Yarra Valley Community Acupuncture

05/07/2017

I've recently embarked on a new ritual of morning swims.
I'll have a jog or do a bike ride as well to throw in a bit of fitness training in there but the swim is really where my edge is in terms of personal growth.
I keep getting asked, as an acupuncturist, "Where does Chinese medicine stand on the issue of cold exposure?"
There are concepts in TCM such as wind-cold invasion that warn against the penetrative effects of cold, which along side common sense, make us question the wisdom of jumping into a river in the frosty dawn.
From personal experience I've come to see that changing my attitude and beliefs have been the single biggest factor in enabling me to go, from rating a winter dawn swim somewhere alongside snorting wasabi, in terms of a bad idea, to rating it highly as a life enhancing and affirming practice.
Where I was previously carried out of the water by a life preserving impulse in a matter of milliseconds after entry, I'm now able to feel warm even after 4 minutes of immersion, and this transformation occurring within the space of only a few days. I don't say this to boast but to point out that in that time my body didn't drastically change. It was my attitude and beliefs that did.
You see, when I first jumped in, under the guidance of a friend, Richmond, who's been doing this training for a few months, my emotional body was telling me that I was in a life threatening situation, and I was believing it.
Day two, Richmond shared some theories on why this is a common experience for many. He enabled me to see that there is a physical experience and an emotional reaction that are erroneously collapsing into one perception. The emotional reaction can be so strong that we actually disassociate from our body, withdrawing our Qi at the same time. In my case the Qi withdrew to the furtherest place it could from the water which happened to be at the top of my head. The next time I went in I attempted to actually be with the sensations that were occurring and to connect the belly with the breath to keep me embodied.
I experienced some pretty significant pain and saw the disassociation response in action but stayed present.
I lasted about a minute. A great achievement.
The next day was longer with less pain and this has continued to be the trend.
So what's actually been occurring in my body to align with this change in perspective?
In a nutshell, instead of withdrawing my Qi, I'm investing it. Through experience I have developed confidence in my body's ability to meet the cold challenge. And herein lies the whole point. This is what would make it worth someone's while to find a body of water in the twilight hours of the morning and peel off those reassuring layers down to the quivering, goose pimpled, bare essentials and to jump in screaming whatever name of the divine leaps from the mouth like a cat fleeing a burning building.
I've come to see that I'm either some degree of cold or some degree of warm towards each and every experience that I have throughout this life.
Cold is a contracting force. We tend to want to contract from the cold but in doing so, we become the cold.
In the same way that I contracted my Qi on that first day in the water, the results aren't so hot when I go cold on stuff. When I warm to the cold, things take on a whole new glow.
Vim Hof says, "I don't tolerate the cold. I love it".
Check out his videos on YouTube if this topic interests you.

29/06/2017

31/05/2017

Here are some useful insights to aid digestion...

Is the question "what to eat?" Or "when to eat?"?
Essay by Murray Goodchild
I like to fast every now and then. I do it as much for the clarity of mind that results as for the physical purifying effects.
You might think it strange but what I like to do when I'm fasting is to look through cook books. It's so easy to take food for granted in our affluent society. When deprived of it, it is, for me, invariably restored to a divine status, a gift of heaven and earth and reading cookbooks becomes a devotional study.
By the time the fast ends I'm very clear as to what I want to eat and how I want to prepare and eat it. It's never the cake or chocolate. These are superficial cravings that subside quickly during the fast for me. What remains are truer and truer rememberances of what truly nourishes me.
Beetroot featured heavily in my most recent fast and when it was time I made a roast beetroot salad with goat's cheese and rocket!
A greater insight occurred as a result of this most recent 3-day fast though, which was not so much about what I eat but when.
In my reading I learnt that the liver governs the catabolic (breaking down) and anabolic (building up) processes in the body.
The former begins a 4am every day. Digestion is part of this process.
At 4pm every day the Liver switches into the anabolic process using the nutrients derived during the day for restoration and repair.
In light of this, eating a big meal at night time is swimming against the tide of the body's rhythms.
This helps explain the heaviness experienced in my body upon waking after a heavy evening meal, accompanied by a niggling anxiety that has been a fairly typical and ongoing experience for me.
Upon finishing the fast I resolved to eat my main meal during the day and a light soup for dinner. Thankfully my wife has willingly partnered me in this new regime. I have been waking earlier, needing less sleep, and feeling lighter, happier and clearer upon waking and am experiencing more energy during the day with less emotional ups and downs.
I'm not so much focusing on what I eat for the rest of the day but find that good choices are coming to me more naturally and if I do lash out a bit and have that cheese cake, the overall impact on my digestive balance is way, way less than if I was to eat the same thing at night, which typically would have preceded a landslide of bad choices to follow.
I can't help but wonder how much of the confusion about WHAT to eat might be resolved by changing the focus to WHEN we eat.
Of course, if like me you have an Anglo-Saxon background you'll probably be used to eating the main meal at night. No doubt there are some cultural hurdles to be jumped if you're considering implementing what I'm suggesting, and getting the rest of the family on board will make the whole transition a happier one, but when you consider the costs verses the benefits through giving it a trial, you may discover, like me and my family, that it's a no-brainer.

Murray practices from Jing's multi-bed acupuncture clinic on Monday and Wednesday afternoons and runs a meditation class at 12:15 on Mondays in the Jing Space

08/03/2017

Dear friends
As of 1st March, multi-bed acupuncture treatments are now $60.
Look forward to serving you in the future
Cheers
Murray

22/02/2017

Some reflections on the search for peace

I was treating a person who expressed their ultimate goal as attaining a state of peace. Although this was their objective nothing in their energy reflected this state. In their being was massive resistance, the need to control and fear of the unknown, all of which required constant and considerable effort. I postulated that their desire for peace was a actually a desire for release from the constant effort they were exerting.

"Peace" in this case, isn't really a goal based on an innate and positive motivation. It is more of a reaction to the suffering of being trapped between fear and resistance; a negative motivation in that it desires the not-happening of something.

It's like that exercise where someone asks you to not think of a black cat. Of course when I ask my mind to not think "black cat", a black cat appears.

The only solution I know of is to think of something else instead.
As the treatment progressed we managed to discover a direction towards a future of possibilities and to make steps in that direction. This was accompanied by a feeling of enthusiasm and aliveness. Not exactly "peace", but certainly more peaceful than before. The peace became a byproduct of a positive action.

This case study raises some important concerns at a cultural level.
Can a calling for peace have any effect in the absence of a positive movement towards something?

And if the answer is no, then surely this positive movement needs to come from within each individual to have any meaning.
To find this heart's desire requires a vigilant attentiveness to one's inner world, but if true peace, not only for ourselves but for the world, is the fruit then surely it's worth the effort.

Murray practices acupuncture from Jing’s multi-bed clinic on Monday and Wednesday afternoons.

25/08/2016

Some seasonal reflections from Peace Farm's resident Permi-puncturist

25/08/2016

The Sap is Rising!

The metaphor of us being like a tree is a great help in understanding how we change along with the seasons.
The leaves fall in winter as their energy recedes to the deep inner places as does ours.
And in Spring the blossoms bloom and it's all about the birds and the bees Baby! Yeah. Oh behave....(Austin Powers fans??)
The Liver energy has awakened and the sap is rising. The Chinese element in action is wood.
The sages of the ancient orient said that the soul resides in the blood which is ruled by the Liver.
The soul is the conjoining of spirit and matter. This is the same creative act of co-mingling of the masculine and feminine that is not only the initial spark that creates a new life but is also the ongoing requirement that perpetuates life within each of us from moment to moment through our blood.
In other words, our existence and sustenance right here and right now is only made possible by an on going love affair between Heaven and Earth.
Sexual power is more intrinsic than DNA in making up who we are.
And at the same time sexuality throws up some of the most difficult issues of our human condition.
One point in question is the exploitation of sexuality through marketing. The hope behind these messages is that we'll be compelled beyond our common sense to associate buying chips, soft drinks, watches, cars, diamond rings, ci******es, you name it...with getting laid. Or to be more articulate, actually with gaining Love, Affection and Acceptance.
And as we'll sometimes say to a heart broken friend even when we may not believe it ourselves, "you can't find these things outside of yourself until you can find them within."
Maybe it's true after all!
Maybe we've been trained to seek sexual fulfilment through external skirmishes when really the great love affair is happening within each of us right now if we were to only look and see.
What if life is flowing through us like a current and carrying along with it all manner of offerings to nourish and fulfil us.
Could we embrace the feminine within and let her be ravished by these offerings such that she pulled them into her, surrendering her will to remain unchanged and instead offering herself up to life's service, unleashing her ability to weave spirit into matter and through the Grace of the Heart's compassion and the sacred masculine, to then offer inspired gifts back out in to the world again.
I believe creation myths like the Garden of Eden are not about events of long ago but processes of creation happening right now.
So if we are a part of the sacred dance of the masculine and feminine which is both the yearning and fulfilment of our deepest desires, why are we led by a carrot in the hopes of finding gratification externally?
Is there something being offered to you that you're missing because you're looking for something else?
As stated in the Gospel of the Rolling Stones, "you can't always get what you want, but if you try some time, you might find, you get what you need".

Murray is available for acupuncture sessions at Peace Farm on Tues afternoons, Thurs mornings or by special appointment.

16/08/2016

Colds.
How good are they at slowing us down!
There are two camps when it comes to colds. One says it's good to get a cold once or twice a year and the other says it's a sign of weakness to catch a cold.
There's probably some truth to both but what I do know for sure is that I will rarely, if ever, slow down voluntarily as much as I do when I catch a cold.
When I am forced into mandatory
R & R I benefit on many levels.
Time in bed provides opportunities to take stock. In the ancient Orient physicians recognised that as the seasons changed, a different organ would take precedence in its role to align the body's physiology with the season's processes. This "change of the guard" constitutes a massive biological and phycological shift akin to the difference between sleeping and waking up.
In the transition from Winter to Spring the Liver takes over from the Kidneys. Transitioning from a winter dreaming state to spring out of bed and into action is best done with a pause in between, in my opinion.
The concerns of winter are not the concerns of spring. Were we to try to project our intentions from one season across to the next we might find ourselves feeling jaded and disconnected from the old motivations that once seemed relevant.
In the northern hemisphere the festival of Easter hints at a rebirth that occurs at this time of year symbolised by the egg.
To be reborn one must first experience a death but not many of us wave our hand in the air saying, "pick me! Pick me!", for that one.
Here's where the cold plays it's vital role.
When we're unable to willingly lay yesterday's dreams, wishes and hopes to rest, the cold does it for us. Our old skin along with buckets of snot are left behind as the new tender shoot of who we are to become emerges.
If you're down with a loogy at the moment take heart that your body is providing a space for you to recalibrate so you can be as fresh as Spring is in order to meet it fully.
If you've got a lingering cold that you're having trouble shaking, check in to see if there's anything you need to let go of so that the new can emerge. Seen in this light a cold can be embraced as a powerful agent for transformation.

11/08/2016

Do we really want freedom to choose?

I'd expect most people, when asked whether they like the freedom to choose, to say yes. Yet I think, truly having freedom to choose is what terrifies us most.
Do we really want a choice?
Let's look at the idea of "the one true love". A romantic notion perhaps, that we are fated to meet that one other who will complete us.
I carried this notion, buoyed by the encouragement of modern media, up until the age of 32. This idea stayed with me this whole time while promising partners did not. I had been championing an idea that sacrificed choice on the altar of fate. I actually preferred the idea that meeting my true love was written in the stars. I preferred it up until I noticed that my relationships were playing out a sadly predictable plot that ended in failure over and over again.
Seeing no future in this path, I abandoned it and arrived at a terrifying place.
Choice.
Without my belief in a fated encounter there was only choice. This is when I truly got how scary that is. It was comforting to think that the fatalistic nature of some matters was bigger than me.
Oh the joys of deferred responsibility!
But Oh the misery of all those disappointments.
I'm happy to say that the only relationship that I truly chose is in its 10th year.
Why it has succeeded where all my other relationships failed is that I know it exists upon my choice and so I sustain it by choosing moment by moment. My wife does the same. Interestingly, when I came to a place of choosing, I met someone who had also arrived at this place. We both chose each other and still do.

May all beings be happy
Love
Murray
(Practising acupuncture from Peace Farm on Tues pm & Thurs am)

03/07/2016

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia will offer acupuncture to all of its patients beginning in July, joining a growing number of pediatric medical centers providing alternative therapies.

01/06/2016

A student once asked his meditation teacher, "how do you manage to stay so equanimous?"
The teacher replied that he wasn't always equanimous. "If you shut me in a room with my brother for an hour we'd be at each other's throats. But that's not the point", he continued. "It's how quickly you can return to centre that's important".
Staying balanced is not always easy but it can be made all the more difficult if we beat ourselves up for "straying from the path".
I find the concept of rhythm is helpful in this case.
Consider that rhythm is like a pendulum swinging. Tick, tick, tick...
Ticking away like an old grandfather clock. It's a rhythm, not a very interesting one though.
What if you did 2 ticks to the left then a late tick to the right....mixed it up a little heading in a funky direction. Next thing you know, you're dancing.
Rhythm is boring when it's symmetrical, engaging when it's syncopated....to a point. You don't want to over-do it.
I think life can be the same. I like balance but I don't want to be ridged about it.
I don't want to go to extremes either. The beat still needs to stay connected.
Rhythm also brings power to balance through timing. Like catching a wave right when it's peaking.
Consider trying to surf before the wave has come. Sounds ridiculous right? But isn't that what we do? Scared to miss out we rush in before the time is right.
I find that the more I'm aware of working with rhythms in my life, those fewer actions that I perform are more powerful and effective because I'm catching that wave when IT is ready and letting it propel me.
Doubt is a real spoiler of timing. You second guess and the wave either passes or dumps you.
Doubt's a killer of rhythm and therefore a saboteur of power . Thankfully rhythm is compelling and can overcome doubt if we give over to it. To do this we need to dethrone thought as the sole guiding principle. We need to reconnect to how it feels to have resonance with something. Resonance implies vibration that moves in waves. Surfing is instinctive. Dancing is soulful and works best when it feels good.
If you're feeling doubtful, ambivalent or lethargic how about putting on your favourite dance tune and having a little boogie....and when the song ends, keep on dancing, finding the rhythm you enjoy to help you remember,
"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance..."

The author, Murray, practices acupuncture at Peace Farm clinic on Tues afternoons and Thursday mornings

01/06/2016

I recently sat a meditation retreat and wanted to share some insights around leadership

11/05/2016

We say we've come to terms with something when we feel a sense of acceptance typically after an ordeal.
A "term" is a word or phrase used to describe a specific thing or concept.
This implies that coming to acceptance requires having a concept of what we're dealing with.
You often see this in clinical situations. A patient has a mysterious pain and doesn't know why. Their mind is taunted by grizzly possibilities of what might be wrong.
The doctor then diagnoses the cause and gives it a name and the patient's relief is palpable. A "term" has been offered which the patient may now come to. The process of coming to terms is a highly personal process requiring patience and some introspection but concepts offered from external sources along the way can help tailor the type of personal understanding required.
Now, if the acceptance one reaches when they've come to terms with something is a step on the path to healing, then why is this so? What is it about coming to a term that can facilitate healing?
My belief is that both modern and traditional medicines work in the same way in this respect. By offering a term for a particular ailment what comes included in the package is a theory of where the condition came from and what a probable outcome might be based on the outcomes of similar cases in the past.
In Chinese medicine we say moving Qi = health and non-moving Qi = disease.
Rewind to where our patient had a mysterious pain. Her mind made attempts to create a pathway forward but nothing offered gave reassurance or confidence and thus her Qi was stuck. The pathway she did create however was to go to a therapist who then offered a pathway forward. Now the prognosis offered might be favourable or gloomy but the sooner one comes to terms with either it or some other course of action, the sooner the Qi can move. This is an explanation of placebo from a Chinese medicine perspective.
There's also something called nacebo which is the inducing of a negative outcome through suggestion. So while coming to terms might seem to be a positive, one must be careful on whose terms they are on.
Knowing that the underlying benefit of this expression is the movement of Qi through a course of action, my advice would be, while opening to as much external wisdom as possible make sure that ultimately the path you choose is on YOUR terms.

Community Clinic operates Tues afternoons/evenings and Thurs mornings

04/05/2016

This is especially for those with lower back pain.

When we feel pain it's a natural response to want to disperse that feeling in order to resolve it, however it may not always be the best way to go especially in regards to lower back pain.
To explain, picture a hose spraying water. In order for the water to be transported through the hose the hose needs to resist the tension exerted by the water. If it doesn't, the hose will stretch and possibly spring a leak. Now you could blame the water pressure for the leak or you could look at the hose.
In either case you probably wouldn't say that the water needs to continue coming out of the leaky hole until the pressure resolves and yet this is what we are saying when we try to disperse the pressure associated with lower back pain.
Consider that the water in our hose analogy is energy and the hose is the energy channel or meridian or even the organ (most cases of lower back pain are connected to the kidneys).
Energy is moving and has a pressure as part of that dynamic. The organ's and meridian's job is to hold their form to conduct this energy. When an organ is depleted it may struggle to handle the pressure. The sides may bulge, so as to speak, and pain results. In this case we want to consolidate the organ/ channel rather than blow off the pressure.
Here's a meditation you might want to try to get an actual experience of what I'm pointing to.
Tune in to an area of pain. Notice if there is a feeling of contraction around the area. If not, scan around until you feel an area of contraction. (It is there, always, holding you together) Don't judge it. Contraction is useful for many bodily functions; peristalsis in the intestines and giving birth. Always delivering something from here to there. Get interested as to where this contraction is attempting to deliver this energy. Allow it and watch it. It may move. Follow it. Respect it. Be thankful for this work.
If you stay with this, something surprising may happen. Where as you may previously had tried to relieve the pressure, you have now cooperated with the contracting force and helped the body pull itself together and to move, smooth and balance the body's energy.
It's interesting that when I've done this I've found that other areas of the body relax. It's as if now that one part of the body has taken up the slack another can loosen up.
Good luck if you choose to give this a go. It takes something to get past the initial knee jerk reactivity when confronting pain to first come to presence and then to condone the contracting force and cooperate with it but just like giving birth, the pressure is helpful and it brings good things.

The author, Murray, practices acupuncture at Jing in Lilydale on Wednesdays and Peace Farm in Yarra Junction on Tuesdays and Thursdays

21/04/2016

Some thoughts on understanding by Peace Farm's resident acupuncturist

21/04/2016

Understanding is an interesting word. Taken literally it means to stand under. I think we all like to understand. It's the motivation for every question we ask.
So why is standing under such an appealing place to be?
Here's my view.
There's a particular quality to being in "not knowing" akin to falling as we cling to no-thing.
We often say, "let's get to the bottom of this", when we want to understand something. Allowing ourselves to fall for long enough can lead to insight. We reach the limits of the issue and we arrive at understanding. Now to stand under something implies that there's solid ground beneath to stand upon, indicating something real, a truth. Those moments are accompanied by a sense of deep relaxation (Aaahhh) sometimes followed by a clear sense of action (Ah ha!)
There's another process that can be mistaken for understanding which is instead to impose our beliefs, ie. our version of reality, upon a person, place or scenario. I can come up with 100 reasons for why he did that, why their relationship is like this or why she should do this, that and the other.
I might believe I'm right but the truth of the matter is that opinions are like ass-holes. Everybody has one and world peace still alludes us.
So how do I know when I'm understanding and when I'm just airing my opinion?
I've observed two key differences.
Accompanying understanding is a sense of compassion ("I see me in you", not, "I feel sorry for you")
And a sense of ease and resolution. The internal conflict ends. The truth sets us free. The situation improves independent of anything changing.
The second type of "knowing" is accompanied by tension and agitation and often leads to conflict. This version does not share understanding's proximity to solid ground so it takes effort to maintain. Lot's of effort expressed as bodily stress. Satisfying outcomes are unlikely.
Really which option we go for depends on how we are with not-knowing, being with the mystery. This is not something many of us learnt in school but it seems to me fundamental in reaching understanding. It seems fundamental if we are to be in relationships were there is space for the mystery of who we are and who we are becoming rather than the limitation of labels that we put on ourselves and others. And last but not least, learning to be with the mystery is good for our health. The Bladder meridian in Chinese Medicine runs the entire length of the body down the back. It occupies the back space and our capacity to be with mystery pivots on it. The Bladder along with the Kidneys are governed by the Water element and if the Kidneys were the water in the well then the bladder would be the bucket that gets lowered into the dark depths to bring this stuff of life to the surface. Notice this theme of getting to the bottom. The internal experience of the Bladder Qi descending to connect with the latent potential of the Kidneys can simulate the experience of falling. What this adds up to is that our ability to access latent potentials in ourselves depends on the ability to fall into the mystery long enough to reach understanding and then to come back up.
There's a cool technique practised by Tibetan monks to develop this ability. You simply allow yourself to fall back on to a bed, arms outstretched, again and again to get used to that feeling.
The most fundamental tenant of meditation practice for me is the cultivation of this ability. It seems ironic after all my struggles to attain some sense of authority and status, to be the "knower" that I now put forth this offering of no-thing-ness in the wish that it might aid in the journey of us becoming more united in ourselves and with each other.

13/04/2016

There are heaps of sayings that allude to the mind-body connection in very insightful ways. "He's a pain in the neck" and "I need to get something off my chest", are two examples.
Recently I observed, through meditation, the role that the Stomach plays in enabling one to hold a steadfast intention. The expression, "I couldn't stomach it", came to mind.
I have this tendency sometimes to quickly try to diffuse uncomfortable situations, particularly in encounters with others. It urks me when I realise afterwards that I missed an opportunity to break through into new territory or to deepen with someone. The ability to stay engaged and present with another through this tricky and uncertain terrain is a strength I admire in others and one which I intend to cultivate more of in myself.
I'm looking to strengthen the stomach as my access to this evolution.
If you think about the physiology of the stomach you may may see the parallels I'm pointing to.
The role of the stomach is to receive whatever we put in to our mouths and to hold it there and mull it over for as long as needed to complete that particular stage of digestion, making the appropriate nutrients available. When you consider that the stomach is the first port-of-call past the mouth you can appreciate it's resilience. Hot, cold, fizzy, spicy, sweet, salty, slimy, fatty. You name it, the stomach has to deal with it.
I know some people who can eat whatever they want and others who have to be very careful. When I think about their character types I notice that those who can stomach more can, well.....stomach more. They're not quick to embarrassment and are a bit more audacious than their more sensitive counterparts. They probably handle more stressful jobs, even enjoying the acidic nature of that environment.
So, if I want to enhance my ability to stand in the digestive fire long enough to access the deep nourishment of these rigorous morsels of life, how am I going to come at it?
Well, I'm starting by becoming more receptive to my stomach. Instead of subjecting it to the tyranny of my taste buds, I'm tuning in to see what it needs.
I'm taking more time both in choosing and preparing my foods as well as in ingesting. That means lots of chewing.
Saying Grace or giving thanks in some other way is not only good for developing gratitude, but for creating a pause between see-food and eat-food. This primes the stomach.
I'm going to play around with natural probiotics like kombucha tea, yoghurt and sourdough bread to maintain a healthy balance in my gut flora ecosystem.
I'm going to enjoy slow cooked bone broths to access the profound level of nutrients contained therein known as Jing......you may have heard of it.
And lastly I'm going to practice pausing before I answer to see if I can catch myself trying to avoid a more complex encounter that could potentially yield greater dividends.
I'm convinced that when I avoid these juicy encounters I'm more prone to compensate for this lack of robust nourishment with emotional eating, going for easy rewards to compensate for my gut-less-ness.....hey there's another one!