Pain is a message from your body that something is wrong. Your body needs help! You may have been told when something hurts, “Don’t touch it,” “Leave it alone,” or “Ignore it. It will go away.
“This way of thinking is not good for your health. Your body communicates in many ways. Pain communicates that your help is needed now and guides you to the points that will relieve the pain.
Touch your pain, feel your pain with your hands—not just your mind. Rub and press when it feels good to do so, but stop what you are doing when it does not feel good. Do not aggravate your pain; get in touch with the place and the surrounding tissue. Rub for awhile.
If it does not aggravate the pain, try pressing. If rubbing aggravates the pain then stop rubbing. Find another painful place nearby.
First, lightly rub the area where it hurts, moving the skin around in circles or gently pressing and stroking. Then massage the area to feel the tissue.
Look for tissue changes and all tender spots. Finally, feel for the most painful points. Take your time, especially if the tissue feels hard and congested or if the pain is too intense.
Make big circles to increase the circulation while you feel for other tender points. If it is tender, massage at that level of pressure. You may find lumps or bumps. Often you will feel painful rope-like muscles. It is common to find surprisingly painful places previously unknown to you.
After surveying the area, find the most painful point. Then press and hold it without moving. Relax and get comfortable. It may take time for your finger pressure to make a change.
Hold the point and remain still until the pain changes. If it gets worse, reduce the pressure. If the pain gets better, keep holding while sensing the other changes.
The Experience of Qi Energy
Pain is blocked energy called injured Qi, whereas the feeling of energy flowing in the body is called “Got Qi” (DEQI sounds like “duh chee”).
DEQI is defined as the experience of bodily sensations following the application of therapeutic pressure, acupuncture, or heat. The changing moving sensations can feel like tingling, numbness, aching, and soreness. After a while a subtle, glowing, flowing feeling along the length of the body may be noticed.
If at first you do not feel energy sensations (deqi) when your acupoints are pressed, keep trying. It may be that you need more practice at finding the points or it could be that your Qi system has atrophied due to inactivity. When not used, the energy system will atrophy like other body systems.
Just as playing and exercising keep muscles strong, and reading and learning keep the mind sharp, exercising your energy points allows you to feel stronger energy sensations. When you begin exercising after months of inactivity, muscles will complain and refuse to work. Then as you persist, you become stronger until what was once difficult becomes easy. It takes knowledge and practice to develop skill.
A Chinese proverb implores, “Bugs do not nest in a busy doorway.”
Does it feel tingly, heavy, less sharp or less sore? Do you feel something moving in your body? It may feel subtle. It may radiate a short or long distance. You may experience a tingling, glowing, flowing feeling.
You may feel currents—some warm and some cold. Rubbing and pressing will remove the stagnant energy, which helps to restore proper circulation of blood and lymph. When you rub gently, stagnant energy is dispersed, often resulting in the reduction of pain.
Some people do not experience energy sensations the first time they try; about half the people who try these methods will experience energy within minutes; a quarter will take days of practice. Some may never experience the energy sensations described at this site.
A Chinese sage once said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.” The first time something new is tried, thoughts of failure, doubt, and confusion sometimes surface. “What if I can’t do it?” Not all people can feel Qi. It is a sense. Just as some people are color blind, some people can not feel energy sensations, even with the proper herbs and acupuncture.
Do not expect too much at first. Energy sensations are quieter than pain. Keep looking, massaging and exploring your body. You are most likely to feel energy sensations while pressing powerful acupoints known since ancient times. Four of the most famous acupoints are described at this website. Those of you who explore these acupoints may experience energy sensations at all or some of these acupoints.
Energy sensations (deqi) are different than nerve sensations. Modern scientists in Japan and China have studied energy sensations extensively. In Acupuncture: A Comprehensive Text, translated and edited by John O’Conner and Dan Bensky, it states, “It was found that the perception of the conduction of the needle sensation was rather slow …” (page 108).
Nerve Sensations Are Felt Instantaneously.
When you hit your elbow a certain way, your hand feels numb with “pins and needles.” What has happened is a pinched nerve between the bones of the elbow caused the predictable sensation in the hand. The body feels normal elsewhere, except from the point where the nerve was pinched toward the extremity. This is a law that can be applied when locating nerve damage. It is said nerve damage is found between the altered sensation and the central nervous system.
When you provoke an energy sensation (deqi), the tingling feeling can travel toward the center of the body or toward the extremities. In contrast, when you hit a nerve, the instantaneous feeling is felt only in the direction of the extremity; recall hitting your funny bone. In this way you can tell the difference between an energy sensation and a nerve sensation.
Also, the energy sensation felt when pressing on a painful point or an acupressure point varies from one place to the next and from one person to another.
Acupoints Release Healing Energy
Specific points on the body, called acupoints, known since ancient times, will easily release golden healing energy for reducing pain and improving health. An acupoint is usually the most tender spot in an area.
These acupoints become hypersensitive when corresponding parts of the body need help. However, it is interesting to note, even when acupoints are surprisingly hypersensitive with dark disease energy, you might not notice these points if you were not looking for them. This website describes in detail four acupressure points that warn of disease and supply the body with golden healing energy.
Self-healing Massage
Listen to your body as it “talks” about injured Qi (pain), while you look for points to release golden energy. It is natural to rub, hold, or press where it hurts. Pain will teach you all you need to know about your body’s energy system. This works best in a place where you will not be disturbed, so you can relax as much as necessary, while listening to your body and locating energy points. While learning, prefer the places on your body that you notice easily release golden energy.
If you have a sore or painful place on your arm or leg which is easy to reach, start there. Otherwise, start examining your neck and shoulders. Rub and press painful spots until you find that the pain subsides as you hold them. Rub and press gently at first. Slowly rub all around the most tender spot.
After finding all of the sensitive spots in the area, press on the most tender spot. Press for about one minute. Press hard enough to feel the pain but not hard enough to cause tension in your body. Press into that gray area between pleasure and pain where the most energy can be released. The appropriate pressure will reduce the pain, which will release golden energy. It seems curious, but the best golden energy points are usually not very sore at all.
If at first you do not succeed, try, try again! Keep exercising your energy system. If you are having trouble feeling energy, try using fewer stimulants and relaxants including painkillers, alcohol, and coffee. They are numbing and result in the disruption of Qi.
Pain's Healing Secret 