My Breakthrough Covid Experience - the Saga Continues

 I'm on Day 9 of a mild, symptomatic case of SARS-CoV-2

Picking up where I left off in the last post --

A note about daily routines: almost 1 liter or water directly after waking. Teas and supplements consistent with the Candida Cure protocol mentioned in previous blog. Gentle stretching, then foam rolling to support lymphatic drainage and brief breathing exercises in the morning. Up until Thursday I also repeated an easy stretching sequence in the evening before bed. Beginning Thursday I started doing a salt water nasal flush in the morning.

A note about diet: all food is consistent with Candida Cure protocol, and I've been sure to eat smaller or larger meals, as some of the cleanse supplements need to be taken after food.

Progression of my case:

Wednesday: Plenty of mucous discharge, productive cough, sore throat gone. Still the "virus-y" sensation in my sinuses and throat.

• Treatment: tea with expectorant and warming herbs. I had the hot water bottle heated up and on my body at all times during the day. It felt most soothing to lay with it under my upper chest or directly on my chest, also neck and side of head. 
• Response: Presumably the hot water bottle and warming herbs generated enough heat to keep my sinuses and throat clear. At the end of the day I no longer wanted the hot water bottle.

Thursday: Notably dizzy upon getting out of bed. Coughing and discharge in the morning, more energy than any previous day. "Virus-y" sensation still present.  Good appetite for breakfast but after felt a power-down.

This is the test of Day 2, but it looked the same on Day 6.

• Day 6 Test: Rapid antigen results positive.
• Treatment: slept mid-day and sweat, seems to be a low fever. after drinking nearly 1 gallon of tea (same herb combo as Wed.) and water, I wrapped up in socks, slippers, a hat and put a hoody on over my pajamas and got into bed. About 2 hours later I had completely sweated through everything. Changed clothes, ate a small dinner, went to the bathroom and laid down to repeat the process. By the early hours of Friday morning I had sweated through 4 shirts and three pajama bottoms.
• Response: My throat/nose was improved.

Friday: Full-body dizziness upon rising. "Virus-y" sensation present but reduced. My appetite for breakfast was stronger, and I had an impression that I would need to eat more food that day.

• Treatment: once breakfast was over I washed and dried clothes from previous night and proceeded to drink the same amount of the herbal tea combo as the previous day and water. At around 2pm I started feeling heat rising from my chest so I got into bed all dressed in hoodie, socks and hat. 1.5 hours later got up to change clothes, ate a dinner (added hot sauce, why not?) and went back to bet around 6:30pm to repeat the cycle until around 11pm.
• Response: Again, throat/nose improved.

Saturday: Woke feeling grounded in my body. Still noticed sensation in throat, but the entire feeling in my nasal passage was remarkably improved. 

• Treatment: Morning stretches felt very good and breakfast provided more energy. Noticed that my throat was clear enough to do yoga breathing. Finished the laundry from the night before and got as much food into me as felt comfortable before beginning the sweat-through process. Between changes 2 and 3 I was aware that I would need more electrolytes and nutritionally dense foods.
• Took supplements high in minerals and filled gel-caps with essential oils in the evening.
• Response: After the 3rd sweat-through my body said "that's enough." 

Sunday: Woke feeling as close to normal as ever, though throat still tight around tonsils. Notable temperature, perhaps 2º (I don't have a thermometer, but this felt like a low-grade fever). Hungry.

Day 9 test, "It's almost negative!"

• Day 9 Test: Rapid antigen results faint positive.
• Treatment: As I was able to easily do yoga breathing for the second day, I decided to embark on an in-room practice with the understanding that as soon as my body started to loose energy I would stop. It felt so good that I completed a full session. This produced so much sweat that I decided I will not need to do any more deliberate stimulation of sweat.
• Continued with high-mineral supplements, essential oils, changed herb blend now to include those high in nutrients and blood building.
• Result: tightness in tonsils much reduced. Slight "virus-y" sensation returned in afternoon, and reduced after unprovoked sweating. Fever down in the evening.

Plan going forward: 

- Increase nutritional density of everything I consume.

- Take tomorrow off of yoga, as it's the New Moon, but resume on Tuesday as long as all symptoms continue to improve.

- Test again on Tuesday morning. The rapid antigen tests are providing a status report of the level of antigens present, and let me tell you I am collecting a thorough sample. If Tuesday still isn't a clear negative I will prepare to remain in quarantine for next week.

It's helpful for me to journal about this, as it gives me a picture of the progression. I have asked people who have already gone through this what symptoms they had: "All of them."

If Fri. May 20th was Day 0 = first full day of symptoms (the tight feeling in my tonsils that persisted all day and became a sore throat at night)

Days 1 - 3 = sore throat

Days 3 - 5 = nasal congestion/discharge

Days 4 - 6 = productive cough

Days 6 & 7 = dizziness

Days 6 - 8 = tired enough to sleep early

Day 9 = low-grade fever & recurrence of feeling fullness in tonsils

Another thing I've heard is that people feel very depleted after this long of a sickness. 

A big motivator for me to maintain my cleansing diet is that it is nutritionally rich. The protocol begins adding blood enriching supplements at the second month. Now that I'm feeling my body clearly craving nutritional support I will add more of those to my supplement routine beginning tomorrow. I already started on Saturday with the high-mineral supplement and blood building herbs.

I added gel-caps with essential oils because, of all the tools I have, they have the highest potential to expedite the completion of this case. I did not add them sooner because during a mucous discharge phases they cause dehydration. In the first days of deep sweating I didn't have enough appetite, which indicates that digesting them would have taken additional energy.

May we all learn from each other.

Please share your observations and experiences in the comments.

Blessings and health,

Christian

My Breakthrough Covid Experience pt. 1

DISCLAIMER: This is not medical advice, but an account of my personal experience and health practices. I am sharing this in case anyone reading it finds relevance/inspiration/insight into their own experience. I fully intend to work through this virus at home, using natural remedies within the grasp of my knowledge. I have intentionally not mentioned any of the herbs or supplements I am using, as I wish to in no way be seen as endorsing a specific tradition of natural healing. I take full responsibility for my actions and opinions.

I'm on day 4 of a mild, symptomatic case of SARS-CoV-2. 

My symptoms began as a feeling of fullness in lymph nodes of my neck on Friday evening, progressing to an acute sore throat all day Saturday and into Sunday morning. I took a rapid at-home antigen test Sunday morning which very quickly confirmed that it is the Covid virus. I reported my results to the state tracking system and cleared my schedule for the next week. 

**For the record, I let all the people/groups I had been around know of my status. No one has reported feeling any onset of symptoms.**

Relevant background about myself to help understand my "case:"

• Last year I received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine on recommended schedule, fully vaccinate in late May, then received the Moderna shot as my booster in December.
• My lifestyle is of an alternative health care provider, I do Shiatsu Bodywork and teach Stretching & Self-Care for a living. I've been an avid Ashtanga Yoga practitioner for the past 5 years, practice in a tai chi group, and do not own a car, rather travel by bike or occasional CarShare.
• As of June 2018 my diet is gluten-, dairy-, and grain-free. 
• My "comorbidity" is a pre-diabetic HA1C result back in 2017 which I haven't been able to shake (one hint, using Bree cheese as my main fat for a 6 month Keto diet didn't help with blood sugar/candida issues). 
• Beginning May 19th of this year I have been following a 90-day Candida Cleanse (based on Ann Borock, CNC's The Candida Cure: Yeast, Fungus & Your Health - not an endorsement, simply making note of a significant variable), so my guts have been being disinfected and blood cleansed for a month. 
• I will be 50 in a few months.
• I have no (0) prescriptions and have no (0) history of prescriptions other than antibiotics, most recently for oral surgery in 2017. See above candida concern...
• Last significant factor, which I believe pairs with confession #4 as the reason for the rapid onset of my symptoms: I had a silver amalgam filling removed 7 days before I began experiencing symptoms.

The Confessions:

1. I have not been wearing a mask in my favorite natural food grocery store.
2. The main yoga studio I practice in adopted the Vaccinated Only Facility protocol last fall, so none of us there have been wearing masks. The tai chi group is mask-optional with no vaccine requirement. I have opted not to wear a mask there, too. When teaching Self-Care I have always worn a mask.
3. Most of my clients have had Covid, vaccinated or not. For all of May I have not been masking during every bodywork session. I have worn a mask for clients who have arrived wearing them.
4. On Friday morning I underestimated a sudden change of weather and ended up biking to and from yoga practice in the rain with inadequate rain gear.
5. I do believe that endemicity is necessary to move through the Pandemic, so was taking calculated risks. Is there a "good time" to get a Corona virus?

My Deduction:

As my county has been having a surge in reported Covid cases for the past month, I could have been exposed to the contagion in a few places. Once my immune system was compromised, first by the filling being removed and then exposure in weather that I was not prepared for, there was no stopping it.

Back to the progression of my case:

Sunday night was my deep sweat lodge with the help of extra blankets, clothes and a hot water bottle. In the middle of the night I got up and changed into dry pajamas, then back to bed for more sweating. This helped radically improve the sore throat and kept my mucous flowing, so I did not lose the ability to breathe through my nose.

Monday was another day of sweating between frequent trips to the kitchen for tea and bathroom to let it flush out. I found it very useful to lay with the hot water bottle under my upper thoracic spine/the top of my chest which increased the ease of nose breathing. From natural healing traditions, heat increases the flow of blood and relaxes the nervous system.

Tuesday ready supply of clear mucous and finally expectorating! As I've been paying close attention to the specific physical targets of Covid, and knowing that I'm in a region that has prevalence of Omicron variants (according to the CDC Nowcast - https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#circulatingVariants) I know that the lining in the upper respiratory mucosa are where this mutation tends to lodge, making it apparently more mild than previous variants. Coughing up thick, white mucous is a sign that my body is "clearing out the wreckage" of the adaptive immunity warfare.

A Note About "clearing out the wreckage:"

I know it sounds disgusting, but this is the healing process in action.

Most people at high altitude have experienced the difference between a "dry," non-productive cough and a "wet," productive cough as the tail of a respiratory virus. 

The "dry" version quickly becomes painful, as the lungs are trying to expel waste-laden mucous that is too dry to release with the upward heave of airflow produced by a cough. It makes the throat feel "raw" and ends up being the last lingering symptom of sickness which can carry on for weeks.

The "wet" version only sounds bad. It actually feels very good to hack up a (hopefully) white  mass of gunk. I say hopefully white, as this indicates that it hasn't entered a bacterial (yellow) or viral (green) level within the lungs. Sometimes the last vestiges of a virus are the few gratifying coughs that bring the final goo out of the throat.

I haven't been so brain fogged that I could not deal with rescheduling all of my clients. I've felt most fatigued Sunday and Monday thus far, though I had energy to wash my laundry Monday. I changed and washed and all bed linens, and wiped down all kitchen surfaces, door knobs and light switches with a bleach solution (.24 cup bleach with 1 gallon water)* today.

I have learned not to try and force the process to go faster by taking strong, scouring herbs in the beginning stage or attempt to mute the symptoms with over-the-counter drugs. Both of these things lead to dehydration, prolong the flow of waste out of the body, and leads to the dread "dry" cough.

Instead I am flooding my body with warm, herbal teas and straight water from early morning until just before I get into bed so I will have plenty of fluid to sweat out at night.

I'm not out of the woods yet. As this is still absorbing all of my waking hours, I know it's not over, and that now is not the time to go outside and let my surface temperature drop. My plan is to maintain my candida cleanse diet and supplement routine, stay inside and warm, and pay attention to what brings greater ease.

In a few more days I will report how my strategy is working!

I deeply wish for health and improvement for every human on the Planet.

May we all find the greatest good within our own lives.

Christian

* correction made 5/25/2022 My original notation was way higher. It is actually 1:32 bleach to water.

The Power of Spiritual Integrity*

As human beings we are tremendously afraid of our innate power. 

Humans have moved beyond survival thinking, beyond group/herd mind, to the capacity of thinking as singular beings. In the Natural World, predictable way of acting for group survival and preservation of domain are attributed to "primal" or "limbic" brain activity, also known as "instinct." When scrutinizing spontaneous Acts of Nature humans must  broaden their perspective to understand everything observed, but ultimately the deep pull of instinct becomes clear. 

We humans are complicated. Though we are social beings we are still capable of acting apart from or against our instinct for species and domain survival. For example, humans as individuals are reasonably aware of the needs of others, but in groups become unnaturally defiant and violent against other people and their property. Another example is the paradox of how we treat our domain: though we are entirely dependent upon the Earth and it's atmosphere, large groups of us are capable en masse of damaging and depleting our world and food resources.

The reason for my original statement, that we are afraid of our innate power, is slanted toward Western Culture because it is my place of origin, and because it is a large group that exerts its choices on the rest of the human population. When a singular unit becomes aware that his/her group is not acting in accord with the betterment, or even survival, of the whole there is a strong delimma to be confronted. This may be the most genuine power struggle a person faces: confronting the inner need to be part of a social network without losing Spiritual Integrity.

The return path to integrity is well travelled but by a relatively few number. All spiritual and support communites have a knowing that they are walking outside common social practices and have various degrees of committment toward Whole Globe responsibility. The general guideline is within the phrase "living with integrity." This refers to the active choice of a person to match his/her spiritual beliefs with his/her actions and speech. This brings a person's entire life into consistency, thought, word and deed. 

How can I know when my Spiritual Integrity is guiding me?

1. There is a feeling of calm. In a connected state, our mind and body relate with each other in the moment, thus there is a feeling that everthing is happening as it should. There is a sense of knowing that there is no need to accelerate activity. The breath settles into the trust that an inhale will follow every exhale.

2. The inner body experience feels light. There may be a sense of release, or letting go of something that has been held out of habit. The mind feels freedom when pondering the future under the guidance of Spiritual Integrity, though the analytical thought process is aware of people and situations that may no longer fit into the picture. As a result there will be emotions of sadness, loss, grief, concern and/or frustration. One feeling that is clearly absent is fear, as the power of inner truth carries with it the virtue of wisdom.

3. There is nothing to prove or defend. Though there may be things to explain, truth and inner knowing have their own sense of purpose. The only thing to do is trust and be part of the unfolding experience. A person fully in Spiritual Integrity does not need to give reasons, the body and mind will take actions to maintain the state of connection. Because of a broadened perception, it becomes easier for someone who is changing course toward integrity to feel compassion for people who share their previous mental fixation.

4. Mutual respect and co-creation. Someone acting out of his/her own integrity will not ask other people to compromise their integrity. Even if the other people don't realize it, an integral person will not ask others to go against their best interests. Additionally, when integral people or groups recognize each other's sovereignty spontaneous acts of support for each other will emerge.

Just as important as finding one's own Spiritual Integrity is the attitude of non-attachment to whether other people move in the same direction. As much as it is a challenge to un-do one's own convoluted path to a disconnected mind and life, even more so is the challenge to percieve the conditions that would lead another person into disconnection. The pain of healing from disillusion can easily be underestimated unless we keep in mind the personal transformation we ourselves have passed through. The best we can do is have humility, the ability to ask forgiveness and a gentle heart toward others. 

The final part of this circle is to answer the question What is the power of Spiritual Integrity? It is clear conscience and accountability. It is to know the correct response without needing to check if it is correct by anyone else's standard. It is the ability to give the answer "no" with conviction, and the ability to hear another person's opinion without fear of losing one's own ground. It is also the ability to admit mistakes and accept responsibility for making things right.

With warm regards,

Christian

*The distinction I am making is based on the Chinese Medical Theory, that there are 5 Spirits/Spiritual Essences embodied within the Human Being: Zhi (Willpower), Shen (Spirit), Po (Animal Inheritance), Yi (Cognition/Intelligence) and Hun (Ethereal Body, or the effects of life actions). This is different from the Western concept that the being is made of four aspects: physcial, mental, emotional and spiritual.

My use of "integrity" implies cohesiveness, completeness or a self-stabilized quality, so either the Chinese Medical understanding of 5 Spirits or Western concept of four aspects of being are both sound models. However I felt it worthwhile to explain that "Spiritual Integrity" is not limited to the spiritual aspect of a person as separate from the mental, emotional and physical aspects. 

Booster shot muscle pain hacks

As a Shiatsu Practitioner I've managed to keep a fair distance from Western Medicine for the past 20+ years. It does take work to manage good health (a story for another post) and from the age of 40 I've found that taking an active part in balancing my own wellbeing has kept me away from doctors and hospitals.

In order to support the common good I went ahead and got the 2 x mRNA vaccines back in the spring and the other brand mRNA booster shot mid-December. All of the shots had minimal effects, though I certainly noticed a general need to power down for the day of the injection and part of the next day. With the booster shot I started feeling very sore muscles in the entire shoulder and upper quadrant on the side of the injection. This is not something I'm accustom to standing for, so started making use of the normal tools I have on hand and by the end of the third day the pain was no longer of concern. I spoke with a yoga teacher who had been boosted the same week and heard that she had the same muscle pain for a solid week! I told her about my remedies. She hadn't used them and didn't even think of them.

So here now I'm putting out the news of ways to more quickly alleviate muscle pain caused by the booster shot.

Apply a topical muscle relaxing remedy. I used a blend produced by Young Living Essential Oils called Aroma Sieze. This blend contains essential oils of Basil, Marjoram, Lavender, Peppermint and Cypress. Other ingredients to topical muscle relaxing rubs are Cayenne and Black Pepper, Wintergreen, Arnica, Comfrey and Ginger.

Apply heat. Hot water bottle is the simplest. A microwaveable rice bag or electric heating pad will also do just fine. Keep the heat on wherever it feels good for at least 20 minutes. Repeat as needed. This stimulates blood flow, allowing the muscle to unclench more easily. 

Use a foam roller. Start on the side in which you received the injection. Laying on the roller on your side at the lower part of the ribs (above the floating ribs), roll and breath your way up toward your armpit. As the roller is in the area of your shoulderblade, rotate your arm in circles both directions. You can move up to the top muscles of your arm, supporting yourself with the other arm and keeping up a Darth Vader-like breathing pattern as needed. If you start feeling the muscles lossen in areas farther from the main discomfort try moving the pressure to other areas of stiffness to expand the relief.

This is what worked for me. If you have other natural remedies that worked for you, please post them in the comments.

Wishing everyone a warm and healthy Winter,

Christian

Reflections on Ashtanga Yoga after 2 years of dedicated practice

It’s hard for me to imagine the picture of suffering I must have presented in those first 3 months. Every asana was a massive undertaking. To be adjusted at the end of the allotted 5 breaths was like being held underwater. I had 100% decided to restore my body after years of intense, competitive weightlifting, the last 2 of which I spent denying that joint pain (mostly knees, but also hips/low back and shoulders), inability to fully recover physically or emotionally, and dependence on sugar/carbs to the extent of pushing pre-diabetes meant something wasn’t working.

I started my relationship with Ashtanga in 1998, bounced in and out of shalas, meanwhile finding my forever martial art, Ki-Aikido. In 2006 I landed in Annie Pace’s Shakti Sharanam, in Crestone, CO. She was not the first yoga teacher to outright laugh at me as I attempted to “master” poses through shear force of will. With more than a decade of running and weightlifting behind me my legs and shoulders were fused. The Ashtanga Standing series challenged me to release muscles I had diligently built. I was a walking ball of ache for the first year, cross-training weightlifting and Ashtanga. On an instinctive level I knew this yoga would undo damage if only I kept with it, reasoning that strength and flexibility could be built together. This was before I met Kettlebell Sport in 2010.

Looking back on the Kettlebell Sport years I see very clearly that it was determination to excel as an athlete that fueled the brief ascent I had. However there was no point of satisfaction, no “off-season” to recover and feel good about my accomplishments. As I saw the peak of my first growth phase come and go it dawned on me that this was never going to get easier. All I could see for the future was more decrepitude. I started telling myself “when I’m finished with this sport I will return to Ashtanga and aikido.” Yes, kettlebelling overwhelmed my resources so fully that I had to leave my beloved dojo.

In October of 2017 I could no longer deny that lifting was the cause of my pain. I disconnected from Kettlebell Sport and immediately returned to the dojo. Once the crisis of identity passed, at the end of February 2018, I plucked up my courage and took refuge in Ashtanga. As mentioned above I sweat out steel filings. I practiced like my hair was on fire, relying on Annie's trademark "Yoga Nazi" structure to get 6 practices each week. I practiced when I wanted to and when I didn’t. Now that I can look back at the past two years I feel gratitude for my stubborn persistence.

Ashtanga is known as Yoga Therapy, the householder’s yoga. Once a person has learned the sequence it can be practiced mostly at home and occasionally in front of a teacher for adjustments. The supervised practice environment is quite different from a yoga class. Students arrive at any point during the practice hours and simply go through the sequences as far as they have learned. One or more teacher patrols the room making adjustments, giving assists and teaching new material as each individual student is ready. This is known as Mysore practice, named after Mysore, India, where Patabi Jois originated the Ashtanga lineage. 

The teachers all have a characteristic lean, flexible, smiling slave-driver nature, reminding me of my former Russian coach. They are all extremely knowledgable and well-practiced themselves, and generally know when to apply the whip and when to standby. Every adjustment toward True Center could begin a process of melting layers of decades-old scar tissue encrusted with emotional identity. The internal process is far too profound and personal to attempt discription. Sweat and tears fall on my yoga mat in regular seasons.

At the beginning of last year I thought, “when I am able to get that backbending asana I will be a different yogini than I am today.” It is true. The way to each new posture requires reconfiguration of muscle patterning, refocus of breathing and a specific gazing point that can change the experience completely. Minute physical adjustments have re-aligned my mental and emotional being. My life has improved, my choices have become more obvious. The new understanding I have of correct alignment has carried into my aikido and bodywork practices. Oh, did I mention the knee, hip/low back and shoulder pain has diminished into residue?

In conclusion I would suggest that anyone who is fortunate enough to have an Ashtanga shala near their home strongly consider making friends with the serieses. It is a discipline. For me it is every bit as challenging as Kettlebell Sport training, but with a far more enriching effect. It can be a life bouy, a sanctuary, a therapy. It can be yours. However, it is not for the uncommitted. Once the unwinding begins it’s best to see it through to the ….er next unwinding.

An apology to men for damage done.

Something has happened to me, yes, which is why I am opening my heart wide and mopping the crust out of my closets. For 13 years or so I've been actively walking the Red Road, a path of healing in the everyday world. Early this July my community gathered women in an all-night ceremony. I emerged with no delusions about purity or victimhood. I clearly saw myself as the perpetrator.

At the suggestion of a good friend I did not do the Jack-Nicholson-Something's-Gotta-Give tour de apology, though fresh from the ceremony I certainly had the fire to do so. She reminded me that popping up with no warning could re-traumatize someone, which is the opposite effect that I want.

I was able to connect and make amends with one of the important men from my past, my ex-husband. He is a special person, has deep insight and sensitivity, and kindly allowed me to say my thing. We were then able to dive into other misconceptions that had been interfering with our friendship after the marriage.

There are other men to whom I would like to make apology, offer amends and support for healing. I would tell them that I was a painful person when I knew them. I used men to enact the drama of my own damaged relationship with father and step-father. I pulled them into arguments that only I was fighting and only I could win. I was calloused to their emotional expression and needs. I would own responsibility for them wanting to shut-down their sensitivity toward themselves and other women.

I feel deep remorse for the harm I've caused them, and wish for them to know that I respect their anger/resentment/complete dismissal of me as a person of worth in their lives.

In order to even the public discussion of one gender damaging the other, I offer this confession. In seeing ourselves from another point of view, may we discover the error of our assumptions. May we all learn to use humility as a filter for our words and actions.

Much love and blessings to everyone in my past and present life,
Christian

Brief case study: Asian Bodywork Therapy supporting client in withdrawal from Benzodiazepine

One day, about a year ago, I was manning my chair massage post at a natural food store, when a lady in her mid- to late-forties approached me with wild eyes and the statement "I'm going through withdrawal!" I invited her to sign-in for her session, pre-pay for the time (as is the protocol at this location) and then began to listen to her symptoms as we adjusted the massage chair for her.

She told me that a psychiatrist has been working with her manic depressive disorder for multiple decades. Eight years ago she was given a prescription for a benzodiazepine drug which was supposed to be a ramp down from previous medications. The administering doctor said there were no addictive side effects. For her own reasons my client decided to stop taking the drug and immediately found that her detoxification was quite intense. She had done some online research and found that 3 weeks was the expected duration of the intense withdrawal.

I asked if there was any particular area that she would like me to focus my work on. She replied, "I just need touch." I began working on her shoulders and neck and quickly found that direct and sustained pressure helped her relax. Knowing from my studies that the Fire Organ Networks are the most affected by manic/depressive fluctuations, I inquired of her body if this was a correct assumption. Her Triple Heater meridian (the most peripheral of the Fire Organs) was energetically quivering. The entire Triple Heater meridian is accessible in the massage chair, so once I confirmed that my focus of work felt good to her I treated this meridian thoroughly, including the Zen extension on her legs. I finished with sustained pressure on her Bladder meridian from head to base of spine. 

After the time was over she sat up with a completely different countenance. Her breathing was deep, she seemed to be comfortable in her body and expressed feeling relieved. She set up an appointment for later that week to receive a full Shiatsu session. We had two full-length sessions total. 

For any readers unfamiliar with Shiatsu bodywork, a widely taught method is for the practitioner to listen to the client for clues as to the direction of treatment, but to confirm all clues with a touching assessment of the abdomen (referred to as the "hara"). The Organ Networks are all represented in this area of the body. Gentle and inquisitive touch around the specific assessment areas of the hara will provide the practitioner with a clear comparison of which networks need attention and which are holding extra energy. Listening to the body in this way takes the guessing out of Shiatsu bodywork so the practitioner can focus on being present with the client throughout the session. Re-checking the hara during a session is a common technique used to help stay on track with a body as it balances itself.

The first session was a continuation of the chair massage session. She arrived looking a bit frazzled, but was more emotionally calm than my first meeting with her at the natural food store. The session was focused on the Fire Element vessels, specifically the Pericardium. She relaxed physically as soon as I touched the meridian, and began to process her experience of finding comfort with the nurturing pressure. During the session she asked for suggestions on how to support herself through the detoxification process. Aside from drinking several liters of water per day, which I recommend for anyone working through toxicity, I gave her two pieces of advice. The first was a "homework" assignment given by my Chinese Medicine teacher, to practice belly breathing, 50 breaths per day. This is a simple and accessible form of chi gong and a natural pain management technique. The second was from my own experience with detoxifying, to drink a tablespoon of liquid chlorophyll in water whenever physical discomfort began to creep in. Liquid chlorophyll is nutrient-dense and available at most health food stores. It provides the blood stream with magnesium which supports an alkaline pH environment. I believe we agreed that epsom salt baths would help her on multiple levels, specifically for the full-body feeling of warm support.

She left the session feeling physically comfortable and hopeful that she would be able to get through the full detox with the minor intervention of medical marijuana. Being a resident of Colorado she had been given a medical marijuana permit by her doctors, which had been part of her self-medication for mania. 

When she arrived for her second session, about 10 days later, she looked happy and calm, almost like a different person. She told me that she was in a manic phase. The session was focussed more on the Wood and Water Elements, which I took to be progress toward deeper organ healing. She was indeed full of thoughts about how to move forward without pharmaceuticals. She was pleased that she had made it almost to the end of her three weeks of withdrawal and had no intentions of looking back. Because she had been diagnosed with this disorder at a young age she knew there would always be swings of mania and depression but was committed to coping with them in a natural way. She said that during the manic episodes she was productive, social and able to accomplish tasks. Her bigger problem and fear was that she didn't know when the tide would turn. Once she went down to depression she could not motivate or think well enough to help herself. My suggestion to her, based on my own experiences and personal study, was to supply herself with tools before she needed them. Specifically forms of aromatherapy and mood-supportive flavors. 

Aromas stimulate a response from the limbic part of our brains and if used intentionally can be highly productive in stabilizing moods. Inhaling aromas with "high notes" such as citrus or floral fragrances have historically alleviated the deeper troughs of depression. Asian medical models have always made use of food as medicine. The bitter taste tonifies the Fire Organ Networks, the networks in need of support during depression. In my experience smelling freshly ground coffee is as effective as drinking it, and chewing a cacao bean has a marvelously anti-depressant effect.

At the end of the second session she was satisfied that she had a plan to finish the detoxification from benzodiazepine. She did not reschedule, and was comfortable that she would be able to find me if future need should arise. Anecdotally, she was still in her manic phase when she walked out, but seemed more centered in her resolve.

I have not seen this client since, but feel confident that she has achieved her goal to get clear of pharmaceuticals for manic depressive disorder. My observation is that she was an exceptionally resourced person to begin with, and had been living with this diagnosis for her entire life. It was my honor to be part of the support that helped her through the deep difficulties of withdrawal.