Hello Everyone,
Aliveness is sustained by the presence of high-vibratory, vital energy within an organism. This natural force that fills the universe is referred to in traditional naturopathy and homeopathy as vital force, and in Chinese medicine, as chi. Hence, I have coined the term Vital Chi for my unique skin-brushing system, which among other things (such as supporting blood and lymph flow and enhancing skin-beauty), strengthens the flow of chi along the acupoint meridians.
Chi is the fundamental energy which sustains life and is present in the vibratory, biological processes of every cell. Chi is not synonymous with the metabolically generated energy derived from the oxidation of glucose. Rather, it is the force that animates the metabolic processes that ultimately yield caloric energy. Chi differentiates life from death; it circulates through channels, or meridians, throughout the body.
Aside from the chi that courses through the channels, wei chi is a superficial portion that flows outside the channels distributed in a non-differentiated layer beneath the skin.
The wei chi serves as a defensive perimeter protecting against environmental influences such as varying weather conditions, pathogenic microorganisms, pollutants, emotional stresses derived from human interaction and other external challenges
Chinese medicine recognizes the constriction of blood vessels as a sign of challenged wei chi initiated by becoming chilled or being confronted by other stress factors (environmental, emotional, microbial, etc.).
As a result, blood flow is impeded, exacerbating aches and pains, causing fatigue and lowering one’s spirits. Accordingly, in response to this, one of the primary therapeutic objectives is the restoration of normal blood flow. Thus, the ancient dictum: "Where blood flows, chi goes." Another basic principle to always bear in mind: Chi moves the blood and blood nourishes chi.
Since the chi meridians course through the skin, they are readily accessible to the ministrations of skin-brushing. I designed my Vital Chi Skin-Brushing SystemTM with this in mind. When these acupoint channels are strategically brushed (highly organized sequence and direction of skin-brush strokes are two of the keynote features of my Vital Chi Skin-Brushing System), the movement of chi along their routes is stimulated and the delivery of chi to their associated organs (e.g. Kidney meridian, Liver meridian, etc.) improved.
Essential Oils and the Energy Body
Essential oils also directly interact on the non-material, energy plane via both the sense of smell and wave resonance with vital chi. The energy fields of these oils vibrate at frequencies that achieve resonance with the dynamic, or energy, body of the organism. An essential oil, being the most concentrated carrier of the plant soul, is inherently a potency—a storehouse of a dynamic potential influenced by all aspects of its source plant.
When one has an understanding of the inner soul nature of a particular oil, then that oil can be used with far greater specificity regarding resonance with the unique inner pole of each person’s self-structure referred to as the real self. In Spiritual PhytoEssencing™, the real self is also considered to be that aspect of one’s egoic nature that emerges directly from, and never loses intimate contact with, one’s eternal “I” or inner soul nature.
Berkowsky’s Materia Medica/Spiritualis of Essential Oils
I designed the art of Spiritual PhytoEssencing (SPE) to help you overcome the separation from the higher self that lies at the core of emotional and physical disharmony.
One of the central goals of SPE is to spark inner core consciousness in a way that encourages it to reassert its inherent hierarchical superiority and initiate the process of reining-in a wayward outer identity in order to overcome incongruity and psychospiritual stuckness. Thus, it is this glimpse of one’s true nature, reflected in the mirror of a customized essential oil blend, which initiates a shift in consciousness back to the “beginning of oneself.”
In Berkowsky’s Synthesis Materia Medica/Spiritualis of Essential Oils, one of the two central reference books of the art of Spiritual PhytoEssencing, the individualized soul nature of 122 essential oils are elaborated using a varying synthesis of aromatherapy, herbal medicine and folklore, classical homeopathy, gemstone healing, color healing, conventional physiology, traditional Chinese medicine, depth psychology, anthroposophical medicine and the Kabbalah.
The other important resource to learn and practice SPE is Spiritual PhytoEssencing Repertory of Essential Oils – a reference guide arranged as over 2500 rubrics that lists relevant essential oils under the headings of various constitutional archetypes and qualities, reactional tendencies, mental, emotional and physical symptoms, dreams and more.
As always, feel free to write to me with any questions you may have.
Shalom,
Dr. Bruce Berkowsky
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The Trauma of Birth, Separation Anxiety and Essential Oils: Part I
The article begins with a discussion of psychoanalyst Otto Rank’s hypothesis, framed in his book The Trauma Of Birth (1924), that the anxiety experienced during birth was the template for all successive anxiety experienced during the course of one’s life.
Rank postulated that a child’s separation from the mother at birth, and subsequently once again via weaning, is the platform upon which neuroses of all kinds are constructed.
For Rank the very “nucleus of the unconscious mind” was the birth experience, during which an infant passes from a state of contented union with the mother to a violent dissolution of that union. Accordingly, a person’s struggles to compensate for the traumatic, anxiety-filled, experience of birth, and avoid similar experiences, contributes mightily to the character of one’s post-natal inventory of fears, anxiety and other neuroses.
One of the most important concepts that I take away from Rank’s ideas is that the trauma of that initial separation from the mother sets up a deep-seated fear, ingrained into both psycho-spiritual and physical memory regarding the urgent need to avoid future experiences of separation such as leaving the birth family, moving away from one’s hometown, divorce, etc..
Thus, when analyzing a case study for the purpose of preparing a custom essential oil blend for someone, it is crucial to determine the relative activity of the theme of separation in that person’s life.
Chronic Acid Reflux and the Decline and Fall of the Modern Stomach – Part 3: The Humble, Mighty Apple
Part 1 of this discussion focused on the root causes and symptomatology of digestive derangement in general and chronic GERD (gastroesophageal acid reflux disease) in particular.
Part 2 focused on specific nature’s therapies: cool-water morning draught and post-meal water drinking, the cool sitz bath, Vital Chi Skin-Brushing followed by the Alternate Warm/Cool Shower, and an herbal chi tonic which may prove to be of good service in restoring vitality to the stomach and the rest of the digestive tract as well as in the amelioration of the tenacious, distressing symptoms of GERD.
Here in Part 3, the focus is on the therapeutic use of apples to prevent and relieve the symptoms of GERD. This article also features a much smaller discussion of almonds.
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About Dr. Berkowsky
Dr. Bruce Berkowsky (N.M.D., H.M.C., M.H.) has devoted himself as a teacher and practitioner of the art and science of natural healing for over 50 years. He has constructed a dynamic system of health creation from a synthesis of the complementary aspects of traditional naturopathy, classical homeopathy, western science, traditional eastern healing arts and anthroposophical science. He applies modern physiological and biochemical knowledge into a context that acknowledges the unity of human life with the fundamental elements and rhythms of nature. And for the past 30 years Dr. Berkowsky has devoted much of his attention to the development of the art of Spiritual PhytoEssencing (SPE), a system of deep, soul-level healing work with essential oils.
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DISCLAIMER: All content is intended as an educational tool, and not as a prescription. Readers are advised to seek the advice of their healthcare providers before discontinuing any medication and/or trying any new remedy or technique.
© Dr. Bruce Berkowsky
Dr. Bruce Berkowsky is the founder/teacher of the Natural Health Science System™ which he has developed over the course of his 40+ years of research and private practice, and includes: traditional naturopathy (N.M.D., MRN, CTN); herbology (M.H.); nutrition (Ph.D.); homeopathy (DHM, H.M.C.); massage and bodywork (NCTMB); aromatherapy (cert.); constitutional iridology (cert.) as well as East/West healing arts/exercises/bodywork.
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