Acupuncture is energy medicine. I look at energy medicine as a complement to other approaches to medical care, addressing physical illness and emotional problems, and can also promote peak performances. There is article by Dr. Oz that says,"In therapies involving this form of medicine, believed that health is determined by the overall flow and balance of a person's vital life force energy. Imbalances or blockages in the natural flow of the subtle energy fields in the body cause illness." Energy Medicine deals with electromagnetic fields generated by the body. Even though we are not able to describe or measure the morphogenic fields, they exist. Regardless if acupuncture is considered Energy Medicine, it is certainly effective for countless conditions.
I believe that human intent may affect someone's health. Human intent is related to skill as well--if a western practitioner is highly skilled and has a bad attitude, it will eventually affect his work. If a practitioner has good intentions and is earnest with their work, the patient is comforted and I believe the healing process has already started. I have read that in some community acupuncture centers, the acupuncturist may place needles on a patient surrounding an area of pain, ignoring the actual meridian sites. He reported very positive results. The article we read in class, "Traditional Chinese acupuncture May Have No Point" could be misinterpreted. I believed it to be an article in favor for acupuncture even though they said that randomly placed needles were just as effective as "real" treatments. Granted that this was a very brief, non scientifically written article, I am happy that most of the patients responded well to the treatments. A college professor told me that playing violin is nothing if there is no intention and a gathering of energy right before producing any sound. As a future acupuncturist, I hope to be present and attentive to my patients. It is a pretty simple concept, and I believe that this is the first step in healing.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Week 10 Life and Living Systems
I know I am a living system because I am an organized living thing that depends on my environment. I am dependent on information, energy, and matter given to me by nature, my surroundings, my environment. I like the article we read in class, "Autopoietic Organization"--the comment of how when we speak of living things, we "presuppose something in common between them; otherwise we wouldn't put them in the same class we designate with the name living.". I know I am a living system by my interactions and confirmation with other and similar living beings. By western definition and a biological definition, I am living because I am composed by a network of cells and molecular life, and I have a heartbeat.
Biophysics and eastern medicine are related. Biophysics is composed of different fields of biology, physics, physiology, computer science; each academic institution makes its own rules and may place emphasis on a particular field. This is similar to Eastern medicine. Like biophysics, different acupuncture schools may place emphasis on certain historians or philosophers. Some people think Chinese herbs are more important than acupuncture. Some practitioners may emphasize bodywork instead of diet. There are so many doctrines which are based on yin and yang concepts, just like the way biophysics is based on biology and physics. This shows that Western concepts are not as easily defined as we like to generalize.
Biophysics and eastern medicine are related. Biophysics is composed of different fields of biology, physics, physiology, computer science; each academic institution makes its own rules and may place emphasis on a particular field. This is similar to Eastern medicine. Like biophysics, different acupuncture schools may place emphasis on certain historians or philosophers. Some people think Chinese herbs are more important than acupuncture. Some practitioners may emphasize bodywork instead of diet. There are so many doctrines which are based on yin and yang concepts, just like the way biophysics is based on biology and physics. This shows that Western concepts are not as easily defined as we like to generalize.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Week 9--Synthesis
My E Prime Day
Looking back on the series of events that occurred today, I think I remember my dog appearing happy that I was awake and that we could go on a run. If I'm remembering this correctly, I ate breakfast and I graded my college students quiz from last week. I think I was pleased that they seemed to understand my lectures from this semester. I practiced orchestra music to prepare for rehearsals this coming week. I have played Dvorak's New World Symphony before, and I think I recall playing this with my old roommate. In memory, I also recall certain passages that represent different scenes, birds, the rising sun. After I practiced today, I think I remember eating lunch with my sister and her husband. I think we went to Apple Hill and bought a box of Pink Lady apples and ate apple doughnuts. My sister seemed to really like some apple wine since she bought some for her friends. In memory, it was a nice Sunday, Pacific Standard Time, USA.
The Eastern ideas and Western ideas can be synthesized. Looking at the way I was raised is an example of how two cultures can combine. My mother is from Korea, and my father is American-Chinese. I don't know if I can say that any culture is completely independent or separate since we need to communicate. The idea that many if us were raised in a more western culture and studying acupuncture is another example of synthesis. Again, I don't think that western and eastern medicine is completely independent--I believe that Eastern beliefs and developments can marry and support Western ideas and scientific discoveries and visa versa.
Looking back on the series of events that occurred today, I think I remember my dog appearing happy that I was awake and that we could go on a run. If I'm remembering this correctly, I ate breakfast and I graded my college students quiz from last week. I think I was pleased that they seemed to understand my lectures from this semester. I practiced orchestra music to prepare for rehearsals this coming week. I have played Dvorak's New World Symphony before, and I think I recall playing this with my old roommate. In memory, I also recall certain passages that represent different scenes, birds, the rising sun. After I practiced today, I think I remember eating lunch with my sister and her husband. I think we went to Apple Hill and bought a box of Pink Lady apples and ate apple doughnuts. My sister seemed to really like some apple wine since she bought some for her friends. In memory, it was a nice Sunday, Pacific Standard Time, USA.
The Eastern ideas and Western ideas can be synthesized. Looking at the way I was raised is an example of how two cultures can combine. My mother is from Korea, and my father is American-Chinese. I don't know if I can say that any culture is completely independent or separate since we need to communicate. The idea that many if us were raised in a more western culture and studying acupuncture is another example of synthesis. Again, I don't think that western and eastern medicine is completely independent--I believe that Eastern beliefs and developments can marry and support Western ideas and scientific discoveries and visa versa.
Week 8--Classical Physics
Newtons 3 Laws and Me
1. Law of Inertia--I (the external force) pushed my friend's baby stroller (the object in the same state of motion) down th street.
2. A force causes only a change in velocity or acceleration--the greater the mass, the greater amount of force is needed. This can be applied to moving. I couldn't pick up certain boxes because they were so heavy, but my cousin had no problem with them since he is so much bigger than I.
3. For every action there is an equal reaction. My example with moving again; I was pushing a bookshelf into a corner of 2 walls. My cousin told me that I would knock the walls down if I pushed any harder. So in a sense, the wall was "pushing" back.
Energy can be neither created nor destroyed. I suppose that's how we can recycle energy. Since our body temperature gives off the same amount of heat as a lightbulb, perhaps we can someday manage to light our lightbulbs with the amount of heat we give off. We are coming up with ways to recycle, so we are being more sensitive to being more energy efficient. Entropy increases like the way heat is transferred. The third law explains how things really aren't perfect because absolute zero is impossible to reach.
Descartes used to think that thoughts and memories are not part of the "real world". But thoughts are just electrical impulses traveling across neural networks delivering information. The Cartesian way of thinking, that we are separate from nature, is not as accepted in society right now. This is probably a good thing since we will never be completely independent from natural wonders, such as how we react to the sun and food, or from each other.
1. Law of Inertia--I (the external force) pushed my friend's baby stroller (the object in the same state of motion) down th street.
2. A force causes only a change in velocity or acceleration--the greater the mass, the greater amount of force is needed. This can be applied to moving. I couldn't pick up certain boxes because they were so heavy, but my cousin had no problem with them since he is so much bigger than I.
3. For every action there is an equal reaction. My example with moving again; I was pushing a bookshelf into a corner of 2 walls. My cousin told me that I would knock the walls down if I pushed any harder. So in a sense, the wall was "pushing" back.
Energy can be neither created nor destroyed. I suppose that's how we can recycle energy. Since our body temperature gives off the same amount of heat as a lightbulb, perhaps we can someday manage to light our lightbulbs with the amount of heat we give off. We are coming up with ways to recycle, so we are being more sensitive to being more energy efficient. Entropy increases like the way heat is transferred. The third law explains how things really aren't perfect because absolute zero is impossible to reach.
Descartes used to think that thoughts and memories are not part of the "real world". But thoughts are just electrical impulses traveling across neural networks delivering information. The Cartesian way of thinking, that we are separate from nature, is not as accepted in society right now. This is probably a good thing since we will never be completely independent from natural wonders, such as how we react to the sun and food, or from each other.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Week 7--Ordered Chaos
The chaos theory shows us that nature most often works in patterns, which are caused by the sum of many tiny pulses, like butterfly wings. Sometimes I think that the earth is so complex and that the only way to predict her nature is that it is unpredictable. The chaos theory looks at these unpredictable patterns. The term "ordered chaos" can be applied to not only nature, but human body, history, art.
Fractals as patterns of complex systems is how we get order from disorder. Fractals can be used to create or be used to describe seemingly random patterns. Consciousness out of chaos, if I understand this correctly, is what Carl Jung was saying with his archetypes. In another way, we can look at our daily routine and say we have the perfect partner, a lovely place to live, fantastic job, but a sick dog. Maybe conciousness out of chaos should be conciousness out of "unbalanced". It's funny how one event that occurs can affect our daily routine, and suddenly our world seems like a disaster.
So with the help of a four year old boy, I did some of the experiements online on littleshop. We (unsuccessfully) tried dragging a 70 pound dog across the room to create static, an imbalance of positive and negative charges. Making a straw flute was not successful either, but we did do the Cartesian Diver and it worked. Basically playing with pressure inside the water bottle and a packet of ketchup made the packet float or sink. The site said that this is how submarines control their own depth.
Fractals as patterns of complex systems is how we get order from disorder. Fractals can be used to create or be used to describe seemingly random patterns. Consciousness out of chaos, if I understand this correctly, is what Carl Jung was saying with his archetypes. In another way, we can look at our daily routine and say we have the perfect partner, a lovely place to live, fantastic job, but a sick dog. Maybe conciousness out of chaos should be conciousness out of "unbalanced". It's funny how one event that occurs can affect our daily routine, and suddenly our world seems like a disaster.
So with the help of a four year old boy, I did some of the experiements online on littleshop. We (unsuccessfully) tried dragging a 70 pound dog across the room to create static, an imbalance of positive and negative charges. Making a straw flute was not successful either, but we did do the Cartesian Diver and it worked. Basically playing with pressure inside the water bottle and a packet of ketchup made the packet float or sink. The site said that this is how submarines control their own depth.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Week 6 vibrations
Not all vibrations are "good". When I think of vibrations, I generally think about music, conversations, things that are electrically charged. Oscillating magnetic waves in a microwave is great for heating up food, but it is also important to consider some risks that come along with standing in front of one. We are not sure what the safe amount of exposure is, and microwaving creates new compounds that are not found in humans or in nature, called radiolytic compounds--we don't know what they do to our bodies yet. I would say that this is generally bad.
Resonance in my world occurs every day. Wikipedia said that a musical instrument is a resonant system can be used to generate vibrations at a specific frequency. I like this explanation, because I can just picture my violin students trying to vibrato--they all have different speeds; some super fast and others super slow and wide.
Qi is often described as energy. In physics, energy can be transformed into different types of energy. We are filled with energy in warmth, with moving fluids, have discharging electrical impulses. Professions exist to work with our qi, to balance and correct the flow of our energy.
Resonance in my world occurs every day. Wikipedia said that a musical instrument is a resonant system can be used to generate vibrations at a specific frequency. I like this explanation, because I can just picture my violin students trying to vibrato--they all have different speeds; some super fast and others super slow and wide.
Qi is often described as energy. In physics, energy can be transformed into different types of energy. We are filled with energy in warmth, with moving fluids, have discharging electrical impulses. Professions exist to work with our qi, to balance and correct the flow of our energy.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Week 5--Symmetry and Sacred Geometry
My world tends to be more asymmetrical than symmetrical. I tend to think that asymmetrical means that things are "less perfect" or out of order, which is actually comforting for me. I do know that symmetry is looked at as perfection and beauty; it's pleasing to us. It was confusing to think of myself as symmetrical while looking at myself in the mirror--the exact opposite, but the right side of my reflection should be my left side.
The CP violation means that If we look out in space as far as we can see, all evidence says that the universe is made almost exclusively of matter, with little or no antimatter. Since matter and antimatter are basically just opposites of each other, why would there not be equal amounts of each? Fundamental properties of matter (and antimatter) determine how the universe has evolved, and that if there is indeed more matter, then at least some elementary particle interactions must display CP violation.
There are connections between sacred geometry and physics. The Fibonacci sequence in 1209 is still being used to build elaborate spirals found in nature, such as in trees, flowers, bee hives. The combination of physics and geometry explain how natural phenomena can actually work. The spirals are so fascinating--it is clear that nature is not so random, but has it's own order.
The CP violation means that If we look out in space as far as we can see, all evidence says that the universe is made almost exclusively of matter, with little or no antimatter. Since matter and antimatter are basically just opposites of each other, why would there not be equal amounts of each? Fundamental properties of matter (and antimatter) determine how the universe has evolved, and that if there is indeed more matter, then at least some elementary particle interactions must display CP violation.
There are connections between sacred geometry and physics. The Fibonacci sequence in 1209 is still being used to build elaborate spirals found in nature, such as in trees, flowers, bee hives. The combination of physics and geometry explain how natural phenomena can actually work. The spirals are so fascinating--it is clear that nature is not so random, but has it's own order.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Week 4
How has Einstein's famous formula affected me? He was basically saying that matter and energy are really different forms of the same thing. Matter can be turned into energy, and energy into matter. With his formula, scientists can explain how the sun releases energy, nuclear fission, stellar energy. This formula is still confusing to me; I know that this concept is profound and can explain how we receive warmth from the sun, that a walnut has enough potential energy to power a city, and that PET scans make use of Einstein's equation. I certainly don't understand the math parts, but I know that this has helped in many scientific, social, cosmic discoveries.
The four forces can be compared, but rely on each other and work to unify our universe. Gravity has the furthest reach, but is weakest in magnitude. Electromagnetic force maintains the interaction of particles with an electrical charge. Weak nuclear force is responsible for radioactive decay and strong nuclear force keeps nucleons together. Gravity, keeps the planets in orbit around the sun and the moon in orbit around the Earth. It's the force that keeps us on the ground, always attracting objects and never repels.
The four forces can be compared, but rely on each other and work to unify our universe. Gravity has the furthest reach, but is weakest in magnitude. Electromagnetic force maintains the interaction of particles with an electrical charge. Weak nuclear force is responsible for radioactive decay and strong nuclear force keeps nucleons together. Gravity, keeps the planets in orbit around the sun and the moon in orbit around the Earth. It's the force that keeps us on the ground, always attracting objects and never repels.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Synchronicity
Events may seemingly occur without any warning or meaning, but synchronicity is definitely something everyone has experienced. I see this in my mother, who is an avid dreamer. She has vivid dreams and often times, her dreams have 'come true'. There are so many coincidences, that have become more meaningful when I look back. Coincidence or not, I love the idea of synchronicity because it means that we are connected in some way.
This leads me connectivity! Of course we are all connected. That's how we feel a presence. The intention of whatever we do is so important--when we eventually treat someone, we cannot give our qi away, but work with the surroundings and the patient. We can 'read' each other, not just in physical movements or expressions, but feel what someone is feeling. I don't mean intuition, but something deeper that we cannot explain. 98% of our DNA has an unknown function--perhaps it will show that we are more connected to the universe and to each other.
This leads me connectivity! Of course we are all connected. That's how we feel a presence. The intention of whatever we do is so important--when we eventually treat someone, we cannot give our qi away, but work with the surroundings and the patient. We can 'read' each other, not just in physical movements or expressions, but feel what someone is feeling. I don't mean intuition, but something deeper that we cannot explain. 98% of our DNA has an unknown function--perhaps it will show that we are more connected to the universe and to each other.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Week 2
The more you know, the less you understand.
-Tao Tse
This week in class, we discussed the topic of uncertainty. I am reminded of this quotation because Heisenberg's uncertainty principle implies that particles can only described with limited accuracy. Ironically, the more momentum we understand, the less position in space makes sense, and visa versa. To me, it is clear that world is actually independent from our observations, and that nothing is certain.
The practical concept of cause and effect are very important and crucial to our survival. However, not all concepts can be explained--we talked about causality in class, especially when we talked about using our right and left brain. Our class agreed that we can afford to use our right brain a bit more. However, in terms of TCM, I believe that for our western society to be on board, scientific explanation and more research needs go be done. the more information provided/proven may be more comfortable for the more western mind.
Yes, I believe the universe is weird. I think it's fun to learn about the smallest entities which exist, and that light acts like a wave and flow of particles, and that there is a real principle which declares we can't know the exact location of a particle's momentum and position at the same time. So many ideas are uncertain and mysterious, but I also believe should do our best to explain them.
-Tao Tse
This week in class, we discussed the topic of uncertainty. I am reminded of this quotation because Heisenberg's uncertainty principle implies that particles can only described with limited accuracy. Ironically, the more momentum we understand, the less position in space makes sense, and visa versa. To me, it is clear that world is actually independent from our observations, and that nothing is certain.
The practical concept of cause and effect are very important and crucial to our survival. However, not all concepts can be explained--we talked about causality in class, especially when we talked about using our right and left brain. Our class agreed that we can afford to use our right brain a bit more. However, in terms of TCM, I believe that for our western society to be on board, scientific explanation and more research needs go be done. the more information provided/proven may be more comfortable for the more western mind.
Yes, I believe the universe is weird. I think it's fun to learn about the smallest entities which exist, and that light acts like a wave and flow of particles, and that there is a real principle which declares we can't know the exact location of a particle's momentum and position at the same time. So many ideas are uncertain and mysterious, but I also believe should do our best to explain them.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Week 1
Like many of my classmates, I had always been attracted to Chinese medicine. I have always been exposed, as well as had access to acupuncture and herbs. As a professional violinist, I developed tendonitis and carpal tunnel in my wrists and shoulders. Western medicine seemed to dull the pain, but I felt that my body wasn't really healed. Acupuncture and herbs helped during the the process to recovery. I have turned turned to acupuncture for relief from allergies, anxiety and stress, and shingles. Recently, I had the opportunity to study nursing at Johns Hopkins but when it was time to start school, I realized that the principles of western medicine did not resonate with me. My sister and cousin, who are both acupuncturists, urged me to to look into alternative medicine. Although western and eastern medicine should not be completely independent from each other, I chose to study acupuncture because the body has natural healing capabilities, which we easily forget. I don't know very much about physics, so I'll try to keep an open mind. I enjoy it so far, judging from our last class. I was not interested in science in high school since I attended boarding schools which focused on an arts education, and went to conservatories for college. Time "slowing down" or "speeding up" is something that we have all felt. For me, whenever there was a musical performance of some sort, rehearsals, and even practicing, getting into "the zone" created a distortion of time. I could clearly see my fingers land on the fingerboard and hear individual notes in a very fast passage--practicing this occurred on a daily basis--I think that great stress or extreme focus allows us to lose our perception of time.
The articles we read in class were interesting. I like the idea that galaxies are created by black holes. This idea confused me in class, so I went online and found some articles which explained it in more simple terms. I like how the total mass of stars in galaxies corresponds directly to the size of a their black holes. I have a feeling that as class goes on I will be amused/fascinated by the articles we read, as well as feel overwhelmed since physics is so complex. looking forward to next week!
The articles we read in class were interesting. I like the idea that galaxies are created by black holes. This idea confused me in class, so I went online and found some articles which explained it in more simple terms. I like how the total mass of stars in galaxies corresponds directly to the size of a their black holes. I have a feeling that as class goes on I will be amused/fascinated by the articles we read, as well as feel overwhelmed since physics is so complex. looking forward to next week!
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