All Things Considered

What’s new?

Yesterday, as I was driving into the day I heard an interesting radio report on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” program. The program was about this guy in New York that is a Jazz Musician, Medical Laboratory Assistant and is also involved in medical research.

His area of research is in cardiac rhythm dysfunction. He says a “normal” heartbeat follows a 4-4 rhythm. As a jazz musician drummer he has been listening to rhythm for more than 60 years I would have to give him the benefit of the doubt and agree he knows rhythm.

“A healthy active heart follows a triplet rhythm, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3. A less healthy heart follows a four part rhythm, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4.” He believes that his research can address and correct the rhythm of the heart. Some time’s he uses physical sounds to accomplish this; sometimes he uses acupuncture and induces the rhythm through the needles. I would love to know how he does that!

I hope that you have read enough of my pages to know that I do not mean to sound disrespectful of his work or his intention. I am sure he is deep into what he is doing and I am sure there will be some good from his work. I just want to explore my thoughts that got stirred up when I heard this report.

What I thinking about is the connection between sound, rhythm and the heart.

In TCM the Heart is seen as the Emperor, the Sovereign that has overall responsibility for the smooth function of the entire organism. The Shen, or the Spirit, resides in the Heart and when one goes to sleep at night it is said that the “Shen comes to the Heart and the Yin energy embraces the Yang energy and the Spirit is allowed to rest in the Heart.” I think it is also interesting to remember that for a LOT of the history of TCM one could not treat the Heart directly as that was seen as implying that there was something wrong with the Emperor. There is nothing wrong with the Emperor, EVER. This explains why many of points on the Pericardium meridian are used affect the physical function of the Heart organ complex.

Nowadays we can and do treat the Heart meridian directly, however the energetics of the Heart meridian applies more to the ethereal nature of the Heart organ complex. By this I mean if I am treating for more physical substrate issues I will choose the Pericardium meridian but if I am treating more Shen or Spiritual aspects of a patient’s concerns I will usually choose the Heart Meridian.

Life is a continuous rhythmic dance, it ebbs and flows; it is dynamic, like a jazz rhythm. I find my balance and flow when I allow that dance to follow its own rhythm, not my mentalization of that rhythm. If I am forcing the rhythm I am not flowing with the rhythm of the Tao. If I am allowing the dance to flow through me I am not interrupting the flow of the Tao, my qi is vibrating and I am in vibrant health.

The rhythm of the Tao is, in my mind’s eye, like a spiral. A spiral expands and contracts, continuously; what is on the inside now comes out to the surface, what is on the surface now in-folds to the interior. The same is true for our lives. What is seen on the ‘outside’ is a hologram or reflection of what is true about our ‘inside.’ Any one part of a hologram that is exposed to light reflects the entire image of the source in three-dimension; if the entire source is lit the image is more ‘substantive’ and will appear to be more complete. The same is true for what we see in each other, if I can only see a part of you all of you is represented in that part, but it does not have all of the substance it would have if I could remove my blinders and see the rest of you. What I feel in the reflection of your pulses is “all of you” however if I can remove my blind spots I will see a more complete or holistic reflection of your beingness.

The pulses are the closest I can get to the physical substrate of the heart. The images of the pulses are described in poetic terms; scallion-stalk, bowstring, slippery, hidden, deep, vacuous, etc. But to someone trained in pulses each one has a unique, specific interpretation. The quality of a pulse can and does change from things as subtle as a frown from someone you love to the backfire of your neighbor’s car as it starts in the morning. Should it be any wonder if a pulse changes by a difference in rhythm?

There is another deeper, subtler aspect to Sound. But this is not the format for that discussion; if you have questions what I am referring to please e-mail me and I will be happy to explain.

In my evolution I am seeing more and more how everything is connected. What rhythm or vibration my physical body is exposed to is going to have an effect on every other part of my beingness. That is one reason I play very soft gentle music during my treatments. It mask’s the noises from the other rooms and it calms my patient down. But I still don’t think the only reason the pulses change during the course of the treatment is because of the music…

Then again, as I just said it is all interconnected. But that is nothing new.