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.

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.

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!