Another Case Study

A cardiologist prescribed cardiac catheterization for a 70 year-old woman, with type 2 diabetes, after detecting a congenitally small heart valve while prepping her for surgical removal of a skin cancer.  This Five Element approach interprets insulin resistance blocking receptivity to sweetness, obstructive earth qi. Her heart valve symptoms indicate fire qi disturbance. The skin cancer manifested as a disturbance in metal qi. She worked full time running her own business, teaching drama to children by putting on musicals. This had required sufficient organization, social participation, and creativity to succeed and grow the business over more than three decades, indicating ongoing exercise of metal, fire, and water qi respectively.  Fear (water qi) prevented her from carrying out the catheterization procedure, even though her son rescheduled his own business plans and flew into New York City from the West Coast to be with her on three separate occasions. She also failed to complete a fourth solo appointment.

Diagnosis: Excess water qi (the emotional root cause) prevented her ability to follow through with this procedure.

Plan: Playful use of meditation within a ritual to channel excess water qi toward creating a new story about positive outcomes, or in Five Element terms, wood qi guides water qi to create a story that will reduce stress about the procedure and enable her to complete the appointment.

I gave her the following instructions.

The secret to spiritual healing (the most powerful kind of healing – E=mc²)

There are no accidents.

Everything happens for a reason.

The reason is always good.

Find the good.

Grandmaster Nan Lu, Digesting the Universe: A Revolutionary Framework for Healing Metabolism Function.

Without getting involved in the complicated quantum physics and epigenetics of this premise I present the following ritual.

On the physical level doctors have diagnosed you with a “too small” heart valve. Taken literally this means you cannot move Love/blood through your heart at optimal levels. They want to use a catheter to look around and see if you have other blockages. In addition, you have type 2 diabetes, insulin resistant diabetes; as opposed to type 1 diabetes, insufficient insulin). This means that your cells cannot/will not take in sweetness/glucose.

We have been working on an energetic/emotional level in our talks, but now let’s get physical with a ritual – using metaphoric language & activity to direct a healing intention/story.

Ultimately, the story is yours and it will unfold, with or without language, as you do this ritual. Just as I said “embrace the drugs” this ritual, should you choose to do it, will “embrace the catheter” and give it spiritual direction, leaving the physical operation up to the surgeon. It means you will be in God’s hands and you and God will have conversed (metaphorically & ritually) about this. I think that the ritual will leave you feeling calmer, centered and grounded. That’s what rituals do.

You can dress this up or down according to your tastes and available time.

1. Find an icon – an image that embodies and represents the good. My suggestion would be a beautiful image of the sacred heart of Jesus or Mary. You seem to be very good at finding art so I can’t wait to see what you find. There is a lot to choose from on the internet.  If you can print it – great. If not you will still have it in your mind’s eye.

2. Put together a small altar – you may already have one – a place where you put special things. If it’s cluttered, clean it up. If you want to formalize it here is my suggestion:
   1. In the center place an object, jewelry or something of yours, to represent yourself and your connection to the Earth.
   2. To the East – something made of Wood, or a flower or plant.
   3. To the South – a candle to represent Fire
   4. To the West – a rock or crystal to represent Metal
   5. To the North – Water, preferably water you have collected from rain, snow or a living body of fresh water.

3. Light your candle. Take a sip of water. Sit and meditate on the following:
   1. The beautiful landscape that lives inside your sacred heart.
   2. Find all the places of beauty and joy – if you find anything that doesn’t belong there (i.e. not beautiful or joyful) let the sacred blood wash it away to your kidneys to get rid of it!!!!!
   3. Enjoy the beauty and the joy you find there.
   4. Let your sacred heart and the sacred heart of God merge.

4. When you are ready finish your meditation. You can blow out your candle or let it burn out itself (if it is in a really safe place). Let the water evaporate or pour it back into nature.

5. Now that you know there is nothing but beauty in your heart, you can relax and be assured that the catheter will only find beauty and joy, because you have the power (God’s power) to see everything as beauty. All outcomes will work to your greater good!

She did the ritual three times before her appointment, and sailed (balanced water) through it on her own. Since then she has seemed calmer, less fearful (balanced water) and more accepting of upcoming medical procedures, expecting positive rather than negative outcomes.

Interpretation from Five Element Approach

Fear (water qi) overwhelmed her ability to logically analyze her risks (metal qi), and receive support from her son (earth qi unable to receive affection /fire qi). By directly counteracting her fears with faith (water qi opposites) she harnessed all the other elements and used them for courage (fire qi) to envision positive outcomes (wood qi), and receive reassurance from her doctor (earth qi) that the procedure would go smoothly – as it did (metal qi).  The catheterization showed no arterial problems.

Conclusion

TCM’s Five Element approach to health offers a powerful paradigm from which to view occupation making it possible to integrate sensory experiences, body tissues, and emotions with environmental influences via five occupations Eating, Sleeping, Working, Playing and Loving. In the hands of an occupational therapy practitioner who understands the relationship of these occupations to stress and inflammation, the TCM paradigm provides a powerful tool for developing interventions with symptoms such as pain, loss of mobility, emotional distress, and poor self-regulation.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to: Grand Master Nan Lu, OMD for opening the door; to the teachers who led me through The Dragon’s Way, Elaine Katen, Irma Jenne, Deborah Cromarty Hallahan; to my OT Qi sisters, Margery Szczepanski, and Liz who listened and shared so many helpful comments; and my Qi sister poet, Hermine Meinhard who helped so much with editing.