Frozen Muscles and Meridians

Question:
I have been working with a woman whose energies seem very stuck. I suspect she has what you call "frozen" muscles, but I am unclear about how to verify this or how to treat it.

Answer:
A muscle is considered to be frozen if it has lost its polarity. Operationally, this means that there is no difference in the muscle's energetic response to the positive and negative sides of a magnet. The muscle may have been traumatized by stress, physical shock, or a disease process, and if the resulting energy becomes stuck for a long time, energy slows down, becomes sluggish, and finally the muscle loses its polarity.

For example, even if a person seems to have completely recovered, emotionally and physically, from a highly stressful event, if the muscle associated with triple warmer continues to react in its "fight or flight" mode, yet neither fight nor flight has been implemented, the muscle can become frozen. When this triple warmer muscle is treated and becomes unfrozen, it is not uncommon to see a tremendous emotional release as the trapped energy is freed. Emotions are fueled by the body’s energies, and releasing physical energy that is frozen also releases emotional energy.

Meridians as well as muscles can become frozen, leaving the meridian clogged and depolarized. The Muscle Meridian Chart that shows how muscles and meridians are related can be found on page 305 of Energy Medicine.

Here is how I assess and treat a frozen muscle:

While holding one side of a small magnet against the muscle, energy test the muscle (I use a magnet the size of a quarter with a hole in the middle of it—these can be purchased at Radio Shack—for working with frozen acupuncture points, meridians, or smaller muscles. When working with major muscles, I use a larger, more powerful magnet). Repeat with the other side of the magnet. If the person is strong on both sides, the muscle’s energy is frozen. DO NOT USE MAGNETS IF YOU HAVE A PACEMAKER!

Working with frozen muscles and meridians is a relatively advanced technique because you need to know the specific energy test for each of the 14 meridians (see John Thie’s Touch for Health). Using alarm points or energy localizing or indicator muscles are not adequate for determining if a muscle is frozen, you must test the muscle directly.

To treat a frozen muscle, lay the magnet on the belly (center) of the muscle and repeat the energy test, this time having the client strongly resist for a good 10 seconds (this is part of the correction, it is not for the purpose of testing—where energy testing does not use full strength, this correction calls for full effort in resisting). Repeat using the other side of the magnet.

Now apply pressure against the muscle in the opposite direction (if you were pulling, now push; if you were pushing, now pull). For instance, if you're testing the indicator muscle for spleen meridian, after you have pulled the client's arm away from the body for at least 10 seconds (while holding the magnet in place on each side), now push their arm towards the body for ten seconds—again holding the magnet on the belly of the muscle. Repeat using the other side of the magnet.

Assess your results with the original energy-magnet test. You should get a normal response in which the client is strong with the south side of the magnet against the skin and weaker with the north side.

Here is how I assess and treat a frozen meridian (there are two possible treatments. Try the following one first, as it is easier and is perhaps all that is needed):

Hold one side of the magnet against the beginning or end of the affected meridian pathway and energy test for strength using the spleen test. You will find the beginning and end points for all the meridians illustrated on page 334 of Energy Medicine. Now hold the other side of the magnet against the same meridian point and repeat the energy test. If the client is strong with both sides of the magnet, the meridian is frozen.

To treat a frozen meridian, spin the magnet both ways at one end of the meridian (thread a piece of string or dental floss through the hole and tie the ends together so the magnet will hang a few inches down and will easily spin—a rubber band will also work). Spin it in both directions several times over the meridian point. Then go to the other end of the meridian and spin the magnet.

If this approach doesn't work, it could be because one or more acupuncture points have become "lost," or sunken into the body and are, therefore, less accessible to the magnet's energy. When this happens, the point has no more electrical juice than any other non-acupuncture point on the body. This is why some people don't get all the benefits from an acupuncture or acupressure treatment. When tested, a "lost" point acts frozen. To locate these points, find an acupuncture chart that shows all of the points on the meridian, and do the following:

Use a thin stiff piece of metal that you can place through the hole of the magnet while you hold it against each point along the meridian. Hold the magnet (with the metal inserted through it) on this point for at least 10 seconds. The metal stick acts like a laser needle that concentrates the magnetic energy into the point and reactivates it. [Some people use a Tai Chin stick*, a slender metal stick used in Chinese medicine, but you could use anything metal that has a blunt end to it.]

Flip the magnet over and repeat the process.

You can also use wood instead of metal in this procedure. Wood is softer and less intrusive, metal is more dramatic and faster. Wood combines the magnet's power with its own gentle stimulation. When I work with wood, I pulse the piece of wood into the affected point by pushing on it gently as it's inserted through the magnet. Its energies do not merge with the magnet until they have moved into the body, whereas the metal element merges with the magnet before the energy enters the body.

In fact, the elements can be a guide for making these procedures more effective. If the person has reactive energies or has an autoimmune disease, I might use the gentler wood element as it allows for easier adaptability. If a person is not relaxed or in the "flow" of their life, it is very good to draw upon water element, having them first take a relaxing bath or get into other relaxing water. Sometimes fire element is useful if a person has lost his or her vitality and you can shine a small flashlight through the hole in the magnet. I have seen people be very creative with earth element—using most anything from the earth that has a degree of stiffness to it can work, such as placing through the magnet the stem of a flower or a weed or a stiff piece of wheat. But in my experience, the technique that takes the energy the deepest in the body is the metal, serving in the same way that acupuncture uses needles, and also carrying the force of the magnet.

You can always energy test your clients to determine whether metal or wood would be better for their energy. Neither will harm the person, although with the use of metal triple warmer may overreact if the body cannot adjust quickly enough. If this happens, do a hook-up (pages 98 & 99 in Energy Medicine) and hold the triple warmer neurovasculars until the person sighs. This will help calm triple warmer's response and will allow you to proceed using wood instead.

The feedback that practitioners give me is that when they take a chance on which element feels right to use with a particular client, they begin sharpening their intuition not only about this specific choice, but all other energy work as well.

Frozen energy doesn’t often heal itself, so if a person has a frozen energy pattern, you may find chronic symptoms such as a general fatigue, sore muscles, or even an autoimmune disease. Once treated, there can be surprise releases as symptoms the person had simply learned to live with lift. People often have no idea that this kind of problem even exists until after they have experienced successful treatment.

*Where to get a Tai Chin Stick: OMS Medical Supplies Inc., 1950 Washington Street, Braintree, Mass. 02184 USA; phone = 781-331-3370 or 800-323-1839. In the catalog, the Tai Chin Stick is called a "Tei.Shin-Spring Modulator"

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EverettFrozen Muscles and Meridians

Energy Testing – If Everything Tests Strong

Question:
When I tested my son for allergies, he remained strong on everything—even poison!   I then tried a few friends, and they reacted the same way.  I am so disappointed because now they do not think anything in your book works. What am I doing wrong?

Answer:
Without having seen what was going on, here are my suspicions. The most important thing to know is that this is not a contest of will or strength. Sometimes people throw in all of their muscle strength, including all the auxiliary muscles that support the muscle being tested. But what you are wanting to test is whether the energy is flowing. Putting all one’s muscle strength into the test begins to test something different from the flow of energy. Think of pushing against a wall. You don’t need to use all your strength to know that the wall is going to stay standing. You can push lightly and know it is solid.

Testing family members can also be tricky. In the mother-child relationship, for instance, the mother is wired to be giving healing energy to the child, and the energy test can be picking up this influx of energy rather than the substance being tested. There can also be a surrogate relationship that is unintentionally formed between family members, where the test is providing information about the tester rather than the person being tested.

Then once you had an obviously inaccurate result with your son in front of everyone, your confidence was gone and the test with the other people may have been influenced by your fears or their growing skepticism. There are a number of important nuances in energy testing (see closing discussion of Chapter 2).

There is, however, no substitute for practice and confidence in getting accurate results. One of the best ways to develop confidence is to set up some "double-blind" situations so you can know after the test whether the results were accurate and build a track record of accurate tests (also discussed in Chapter 2). There are two other conditions, however, which may confound an energy test, and these are always taught in more advanced classes: "frozen" muscles and "switched or scrambled" energies:

  1. Sometimes, muscles can become "frozen." What is happening is that the body’s cells, which are actually tiny batteries, lose their polarity. The inside of the cell, which normally has a "positive" charge, and the outside, which normally holds a negative charge, both wind up having the same charge or a neutral charge. When this occurs, energy cannot move in and out of the cells or the muscles and organs made up of those cells. While learning how to correct for frozen muscles is a more advanced technique that generally I only teach in classes where I can supervise the person’s work, I do address it in another Q/A (see "Frozen Muscles").
  2. Sometimes, a person’s energies may be "switched." This means that the meridian energies are running in the opposite direction from their normal flow. This will confound an energy test of that meridian. This is also true for "scrambled" energies, where the meridian energies are uneven in their flow or move off their natural pathways or aren’t crossing over or are colliding with other energy systems. The 5-minute daily routine is designed to restore and keep such energies in alignment and to build patterns and habits that keep the energies from becoming switched and scrambled.

Energy testing is a reliable procedure backed by increasing numbers of research studies being published in reputable journals, but it is also an art, and it is an art worth cultivating.

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EverettEnergy Testing – If Everything Tests Strong

Energy Testing a Substance: Is Skin Contact Necessary?

Question:
Does the skin have to have contact with the item in an energy test? Will the test still be valid if I am testing a vitamin through a jar while still in the store?

Answer:
Skin contact through the semi-permeable membranes in your hand or mouth is the most reliable way to energy check an item.  However, because energy fields extend out from the body as well as out from the substance, you can get reasonably reliable results by simply having the substance in your energy field and then performing an energy test using a general indicator muscle such as the spleen test (Chapter 2). It is important to keep in mind, however, that the less direct the contact the greater the opportunity for other factors to influence the outcome. For instance, I find that if I am energy testing vitamins through glass, it rarely affects the outcome, but if they are packaged in plastic, it is more likely that the packaging will get in the way.

One more thing about testing vitamins and other supplements. If you can find a weak meridian and see if the vitamin or substance will make it strong, rather than to see if the substance weakens a strong meridian, this gives additional information. This will tell you that the substance will have a beneficial effect rather than just that it will not harm you. An easy way to do this is to have the person who is doing the energy test flutter a hand over the area just under your left breast. This will temporarily result in a weakened general indicator test. Immediately place the substance in your hand or your energy field and you will see if the vitamin strengthens you.

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EverettEnergy Testing a Substance: Is Skin Contact Necessary?

Energy Testing and Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

Question:
I have been devouring your book and tape series since I attended your recent lecture in Portland. It was an extremely enthusiastic crowd and arms waved like grain in the wind with questions. Mine didn't get answered. I have multiple chemical sensitivities and am reactive to even the most ordinary environments. I’ve had no luck with allergy doctors or the usual alternative therapies such as homeopathy and acupuncture. I am working with a naturopath who is trying to figure out how to help me, and he has already given me one really valuable tool, which is energy testing. Since he taught it to me, I have been relying on it heavily to determine what is safe for me.

But both energy testing and a Vega testing machine indicate that certain compounds my naturopath would like me to take, and which wipe me out, should make me much stronger. If I take even one drop of what he gives me, I have extraordinary reactions—awake for 36 hours, incapacitated with flu-like symptoms for two days, etc. How can this be? Energy testing seems to be accurate with many other things, but not for these remedies.

Answer:
I am sorry your question didn't get answered at the lecture. Without being able to watch what happens to your energy when you are being energy tested, I can only venture some guesses about what may be helpful.

First, I would test specific meridians rather than using a general indicator test. Begin with the spleen meridian test and then, for verification, have your naturopath follow it with the kidney meridian test. Spleen is the most likely test to detect potential problems in metabolizing a substance that other meridians might show to be agreeable with them (your body may need it, but if it can't metabolize it, the substance can still cause harm). Another reason not to rely on a general indicator test (such as the stomach) is that the beliefs and expectations of the practitioner or of the person being tested are more likely to interfere. The reasons I would verify the results by testing the kidney meridian are: 1) kidney meridian governs the organ that filters and moves toxins out of your body, 2) it is a junction meridian (it affects all the other meridians), and 3) it governs the life force, so kidney meridian responds quickly when a substance compromises the body’s energies. You might also review the "nuances" of energy testing in Chapter 2 of Energy Medicine.

Your practitioner can also place the remedy on your alarm points in order to determine its impact on each individual meridian.

I have a lot of sympathy for you with multiple chemical sensitivities, and I believe the route out of this dilemma is to strengthen and reprogram your immune system so your body learns to adapt rather than go into allergic reactions. I hope you will continue to find Energy Medicine to be helpful as you formulate a strategy to accomplish this.

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EverettEnergy Testing and Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

Asking the Body Questions

Question:
​I am a nutritionist, and while I’ve known of energy testing for years, I have looked with great skepticism at practitioners who ask the body "Do you need more carbohydrates in your diet?" or "Does this cough require a visit to the doctor?" It was through your book that I came to understand that there are less flaky ways to energy test and began to experiment. Now I would say that using the spleen indicator test to determine whether particular foods, vitamins, and supplements are needed, and in what amounts, is the most useful single tool I have found in the past decade, and I thank you profusely for opening me to it. However, the question still comes up for me, what are the constraints of energy testing? Surely you cannot rely on an energy test of "Is this lump malignant?" How much can you ask the body?

Answer:

A. This is a very difficult question for me. Many respected colleagues regularly pose verbal questions to the body. I rarely do. Introducing verbal questions into an energy test brings in a whole other realm beyond the body’s wisdom. I, instead, use energy testing to tune into the language of the body, which I’ve come to profoundly trust. Energy testing the body, without an overlay of words, is generally quite reliable when the procedure is followed correctly. Energy testing verbal questions, regardless of how it is done, brings in many more variables.

I have felt uneasy about this issue for decades. Some practitioners have learned to use verbal questions followed by an energy test as a way of tuning into a higher source of information, so it becomes for them a way of channeling, a bridge to the truth of the situation. More often it is probably picking up on their unconscious assessment. I believe that this is what “ideomotor” devices like pendulums also often do. Nothing wrong with that, just don’t assume it is God speaking.

I am not placing a judgment on people who have developed to a refined art ways of asking the body questions or using a pendulum that they find trustworthy. My real point here is that casually using energy testing to answer any of a wide range of questions is a questionable approach. I have seen more nonsense emerge from this than I like to think about.

But since this is a valid method for some people, I’ve never taken a public position on it. I have simply gone about teaching energy testing in the contexts in which I use it, which are much more traditional—checking, under specific conditions, the relative strength of indicator muscles to determine the energetic state of a meridian or chakra or other system.

Efforts to ask the body questions about the future seem particularly ludicrous to me: "How long before I will be cured of this illness?" While I may have a lot of information to make an educated guess about such a question, an energy test is not a source I look to for that information. I believe there is fate, there is free will, and there is chance. An energy test of the future assumes it is all fated. But free will and chance converge with whatever may actually be fated. This is why readings from even the most talented psychics are only a percentage game. Many factors influence the single question being asked.

But even questions about treatment are very tricky. "Should this problem be treated with the meridians or the chakras?" Energy tests can be influenced by so many forces, even for people of the highest integrity who do everything they can to get out of the way. It is challenge enough not to exert an influence on the test based on your beliefs, desires, or unconscious expectations. This is true for any energy test, but so much more so when it is based on a verbal question rather than letting the body respond in its own language. The same problems apply to “surrogate testing” yourself for another person from a distance. It is more likely to be picking up on your unconscious take on the situation than providing a direct assessment about the client’s health condition.

Beyond all of this, I believe that the body often does not have a clear yes or no. The seven layers on each chakra can contradict one another. Triple warmer and spleen often contradict one another. It is quite a complex drama to reduce down to “Yes” or “No.”

As I write this, I am having images of colleagues who ask questions before an intervention such as "Is this for the body’s highest good?" or "Do I have permission to proceed?" I ask these questions intuitively, but I personally do not energy test for them. However, practitioners I admire do ask these questions and test for the answers so respectfully, almost as a prayer, that the questions themselves set an energy field of respect and equality. So the energy test itself can serve the very legitimate purpose of setting a morphogenic field for healing. There are many truths and many ways to get at them. Asking the body questions is one of the trickier of the bunch.

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EverettAsking the Body Questions