True Health Acupuncture Blog

This is my favorite meditation. I learned it from my teacher, Bill Helm about 12 years ago and I have suggested it to many patients over the years. I believe that the nature of the mind is to think, and consequently many people new to meditation find the parctice of emptying your mind and "thinking of nothing" to be a challenge. This meditation engages your mind the entire way through so that you are able to relax and gain the benefits of meditation even if you normally can not "empty your mind." I have explained this meditation and sometimes given a quick drawing to describe it, and many patients have asked me for it again and again, so I am finaly writing it out for everyone to enjoy. I hope you like it as much as I do. 

 The Five Elements of Chinese medicine are, in order, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood. They correspond to the five major organ systems of Chinese medicine, the Heart, Spleen/Stomach, Lungs, Kidneys, and Liver. During this meditation you imagine the color associated with each system and with each breath draw that color into that organ. The time spent with each color/organ is not set, allow it go at your own pace, when you get tired of one color move on to the next and you will naturally spend the most time in the system you are weakest in. For most people this meditation takes about 30-40 minutes to complete, although the time is not set, find a comfortable spot, close  your eyes and begin.

 Imagine you are driving down the road with your gas pedal to the floor. Your car runs great and gets you to where you need to be. All is good. But then you look around and notice that everyone else is whizzing right by you. Determined to keep up with those around you, you take your car into the shop and have the mechanic give it a good once-over.

The mechanic finds that while you have been getting to where you need to be, you have been doing so while driving in only one gear. In actuality, he discovers that your car has an entire set of gears that have never even been utilized!

Many people live out their lives the same way; stuck in first gear and never living up to their full potential; not quite hurting, but definitely not at their best. The problem is that while most people realize that they simply are not living up to par, they don’t know how to access their hidden gearbox to take their health to the next level.