What it is... - Elemental Health LLC

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.

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.

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.

What it is…

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