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September/October 2009 newsletter Hello... ...and Happy Fall to everyone! It’s hard to believe that summer is coming to an end, but the red and copper leaves falling from the trees give evidence that it is true. Change is in the air. The change of seasons is something we expect without question. We know that changes are coming, and prepare ourselves — we bring out the warmer clothes from storage, get ready for the heating bill to go up and the water bill to go down, see the kids back to school, sign up for classes ourselves, and maybe start thinking about cooking soups and hearty stews. Sometimes though, when it comes to a personal change we want, circumstances remain unaltered. This can be incredibly frustrating, to say the least. Quite often, the underlying reason that life remains status quo has to do with a person’s ecology. In this newsletter’s main article, “Checking for Ecology,” we’ll look at what ecology is and how to work effectively with it to affect the changes we seek. This month’s Five Element Face Reading Corner has some exciting news, and features an interview with Taunya Mattson, L.Ac., Five Element Acupuncturist. She has some interesting things to say about the Five Elements and preparing for Fall. All Good Wishes to You, Quote of the Month “We must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us.” Checking for Ecology You marry someone who learns to expect a “yes,” and fill your life with friends and a job and children who expect the same. While exhausting, this is at least a familiar way to be. Then something happens, maybe an illness, which forces you to say “No.” It takes longer than you think it should to recover. But it’s so nice to rest. While convalescing, you become aware of the nagging voices inside, the ones you’d always been too busy to listen to before. They frequent your mind space, especially, the voices that want to say “No” to just about everything. Once you’ve recovered enough to start feeling “normal” again, you find that the urge to say “No” does not go away as you had hoped it would. When you speak it, you are terrified — there’s still a fear that somebody will get hurt. There are so many who depend on you. This is a rather cartoonish example, for the purposes of illustrating how one person’s desire for change will affect many people. There is a lot of ecology to pay attention to. What do I mean when I say “ecology”? The definition in the Merriam Webster dictionary sheds light this way: 1 : a branch of science concerned with the interrelationship of organisms and their environments 2 : the totality or pattern of relations between organisms and their environment (1) Ecology, as we use the term in NLP, is similar to the dictionary definition in that we keep in mind a person’s whole world, and the important people in it. Depending on what the change is, some of the people and circumstances will be affected. In the example given, her entire world will be affected when she begins setting limits to what she is willing to do. How do you work with someone’s ecology? Start by knowing that there is a good reason that the change has not happened already for that person. Most of these old patterns get put into play to keep us safe in some way. Sometimes, just recognizing that can take some pressure off and give a person’s system the room it needs to move toward the change they want. Respecting and deeply appreciating what is, especially when the person themselves cannot, is also very important. Making shifts in smaller chunks is a good way to get started. Instead of saying “no” to everyone all at once, start with one specific context. Once someone’s system knows smaller changes are possible and survivable, movement becomes less scary and easier. Since these patterns become deeply ingrained over a lifetime, working respectfully with the family of origin is likely to come into play as well. The ecology piece of NLP is tremendously valuable. It allows for respectful exploration and honest evaluation. It’s one of parts of NLP I most appreciate. Five Element Face Reading Corner Many thanks to Rhonda Dicksion at www.indigodog.com for her wonderful work! Interview with Taunya Mattson, L.Ac., Five Element Acupuncturist Taunya has a Liberal Arts and teaching background. I asked her what brought her to acupuncture. In a subtle way it helps people become who they were meant to be. It’s different than teaching. With acupuncture, you work from the bottom up — opening things up so they can reach their fullest potential, which doesn’t have to do with anyone else’s expectations. What about helping people grow attracts you? What attracted you to Five Element Acupuncture instead of Traditional Chinese Acupuncture? What does that mean, the self development of the practitioner? A life long practice... Going back to developing your senses, can you explain more what that was like for you? And then you actually go out in nature and study? Can you talk more about the Earth energy?
They used to line up the I Ching hexagrams with Earth in the center. But at some point, they switched to associating the elements with the seasons. And so Earth is the central energy that seemed to be most present during this time of August and September. Earth energy is the closest time when Heaven is reflected on Earth, when things are kind of still and centered and as they should be. It’s a time of abundance when the fruit is ripening. It’s the harvest season before Fall. Fall is Metal energy, and that energy is more about the leaves falling from the trees and just clearing space. That element, Metal, is also associated with the sky, because the Chinese believed that the sky was a big metal bowl, so kind of the emptiness of air and associated with the emotion of grief, of letting go of the old year. Whereas this Earth energy is the harvest season, so it’s sort of about resting in the abundance of not having to work, you can just go out and pick fruit off the trees. It’s also associated with the Mother archetype — a child feels this abundance of the Mother, who provides everything for him or her so it’s a nurturing kind of energy. Isn’t worry the emotion associated with Earth? As we move from Earth into Metal energy, is there anything that would be good for us to do from the Five Element perspective? So letting go and mourning what needs to be let go of, but hanging on to things that are of value, or recognizing things that are of value. True, recognizing what we’ve got is not something we always do. The idea of living simply comes to mind. It doesn’t take a lot to be happy, really. If you were to describe what acupuncture is to someone whose never experienced it, what would you tell them? How would you explain the energetic channels? The channels are associated with the different organs too. And each organ is associated with an emotion. An acupuncturist looks at all those things to see how they are balanced, and tries to make sure that everything is open and flowing. The other thing is that an acupuncturist, at least in Five Element, will not necessarily treat the symptom, because the symptom is more like a fire alarm going off saying that there is a fire somewhere in the body. Quoting J. Worsley, the founder of Five Element Acupuncture, “Just treating the symptom, would be like shutting off the fire alarm because it’s annoying.” So we look deeper and try to find what is causing the problem deeper within the system. Any final comments? I get a picture of circles within circles. For more information about Taunya and/or Five Elements: Classes at Life Re-Solutions! Comments Disclaimer Please feel free to reproduce, copy or distribute this newsletter with people you know who would be interested in the content. When doing so, please forward it in its entirety, including my contact and copyright information. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Kara Pomeroy is required. Thank you for spreading the word. Copyright © 2009. Kara Pomeroy NLP. All rights reserved. (1) http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ecology Welcome | About NLP | About Family Systems | About Family Constellations | About Me Serving the Seattle area Registered Counselor #RC00052079
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