I’ve always enjoyed finding similarities and links between seemingly opposing ideas….maybe my mind is wired that way.
Recently I had a conversation with someone that provides people with “Earthing” technology.
I first learnt about this technology during my Bachelor of Health Science degree on the Gold Coast, just around the time when “David Avocado Wolf” had begun to amass a large following in Australia. In fact, I just realised how long ago this was now, over 10 x years!
Many various alternative health experts would gather for what was coined, the “Longevity Conference”. Presenters and speakers included herbalists, nutritionists, Chinese Medicine Practitioners, along with other DR’s and specialists in various fields of medicine.
One really interesting moment was when David announced to the audience that everyone should look down to see a special type of carbonised matt that was underneath their seat.
They all proceeded to place it under their feet. He said that they were all grounded to the earth now. On a select few people, they did live blood analysis.
Not only was this a super interesting moment as far the health summit, a short break from superfoods and supplements, but the results of what that live blood analysis showed leads me to this article now and how Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine views the treatment of pain daily in the clinic.
Now, I’m not saying that earthing will fix a medical condition, however there are some interesting parallels that are beginning to emerge in my thinking between the two.
So, what did they find in the live blood analysis tests?
Grounding was changing the way RBC’s (Red Blood Cells) moved through the vessels. Or rather, was returning the RBC’s to a more balanced and natural movement pattern.
Check out this clip to see more:
Prior to the participants grounding, I remember the vivid images of individual cells that were moving through the vessels, bound very tightly together, sort of “sticky”, moving in a more congested way. Or as David Wolf put it, prior to grounding they had “Agglutinated blood, coagulated blood” (1).
Blood cells shown AFTER grounding appeared to be spread out and moving more “freely”. Essentially the grounding appeared to have positive effects on the “free flow of blood cells”.
Which brings me to the parallels I can see between grounding and Traditional Chinese Medicine theory. In essence there is key saying that goes something like:
WHEN THEIR IS FREE FLOW OF QI AND BLOOD, THERE IS NO PAIN
Chinese Medicine Theory
In Chinese Medicine and acupuncture, one of the central ideas is that pain can only exist if there is an area, or channel, of the body blocked, or not receiving an appropriate level of blood, oxygen and nutrition.
“Qi” roughly translates to “Oxygen”. “Xue” translates to “blood”.
When I’m working in the clinic, I’m assessing the channels, or “jing luo” and palpating the abdomen, sternum, shoulders, to see if there are painful zones/areas, which might indicate a “blockage”. If we can find out where the blockages are in the body, in turn the psycho somatic system, we can then leverage those diagnostics to a treatment that frees those areas up.
I remember watching the story about the person who original came up with, or rather formed more comprehensible ideas around earthing (because earthing wasn’t really invented, it’s a natural phenomena or structure already provided by the earth).
Clint Ober started to play with connecting some wired tape to a grounding rod outside of the house. He then laid it on his bed so he would be connected. A man that suffered from chronic aches and pain because of a lifetime of living an active and sporty life, needed pain killers, Advil, every night…..the first night he was playing with the grounding wire, he recalls that he somehow managed to fall asleep, WITHOUT pain killers.
From that point on, he started to wonder, “What is happening here!?”.
In fact, if you want to dive deeper, here is the movie documentary about Earthing if you’re interested:
And that leads us all the way to this article.
Earthing products have become more sophisticated. You can put them on your mattress, under your laptop, essentially making your home a completely grounded environment, dulling down and close to eliminating electrical fields ever pervasive in the home environment…they are practically everywhere.
According to much of the research, it appears to connect our bodies to where we are suppose to be, the abundant supply of negative ions provided for by the massive force which is mother earth, a massive gravitational entity hurtling through the solar system.
So, not only does Earthing, or “grounding”, seem to link in, work together and support the bodies energetic and electrical being, those properties seem to reinforce or balance the vital force which keeps us alive and makes us human……Blood.
These ideas, at least to me, are very closely aligned to the ideas and understandings of energetics and “Xue/Qi” (Blood/Oxygen) circulation in Chinese Medicine, vital for organ and tissues functions of the body, which reinforce health.
So, it seems grounding assists a more healthy circulative flow of RBC’s through the blood vessels, whilst also protecting our “electrical” homeostatic balance from the impacts of a “technologically advanced” environment that surrounds us. If that’s the case, the fundamentals of Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture, which serve to support healthy blood flow and free up blockages to quell pain, should be a unique relationship that reinforces each other as a health and well being tool.
That is why every patient that comes into my clinic, is grounded when they receive Acupuncture.
Thank you for reading, and see you on the treatment table.
Chad
Acupuncture Practitioner in Hobart
References:
1: Longevity Conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBbwAAmj7Ts – Quotes “Agglutinated blood, coagulated blood”
2: How to not sound Woo Woo when explaining grounding, with Clint Ober: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyQSHoS2Y6E
3: The Earthing Movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44ddtR0XDVU&t=11s
4: Earthing Demo with David Wolf: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yy1DdrebJw
5: Interview with Clint Ober (Inventor, or researcher of Earthing Technology): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2vT-_GE0BA
6: Earthing Research and Peer Reviewed Research: https://earthinginstitute.net/
7: Article reference and Image Credit: https://discover.hubpages.com/health/Health-Benefit-of-Walking-in-Wet-Grass
