads are holding the flesh and the fingers are ‘walking’ across the body. You are picking up in a sort of pinching motion and slowly and in a meditative state, almost stripping the flesh away from the underlying muscles – going towards the sides.

Done sensitively, it feels very tight, but good. It also feels better the SLOWER you go – the firmer and the more fluid a motion you can capture.
You are not using finger tips, or pinching. It is a liquid movement and once you are at the sides, you use your hands – in full contact with the back to sweep back to the spine to start again, slightly lower than the last sweep.

This is done in a gentle manner – as though stroking them. It is also to gather up as much loose skin as you can, so there is more to work with. Everyone is very different – and after a few of these sessions the skin will be even looser. Some are almost impossible to work with – all the more reason to. It’s always les painful in subsequent attempts. It is often less sore the second side, so it there is a tighter side – do it last.

Going lower each time, you stop at the waist level. There could be a reddening under your fingers and expect the side you have done to feel looser if you go back again.
Some parts may really hurt. They are not being precious – it IS stuck and it is being forced to be mobilised. A lot may come up – often tears or the need to let go somehow.

After finishing one side, sweep away all that has been gathered on the surface. Broad sweeps outwards and downwards, and flick it off your hands.

It is energy – don’t worry about what it looks like to anyone else. If you do not do this, they feel odd. It is as though you have swept the leaves up and left them in a pile – for the wind to blow them about again, rather than finishing the job . . .

OTHER SIDE

Repeat, this process on the other side, starting at above bra strap level and gradually working your way down the back to the waist. Work in a zigzag movement – straight across, then diagonally down – about 20 degrees.

It is a ’walking’ movement – the thumbs are pushing away from the spine, gripping the skin as they go, and the fingers are very firmly walking and gripping up more under them as they proceed.
It can often hurt a lot at the sides.

Once finished, please sweep off in a downwards and outwards fashion, flicking the hands off the body as though getting rid of whatever you mobilised. Don’t just ever do one side, as it is a great loosener and they will feel very lopsided if they are not equally done.

I usually do this as a beginning to the rest of the back ‘wakeup’ – a little massage to get them used to being touched and also to shake down some of the obvious tension they carry in with them.

DISCUSSION

When making the DVD “Birthing – What Dads Can Do” in front of a live audience, comprised of very pregnant couples and midwives, I for the first time saw how potent this technique is.

Usually I do this with a person as part of their acupuncture treatment - it is a simple matter of turning everyone over and working on their back, even if only for a literal minute. The even cursory action of some of these moves really frees everything up.

In the case of the entire room – after talking through what we were going to do, all men started working in their very pregnant partners. After completing this, all women very regally arose and sort of sailed over to their seats and placed themselves upon them.

The change in the energy of the room was amazing – it was that easy – a simple matter of freeing up their Stuck Liver Qi – and all looked taller, easier within their bodies and a lot calmer/happier.
As part of the birth preparation sequences, it is also a stand alone for all manner of Digestive
Emotional
Structural issues
This means that the heartburn/reflux that plagues later pregnancy does not need to – although looking to the common mistakes in eating within the manual “What Dads Can Do” or available on www.heatherbruce.com.au may also be required to stop her inadvertently creating the problem.

In filming this sequence for this presentation, the ‘patient’ experienced a relieving of her upper back and neck tension. I used the entire back Rolfing- like process on a young lad who suffers from strong migraines (he would not have needles). All the occipital wind points and bilateral GB 41, Liver 14, Gb 24 and S11, 9’s that had been very tender prior to the massage were either greatly relieved or absent afterwards.

This is something that can be moderated for small children – especially as a gentle bonding technique, which also undoes the tension that is stored when asthmatic.

Sheridan:

“It definitely got me thinking and am doing things differently.
I am now more aware of blockages and am not automatically coupling the 8 extras as we do in the Japanese style.”