Home Page What is Acupuncture? What Happens in an Acupuncture Treatment? About Sacred Acupuncture Clinic Los Gatos Clinic Santa Cruz Clinic San Jose Free Clinic for Veterans San Jose Spiritual Journey Breath-Work Newsletter Documents and Talks Radio Show Juice Fasting and Detoxification Resume Biography Contact Qigong Classes Seminars Transformational Community Acupuncture Sacred Acupuncture Theater Poetry Links		Sacred Acupuncture                                       Sacred Acupuncture is my version of acupuncture. As a patient I think you will find this type of acupuncture can do anything that acupuncture is well known for - it can relieve pain, improve energy, turn around many chronic disease patterns. In addition to this, in the process of healing the physical, Sacred Acupuncture can provide healing for the emotional and Mental components of our nature. As a patient in a Sacred Acupuncture treatment you can learn a lot about yourself, and this normally shows you how to stay healthy. Here is a 30 minute response to the question "What is acupuncture?" and "How does it work?" Just click on the link and your browser  should be able to play the mp3 sound file, you can also download it to your computer or mp3 player: "What is acupuncture?"      a sound file.   "Sacred Acupuncture is a new mythos from an old wisdom. The turning of the great Wheel of the Dharma- which is the cycle of human evolution, requires that we reinvigorate the ancient knowledge of how we are made, and of what we are made. This is an elucidation of human evolution, human form and the processes of healing. If we can heal ourselves wholly, we can all become servants of the Good and responsible caretakers of our beautiful planet Earth. Our future can be glorious" - Adam Atman Sacred Acupuncture is a description of how the principles which give rise to the Universe also generate human beings, and how these principles are mapped within the human system. This understanding is anything but new, but its expression sometimes needs renewing. Sacred Acupuncture is a series of revelations about the nature of the human energy systems. It is my understanding that the ideas expressed within Traditional Chinese Medicine are not mere cultural artifacts or superstitions. They are an elucidation of a cosmic order that we humans are an expression of. I believe that the core ideas of Traditional Chinese Medicine arose from the personal revelations and understandings of a group of ancient physician / shaman / meditators. These original revelations described the nature of many of the subtle energies and constructs within the Qi and Shen body. I think that it is our responsibility to re-express these insights, so that our knowledge in the area of the subtle mechanics of the body keeps pace with the vast increase in our societal knowledge of the physical realm. In my experience the subtle architecture of the energy channels is universal, and it’s imprint can be discovered within modern western anatomy and physiology. This architecture can also be traced within other knowledge systems and described relative to the chakras, the subtle bodies, psychology and many other fields of knowledge from many different cultures. These insights have come to me as a result of 32 years of Qigong practice, culminating in a series of revelations arising from the enquiry “of what am I made?” I believe that at this time there is a turning of the great Wheel of Dharma- the cycle of human evolution- which requires that we reinvigorate the ancient knowledge of acupuncture described by the seers of 2,500 years ago. Sacred acupuncture views humans as being comprised of five parts: a physical body, an etheric or Qi body, a mental or Shen body, a causal or Ling body and a universal or Tao nature, which is not really a 'body' except in the universal sense. Sacred acupuncture asserts that in this new 2,500 year historical cycle it is the understanding of the inter-relationships between these 'bodies' that is an important key to harmony and to healing. Sacred Acupuncture is thus an understanding of our four-bodied, five-fold nature, and it is a way of healing by using the inter-relationships between our four-bodies, and our non-embodied nature. Sacred Acupuncture involves a detailed examination of the mysteries of embryology. At conception, the beginning of human life, there is an unfolding of the Five Forces (Five elements) . This is a sequential and experiential penetration of the five realms of animal evolution. What happens is that the newly incarnating human being experiences life as unicellular, then as insectoid, then as reptilian, then as mammalian and then finally as human. These five stages of evolution correspond to five different types of consciousness, and to the classical five elements of Taoist philosophy, Earth, Metal, Water, Wood and Fire. These are better translated as the Five Forces. These five forces also generate the biological guiding intelligences of the body design - the spirits of the five internal organ systems. Sacred Acupuncture is based on the understanding that the human system is a replication of the five-fold universe itself; that we consist of a physical body, three subtle bodies - the etheric, mental and causal bodies; and finally a non-embodied consciousness. Sacred Acupuncture is an examination of how we are formed from the moment of conception; how we are formed by the underlying forces of the five-fold nature of the universe, and how these forces give rise to the various layers of the energy system, generating the three Dan-Tian, the four bodies, the four primary modifications of consciousness, the five Zang organs, the five primary emotions, the seven chakras, the eight extraordinary channels, the nine orifices, the ten Rays and windows of Heaven, the 11 channels and finally the 12 regular acupuncture meridians. Sacred Acupuncture is both a system of understanding and a system of healing. Here is a beautiful quote about aupuncture from my first spiritual teacher Osho:   Acupuncture is utterly Eastern. So when you approach any Eastern science with the Western mind, you miss many things. Your whole approach is different; it is methodical, it is logical, analytical. And the Eastern sciences are not really sciences, but arts. The whole thing depends on whether you can shift your energies from the intellect to the intuitive, whether you can shift from male to female, from Yang to Yin. Can you become passive/receptive? Only then do these things work. Otherwise you can learn all about acupuncture and it will not be acupuncture at all. You will know all about it, but not it. And sometimes it happens that a person may not know much about it and knows it; but then it is a knack - just an insight in to it. When you come to an acupuncturist, the disease is not important. The “patient” is important, because it is the patient who has created the disease. The cause is in the patient; the disease is only a symptom. You can change the symptom and another symptom will come up. You can force this disease by drugs, you can stop its expression; but then the disease will assert itself somewhere else and with more danger, more force - with a vengeance. The next disease will be more difficult to tackle than the first. You drug it, but then the third disease will be even more difficult. Acupuncture deals with the cause. And how can you get to the cause? Reason cannot go to the cause; it can only tackle the effect. Only meditation can get to the cause. So acupuncture will feel the “patient.” He will forget his knowledge; he will just try to get in tune with the “patient.” He will feel en rapport; he will start feeling a bridge with the “patient.” When you touch anyone’s body, or you work with needles, you are working on God. One has to be very respectful, very hesitant. One has to work not out of knowledge, but out of Love. Knowledge is never adequate; it is not enough. So feel for the person. And always feel inadequate, because knowledge is limited and the other person is an entire world, almost infinite . . . It is a mystery and is going to remain a mystery forever. It is not something accidental - that man is a mystery. Mystery is his very being. quoted from 'From Medication to Meditation' by Osho 1996   Details of Sacred Acupuncture Methods what distinguishes Sacred Acupuncture treatment from regular acupuncture treatment? In Sacred Acupuncture I seek to address all of the levels of a human being. The view of Sacred Acupuncture is that the imbalance could occur on any level, or every level. This needs to be diagnosed, so that treatment can address the exact location of the imbalance. Ling Dao Healing FIrst I perform Ling Dao. For the patient Ling Dao just involves lying down while I stand with my hands lightly resting on the Solar plexus or held above the body. I may not speak for a short while. In my experience at this time the healer connects to the 'Ling', the archangels or Meta-Devas of the Causal realms. The influence of the Ling start to move through the healer's body and into the patient's body. This is the Ling Dao part of the treatment. As a patient you may feel nothing in particular, or it may feel pleasant. What is Ling Dao Healing? Ling Dao is a way of healing with the archangelic presences. Each of the three Dan Tian (the belly, chest and head) and the seven chakras is associated with an archangelic essence, known in Taoism as a 'Hun'. These essences descend from above and can be accessed through the fifth, sixth and seventh chakras as a form of Healing. The Chinese word 'Ling' is the same as the Japanese character 'Rei' which is used in the word 'Reiki'. Reiki literally means the Qi (Japanese Ki) of the 'Ling', the angelic and archangelic realms. Dao means a way, a path, literally a way to walk. The character is composed of two radicals - one implies a path, or movement along a path, the other radical implies a head. Thus Dao has been translated as "the Way ahead" or "the path ahead". I use the term Ling Dao in this context to mean the path and the way by which the Ling, the archangelic presences, pass through the head in their downward movement to generate healing within any of the subtle bodies or the physical body. This is a movement from the seventh to the sixth and then to the fifth chakra and to the rest of the body. Shen Gong Healing Then there is a Shen Gong assessment. for details of this see assessments. In Shen Gong there is often more conscious involvement. The Archangelic energies are transferring down from the seventh to the sixth chakra, behind the eyes. There is often an "aha!" as the illness or imbalance is seen. At this point treatment often commences as the archangelic beings move through the Mental realm, the Shen realm. They carry out a healing, via the Hun, which is often not really felt like very much except as a certain pleasant relaxation. Their healing penetrates the Mental or Shen body. Although often not cognized by the patient it is sinking into the system and will catalyze change later. During Shen Gong treatment I might also use essential oils, rattle, moxa - smudging and other tools, often as a bridge to the Qigong phase of treatment. What is Shen Gong Healing? Shen means consciousness but it implies mind. Gong means skill or ability. It is composed of a radical meaning effort, work, and a radical meaning force - literally wielding a powerful sword or knife. Shen Gong thus means the skillful application of the Shen - the Mental realm. In Shen Gong Healing we use various techniques to help us marshal the Hun, the angelic beings or Devic intelligences within the Shen body. The Shen body is the Mental realm. The Ling act upon the Mental body, and within the Mental body the Hun - the angelic forces are generated which move the treatment in the direction it needs to go. This is the first aspect of Shen Gong treatment. It affects the Mental body. Thus Shen Gong healing is a spiritually evocative and/or exorcistic method of healing, depending on whether we are working on the Hun or the P'o or both. Qigong Healing This command is carried by the Hun also into the Qi body. Now the acupuncture channel network is directly involved. The beneficial P'o are cultivated and the sickness P'o are eliminated. This is a second phase of treatment involving rectification of the P'o, which are the innate intelligences, the instinctive consciousnesses of the organs. This phase of the treatment is normally more 'palpable'. You might feel energy moving in your body, within it and even around it, or mind states moving and interesting emotional openings. At this stage I might place my hands over different parts of your body to facilitate the healing. What is Qigong Healing? At a certain point the Hun, which are the beneficial angelic forces commanded by the Ling, generate a sense of vibration at the fifth chakra - the throat which catalyzes change in the etheric or 'Qi' body. As the healing momentum is converted into vibration then a new phase of healing commences. Here the density of entrapment of Shen energy into the Qi body can be broken up. Conversely an insufficient influence of the Shen over an organ or tissue or body part for example, can be corrected. This vibration can work wonders and it guides all the more physical treatment modalities in the Sacred Acupuncture session. This vibration can work upon the Shen body as well as the Qi body, and it reaches into the physical body. This vibration generated at the fifth chakra is a tool of the sixth chakra to enable healing. It naturally empowers treatment. In this phase the Hun or angelic beings act upon the P'o - especially the beneficial Earth-spirits, which vibrationally penetrate the acupuncture channels and areas of Qi blockage. They drive out the negative parasitic P'o entities and their associated degraded Shen negative energies. This is essentially exorcism or 'Xie' misnamed as sedating techniques in modern acupuncture. They also allow the penetration of the Hun, carrying the bright Shen frequency of health and healing to penetrate into the etheric fluidium, the substance of the Qi body. This is 'Bu', misnamed as tonification in modern acupuncture. It can more accurately be translated and understood as 'filling in holes' 'mending' 'patching' or 'repairing'. The conclusion of the Sacred Acupuncture treatment Normally after a period of treatment which has moved through the four layers, from Ling Dao to Shen Gong to Qigong to physical treatment I will leave you resting for a while with the needles in. I might also put crystals and other subtle energy devices on your body. I may also use essential oils. During this time there is generally no pain from the needles, but lots of patients experience different energy sensations in their body. This resting time is useful for integration and if often bypasses the conscious mind. While patients are lying and relaxing on the treatment table the healing is sinking in. Many times patients will report falling into a deep sleep state, where they are as if asleep yet still present. I try to keep the patient warm and comfortable during this resting period. After a while the patient is 'done', which is often a distinct feeling for both patient and healer. I try to honor this, but sometimes working with other patients precludes me from immediately taking out the acupuncture needles when the psychic 'done' signal is received. There is no harm in going past this point a little. However, If a patient is in any serious discomfort they are encouraged to summon me with a bell or their voice, at any time during their treatment. After the needles are removed the patient is given privacy to get changed and then we may examine further treatment options:         Health Assessment                      All illness is imbalance. All my assessments of health are based on an intuitive grasp of where the illness or imbalance lies. This means I assess whether the illness is within the Ancestor realm or the mental realm or the Qi or the physical body. I look at its quality and I receive an understanding of what caused this imbalance and what  would heal this imbalance. Shen Gong and Qigong Assessment Once I start knowing what is going on, this is Shen Gong assessment and treatment. I might just continue resting my hands on the solar plexus for a while, or I might move them to some other part of the body. This level of assessment and treatment primarily addresses the Shen level of treatment. At some point I will normally start to see the energy fields of the imbalance, the nature of the imbalance. This is the Medical Qigong assessment and treatment. Traditional Oriental Medical Assessment Oriental medicine uses a complete system of health analysis based on traditional body signs. To do this examination I primarily just look at you, to assess which organ system is dominant and which needs support. The shape of the body and the face reveals the constitution. I feel the pulses at each wrist and I look at your tongue. in Oriental medicine this gives us an understanding of the vital energy or Chi (Qi) and the quality of blood in the different organs. I may also ask you questions to clarify the internal organ patterns. Understanding which organ system is weaker and which is stronger can make all the difference in effective treatment. Eight Extraordinary Channel Assessment I might perform assessment of the eight Extraordinary Channels. This is a form of Medical Qigong assessment. I can normally do this by resting my hands on the solar plexus region and using a subvocalized Qigong sound to 'feel' the energy flow of these eight deep pathways. Acupuncture channel assessment I often perform assessment of the 24 acupuncture channels. I do this by placing my hand on either a hand or foot point for a particular channel, and placing my other hand on the other end of that channel, at the head or the chest. This is also a form of Medical Qigong assessment. Herbal Assessment  In Oriental assessment the diagnostic understanding of the energy balance of the internal organs and the Qi of the channels automatically gives rise to a selection of possible traditional herbal remedies. Vibrational Remedy Assessment As we talk about your health I may seek to grasp the whole 'picture' or archetype of your health condition. This can enable me to suggest a vibrational remedy for you. Finding such a matching remedy can shift a health condition more swiftly in the direction of healing. Nutritional Assessment We may use testing methods designed to find out if any nutritional deficiencies are contributing to an ill health condition, or to assess if the diet needs to be modified to support vibrant good health. I normally acquire this information as a result of empirical knowledge and via a Shen Gong assessment process.       I look forward to connecting with You!