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Preview:
along with a few anecdotes from his nearly thirty years as a healer and Qigong master, he simply motions toward the table.
“Now, feel the anxiety…that’s normal,” Clyman says as I climb onto the table and lie on my back, fully clothed. I’m even still wearing my boots. Clyman begins poking me with his finger, first up by my clavicle, then on my sternum, and over by my left armpit.
“Nothing,” he says. Clyman was checking for any signs of anguish, abandonment or sorrow.
A Spot of Guilt
In almost thirty years of practice, he says he’s discovered that people have eight “emotional energy release” spots on their upper body. Not everybody has the same emotional baggage, which would explain why when he poked the abandonment spot on my sternum, I felt nothing special.
But when he got to the spot on the side of my right rib cage that indicates anger, I nearly lept off the table and started to howl in pain. It felt like he was stabbing me with a finger.
After a few minutes of writhing and screeching, he moved on to the guilt spot, which for women is near the inside of our right hip
bone, and for men is down a little lower, by the groin. It hurt a little, kind of like a scraped knee, and after a few seconds, it was gone.
But then Clyman went for the big one: bitterness. Apparently we keep that in our abdomen. Using two hands, he drove in — literally — pressing down a few inches below my diaphragm. The pain came in waves, I couldn’t breathe, it was unrelenting. I’ve never had a child but from what my friends have described, this may have been in the ballpark. “Just blow it out, blow it into my hands,” Clyman said as I gasped for breath, trying, in vain to shout “Oh God!”
“That’s bitterness, self-hatred,” Clyman said. “Take the bitterness and blow it into my hand. Just blow it out. Take whatever you have and you don’t even have to know what it is. Bitterness is the worst. Bitterness is the most physical feeling emotion of them all.” No Kidding, buddy, I’m thinking, writhing in pain.
Something Happened
After about ten minutes of this mixed with several swift punches to the stomach to get his jing moving inside me, he explained, so it could suck up all the bad stuff
like a dustbuster—we were done. And that’s it. I had a bruise. It’s nearly gone now.
And I feel, well different. I’m not one to believe in such things, but something transpired. Something happened. Maybe it was spiritual. Maybe it was qi. Maybe it was the power of suggestion. Who knows? “It will take you a while to recognize what’s missing,” Clyman said.
This much I can attest to: A week later, I yell less in traffic, have had only one major meltdown (when my computer crashed), my tension headaches are mostly gone, and I’ve succeeded in avoiding doing anything out of a sense of guilt. Maybe I’m nicer? A little lighter, perhaps. Even if it doesn’t show on the scale or in the mirror.
More Information:
Master Gary J. Clyman, L.Ac.
Chicago Wholistic Health Center
(312) 446-8218 (800) 782-4244
Excerpted from Chicago SunTimes Religion writer Cathleen Falsani's article dated January 13, 2006.
