Emotion and Healing in the Energy Body

Releasing Blockages in the Body

30 Energetic Ailment Indicators

This chapter describes thirty areas of the body where common energy blockages manifest as physical discomfort or pain, starting at the bottom of the body and working up, ending at the crown chakra. These energy blockages can be the result of one’s upbringing, environment, family and friends, or current lifestyle. The origin and cause of each of the energy blockages is given, along with a physical description—what it feels like—and advice on how best to move through or release the blockage.

This illustrates how a range of physical conditions that present in the body, such as weakness in the knees, tightness in the hamstrings, or inflammation in the neck, can be part of a broader, underlying condition of energy blockage, oftentimes with roots that extend far back. As well, it shows that treating certain physical conditions at the point where they manifest, without reference to the energetic origin of the condition, is an incomplete approach—for example, treating the condition of tight shoulders by massaging the shoulder area, without referring to the energetic origin of tight shoulders, which is found in either the upper chest or at the rear of the solar plexus. We also find that oftentimes treatment for some physical conditions may involve an alteration in some aspect of one’s lifestyle, mindset, or belief system that is contributing to the manifestation of the problem.

At all times the physical body is a mirror of the condition of the mind, whether it’s the conscious, subconscious, or unconscious mind. The more rigid, tight, and unyielding the mind, the more rigid, tight, and unyielding the physical body (tight shoulders, neck, chest, abdomen, hips, hamstrings, psoas, ankles, etc.—the list is almost endless). The more free the mind, the more open, soft, warm, light, and loose the body is. However, do not confuse flexibility with softness. In terms of physical flexibility, you can have a longtime yoga practitioner capable of advanced asanas, yet when you massage this person he or she feels tense and tight. Flexibility does not necessarily mean openness.

Generally speaking, when massaging a client, if you find them to be overall warm, soft, and yielding, it is an excellent sign of good health and that they are on the right path in life. On the other hand, flexibility can often mean the client has simply found a way of hiding their issues and pains more deeply—more likely if the flexible person shows a degree of tenseness or tightness.

Though the following information is geared mainly toward massage therapists, others involved in energy practices, including yoga teachers and students, martial arts practitioners, and experienced meditators—basically, anyone who is on the path of self-realization—will also find this information insightful. To help illustrate this, some of the ailment descriptions refer to how the ailment feels in the body of a massage client, while other descriptions refer to how the ailment feels in your own body. Sometimes, if you have been holding an ailment in your own body for a long time, you lose the sensitivity necessary to feel it in yourself and so you need a fresh pair of hands, those of a therapist, to point it out to you. This is why the “How it feels in the body of a massage client” is also useful to read when attempting to form a self-diagnosis.

As my own background is in Thai massage, a form of massage that takes place on a massage mat on the floor similar to a shiatsu treatment, some of the references given in treatment advice, such as lifting a client’s leg off the ground, refer to massage given on the floor but can be adjusted for table massage too. Please be aware also that a degree of difficulty arises in the description of the exact location of some of the ailments. This is because the ailments being described are ailments of the subtle energy body and not of the physical body and as such have no corresponding traditional Western anatomical location. In energy work or energy healing, energy is the anatomy.

30 COMMON ENERGY BLOCKAGES

A certain amount of caution must be exercised in using the information provided here. The description of each condition and its underlying cause should be used first and foremost as a method of self-diagnosis, an aid to help you better understand what is going on in your own body. Although you may find any of these blockages in the body of a massage client or a yoga student, to use this information as a diagnostic tool on another person is something that should only be undertaken with great sensitivity and awareness. You cannot say to a client or student with closed hips, “This reveals you are closed to life.” This is both inappropriate and irresponsible. Where this information is valuable in the context of a massage treatment or yoga class, if you are a therapist or teacher, is in the ways it suggests an empathetic approach to understanding the deeper, underlying causes of many common problems, many of which we all suffer from at one time or another.

1. Tight Ankles

Tightness in the ankle extension reveals a blockage in the stomach meridian at the ST 41 acupuncture point at the top of the dorsum of the foot. In Thai massage, this point is known as the KHC point (knee pain, headache, and cramp). This reveals an overall imbalance in the quality of energy running in the stomach meridian, and it is this imbalance that causes the blockage and its resulting physical manifestation: tightness. The origin of this blockage lies behind the nipple on the same side of the body as the ankle in question. The blockage is in the heart, or fourth chakra, which may be deficient in the fire energy of love or the water energy of play but excessive in the air energy of material wealth or intellectual provision. The effect of excessive air energy in any part of the body is to cause tension, tightness, or hardness in that part of the body. Tightness in the ankle extension usually indicates a person who has not experienced enough love or play in their lives, yet has been sufficiently provided for educationally and financially.

In general, tightness in the ankle extension is mirrored by tightness in the front of the knee, also reflecting insufficient love and play (see number 2 in this chapter), and tightness in the AIIS, reflecting anger at not having sufficient love and play (see number 6 in this chapter). The origin of the blockage, behind the nipple, is the location of the pain of the heart at being insufficiently loved. All points of tightness are on the stomach meridian, the meridian that energetically connects the heart with the feet. When the heart is closed, the ankle is usually similarly closed. See figure 8.1.

Fig. 8.1. Tight ankles (1), weak knees (2), and tight AIIS (6)

What it feels like in the body of a massage client: Lying in supine position, the client is unable to extend foot. There is very little or no plantar flexion. It feels as if the foot is being held at a 90 degree angle to the horizontal. The energy holding the foot in this position can be found in the shallow indentation between the bottom of the tibia and the top of the foot, between stomach meridian points 41 and 42.

Treatment: In the treatment of tight ankles, as well as massaging the ankle area itself, additional attention should be given to the front of the knee, the AIIS, and the region of the heart. As tightness in the ankles is caused by an insufficiency in the energy of love or play, it works best if you treat these other body areas with love, fire energy, or with a sense of playfulness, water energy.

2. Weak Knees

In general, weakness in the knees reflects a deficiency in either water energy or fire energy running through the knee. A deficiency in water energy reflects a lack of fun, play, or support in your life, or not believing in yourself. A deficiency in fire energy reflects a lack of love or self-love. There are two types of knee weakness: weakness in the front of the knee and weakness at the back of the knee.

Front of the Knee

Weakness in the front of the knee reflects an excess of air energy in the knee and a deficiency in fire and water energies. This means that your environment, past or present, may have sufficiently provided for you financially and educationally, but insufficiently provided you with love and fun or play. The air energy is housed on the stomach meridian, which runs through the front of the knee. Weakness in the front of the right knee relates to insufficient love, emotion, play, and fun shared between you and your father’s side of the family. It may also indicate a lack of self-love in your father. Weakness in the front of the left knee relates to insufficient love, play, and fun shared between you and your mother’s side of the family. It may also indicate your mother’s lack of love for herself. See figure 8.1, above.

What it feels like in the body of a massage client: The kneecap feels cold; the kneecap bone may also feel empty.

Treatment: Cup the area of the kneecap with your hands, bringing the warmth of loving intention to the area. Alternatively, cup the area and play with it, giving rise to the water energy of fun and applying it to this body area. In massage, use soft, gentle energy. Strong or vigorous technique is a use of air energy, which causes further imbalance to the already excessive presence of air energy in the kneecap area. Weakness in the front of the knee indicates tightness in the stomach meridian running through the knee, which is linked to tightness in the AIIS and along the stomach meridian running up the front of the body to a point under the clavicle. Proper treatment for weakness in the front of the knee may therefore require additional treatment around the AIIS and along the stomach meridian.

Back of the Knee

Insufficient heat in the water energy running through the back of the knee housed in the kidney meridian running inside the medial knee ligament reflects a lack of support in your life or a lack of belief in yourself. As well, knees carry the weight of another person’s expectations of you, specifically, one or both of your parents. In many cases, a parent’s expectation of you to succeed in life can be due to their own weakness in not being able to achieve or succeed in their life, thus the energy that is passed on to you at the time of conception is the energy of weakness. It is this energy of weakness, disguised as expectation, that can cause the knees to be weak. Often the two are connected. Weakness in the back of right knee indicates a lack of support or lack of belief in you from your father’s side of the family. If you are female, it may also refer to your husband’s lack of support or belief in you. Weakness in the back of the left knee indicates a lack of support or lack of belief in you from your mother’s side of the family. If you are male, it may also refer to your wife’s lack of support or belief in you.

What it feels like in the body of a massage client: The back of the knee is cold and the area feels dense when you press your thumb into it.

Treatment: As the weakness reveals a lack of support, just before you commence massaging the area, lift the entire knee and lower leg off the ground and hold them close to you. It is important to hold the client’s foot off the ground too, as they feel that the ground underfoot is not providing them with sufficient support. Give the feeling to your client that you are holding and supporting them fully. It is the energy of your support that brings the healing to the back of your client’s knee.

3. Tight Quadriceps

The condition of the quadriceps reflects the energetic connection between you and your ancestors. Tightness reflects the absence of openness in communication, emotion, love, and support. Tightness in the right quadriceps indicates that the lack is between you and your father, and indicates the tension that exists between your father and his family. The tenser these relationships are, the tighter the center of the quadriceps. The left quadriceps corresponds to your mother and your mother’s side of the family. The main knot of tightness is on the stomach meridian, the meridian of inheritance. See figure 8.2.

Fig. 8.2. Tightness in the quadriceps (3) and along the outside of the thighs (4)

What it feels like in the body of a massage client: A small knot in the muscle in the front center of the quadriceps that feels a little like the top of a finger knuckle. The location loosely corresponds to the location of stomach meridian point 32.

Treatment: Place the center of the palm of one of your hands directly on the muscle knot. Gently clasp the surrounding area with your fingers and thumb. Hold the grip, allowing the heat from your palm to work into the knot. Gently massage the area, but without breaking your grip. At the center of your palm is a small energy center, or minor chakra, which is linked to the energy of your heart. So in holding your client’s quadriceps in this manner, you are imparting the warming energy of your heart to your client and it is this warming energy that will help release the knot in the muscle, caused by insufficient love, or fire energy, running through the stomach meridian on this point.

4. Tightness along the Outside of the Thigh

This tightness runs along the gallbladder meridian, or in Thai massage the Thai Sen Kalathari, on the outside of the upper leg. This is the area of the body around which you wear your metaphysical body armor. It is the energy you use in your defense against letting others in, against revealing the truth about yourself and all you have done—your needs, feelings, and emotions. Defending against letting others in is the behavior of self-control shaped by a belief that something unfavorable will happen to you if you reveal your innermost and deepest self. For example, if you have an opinion that goes against the majority opinion, you may believe that by offering it you will be judged negatively by others. This belief is further complicated by emotions such as fear, shame, humiliation, guilt, etc. This is why this blockage or tightness in the outer thigh can be difficult to release, as it is being held in place by two types of subtle energy: mental and emotional. Sometimes this body armor is not wholly your own body armor, but that of a parent who may have never revealed him- or herself fully, and who then passed the energy of their defense against letting others in into your body at the time of conception. See figure 8.2, above.

What it feels like in the body of a massage client: The space running between the rectus femoris and vastus lateralis muscles will feel tight and slightly cold, causing both muscles, close to the running of this space, to additionally feel tight and slightly cold.

Treatment: This area of tightness extends to the outside of the greater trochanter. From there it travels through the pelvic girdle, close to the running of the gallbladder meridian, to the sacroiliac joint, where its origin lies. Therefore, in treatment, the whole area requires massage. Massage technique may require a mixture of vigorous and gentle touch; you have to play around with it to find out. Some people’s energy is suited to vigorous massage, others suited to a more gentle approach. Be guided by how soft your chosen approach makes the muscles feel.

5. Tight Hamstrings

The energetic origin of tight hamstrings is a small but very deep and severely icy cold area of energy between the sit bone, the ischial tuberosity, and the inside of the top of the femur. It is in TCM, Urinary Bladder point UB 36. Tight hamstrings indicate the energy of abandonment in infancy and/or the energy of loneliness in early childhood. The cold energy is related to all the times when as a baby you wanted to be with your mother and father but they weren’t available. Maybe they regularly put you into another room, or maybe they were absent for long periods of time. Either way, as an infant you experienced this as abandonment, and you were unable to crawl to or otherwise find your parents so you were forced to sit in the painful energy of your own loneliness, which as an adult has gathered close to your sit bones. See figure 8.3.

Fig. 8.3. Tight hamstrings (5) and tight hips (9)

What it feels like in your body and in the body of a massage client: A contracted, tight hamstring muscle is generally dense, heavy, and coldish. Closer to the bone, the ligament feels very tight. Although the hamstring muscle and tendon feel tight, both are actually in a state of contraction, caused by very cold energy.

Treatment: The area of contraction ascends to either side of the base of the first chakra, the perineum, and runs very close along the tailbone up to the space between L5 and S1. The whole area requires treatment. As with tightness on the outside of the thigh, treatment may be either vigorous, gentle, or a mixture of both. It can also be beneficial to work in the heart area of the client in order to generate the heating energy of love and self-love from within the heart chakra, and to use this warming energy to balance the cold energy of loneliness or abandonment. In terms of energy work and the chakras, the heart chakra, the fourth chakra, is energetically linked to the root chakra, the first chakra. When the warming heat of love is generated in the heart chakra, a warming heat is also spontaneously released into the root chakra, helping to melt the cold energy of loneliness and abandonment in the base of the root chakra and at the top of the femur.

6. Tight AIIS

Tightness in the AIIS, the anterior inferior iliac spine, the bony eminence on the anterior border of the hip bone, indicates the energy of anger at being abandoned in infancy. This relates to the times when as a baby you wanted the love and support of a parent but didn’t receive it, which created anger in you. As an infant, you were unable to do anything to escape this anger, and so you were left to sit in its energy. As an adult, this energy has accumulated in the front of your AIIS, causing a blockage in the stomach meridian linking the heart with the foot. It is this energy blockage—the presence of anger at being unloved—that blocks the flow of love in the stomach meridian. As with tightness on the outside of the thigh, sometimes this energy blockage may additionally contain a degree of ancestral energy, i.e., the energy of your parent’s anger at being abandoned by their parents. See figure 8.1.

What it feels like in the body of a massage client: When you place your hand flat on the AIIS, the surrounding area feels dense or semihard.

Treatment: Caution is required when treating this area in massage. Do not use thumb acupressure. Releasing AIIS energy causes a feverlike condition. Fever is the release of strongly felt energy, usually anger. It causes the heart to race and the pulse to quicken. It also makes you feel hot, although your actual body temperature doesn’t change. Place the palm of your hand on the area and use its heat and natural weight to do the work. Do not overwork this area.

7. Tightness in the Inside of the Thigh (Liver Meridian, Iliopsoas/Adductor Muscles)

This condition indicates anger at being unloved and is energetically linked to tightness in the adductor magnus and gracilis muscles (liver meridian) and the AIIS (stomach meridian). All three ailments are linked in that they reside in the body area governed by the first chakra and relate to the connection between child and parents during infancy. Anger is a yellow energy. Childhood anger is housed in the yellow layer of the first chakra and is distributed around the area of the body governed by the first chakra on two of the meridians associated with yellow energy: the stomach and liver meridians. See figure 8.4.

Fig. 8.4. Tight inner thigh (7), tight adductor magnus and gracilis (8), and pain in the outer hip (13)

What it feels like in your body and in the body of a massage client: This can be a very sensitive area to touch and can be quite itchy or ticklish too. On deeper touch, the feeling is of a subtle to strong denseness around the running of the liver meridian or the Thai Sen Kalathari on the inside of the upper leg.

Treatment: The condition requires a regular massage workout. Do not dwell overlong here, however, as this area is often sensitive. Overworking the area can eventually stir up the energy of anger and may get your client angry at you. Support with gentle work on the AIIS.

8. Tightness at the Tops of the Adductor Magnus and Gracilis Muscles Close to the Perineum

Tightness in this area of the upper thigh indicates a mistrust of one of the sexes. Tightness on the right reveals mistrust of the male sex; on the left, mistrust of the female sex. This mistrust can come from either or both of two sources:

During the earliest stage in life, between you and your parents. If the relationship between you and your mother was hurtful or loveless, it will cause you to mistrust the female sex. If it was between you and your father, it will lead to your mistrust of the male sex.
The inherited energy of mistrust between your parents, up to the point of your conception and in the years following your birth

Mistrust can be the result of being hurt by someone, or of living with someone who never reveals themselves to you. In the latter case, you end up living with someone you do not know, someone you cannot trust. In adulthood, mistrust that is rooted in childhood may not be present on the surface, but it can arise after being in a relationship for a few years. See figure 8.4.

What it feels like in your body and in the body of a massage client: The muscles are so tight that they feel like lengths of steel rope extending outward from the perineum.

Treatment: This is an area not easily treated in massage, nor is it recommended to do so, as the area lies so close to the external genitalia. The release of this condition takes many years of self-healing and is linked to the healing of the first chakra, early childhood and ancestry, the third chakra, the seat of anger, and the fourth chakra, the seat of love. If you are very sensitive to the energies in your body and if you have been doing self-healing for many years, you may find the action of placing your hands on your solar plexus, the front of your third chakra, in an act of self-love loosens the adductor magnus and gracilis muscles.

9. Tight or Closed Hips

Open or closed/tight hips reflect the degree of openness or closedness you have toward life. This openness or closedness occurs as a result of the relationship between you and your parents from the time of your conception until you were about two or three years of age. If the relationship was open and warm, your hips will tend to be similarly open; if the relationship was cold and closed, your hips will be similarly closed. If you had a difficult relationship with your father but an open one with your mother, your right hip will be more closed. If the cold relationship was with your mother, then your left hip will be more closed. The origin of the energy that causes hips to close and hamstrings to tighten is the navel. From the navel, this energy travels through the torso to the base of the lumbar spine between L5 and S1. From there it spreads outward, through the superior articular process (SAP) to the sacroiliac joint. From there it travels downward through the pelvic girdle to the insides/outsides and front/back of the top of the femur. This is why the hips can be held tight from the inside of the femur or from the outside of the femur, or both inside and outside simultaneously. See figure 8.3.

What it feels like in your body: When you try to sit in either quarter, half, or full lotus, you find that one or both of your knees do not touch the floor.

Treatment: In every case, the area of treatment for closed hips or tight hamstrings is on either side of the spine between L3 and S1 and across the buttocks between the sit bones and the greater trochanter. The whole area needs to be massaged and the quality of the energy in your touch needs to be a loving one, as the energetic reason for hips being closed is a lack of love.

10. Compression below the Sacroiliac Joint

Hips can also be blocked from opening by the presence of compressed energy below the sacroiliac joint, in the soft buttock area between the sit bone and the top of the femur, in the area known in Thai massage as “the boomerang.” The origination point of this energy block is at the rear of the third chakra, on both sides of the spine, in the area around L1 and L2. This is the compressed energy of two subtly different things:

The emotional energy of the fear of what will happen if you fully commit to something and it doesn’t work out
The mental energy of the belief that if you give yourself fully to something you will fail, for instance, on setting up your own business

Both energies feed each other, and although they may appear the same they are not. One energy is emotional, the other mental. Yet both are energy blockages. This blockage reveals a deeper lack of trust in life, extending back to the time when, as an infant, you gave yourself fully to either or both your parents, but they did not meet your needs. Tightness in the area of the hips and pelvic girdle is related to not being sufficiently loved in infancy. As an infant, this early experience taught you that you will be hurt if you leave yourself open, so you close up in order to protect yourself. Part of this closing is the closing of your hips. It is a purely defensive and protective action.

Fig. 8.5. Compression below the SI joint (10), weakness at the top of the sacrum (11), and weak lower back (15)

As mentioned at the outset of this chapter, guard against using the cause of tight hips as some sort of judgment. If you suffer from tight hips yourself, the chances are extremely high that your parents also suffered the same circumstances in childhood, and sometimes the energy of your parents’ unhappiness gets passed on to your energy system at the time of your conception. And yes, you too will pass along these tendencies to your own children—it’s all part of the cycle of life. No one is to blame. The important thing to note is that you can break the cycle. See figure 8.5.

What it feels like in your body: When in massage, lying on your side, the therapist presses their thumb into the soft area of your buttock and you feel an immediate, intense pain.

Treatment: Massage the whole area between L1 to L5, crossing to the sacroiliac joint and downward across the soft area of the buttock onto the outside of the thigh. This will have a healing effect on the energies of belief (from the third chakra) and fear (from the second chakra). As the issues of love, support, and trust are at the heart of the symptoms of closed hips, you should address this in your treatment. Work lovingly and slowly in the area. Create feelings of trust and support. Try not to create unnecessary pain with a vigorous massage technique.

11. Weakness or Pain at the Top of the Sacrum

The top of the sacrum, on either side of the spine between L5 and S1, is the site of one of the major pains and weaknesses released when one undertakes more advanced self-development, whether through yoga, meditation, martial arts, etc. This area of the body stores a specific type of energy that creates weakness. Although this energy is inherent in all of us, it is only released by the person involved in self-developmental work. It is an energy that is dark gray in color and when released causes acute physical weakness and pain. The pain and weakness makes it extremely difficult to lift your leg off the ground or to bend downward or forward to any extent. In extreme cases you become unable to walk or get out of bed. Upon the release of this blocked energy, the concepts of pain and weakness enter your consciousness, making them real, felt pain. This is the point of the hidden energy in this part of your body: to give credence to the concepts of pain and weakness. This pain often begins to gently release over a period of years, causing only minor intermittent inconvenience until a trigger event, which causes the full release. The trigger event is usually an everyday, mundane event, such as stepping into or out of the shower. See figure 8.5, above.

What it feels like in your body: A catastrophic release of pain and loss of muscular power in your lower back.

Treatment: This acute condition can last several days or weeks, so it is advised to seek professional medical help as soon as the release kicks in, as the pain experienced will force you to move your body in a way to compensate for the pain, creating additional pain and tension in other muscles. A visit to a chiropractor practicing one of the more gentle forms of chiropractic, such as McTimoney chiropractic, is highly recommended. Gentle exercising, such as walking in a straight line on a level surface, alternative knee raises while lying in a supine position, or gentle yogic cobra asana all help in rehabilitation.

12. Asymmetry

The internal feeling of asymmetry between the left-hand side and right-hand side of your body reveals that your internal female side is not communicating with your internal male side. This is reflective of certain female figures in your life not communicating with certain male figures in your life, such as your mother not communicating with your father, your grandfather not communicating with your grandmother, you not talking to your mother/father, you not talking to your sister/brother, or you not talking to your partner/spouse. The greater the block in the communication between the female and male side of your family, the greater the feeling of asymmetry in your own body. As this is an overall bodily sensation, it cannot be shown as manifesting in a particular location in the body.

What it feels like in your body: The feeling, during regular yoga practice, that the left-hand side of your torso reacts very differently in asana than the right-hand side of your torso.

Treatment: In massage, on the back of the body you will find a very narrow band of tightness running right along the spine on both sides. This needs to be softened and released. Additionally massage laterally across the spine between the vertebrae to move energy across and through the spine. On the front of the body, gentle lateral massage across the body in sweeping infinity moves (like a horizontal 8) with the midpoint of the move crossing on the center line of the body. Work across the heart, solar plexus, and lower abdominal regions.

13. Pain in the Outside of the Hip

Pain in the outside of the hip that has nothing to do with any tightness in the hips relates to the energetic connections to your siblings and/or spouse. If your brother or husband has caused you pain in life, the energetic connection you have to him will manifest as pain in your right hip. The energy of this pain spreads down through the leg, creating physical leg pain and difficulty in walking. The energetic connection to a sister or wife is in the left hip. See figure 8.4.

What it feels like in the body of a massage client: When you place your hand across your client’s iliac crest, you will feel an area of cold on the center of your palm. If you are sensitive to the colors of energy, you will see the condition as an area of black energy on the outside of the iliac crest.

Treatment: Massage the whole area from the iliac crest down the outside of the thigh and lower leg to the foot. If you are sensitive to the energetic color of the ailment, symbolically grab and pull the blob of black energy off the iliac crest.

14. Tight Psoas

Tightness or rigidity in the area of the psoas (psoas major and iliacus muscles) reflects rigidity in lifestyle, such as a lifestyle built on structure and routine or the rigidity with which you judge life, for example, that life is unfair, or the rigidity with which you judge others, for example, “My boss is a total bastard.” The degree of tightness in the psoas reflects the degree of rigidity you impose on your lifestyle or the degree of rigidity with which you hold on to your beliefs. The energy used in holding on to routine and rigid belief and judgment is thirdchakra energy, energy of the air element. Air energy causes muscles to tense, tighten, and harden. The more you hold to your rigid lifestyle and beliefs, the more air energy you use and hold in your body, and therefore the more rigidity you experience in your psoas. If the types of beliefs you hold on to are painful, such as “life is hard” or “nobody loves me” or “I am a victim,” it follows that you metaphysically hold on to pain, which then manifests in the psoas.

Pain in the psoas can also reflect the pain of having to conform to a life of structure and routine, the fear of feeling or becoming lost without structure and routine, or the despair that comes later in life from realizing that seeking solace through structure and routine, and rigidity in general, does not provide the hoped-for comfort. As this condition lies within the body area governed by the first chakra, there may be some ancestral influence in this condition. Check for structured, routine-driven lifestyles in your recent ancestry. People use structure and routine in life to fill the void left by an absence of love.

Paradoxically, students who try to use yoga to release the psoas may find it difficult to do so, as using yoga to create a specific outcome is a form of structured, rigid behavior. Using a structured approach to release a condition caused by the use of structure is counterproductive. You cannot exert control over a part of your body in order to set it free. You have to allow your body to find its own freedom. This comes from surrendering to your yoga practice instead of trying to use it or control it for a specific outcome. See figure 8.6.

Fig. 8.6. Tight psoas (14) and tight midback (16)

What it feels like in your body: A dull pain that extends downward from either side of the navel toward the inside of the groin or toward the back of the top of the thigh. It always feels like it is deep inside, a core pain. Sympathetic to the running of the kidney and stomach meridians in this part of the body, the meridians that govern inherited patterns of behavior through ancestry.

Treatment: Here is a lovely, relaxing exercise for self-treatment to help release the psoas. Lie on your back and draw your feet toward your buttocks, keeping your knees pointing up toward the ceiling. Now rub your hands together until they are red hot and place them on both sides of your abdomen, just above the groin, with the ball of your hand resting on the ilium and your fingers pointing toward your central line. Just allow the heat from your hands to sink into this body area. The key to the exercise is to generate body heat in the lower abdominal region, close to the groin. Allow fifteen minutes for the exercise.

15. Weak Lower Back

A weak lower back between L4 and L3 is caused by kidney-energy imbalance or depletion, typically caused by any of the following: overworking, an overall feeling of timidity or fearfulness in life, telling lies and having to listen to lies, excessive pursuit of one or more pleasures, addiction, or wearing clothing that is too light during weather when the sun is hot but the air is cool or damp. See figure 8.5.

What it feels like in your body and in the body of a massage client: A feeling of tightness or weakness in the muscles on either side of the spine around L4 and L3, along with a slight swelling of the kidneys.

Treatment: Depleted kidneys respond very well to rest, correct nutrition, and warmth. The use of hot herbal compresses on this body area in massage can bring great relief, especially if warming herbs like ginger, turmeric, or garlic are used in the compress. Also, warm the soles of the feet under the second toe in the area corresponding to point 1 on the kidney meridian, according to the TCM classification. As well, a course in TCM will bring faster relief to kidney-energy depletion and lower-back weakness and is preferable to regular massage, which simply removes the tiredness from the muscles exhausted by the depletion of energy.

16. Tightness in the Midback

Tightness in the area between L2 and L1 is caused by a chronic or acute buildup of harmful emotional and mental energies related to stress, such as having to put up with a highly toxic work environment, trying to hold everything together, the fear and belief that everything will be lost if you do not hold everything together yourself, the regret at getting into the stressful situation in the first place and the feeling of powerlessness that results, and the enforced self-control and anger and frustration at having to put up with everything going on around you. It requires enormous amounts of energy to do, believe, feel, and hold on to all these things, and all these stressful energies build up inside the body, creating pressure, tension, agitation, shaking, clenching, tightness, and hardness. The place where all these energies originate, giving rise to stress, is the front of the solar plexus chakra. When the condition of stress is strong, the energy of stress spreads backward, from the front of the solar plexus, through the torso, to the back of the solar plexus, coming out of the midback in the space between the L2 and L1. From there the energy of stress forms a thin line of tension or tightness that runs very close to the running of the spine from the back of L2 to the back of the head. See figure 8.6.

What it feels like in the body of a massage client: The energy concentrated between L2 and L1 travels upward along both sides of the spine to the base of the skull, and from there it fans downward into the shoulder area. As it does so, it creates hardness and tightness in the muscles. The energy of stress is the most common cause of tightness in the shoulders. When the pressure of stress energy is chronic, it rises up either side of the spine, continuing through the base of the skull, causing pressure and tension in the head, the physical manifestation of which is headache.

Treatment: When helping a client suffering from this kind of stress, all parts of the body carrying the energy of stress need to be addressed, not just the shoulders, which is where the client tends to feel the effects the most. In particular, work to release the thin line of tightness that runs very close to the running of the spine. This is the key line of tension to release. Don’t worry if you find that you have to massage the area more than once in order to release the tension; this is normal.

17. Tightness between the Shoulder Blades

This small area of the body traversing the spine between the shoulder blades houses the energy of unforgivingness and judgment toward oneself and others. The more you hold on to unforgivingness and judgment, the tighter this area of the body will be. This kind of attitude toward life blocks the energy of the heart at the back of the heart chakra in the area between the shoulder blades. The heart desires its owner to be free, forgiving, loving, and nonjudgmental. See figure 8.7.

Fig. 8.7. Tightness between the shoulder blades (17), stiff shoulder blades (18), and pain in the scapula (19)

What it feels like in the body of a massage cleint: A semihard “golf ball” of energy between the shoulder blades. The energy of unforgivingness additionally contracts the muscles around the shoulder blades and the tops of the arms and outer arms, causing pain in the running of the large intestine, small intestine, triple heater, and heart meridians in the upper arm.

Treatment: After massaging the area between the shoulder blades to reduce the physical tightness, work gently and energetically on the front of the heart chakra to build up warmth in this area. Hold the warmth there for as long as possible, allowing it to dissipate back into the heart chakra.

18. Stiffness in the Area of the Shoulder Blades

In general, the shoulder blades relate to the correct use or misuse of your life-force energy. The pain of not being able to discern what is good for you and what is not good for you in life or of not knowing how best to use the gifts you already have is held in the small intestine meridian, the exact point of pain coming from TCM point SI 11, in the center of the scapula. The scapula is the area of the body that lies between the energy of the small intestine meridian and spleen meridian, which governs life-force energy. When there is a blockage between these two meridians, as when these two meridians are not working together, a parallel physical blockage results, manifesting as stiffness.

Stiffness in the area of the shoulder blades usually reveals you are going in the wrong direction in life, or you are doing something in life that isn’t serving your highest purpose. This is actually a positive and predictive pain, showing that you either need to make an adjustment in your life direction or that an important change is about to come into your life and you will have to adjust to align yourself to this new change or direction. This may involve letting go of some old ways of thinking and behaving and adapting to newer, higher ways of thinking and behaving. The change will take place when you become aligned, at which point the energy between the spleen and small intestine meridians will flow freely, removing the blockage between the two. It is the blockage of energy between the two meridians, found in the area of the shoulder blades, that causes the feeling of resistance and lack of mobility. See figure 8.7.

Stiffness in the Area of the Left Shoulder Blade

Stiffness in the area of the left shoulder indicates you do not yet know what to do or what direction to take when it comes to using your energies or intuition in the highest and best way for you. This ailment only arises after you have awakened your higher, intuitive, spiritual energies.

Such pain can be witnessed in yoga practice when the time comes for the student to change the reason why they practice. Most people start yoga for a reason, such as wanting to be able touch their toes. This becomes their goal in yoga and they channel their life-force energy into their practice in order to achieve this goal. Sometimes, however, such a student can become interested in other aspects of yoga on their journey, such as discovering the yoga sutras of Patanjali. When such a student suddenly experiences left shoulder stiffness after months of practice, it is their shoulders telling them it is time to leave behind the goal of wanting to touch their toes and explore a potentially deeper goal in yoga. This is the spleen and small intestine meridians telling the student that widening their yoga practice to include additional study, such as of Patanjali, is a better use of their life-force energy than merely wanting to touch their toes. When the practitioner adjusts their practice to include study of Patanjali, the stiffness in the left shoulder disappears.

Stiffness in the Area of the Right Shoulder Blade

Once you have established a general direction to take in life that is aligned with your higher energies, the question of how to specifically use your higher energies in the best way for yourself arises. If you are uncertain or blocked as to how to go about doing this, you might experience stiffness in the region of the right shoulder. For example, you have established that you are to be a teacher, but are now unsure as to how to use the energy of teaching in the most effective way, i.e., general schooling, special-needs education, or specialized one-subject teaching (e.g., art, movement, dance, drama, yoga, meditation, etc.). Don’t worry too much about this pain. If you listen to it and surrender to it, the answer as to what to do will eventually come to you. Going through the experience of pain, however, is part of the process of listening to your body and surrendering to your higher self in guiding you through life.

What it feels like in the body of a massage client: There is a layer of dense, coldish sponginess covering the area of the shoulder blade.

Treatment: Three areas need addressing in massage treatment: the shoulder blades, the heart chakra, and the sixth chakra. First, massage the area of the shoulder blade(s) with very warm hands until the coldish quality in the spongy tissue dissipates. Now put your client in supine position. Massage and open the fronts of both the fourth and sixth chakras with gentle circular movements. Place one hand on the sixth chakra, with your other on the fourth, and with the power of intention move energy from the sixth to the fourth. This helps to bring the knowledge of the future into the present, where hopefully it will be felt in the heart, in the fourth chakra. If the treatment is successful, the client will be struck by an inspirational idea or thought about what to do in life a few days following the treatment. When this happens, the shoulder condition releases.

19. Pain in the Center or Bottom Edge of the Scapula

Pain in the Center of the Scapula

Pain in the center of the scapula is caused by forcing your hands to do something they are not free to do or are not happy to do, for example, forcing yourself to paint or knit in order to escape feelings of loneliness. Here the freedom to create is subjugated by the need to create, which is determined by the need for escape. This is a misuse of the energy of creative expression and, by extension, a misuse of your hands to support such misuse. This enforced incorrect use of your life-force energy causes a blockage in the energy flowing between the spleen and small intestine meridians in the region of the scapula, the exact point of pain being TCM point SI 11. It is this blockage that gives rise to physical pain. Some massage therapists get this pain when it is time for them to stop their massage career, yet they do not stop because they do not know what else to do. Continuing to massage when your heart or your intuition asks you to stop is what causes this pain. Your small intestine meridian is telling you that massage is no longer the right thing for you to do, but you ignore this and so block the energy flow in your small intestine meridian at point SI 11. See figure 8.7.

What it feels like in your body: An intense, often acute physical pain right in the center of the scapula.

Pain at the Bottom Edge of the Scapula

Pain at the bottom edge of the scapula arises from giving yourself away or selling yourself short. In relationships, it is the pain of giving yourself to someone who doesn’t love you or care about you. It can be the emotional pain of sadness from living a life that should not have turned out the way it did. Toward the end of life, it can be the pain of having to live the last years of your life on your own. The energy of this latter pain can run very deep and can work its way into the bone and become intense. On the spiritual level, the pain refers to your sacrificing your return “home,” to the light, to infinite love and Spirit, in favor of a lifetime on Earth. To keep you attached to Earth, the ego grants you one big pay-off to keep you interested in life. This could be the joy and happiness of family, sex, emotional love, indulgence in pleasure, or success with money, power, intellect, or some attachment or pursuit that you are unwilling to break your attachment to. Although it may be a big thing to you in this lifetime, in comparison to a life of unlimited spirit and unconditional love, it is nothing. Thus your desire to stay here on Earth, especially toward the end of life, means you are selling yourself short. See figure 8.6.

What it feels like in your body: An intense, burning pain in the bone at the lowest edge of the scapula.

Treatment for both pain in the center and bottom edge of the scapula: As well as gentle massage of the scapula itself, additional care needs to be given to the front of the heart chakra. Heat needs to be generated in the heart chakra, through loving touch. The heat generated in the heart chakra can then flow into the small intestine meridian, which is linked to the fourth chakra, and this will help dissolve the blockage in the meridian along its running through the scapula. Be aware, however, that such relief is only temporary. The root of the pain is in lifestyle and the best thing a therapist can do is to impart this information as lovingly as possible to the client.

20. Upper-Arm Pain

In general, the upper arms, along with the elbows, forearms, wrists, and hands, are energetic extensions of the heart. Their condition is mirrored in the condition of the heart. If the heart is weak or closed, they will be weak or closed too. Similarly, the condition of the energy in the arms reflects back to the heart. Thus if there are blocks in energy in the arms, the heart becomes blocked too. For the heart to be free, the upper arms, elbows, forearms, wrists, and hands need to be free. Pain in the upper arms, elbows, forearms, wrists, and hands reveal a blockage in the energy flowing from the heart. They reveal that something about you or what you are doing in life is blocking your heart. This is the root of all arm pain. Arm pain indicates your heart is in pain.

Pain specifically in the upper arm indicates the pain of not opening your heart, or the accumulation of everything that has happened to you or that you have done in life that has blocked your heart from opening; for example, blaming others—usually your parents—for your own condition in life. By blaming your parents, you are not forgiving them. By not forgiving them, you are not loving them. By not loving them, you are blocking your heart from opening.

Upper-arm pain is often a complex, multilayered, intense pain, as the energy that is causing the discomfort runs through six meridians in the upper arm: the lung, large intestine, pericardium, triple heater, small intestine, and heart meridians. The types of subtle energy running through these meridians can be a mixture of emotional, mental, and behavioral energies, and accordingly manifest as different types of physical pain. Emotional energies running through these meridians are usually cold energies, such as loneliness, sadness about life, or the experience of having to live in a loveless marriage. These energies cause contraction, coldness, and heaviness in the muscles surrounding the running of these meridians. Other emotional energies, such as hatred for life or anger at a parent or spouse who has never loved you, cause hardness and tightness in the muscles. When the pain of life hurts you to the core of your very being, the accumulated energies can work themselves into the humerus bone itself and can be quite intense. Mental and behavioral energies running through the six meridians that block the heart from opening include the energies of unforgivingness, the need to inflict pain on someone who has hurt you, the need to build a wall of protection around yourself against an unloving parent or spouse, or blaming others for your own circumstances. These energies cause hardness and tightness in the muscles surrounding the running of these meridians. One specific behavioral energy, the one you use in holding on to your painful past, causes compression, pain, and weakness in the triceps, through which runs the large intestine meridian, the energetic function of which is to let go of the past. Compression in the triceps causes the arm to weaken when you try to raise it above your head.

Opening the heart, whether through yoga practice or therapeutic massage, will cause the six energy meridians in the upper arm to open. If a person opening their heart has experienced little or no love in life, the opening of the meridians will release great pain into your arm and will trigger the release of pain from other areas of the body, most noticeably from the latissimus and deltoid muscles, the rotator cuff, the bottom of the scapula, between the shoulder blades, the front of the fourth chakra, the back of the fourth chakra, the back of the third chakra, the area around L5 and S1, the tops of the hamstrings, the fronts of the thighs, the outsides of the thighs, and the dorsa of the feet. Yoga teachers and massage therapists experiencing such a complex energy release are often forced to rethink and reinvent their practice in order to protect themselves from this pain.

Not only do the six meridians in the upper arm store the energies of your own life that block the opening of your heart, they also house the energies of your parents. If your parents were unhappy together or if either or both of your parents experienced little or no love in their own lives, a second-generation copy of those cold energies is passed into you at the time of conception and houses itself in your upper arms. If you are at a stage of heart opening in your massage or yoga practice, you may find that you are not only releasing hurtful energies from your own past but also from the past of your parents.

There is no shortcut to opening your heart if there has been a lot of lovelessness in your life and in the lives of your parents. Emotionally, the heart will only open after the lung, large intestine, pericardium, triple heater, small intestine, and heart meridians have opened energetically. This process takes time, patience, understanding, and forgiveness. The heart meridian, as it opens, releases enormous heat and warmth running along the inside of the upper and lower arm, through the wrist, and out through the center of the palm of the hand. It is a wonderful energy. You can use it to bring great healing to others in your massage practice or to bring great physical strength to your arms in your yoga practice. See figure 8.8 and figure 8.9, below.

Fig. 8.8. Pain on the back and side of the upper arm (20) and tightness at the back of the neck (28)

Fig. 8.9. Pain on the front and side of the upper arm (20), elbow pain (21), tight forearm (22), and weak wrists (23)

What it feels like in your body: Pain in this area is experienced as cold, compressed deltoids, or acute pain and weakness in the triceps.

Treatment: At the heart of upper-arm pain lies family history; for example, the pain of your parents having to live together although they did not love each other, the additional pain of one or both of your parents at not being loved by their own parents, and finally your own pain at being unloved—three generations of emotional pain that are linked together and that have become housed in your upper arm.

When seeking treatment for this pain, it can be useful to seek help from a professional who understands family dynamics and the patterns that run through and shape families. In addition, it can be beneficial to find a form of medical treatment that recognizes the role that energy, or chi, plays in the condition of the physical body, such as TCM acupuncture or shiatsu. Esoteric healers who recognize the role of energy in the body are also extremely useful to work with, including shamans, energy workers, or spiritual healers.

Self-development disciplines such as yoga or meditation can also be beneficial, but your teacher needs be experienced enough in their own self-development to be able to guide you through these painful releases. Massage too can be of help, but again, the therapist needs to be experienced enough to understand the possible underlying energetic origins of your physical pain. The treatment for upper arm pain in massage involves gentle massaging of the whole area between outer arm and heart, and warming the heart, the soft area above the heart, the outside of the rib cage, the armpit, and the shoulder. As well, establish a connection between the heart and the outer upper arm and enable the energy to flow from the heart into the whole upper arm.

21. Pain or Weakness inside the Elbow

Pain and weakness in the inside of the elbow is related to the pain of living your life through others—following others, being dependent on others, or seeking acceptance and validation from others. The behavior and need to seek validation from others blocks the path to your own freedom and to discovering your own authentic self. This block to freedom causes pain in your heart, the nature of which is to be free, and this is reflected in the elbows. See figure 8.9.

What it feels like in your body: The energy flow from your heart chakra is blocked in the running of the heart and pericardium meridians at the bottom edge of the humerus, causing pain to radiate from between the bottom of the humerus to the top of the ulna. An intense but dull pain, causing weakness in the elbow joint.

Treatment: In massage, cup the area in your hands and hold. Allow the heat of your hold to sink into the elbow joint. The joint itself does not require any form of physical manipulation. Additionally, massage the upper arm and front of the heart chakra and establish a connection between the energy of the heart and the elbow joint, running through the upper arm.

22. Forearm Tightness

Tightness in the forearm is related to the pain of being in service, of putting other people first, and the pain of putting other people’s needs ahead of your own. This pain only arises when you have been trained to be in service by someone else, usually by a parent who has you so you can look after them. From your earliest days you were trained to live your life in accordance with the needs of others, your parents, and the only source of affirmation you received was in answering the needs of others. You grew up trained to feel happy in serving others. This is enslavement, and this is the message that you need to learn from this energy blockage. When, as an adult, you are completely free and happy to choose a life of service or not, this pain will not be present.

This is a common pain among massage therapists who find happiness and validation in their work. They find joy in their work because they have been trained by their parents to find happiness in serving the needs of others. If they were truly and completely free in their work and working from this place of complete freedom, from where the energy of their heart could flow freely through their arms, then there would be no blockages in their forearms. The blockage in the forearm reveals they are not free in their massage work, although they believe they are. It is a very contentious issue! See figure 8.9.

What it feels like in your body: Tightness or mild hardness in the extensor carpi ulnaris and digitorum muscles.

Treatment: Gentle, loving massage of the posterior forearm. This can also be done with self-massage.

23. Weak Wrists

Weakness in the wrists is related to the belief that you need to belong to a group, as without group affirmation or support you believe you are in a position of weakness. It involves a belief in weakness—that you are too weak to stand on your own two feet. If you believe you are weak, the weakness will be reflected physically in your body. Similar to the condition of weakness in the elbow joint, the pain resides in the heart and pericardium meridians, this time at the bottom of the ulna. See figure 8.9.

What it feels like in your body: Weakness in the muscular strength in the wrist.

Treatment: Cup the wrist in your hands and hold. Allow the heat of your hold to sink into the wrist joint. The joint does not require any form of physical manipulation, although there is no harm in giving it some gentle manipulation. With your hold, generate a feeling of love and loving intention in your touch and work to move this energy into the wrist of the client. The energy of love is what is needed to heal the weakness.

24. Pain in the Right Arm

There is a specific type of subtle energy that causes pain in your right arm and in your heart: the energy of another person’s jealousy of you. Jealousy is a hurtful energy, and another person’s jealousy of you can cause you hurt, especially to your heart and your right arm. When you come into physical contact with someone who is jealous of you, the energy of their jealousy enters your energetic body through the palm of your right hand and travels up your right arm along the pericardium meridian toward your heart. Your pericardium will then intuitively work to block the flow of this incoming energy, causing a blockage and resulting in the physical manifestation of a painful inflammation in your lower arm. The right side of the body is the side through which you draw in energy to yourself, while the left side is the side through which you release and let go of energy. The energy of another person’s jealousy of you can also enter your body through the center of your right nipple. This leads to blockage, resistance, and stiffness in the body area above the right nipple, including your right shoulder and upper right arm. It can also cause a rise in blood pressure. See figure 8.10.

Fig. 8.10. The pain of jealousy in the right arm and in the right-hand side of the fourth chakra (24)

What it feels like in the body of a massage client: A feeling of coldness and slight heaviness in the lower arm or in the soft tissue between heart and clavicle.

Treatment: Massage treatment involves metaphysically pulling all the energy of jealousy out of the body of the client, either through their right hand or through their right nipple, until none of it is left. This is specialized, hands-off energetic work, usually carried out by an appropriately trained shaman, energy worker, or spiritual healer.

25. Coldness between the Upper Chest and the Clavicle

The energies of current or former loneliness (black in color), grief (gray), sadness (yellow), or despair (dark green) are housed in the area of the body between the upper chest and the clavicle. See figure 8.11.

Fig. 8.11. Coldness between the upper chest and clavicle (25) and pain in the trapezius (26)

What it feels like in the body of a massage client: The area feels soft and spongy to the touch, and cold when you hold your hand above it. In your own body the energies of grief and sadness metaphysically manifest as a fog or mist that sits between you and your direct experience of your environment. The resulting feeling is one of a loss of connection to life.

Treatment: Place you hand on the sternum and use the natural warmth and weight of your hand to soften the area. The heat from your hand will also enable your client to breathe more into the area, which will help release the energies held here. You can aid the release by gently massaging the area. Work with great sensitivity. In some instances your client may weep or cry during treatment.

26. Pain in the Trapezius

This is TCM gallbladder point GB 21, on the top of the shoulder directly above the nipple, known as the shoulder well, and no wonder. It is the point on the gallbladder meridian that carries the energy of our belief in our own limitations. It also fires the energy of frustration arising from such a belief. This point can become sensitive and very painful when massaged during times when we feel frustrated by our personal limitations, such as not having the confidence to ask our boss for a pay raise. The more we focus on such limitation, the stronger and more painful the energy in this gallbladder point becomes. See figure 8.11.

What it feels like in your body: Physical tightness in the trapezius muscle. This can be an incredibly painful point on the top of the shoulder.

Treatment: Gentle, not vigorous, massage treatment of the trapezius supported with additional heart chakra work, opening and warming the chakra and imparting reassurance, strength, and love through the energetic quality of your touch to your client.

27. Inflammation at the Sides of the Neck

Inflammation or swelling at the sides of the neck is caused by a blockage in the energy needed to speak freely. When it is found in a location from the back of the neck to the sides of the neck, it involves the self-control you exert against speaking your feelings or needs, against speaking your truth. You may do this out of fear of being judged, out of fear of being rejected by your audience, or out of fear of having some form of personal power taken away from you, as by the comment “What a stupid thing to say,” which undermines your intelligence. When the condition is found in the area from the front of the neck to the sides of the neck it relates to the direct control or pressure a specific person puts on you against speaking your true feelings or needs; for example, the pressure an employer puts on you to not criticize their unfair treatment of you, or the pressure a controlling parent puts on you not to criticize them. When the block to speaking freely is severe, it travels upward into the lower jaw, where it tightens and contracts the jaw muscles. See figure 8.12.

What it feels like in your body and in the body of a massage client: Soft, cool, spongy inflammation in the sides of the neck. The cool energy, indicating the emotional energy of fear, additionally causes weakness in the muscles in the neck.

Treatment: Suggest that your massage client find a free space out in nature or by the sea, where they can vent their feelings. The energy of blocked communication needs to be released. Do not suggest venting their feelings in the car, as the energy of their anger will just bounce off the windshield and back into their neck and throat. Similarly, do not suggest direct confrontation.

Fig. 8.12. Inflammation at the sides of the neck (27), ear pain (29), and the location of crown energy (30)

28. Tightness at the Back of the Neck

The point of indecision: when you can’t decide what to do when you know you have to make a decision about your future and all the options have been put before you. Can’t see the future. Can’t see what’s coming. See figure 8.8.

What it feels like in your body: A pinching in the area just below the atlas between C3 and C5

Treatment: Massage the area gently until warm and soft. Support with additional work on the sixth and seventh chakras, the shoulder blades, and the heart, energetically connecting all four body areas together.

29. Ear, Head, and Neck Pain

The ears are the portals through which the energy of words spoken to us enters our system. Words of love, truth, good advice, and support naturally carry good energy with them, and when this energy enters our body it creates warmth and openness wherever it goes. Words of hatred, violence, deceit, manipulation, or control carry damaging energy with them, and when these words enter our body through our ears, their energy causes the ears and the areas around the ears to tighten and harden in an act of protection and defense. Such words can also result in headache and tightness in the neck. The reason for this happening is that as the damaging energy of hurtful words travels downward throughout the body from the ears, it tries to pass through the fourth chakra, the area of the heart. The heart, however, is able to discern truth from untruth, and what is good for us and what is not good for us, and so it blocks the downward flow of harmful word energy, causing blockage of energy in the head and neck. I have seen this kind of energy block manifest in yoga teachers who go to the workshops of highly regarded teachers, yet come away with a blinding headache and a vaguely intuitive feeling that the yoga teacher does not fully understand what it is they are teaching. The heart of the student, which already knows that the teacher does not know what they are talking about, blocks the energy of the words of the teacher, causing energy blockages in the areas above the heart: the throat, neck, and head. This is a sign that the student has outgrown the teacher and now needs to move on from that person. The same thing happens when someone with an open heart goes to listen to the words of a spiritual guru who uses words of wisdom with the hidden intention of needing to control his audience or the need to build a discipleship. Such an openhearted person will leave the experience with a blinding headache. See figure 8.12.

What it feels like in the body of a massage client: The cartilage of the ear feels thicker than usual and there is resistance to bending or folding it. There is also a thin layer of dense, semihardness in front of the ear, behind the ear, and above the ear. The portion of neck below the ear is similarly semihard and is cold to the touch.

Treatment: Gentle, slow massage of the whole area. It is better to cup the back of the neck in your hand and squeeze it gently instead of massaging it. Hold the squeeze grip and as you feel the neck soften, slowly and gently increase the pressure of the squeeze until the neck is completely soft. Use finger pressure around the ear. Slow, warm, circular movements. Start gently, but gradually increase pressure as the tissue softens and the layer of denseness goes. Rub your hands together until hot and place over the ears. Repeat until the ears turn red or become warm.

30. The Crown

For some students of yoga, the spiritual aspects of yoga, ruled by the sixth and seventh chakras, or ajna and crown chakras, become an important element of their practice. Seeking guidance in this area to help them further deepen their practice, they are drawn to workshops offered by well-established, often globally recognized teachers of their chosen system of yoga. Students assume a world-renowned teacher of yoga understands all aspects of yoga, including a full understanding of the more abstract, symbolic, spiritual aspects. The trouble is, some world-renowed yoga teachers in the West do not understand the deeper, more hidden spiritual wisdoms of yoga, which is a tradition of the East. They therefore misinterpret some of the spiritual teachings and then share these misinterpretations with their students. The students, in innocence, openly accept these misinterpretations. Because of the nature of the subject matter involved, spirituality, the energy of misinterpreted spiritual wisdom causes blockages in the spiritual centers: the sixth and seventh chakras.

The color of energy at the center of the seventh chakra is very bright white. The color of the energy of misunderstanding and misinterpretation is black. Misinterpreted teachings on the spiritual aspects of yoga show up as blobs of black energy in the center of the seventh chakra. There are no physical side effects; however, they do block the energy of true spiritual understanding from subsequently entering the energy system of the yoga student. See figure 8.12.

What it feels like in the body of a massage client: Place your hand flat above the crown of the client. This area normally feels warm. If cold, it reveals a blockage. If you are a therapist sensitive to the colors of energy, you will sense the color black over the crown.

Treatment: Seek help from an appropriately trained shaman, energy worker, or spiritual healer. Ask them to check the condition of the energy in your seventh chakra. Treatment of the condition involves the removal of the blocking energy from the crown. Some healers may achieve this by drumming the energy out of your crown, others by sending it to the light, while others will simply swish it away with their hands.