Elemental Health LLC

medicine for body, mind, and spirit

Search Elemental Health LLC

  • Home
  • About
  • Spiritual Direction
  • Dream Work
  • Acupuncture
  • Bodywork
  • Schedule Appointment

Contact Elemental Health

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Contact Allen Proctor

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

What it is…

December 14, 2011 by Caroline Craig Proctor Leave a Comment

One day some months ago in my class on needling, our instructor began teaching us what to do when the unexpected happened in acupuncture. She said that we were engaging with energy and all manner of things can happen when energy is invited to play. It reminded me of the Annie Dillard quotation preachers are fond of quoting in sermons. I must paraphrase it here; it involved a suggestion that church goers might don crash helmets and body pads when going to church lest the Holy Spirit actually show up and move. I always loved that quotation.
Sunning Turtle

 

 

In my current field of study, the Holy Spirit’s work and evidence might be termed Qi. In Daoist thinking, all is qi. It is as if Creation itself and what creates it is all qi. Everything is qi, has qi, contains qi, gives qi. Qi is energy, flow, force.

She told stories of various things that had happened to her in years of practice. Giggles, tears, breathing, chattering, silence, even the occasional whoo! of a patient.

“It’s all qi” she said. Everything is qi. Just remember that.

 

 

Nesting loon

 

I am remembering that as I look down the pike to the holidays and more examinations. My family is in a big transition. Both the family I grew up in and the family I have chosen in my adult life. It seems a great opportunity to step forward and to fall backward. Each day is its own fulcrum of possibility. Some people I love are heartbroken at the death of relationships and the death of family members. Everything is new and different in our new home. All expectations are up for grabs. I feel of two minds.

Part of me is ready for the crash helmets fully expecting the Holy Spirit to come crashing through in the months ahead with new lessons and guidance and all the disruption of holy things and intents.
Another part of me quiets, stills, and hears the playful yet profound voice of my instructor: “it’s all qi”.
I found this skull on a paddling trip in the Boundary waters with my brother some summers ago. This, too is qi. Not all qi is ‘upright’ or flowing as it should. Qi can go the wrong direction, it can stop and block the flow of things, it can be too little and it can be too much. Saying ‘it’s all qi’ isn’t all there is to say. But it is different than saying ‘it is good’ or ‘it is bad’ or ‘it is dead’ or ‘it is alive’ or ‘it is the walking dead’.

It’s just qi means, at least to me in this moment, that it is. It exists with energy.

That energy has the potential to move toward our well being or away from it.

It may be qi that requires crash helmets or it may be qi that requires just a moment’s notice.
Or a day long gaze as did this lupine.
There was something profoundly liberating for me in hearing “it’s just qi”. Every thought is qi — some helps us move toward our wellbeing and other thoughts can stagnate our imagination and our lives. When the man on the highway burned his angry bright headlights into my mirror because he was angry I switched lanes in the moment of his arrival on the scene it was just qi. The anxiety I feel about tests and results is just qi. The love I feel for my family is qi.All this is just qi. But energy and qi can be moved, assisted, supported, engaged. We can have a conversation with qi. My teachers lobby for the position that we can promote well being through our conversation with qi.

It may be the faintest, far away glimpse of balance, and harmony, and possibility. I hope to learn more in doses I can manage.May gratitude embrace you.

Filed Under: Caroline, Uncategorized Tagged With: Qi

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Schedule an Appointment

From the Blog

Earth

May 5, 2020 by Caroline Craig Proctor

I’ve been reflecting recently on what it was like for me to learn Chinese Medicine in midlife years.  I recall wanting so desperately to understand the concepts, to make them fit in the scaffolding of my views of and beliefs about the world.  Some of them did, and many of them did not.  Chinese Medical philosophy has some…  Continue Reading →

Licensed Acupuncturist (NC L.Ac. #779) · Dipl. O.M. (NCCAOM)
Licensed Massage Therapist and Bodyworker (NC LMBT #10355) · Asheville, NC
Copyright © 2025 Elemental Health LLC · Website by Tomatillo Design