09/02/2025
In Chinese medicine, everything is connected. Pathways of energy flows through the chakra system and is regulated through the meridian system. Homeostasis is achievd through balancing the qui. Modalities for balancing qui is through accupressure, massage, meditation and accupuncture. Ayurvedic medicine is very similar. That’s two very large countries/societal systems that almost entirely agree with each other. And they have both been around waaaaaaay longer than our western civilisation and measly 250 years as a nation. Hmmmm wonder if they have something here?
There is a feminine side and a masculine side to the body and certain health issues and emotional issues that arise when these meridians are blocked.
When I first graduated from massage school I discovered I could see colors while offering massage. It took a while for me to realize what was happening. I was seeing blockages in the energy system. Sometimes the colors were blue, sometimes red, violet, dark murky green…I also was intuitively working on myself with massage trying to cope with my undiagnosed Lyme disease. My instructor, (who taught our chinese medicine class, who is a doctor of chinese medicine and acupuncturist) picked up on the fact that when I was massaging my own body in class, I was following meridian lines. Something i had no idea even existed before that moment. Lyme and past trauma had me blocked everywhere.
When a client presents with blue energy pouring off of them they are holding back something that needs to be said. If I am massaging the shoulders it could be grief that is silencing them due to the lung meridian that flows through the shoulder area. If it’s a particular side of the body, it could have been caused by a male or female relationship that caused trauma. Sometimes this also presents with heat. Heat during massage happens frequently when muscles are released, it opens the energetic systems in that area and sometimes that presents as colors and heat or tears or sobbing or pain. If it’s on the right side of the body it could have to do with trauma around a masculine and on the left side, with a feminine. When the pain is there, i find it extremely helpful to lean in to the pain which might present with crying, or yelling. Holding back the voice has caused more blackages for me then just accepting that it hurts. Within a few minutes my body has let it go and there is no more pain in the area.
The Lung meridian for instance will be clogged when experiencing grief. The lung meridian is in the shoulders. If that grief is being repressed to the point of not being able to talk about it, it presents as blue energy, feeling unheard, repressed, silenced.
I’ve experienced this in my own body. In my shoulders, in my stomach, in my legs, crying without having an awareness of why. After sittig with it, it goes away and may never come back. If the behaviors and situations continue that caused the pain in the first place it may come back.
The body, when experiencing trauma, tightens the fascia, or the fascia becomes extra sticky, fascia is where emotions are held in the body, it then also clenches muscles, which can cause pressure on the lymphatic systems as well, all of which can then clog the meridian system. It’s all connected.
This trauma can be a car accident, a relationship, an emotional grief really just anything that is experienced as trauma. The best way to heal this is by rubbing it, touching it and acknowledging the pain…notice this is what we do when children get hurt? Imagine what it does to an adult who has never had their pain validated or acknowledged, either through doctors who don’t listen or partners who have failed them or even as far back as children? Thats a lot of built up pain!
The skeletal system is run/moved by muscles but what runs the muscular system? The nervous system. When the nervous system is in a place of hypervigilance, (waiting for the next shoe to drop, fear, unable to rest, looking over the shoulder) it cannot relax enough to let go of the trauma. The nervous system has to feel safe, seen, regulated to be able to do that. Imagine in you have a nervous system disorder or damage to your nervous system from something like parkinsons, alzheimers, Lyme disease etc. That would be a huge task!! Imagine having your nervous system poked at by bullies or a chaotic society that never lets you relax?!? It promotes more disease, anxiety, tension, fear, affecting your health and well being. Stress is the #1 killer.
Thats where massage therapy comes in. Even while working deep tissue, I am keeping an eye on your nervous system by feeling how your muscles are responding. This is pretty challenging especially when the knee jerk reaction is to clench when a knot is found (cuz knots are painful!) so there has to be a balance of enough pressure to release the knot but also get the nervous system to let go.
There are those I can literally feel their pain in my own body. It tells me where to go. That is sometimes how I am able to read your body. Sometimes it’s the colors I see that guide me. Sometimes its the fascia im following and sometimes I get a picture in my minds eye that tells me. Sometimes it tells me before it has communicated to you or before you have noticed it. It depends on the energetic connection between us as a practitioner. Yes I’m protecting my energy which sometimes blocks flow of information.
We are all entirely a mess of nervous system, knots, trauma, and products of our society. We have to slow down and give the nervous system a chance to regulate. We weren’t supposed to be this way. Every day life can feel like absolute trauma to a body. Bills, running to appointments, falling off your bicycle, car accident, not eating properly, bad habits. Whew! Sometimes just slowing down and regulating the nervous system can feel traumatic and produce anxiety and fear simply because it is so foreign and not accustomed to being in anything other than fight or flight.
May we all find balance. I hope I’ve inspired you to get a massage, go do some yoga, or get accupunture or meditate and to take care of your interconnected systems!!
