Then it was our turn. We broke down into small groups, each supervised by an experienced practitioner, to work with a client with chronic issues. An overview of each client was presented by a practitioner who has been working with him or her. Then the action began, as group members worked together to discuss and explore, balance and test, move ahead or perhaps accomplish nothing -- in other words, we put our heads together. With such spirit and enthusiasm, it's no surprise that everyone benefited. Two of the clients, Francie Boyce and Neville Bayly, share their experiences in their write-ups below.

Watching Donna work was a huge Aha. She follows the thread and keeps checking back to see if something is holding or not. I was in awe, but somehow it also gave me great confidence.

Being part of the group that was doing a session with a client was an incredibly validating experience. Several people worked together -- supporting, supplanting, exchanging ideas, skills, using intuition, procedures -- a marvelous partnership with the one goal being health for the person in the center of the dance. All done with the safety net of the Teaching Assistant. Aha!

The body has an innate wisdom that can be conversed with. Our body/mind/spirit is an incredible recording device which keeps every nuance of our experience in the very tissues of our being. Energy work allows us to either keep or release these experiences in any or all of the layers of our entity. Aha! What a gift. Thank you Donna.

The first evening of class I was fortunate to have a grid session with Shanti Duree. Aha! Skill mated with intuition and incredible gentleness mated with strength. Aha! The body's timing. When my mother passed away seven years ago I collected her. My husband and I have been going through her things (stuff collected over the years, plus all of her parents stuff and some things that went back to her grandparents.) We finished this project last December and sold off the property so I was ready for her to go and she was ready to leave. Shanti helped me to release her spirit. I think I am finished with the Atrial Fibrillation that didn't start until I collected her and feels like it is gone now that she is. Thank you Shanti.

After the "Difficult Case" workshop ended, Sarah Owen taught a class on Radiant Circuits. In addition to teaching us how to test, strengthen, challenge with a problem and re-strengthen, and how to anchor and wander on these joy generators, she went over the whys and wherefores of the sedating and strengthening points on the 5 Rhythms Wheel. Sedating releases the excess energy to the next element on the flow cycle. Strengthening pulls fresh energy forward from the preceding element on the flow cycle. Those are the first points. The second points balance the energy flow and are the controllers on the control cycle. Yin for Yin and Yang for Yang, i.e. Gall Bladder for Stomach, Liver for Spleen. Aha!

The other great Aha from Sarah's class was the power of Anchor and Wander on Triple Warmer. This is where you start by holding an Anchor point on TW meridian (like the temple, the ending point on TW) and "Wander" with the other hand to hold another point on TW (like on the shoulder) and wait for the pulses. When they're felt, move the Wander hand to another point on TW meridian (like above the elbow) while continuing to hold the Anchor point. continue doing this until you have reached the end(or beginning of TW meridian). This is better than a sleeping pill. Aha! Working with TW as a radiant circuit seems to work better for me than going at the sedating points, because sometimes I think that just makes TW mad and even more determined to stay vigilant.

The final Aha! was at the final gathering of the weekend, Donna and David's seminar on The Energies Of Love. They went over the four primary sensory/energy stress modes of Digital, Visual, Tonal and Kinesthetic. The Aha! came from the very specific ways to communicate with each sensory system. To meet each system at their strengths, i.e. look a Visual straight in the eyes. Also, the strategies for your type to memorize for times of conflict and knowing that in those times it is more important to shift the energies than continue the conflict. Energy really is all there is. Thank you Donna and David.

At the "Illness, Pain and the Difficult Case" workshop, I was struck by the multiple layers each group unraveled in working with their difficult case. So many people struggling with health issues want the "magic bullet", that one thing that will cure them. Instead, what happens is that healing one layer seems to open up what lies beneath, and that one reveals the next. Physical, mental, spiritual, energetic--the healing process moves through all these stages. We must be ready to follow the path through these stages and our clients must be aware of what they are in for as we work our way towards the point when the oneness of the many layers comes to the fore and the "cure" can occur.

A second insight at the workshop had to do with the power of the collective energy. Seeing how the gathering of many individuals worked as a network, a force of one composed of many, to effect profound healing in an individual, gives me insight into the way each of us working on ourselves and helping others is working towards a healing of the whole earth--all beings. The power of the collective energy is profound, far reaching. Connections made here don't end. We are part of the evolution of energy and consciousness. The healing we are bringing into the world doesn't occur by overwhelming "bad" forces. Instead, we are striving to bring all energies into some kind of harmony/balance/ recognition of what already is whole and good. There's nothing to overwhelm or conquer. There is something to share.

I was one of the 5 clients or difficult cases at the "Pain, Illness and the Difficult Case" class.

It is quite an experience having 12 people working on me and discussing my situation while I was laying on that table. The love and concern I felt was overwhelming, but I also sometimes felt like I was being pulled in too many directions at one time. I have had sciatica for 3 years, gone to many different practitioners, and done a lot of "soul searching" on the road to self appreciation (enough of letting my family and friends walk all over me just to keep everyone happy!) While being tested, balanced, retested, held, loved, and supported it was found that gall bladder and circulation sex were often out and triple warmer was Way Too Strong. The hook up continued to go out and sucking the thumb caused it to hold the longest. It was good to be reminded that when a person is being balanced, one should remember to recheck things that have already been corrected, as they may not hold.

It has taken me a few days to adjust from the week end, but I am definitely feeling better. Calmer, more satisfied and less pain! The experience brought me to the realization that there is no situation in which energy medicine can't help. I'm committed to bringing down my TW, strengthening spleen, circulation sex and gall bladder. I continue to do the TW hug (one hand on spleen and the other on the TW point at the elbow), temporal tapping, the hook up many times a day, sedating TW ( my husband now has those points memorized), activating the radiant circuits, flushing and strengthening circulation sex, bladder and gall bladder, plus tapping the ends and beginning of the meridians.

The room is warm and I'm feeling sleepy after lunch. Sounds from the other small groups tug at my attention. The person we are working with is Janee Chandler's client and he is showing his 6 week old thyroid surgery to the group. Now he's turning towards me, and I instinctively pull at my shirt to show him my thyroidectomy from 30 years ago.

We have instantly bonded. Sandy Wand tells him that he has a good long life ahead of him. His face begins to change. We discuss what will help his energy and support him. Janee traces and weaves his meridians. Kaelin does " the wave " with kidney #1, and I chant a mantra into his spleen, throat chakra and third eye. Sheila holds the power point at the back of his head. Other group members offer their support. Sandy tells us what she sees happening.

At the end of the session it is clear that we are witnessing a miracle. This 26 year old now looks completely different. The color of his face has changed as well as his posture. He looks stronger and wise beyond his years, and at peace. I am forever grateful to have been a part of this group process. Thank you.

The next morning in a session with Shanti, she discovered that I had "picked up" energy, which helped me understand why I was so emotional during the evening group presentation. This is what she taught me to do in order to separate from a client's energy field after a session: "Surround the other person in a golden circle of light and fill the circle with a color. Connect the circle to Spirit and to Earth. Surround myself in a golden circle of light and fill the circle with a different color. Connect the circle to Spirit and to Earth. Notice that we are connected and visualize cutting the cord. Give thanks to Spirit."

Here is my "AHA" from the Portland weekend. Keep in mind that this is coming from the mind of a relative beginner to Energy Medicine - someone whose understanding of the way energy moves around the meridians when working with the five rhythms chart is pretty much limited to that which is presented on the Energy Tracker video. That is, prior to the weekend in Portland - and, in particular prior to the small group that I was a part of - I was pretty content (not to mentioned excited and amazed) with the impression that working with the meridians via the five rhythms chart was kind of like a game of billiards, played by the following rules: I would begin the game by determining where on the rhythms chart to initiate the corrections so that the "fix" would shoot the shortest distance across and around the chart to all of the weak meridians. In doing this, I would always begin with a yin meridian if any yin meridian was weak, as the yin meridians work all of the time and support the yang. Having begun with a yin meridian, I understood that the energetic corrections would shoot around the control cycle on the inside (yin) part of the five rhythms chart until all yin meridians were corrected, and would then pass to the outer circle (flow cycle) at the place on the chart where no further yin meridian was weak. I used this model in sessions where I worked on people, with seeming success.

Imagine my surprise when the leader of my group, Stephanie Eldringhoff, in the course of presenting the Group's five rhythm analysis of their "case", reported to us that the energy went OUT to correct yang meridians before all of the yin meridians had been corrected! Not only was I surprised, but I realized that my understanding of how the five rhythms chart worked - as exciting and wonderful as it had seemed to me while studying it and applying it to people I have worked on - was pretty elementary. I happened to be sitting near Vicki Matthews, who has been working with me as my mentor. She reminded me that she had hinted at this in our telephone sessions, and promised to help broaden my understanding.

In working with our client, I described how the energy was balancing among yin and yang meridians as we worked with just one meridian, just like in a billiards game. Fran was struck by a comment I made about the yang meridians being affected before all the yin meridian work was completed. Yep, that happened with our client and I see/feel/hear it happening with my clients in the office all the time.

Here's the explanation as I see it.

I utilize the five element theories of control and flow cycles as my primary way of thinking about and working with the meridian system.

I assess with the pulse tests to find over energy and correct for that first, then I use the individual muscle tests to look for under energy. I think it saves huge amounts of time and effort if we correct over energy because then we can return to the individual tests or alarm point tests and zero in on the chronically underenergized meridians.

That's why I drew up, printed and laminated a complete colored summary of the pulses/belly button pull/neurovascular holding points and control/flow cycles. Since I teach this so much, I wanted all those I work with to have one piece of paper to refer to and study so they could really get the 5 element inter relationships deep into their beings. If you are interested in one, you can contact me directly for pricing. Deirdre Knowles computerized my illustrations and then added another page (answer to my dreams) of the meridian clock and illustration of all neurolymphatic reflex points, meridian pathways, neurovasculars - all organized by meridian within the element.

According to 5-element theory, we have the control cycles - water meridians control fire meridians, fire controls metal, metal controls wood, wood controls earth and earth controls water. We also have the flow cycles - beginning with water flowing to wood, wood to fire, fire to earth, earth to metal and metal to water. Both the control and flow cycles begin and end with water element, the kidney and bladder meridians.

The assessment process is as follows:

1. Utilize the pulse tests to find all the meridians where there is over energy. If there are more yin meridians than yang meridians over energized then look at the 5-element chart and find the one yin meridian that is the shortest distance between all of the other yin meridians. This is where the game of energy billiards begins. Have available the 5-element picture with the five elements organized in a star pattern (yin meridians on the inside and the yang on the outside) so you can chart the results of your testing.

Say the pulse test shows kidney, spleen, stomach, gall bladder and liver are over energized, i.e. the pulses for these meridians tested weak. Note that we have 3 yin meridians - kidney, spleen and liver and 2 yang meridians - stomach and gall bladder. I will choose to sedate liver because following the control cycle I will next reach spleen and then kidney with my action (wood controls earth, controls water) and I will at the same time be reaching the yang meridians. I will only have to hold sedating points for the liver meridian and the whole system of over energy will collapse because liver's overenergy was feeding the overenergy in the whole system. Yin meridian intervention is so very important in any solution to over energy if the majority of the troubled meridians are yin. Also stomach and gall bladder are immediately relieved of over energy because they are paired in the elements with spleen and liver respectively. Also the sedating points for liver include points along heart and lung meridians so you are reaching deeper into the meridian system than you may have realized.

2. If the over energy had been found in a majority of yang meridians and their adjoining yin on the couple were not also affected, I would move out to the flow cycle and sedate either the earliest meridian in the flow cycle that was overenergized if it was bladder or the last meridian in the flow cycle that was overenergized. You can also use the control cycle with the yang meridians but I find the flow cycle logic works with fewer meridians requiring attention before balance is established.
   
   

3. At this point I recheck the pulses and see if any problem remains. If not, then
   
   

4. I assess the alarm points or the individual muscle tests. I am searching for any residual under energy and I use the same theories to choose the one meridian for strengthening. If I deal with over energy in the system and confirm that over energy is corrected, then I can depend on the alarm points to indicate under energy.
   
   

5. Another method is to assess for over energy with the pulses, assess for under energy with the individualized muscle tests and then strengthen the first meridian in the flow cycle following the last meridian in the flow cycle of overenergized meridians. What you are doing is pulling the energy into that under energized meridian which almost acts like popping the cork on the build up of over energy.
   
   

6. Always keep in mind that the meridians are governed by two laws - Laws of Stimulation and Deficiency.

Stimulation means that working with a meridian (tapping, holding points) first stimulates activity, followed by eventual sedation and finally by anesthesia. Don't tap forever or hold sedation points longer than necessary, as overstimulation does not sedate. Instead, it loses the sedation point's ability to lower the energy in (i.e. sedate) the meridian.

Deficiency is about the body using any stimulus in its most beneficial way, so stimulation of meridian points gives priority to the meridian in greatest need. If there is no need, the stimulation is ignored.

So if you keep those laws in mind and use the proper interpretation of the control and flow cycles, you will work with only one or two meridians and the whole system will start righting itself.

I hope this is useful and helps you understand why I use the term billiards to describe my interaction with the control and flow cycles.

My greatest "aha" moment at the Difficult Case conference occurred as the conference ended. Just an hour earlier, Donna had been fielding questions and someone asked about epilepsy and seizure disorders. Donna suggested that doing the Hookup was very effective for seizures.

As I was saying goodbye to Vicki Matthews, I started having a seizure. Vicki said "Do the Hookup!" As I held the hookup points, I continued to breathe through the seizure and it faded within seconds. I usually feel "out of body" during a seizure, but when I breathed through the Hookup, I felt so empowered and I grounded my body with such ease. Since that time, I have continued to do the Hookup each time I have a seizure. After 3 or 4 breaths, it starts to kick in and I feel myself coming back into my body.

What an awesome and awe inspiring class this was! Weeks later, I still find myself lying in bed at night thinking about different experiences or things I learned from the weekend. What continually keeps coming back to me, though, is the deep realization that there truly is no one "right way" to do energy work. Although I've known this for some time, it really hit me at a deep level at this particular class.

Each small group was quite unique in personality, character, and style of work. And each group did fabulous work with their "client." My group did a small ceremony at the very beginning to bring our energies together and set our intention to work as one collective unit. It was so beautiful to watch the session unfold, with each individual intuitively bringing some insight or idea or energy treatment at what seemed to be just the right moment. Everyone participated in some way and we truly did seem to work as one energy body. What struck me, though, was how each individual in the group brought a unique style and way of working. And it all worked! I have no doubt that each energy session could have unfolded in a number of different ways, all of which would have resulted in considerable benefit to the client.

For me, this instilled a sense of freedom and intuitive excitement that I didn't feel prior to this class. I find myself jumping into energy work more spontaneously now... less concerned about whether I'm doing "the right thing."