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Integrative Mandala Acupuncture
with
Sharon Weizenbaum
back to seminars
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Integrative Mandala Acupuncture
Hara Diagnosis: Integrative Mandala Acupuncture utilizes
Hara (abdominal) diagnosis in a way that easily integrates into
any style of acupuncture practice. The benefits of becoming skillful
in Hara diagnosis are many:
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1. The Hara can
affirm or clarify your TCM, 5 element or Japanese diagnosis.
2. The Hara show
changes with simple massage techniques on acupuncture points.
Using this massage, we can discriminate between point choices,
before treating, to find the one that has the greatest healing
potential.
3. Like the pulse,
the Hara gives us immediate feedback about our point location
and technique. Through Hara diagnosis we can greatly improve
our point location and technique.
4. The Hara is
large and it's messages clear and easy to read
5. Patients experience
the immediate and obvious release of pressure pain in the Hara
and feel an increased confidence in the practitioner's ability
to give effective treatments.
6. Practitioners
experience the immediate and obvious release of pressure pain
in the Hara and feel inspired and confident in their diagnosis,
point choices, techniques and overall effectiveness.
7. Patients receive
the healing benefits of touch.
8. Practitioners
developed increasing sensitivity of subtle body changes through
our fingers and eyes.
9. The Hara changes
when subtle yet powerful healing forces are invited and received
by our bodies. As the practitioner works with the Hara, awareness
develops of the abiding presence and kindness of these forces.
The treatment becomes, over time, an invocation. The healing
reveals the workings of grace. One cannot help but begin to experience
the spiritual nature of our work.
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Sharon Weizenbaum has
developed a method of teaching Hara diagnosis that is accessible
to all acupuncturists. It is systematic and beautiful. The Mandala
treatments clear the entire Hara including the neck, shoulders,
chest, belly, inguinal groove and back. Point selection is based
on the practitioner's educational background and confirmed by
the Hara. A simple, balanced and elegant treatment makes far-reaching
and dynamic changes.
What
is Integrative Mandala Acupuncture?
What do we integrate?
1. Various traditions
of acupuncture can be integrated into a seamless way of working.
Extraordinary vessel
5 Element
TCM and Eight Principles
Hara diagnosis
Kiiko and other Japanese styles
Richard Tan style
2. Yin and Yang. We learn to see that all pathology is a separation
of Yin and Yang and that all healing gestures are a movement
toward reintegration of Yin and Yang.
3. Levels of practice. The artificial separation of symptomatic
and spiritually transformative treatments is resolved through
this integration. We utilize the symptom as a gateway to transformation
and we facilitate transformation on behalf of the symptomatic
suffering.
4. Body, Mind and Spirit. Some forms of acupuncture verbalize
only the physical aspect of acupuncture. Others speak of the
emotional effects as well. Still others emphasize the Spiritual
aspects. When these aspects are truly integrated, then there
is no need to separate them or create an artificial hierarchy
of value between them. Integrative Mandala Acupuncture gives
us the tools to work the body, the structure through spiritual
means and to tap the spirit through the body until there is truly
no separation.
5. Healer and Patient. For the practitioner, the mandala offers
healing. For the patient, the mandala offers empowerment.
6. Self and Cosmos. The mandala approach integrates the patient
with nature and the cosmos, re-establishing right relationship
with the elemental, spiritual, human and natural community.
7. Aesthetics with Practicality. Mandala acupuncture is artistically
working with beauty. The greatest expression of the aesthetic
beauty of the treatment session is the immediate release of suffering.
8. Simplicity with Complexity. The mandala approach teaches that
it is through the cultivation of simple sight, that we can see,
integrate and work with greater and greater complexity. In this
way, as we increase our knowledge and skill, our work becomes
easier and clearer.
What significance does the Mandala have
for acupuncture?
The Mandala is
a map of both the cosmos and the body, showing the reflection
of the cosmos in the human body, mind and spirit. Mandalas can
be arranged from the simplest, the circle, toward infinite complexity.
The second mandala is the Yin Yang symbol, also known as the
Tai Ji Tu. The third images the relationship between Heaven,
Person and Earth. The forth images the four directions. The fifth
images the five elements. Mandalas grow in increasing complexity
though the simpler mandalas are always active in the complex
orders. The Yin Yang symbol still includes the circle. The third
mandala includes Yin and Yang etc.
These Mandalas
are not only symbolic tools. They are maps of the healthy dynamic
of the body and are expressed clearly on the bodies of our patients.
We can accurately listen the language of the body as it expresses
what is needed. As a map, the Mandala of the Hara, which includes
the whole body, teaches us the proper way toward well being.
When we know how to read this map, we can easily know where our
patient lost their way. In addition, we can know how to gently
guide them home again to the center of their own mandala.
Our patients
often present with highly complex patterns of disharmony. This
can overwhelm and confuse even the most experienced practitioner.
Because the simple mandalas are active as complexity increases,
using the mandala view allows us to see clearly through the tangle
of information our patients bring. This process involves moving
back through the mandalas, from complex to simple, until we find
the lens through which we can work with full intention.
Integrative Mandala Acupuncture Syllabus
This course will be structured
in the same general way each meeting. Mornings will be used for
lecture and theory while afternoons will be used for demonstration
and practice. All along there will be handouts. By the end of
class, these handouts will become a reference manual. Below is
the general progression of our studies.
* Meaning of Mandala
and its expression in the Tai Ji Tu (Yin Yang Symbol).
* The concept of Right
Relationship as the active Mandala principle and the Heart Kernel
of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
* Deepening our concept
of Physiology.
* Relationship between
physiology, pulse and Hara.
* Seeing and identifying
the Mandala of the Five Phases on the Hara.
* Practicing Touch: Increasing
perception through the hands and helping our patients receive
our touch.
* The Ten Basic Abdominal Patterns.
* Treatment Guidelines:
The mandala structure of the treatment and the stages of transformation.
* Five Phases on the
Hara and how they manifest: Earth, Water, Wood, Fire and Metal
*Extraordinary Vessels
and the Octahedral Model of the Hara
*Choosing points and
testing points: Listening and responding to the voice of the
Hara.
*Point Classifications:
Five Phase, Command, Source, Luo, Accumulation, Mu, Shu, and
Meeting Points as well as relationship to point names
* Therapeutic Techniques:
Needling, Moxa, Gua Sha, Bleeding, Interdermals, Tiger Warmer,
Tuning Forks and Magnets.
* Clearing the entire
Hara, including neck, shoulders, spine, inguinal groove and buttocks
using the ten ceremonies.
* Refining our skills
and integrating our practice.
By the end of this course
you can expect to be skilled at both identifying the Hara pattern
as well a clearing it. You will also learn or sharpen your skills
in moxa, blood letting, gua sha, interdermal needles as well
as other techniques. By the end of level one, students
will have a working grasp of the basic Mandala principals and
the Ten Ceremonies. This grounding will be enough to greatly
enhance your clinical practice and is complete in and of itself.
Schedule: This course is three three-day weekends, totalling 9 days. Class will run from 9:30 to 3:30 each day.
Location: This course will take place at the Appleblossom Clinic in Denver. Stay tuned for more information
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