“Inaction is followed by stagnation. Stagnation is followed by pestilence and pestilence is followed by death.”—Frederick Douglass
Stagnation. It conjures images of ooze and slow-bursting bubbles of gas, of green slime, of sticky, fetid muck, of something softly rotten. Stagnation occurs when the life force has been blocked from its natural flow. In humans, that life force would be oxygen, blood, nutrients, chi… Our channels have become strangled through inactivity, poor diet, stress, unrelieved tension, emotional disturbance—and perhaps the extended abuse of drugs…
To allow stagnation to continue to fester within us, is to march ourselves that much faster into our decline. The symptoms may be reduced energy, foggy thinking, chronic pain, irritability, lack of mobility, poor digestion or uneasy dreams. We are allowing ourselves to be dragged down by the weight of the sediment silting up those vital channels.
But fortunately, it is never too late to jump back into action—and start turning our energy around. Simply moving around for a few minutes a day can begin to work wonders on clearing that sludge from our interior systems—bringing back a shine to the eyes and a bounce to the gait…
A magnificent way to enliven our energy systems—and to start exorcising those demons of stagnation—is to tap, rap or hit key acupoints along the body’s meridians. Depending on the condition we want to work with, we can enliven ourselves with some delicacy (tapping), some vigor (rapping) or some outright tough love (hitting).
Today, it’s time to administer some tough love:
Sit on the edge of a firm seat, with your knees bent. Or even better, stand with feet shoulder width apart and knees slightly bent. Place the heel of the right palm on the left kneecap. Rotate the hand about forty five degrees, counter clockwise. Note where the tip of your middle finger is situated. It will be resting on a famous spot known as the “Walk Three Miles Point”—so-called, because enlivening this acupoint will give us greater stamina and strengthen our legs. Now, find the same acupoint on the right leg.
Good, you are all set. Turn your hands into fists. You are going to strike those Three Mile points with the inside part of each fist. Because of the size of the fist area, you don’t have to be too concerned about the exact strike zone for the acupoint (AKA Stomach 36). Hit the point 24 to 36 times. How hard you hit is very much up to you. Naturally, go easy to start with, then ramp up the force and volume as you feel what you can manage.
I am excited to reduce stagnation in my body and enjoy a safer, healthier life.