​Answer:
​Energy testing, using the alarm points as I imagine you have been doing, will usually identify the meridians that need attention. But the meridian that is most directly involved with the problem is not always the meridian that first needs to be corrected, so other factors sometimes need to be considered. Much of this is mapped in two charts. Look to the Meridian Flow Chart and the Five Rhythm Chart in Energy Medicine, and the associated text, which explains how you can use each to track what is happening in the body’s energies.

Often the crux of a problem will lie "upstream" in the meridian system. You can see how this works in the Meridian Flow Chart. Bladder meridian, for instance, is upstream from kidney meridian. It "flows" into kidney, and what shows up as a problem in kidney meridian might be caused because bladder meridian is not flowing into it properly, not "feeding" it. Imagine that the meridians are rivers of energy connected to one another as segments, ultimately comprising one long waterway. Low water levels in one segment of the river might be caused by a logjam further upstream, so it’s imperative to break up that blockage in order to alleviate the problem downstream. Looking at the Meridian Flow Chart, each meridian feeds the meridian that follows it (going clockwise around the wheel). Very few problems, actually, are caused solely by an isolated meridian.

The wheel also maps how the energy of opposites can be involved. Look, for instance, to spleen meridian, whose energy comes in strongest between 9 and 11 a.m. Its opposite force is triple warmer, whose energy comes in between 9 and 11 p.m. As with all opposites, there is a dynamic tension between them. One can pull energy from the other. Because triple warmer governs the body’s stress responses, however, it can dominate, pulling energy away from spleen without the normal give and take between opposing forces. When spleen is pulled on too much and for too long, the immune system is affected. Infections, low grade fever, and a loss of vitality can result. In an instance like this, it is better to sedate triple warmer than to strengthen spleen. When triple warmer is sedated, the energy it releases is drawn back into the spleen meridian. While such a lack of balance is most common between the spleen and triple warmer meridians, it can happen between any of the opposing meridian pairs.

The 5 Rhythm Chart maps two other influences on the meridian energies: the "flow cycle" and the "control cycle" (both explained in Chapter 7). Each meridian is an expression of one of 5 rhythms, and the meridian’s rhythm, flow cycle, and control cycle may also need to be understood to grasp the full impact of its role in a problem. The 5 Rhythm Chart also shows whether the meridian is the "yang" or the "yin" expression of its rhythm. Bladder meridian, for instance, is the yang manifestation of winter’s rhythm and kidney meridian is its yin manifestation.

When trying to figure out which meridians need attention in order to correct a specific problem, energy testing the meridian indicator muscles, or using the alarm points, is where I begin. I will treat the meridians that the tests show to be involved with the problem by tracing them, flushing them, sedating and/or strengthening their acupuncture points, or working with their neurovascular or neurolymphatic points. If these do not bring the meridian into balance, or if the balance will not hold, or if the meridian does come into balance but the problem is not corrected, then you look wider, specifically at the 4 possibilities revealed by the charts: the meridian that feeds the meridian that won’t take a correction and the meridian that is opposite it (Meridian Flow Chart) and the meridian involved in it’s "flow cycle" and the meridian involved in its "control cycle."

Another important consideration is that it is easier to solve a problem when you have cleared the debris that surrounds it. So do all you can to get the entire energy system into as strong a balance as you can before doing this detective work. Clear homolateral energies, for instance, and use the techniques presented in the Daily Energy Routine (Chapter 3).

This may seem complicated (I teach an entire advanced class on this single topic –available as the "Energy Tracker" video training program), but this note outlines the basics of a reasonably complete strategy for tracking how meridian energies might play into a specific problem and formulating how to correct them.

​Answer:
​We are all unique electromagnetic beings swimming in an electromagnetic environment and this straightforward question really deserves a whole book. I will do my best here to supplement what I have already said in the electromagnetics chapter of Energy Medicine (Chapter 11). Please keep in mind that all of this is based on my personal and clinical experiences; very little research has been published in peer-reviewed journals to back any definitive statements on these matters.

I also have apprehension regarding magnetic mattresses. I know full well that we are all very different in our electromagnetic make-up and our polarities. And I know that some magnet pads have genuinely helped people. But other people appear to have been harmed by the identical product. Here is an absolute about magnets:

Magnets and magnetic energy will affect everyone's energies.

But because all of our energies are so unique, there is no absolute guarantee of how magnets will impact any particular person. One thing is consistent, which is that there are differing effects between the north and south sides of a magnet:

THE NORTH SIDE draws energy toward it. This is why it takes away pain.

THE SOUTH SIDE disperses energy away from it. This is why it helps circulation.

You would think that it would be okay to have both the north and south sides facing you in a magnetic mattress—that this would help with both pain reduction and circulation. But it is not so simple.

The south side, by amplifying and dispersing energy, acts as a magnifier. This can be valuable if a particular meridian is weak, or circulation sluggish, or certain energies need a boost. But you don’t want to energize and magnify a cancer or other growth or a meridian that is already overcharged. Magnets are powerful and can be dangerous when used imprecisely. For instance, the south side of a magnet held against the stomach or back for a short time can really help with a lethargic digestive system. But held there too long, I’ve seen nausea, back spasms, and terrible stomach discomfort result. The same kind of careful calibration is necessary for the north side of a magnet. Because stagnant energies are a natural residue of living and always need to be cleared, if they become stuck, it is great to have a tool that will draw these energies to the surface of the body where they are readily dispersed. This can be a tremendous resource for working with many kinds of pain, for instance. But leave the magnet on too long, and you begin to draw too much energy into the area, and it can clog your system and actually create more pain from the imbalance.

My experience with magnet pads that either indiscriminately or intentionally place both the north and south sides of the magnets against the body is that even if they have positive initial effects, these may be reversed if you use the magnet pad too long.

With my extreme sensitivity to energies, I am the "canary in the mine." I know from my own experience an extreme version of what affects other people in more subtle ways. I can sometimes lay on a mixed-polarity magnetic mattress for a period of time and detect benefits. But other times, particularly if I am more vulnerable, I can be on one of these pads for just a few minutes before it begins to "fry my circuits," creating pain, throwing me out of balance for the rest of the day and sometimes into the next, and affecting my nervous system so I am unable to think clearly.

My own preference regarding a magnet pad is to find one that is designed so that the north polarity is against the body. Pulling out excess and stagnant energies is wonderful. But again, staying on even this kind of pad too long, can reverse the benefits and create new problems. For the situations where the south side of a magnet is called for, I much prefer to hold or tape a single small low power magnet onto the spot and to energy check whether it is having a beneficial effect, and periodically to see if it still is. You can also energy check whether lying on a magnet pad is beneficial and whether it is continuing to be so. There is no formula, so energy checking is a vital tool.

I personally prefer magnetic pads rather than magnetic mattresses because you can so easily turn the pad over if you feel you are starting to overdose on one pole or the other.

Regarding magnetic insoles, my experience is that I cannot stand on an insole that has mixed the north and south polarities without it draining my energies and leaving me feeling exhausted. Other people find them helpful, but again, I would be cautious about using them too long and I would energy test. I do periodically wear magnetic insoles. For instance, I recently bought the ones sold by the Discovery Channel store. I cannot wear them on the side that is recommended (north side up). I have to turn them over or else they hurt my feet. With, the north side down, I am better protected from the earth's electromagnetic charge (I've heard estimates that in the past century or so, half of the earth's protective layer against that charge has eroded). The Chinese have always believed that you don't need an insole on the whole foot. The best place is around the instep. And that is the only place I would put the north side of a magnet—it will still help the rest of the foot. You can get this kind of insole very inexpensively from various catalogs and from Chinatowns. Everyone I've ever told to try them has reported that they were very helpful. But because everyone's energy is different, I'm sure that not even this is universal.

Once you understand the principles, however, the proper use of magnets can be a terrific adjunct within energy medicine. Here are the three main ways I tend to use magnets:

1. Reducing Pain (which also begins to energetically correct for the causes of that pain): I normally will only use the north polarity for pain, except for people whose energy is slow and sluggish. Then having both the south and north sides can, for a while at least, work better. This can also be true for autoimmune illnesses because it moves the energy that has been stuck, but again only for short periods of time. When the pain is gone, I remove the magnet immediately because now the body is balanced in that area. One thing I do that you may never find in any book is that if it seems the north side was worn too long, that is the pain left and then returns, my experience is, THEN turn the magnet over to the south side for just a few minutes because the new pain may have been caused by not enough circulation due to the effects of the north side. The south side gets the circulation flowing again.

2. Helping to Heal a Broken Bone: Create a "closed circuit" as described in Chapter 11.

3. Shielding Yourself from Electromagnetics: My teaching keeps me on the road a great deal, and sometimes I am in a bed--it can actually be in a very nice setting—where I am being assaulted electromagnetically. When that happens, I can help protect myself by putting a small magnet pad above my blankets (so it isn’t touching me) to protect me from electromagnetic radiation within the room, and another at the end of the mattress near my feet, to protect me from electromagnetic radiation coming up from the earth. I often use a small magnet pad that comes as a circle of about 6 inches in diameter and has several magnets sewed into it, north polarity of each magnet in one direction, south in the other. Because the earth’s magnetic polarity reaches north, in both cases I have the north-reaching side of the magnet facing away from me, so it will repel any energetic disturbances from the earth or atmosphere that may be coming my way.

Answer:
Without being able to see your energies, I suspect one of three things may have occurred:

• The energies may have become congested in your arms.  I always instruct students to shake off the energies from their hands and arms as they move from one chakra to the next since stale chakra energy can spiral into their own force field. This can be avoided if you are centered and keep shaking off the energy.  Another way to clear the energies is to put your entire arms under cold running water and drain off the excess energies.

• The second possibility is that you activated your own healing forces and were channeling a powerful spiritual energy that sometimes causes a great deal of heat.

• Most likely, however, is that the "alarming amount of heat" was because the energies of both triple warmer and heart meridian share the same element, which is "fire." Because the two meridians are on the same element, they have a close relationship with one another, and because heart is yin and triple warmer is yang, they are both important in maintaining a balance in "fire" element. Fire element governs body temperature. When the heart chakra was being balanced, triple warmer probably relaxed, allowing a large amount of energy that had been held in the heart chakra to be freed, spiraling up as heat from deep within, and then radiating down your arms.