Gallbladder Constellation

Active Time:  11pm-1am

Element: wood

Fundamental Principle: yang

Season: spring

The Gall Bladder is in charge of making and storing bile required to digest and metabolize fats and oils. It works closely with the lymphatic system to clear toxins, thereby eliminating muscular aches and fatigue.  On rare occasion, when I break down and eat McDonald French fries (I hear you groaning, but what can I say), I’ll activate the GB meridian as my saving grace! From an emotional angle, gall bladder governs decision making, judgment and courage (think of the saying, “a lot of gall”). Gall Bladder (GB) meridian is rather lengthy, and if you’re interested in tracing it, is probably best understood by watching this brief youtube video at 6:46. The prime time of GB meridian is between the hours of 11p-1a. If GB is deficient, a person may wake very early in the morning and be unable to fall back to sleep. Other symptoms of imbalance in GB meridian is frequent sighing, headaches, jaw pain, swelling in glands, fever and nausea. Emotionally, GB out of balance might present as indecisiveness, mental instability and being outwardly focused to the point of rage and judgment toward others. 

GB is a yang meridian associated with the wood element. I most easily access the GB meridian by holding or tapping the GB-1 point, referred to as the side of eye point, in the flat area right in front of the temple. Interestingly, people intuitively go to GB-1 and massage at the onset of stress or when experiencing a headache--which is indicative of GB meridian imbalance. At the onset of a tension head-ache, give GB-1 some attention and see if relief follows.

Da-Dum...Da-Dum....Da-Dum Da-Dum Da-Dum!

In my new adventure of living by the motto: everything is energy and the body is the interface, I learned something unexpected today while visiting a Microbiology lab--sharks have a sixth sense. They have small (is anything small on a shark?), pore-shaped canals that pepper their snouts and heads enabling them to detect electricity. All living creatures create their own electric fields, and fish are no exception (Inner Constellation Truth No. 1--Everything is energy....). When fish swim or slightly move, for instance, breathing through their gills, a change is created in the surrounding electric field. Sharks, by virtue of the hundreds of electrically sensitive, gel filled canals in their heads, detect this shift. How cool is that?

Imagine experiencing a shark's sensory world. Brandon Brown from University of San Francisco wished to do just that and extracted gel from sharks' snouts (died naturally, of course). He found that the gel behaves similar to a thermostat, detecting the slightest temperature changes given off by prey and translating them into electrical signals. Perhaps shark should be the IC mascot--they are a supreme example of, "Everything is energy, and the body is the interface."

Did you feel that? Da-Dum...Da-Dum...Da-Dum Da-Dum Da-Dum!

Rub Buddha's Belly

I haven't written a Freedom Series article since end of January, and when I read this quote from Gautama Buddha, I knew he needed to be our celebrated Inner Constellation hero for the month of April:

"Do not believe a thing simply because it has been said.
Do not put your faith in traditions only because they have been honored by many generations.
Do not believe a thing because the general opinion believes it to be true or because it has been said repeatedly.
Do not believe a thing because of the single witness of one of the sages of antiquity.
Do not believe a thing because the probabilities are in its favor, or because you are in the habit of believing it to be true.
Do not believe in that which comes to your imagination, thinking that it must be the revelation of a superior Being.
Believe nothing that binds you to the sole authority of your masters or priests.
That which you have tried yourself, which you have experienced, which you have recognized as true, and which will be beneficial to you and to others; believe that, and shape your conduct to it."

Buddha knew that experiential understanding is far superior to outside authority. I received my fair share of outside authority first thing this morning--emails, factoids, media all accessed at the click of a mouse or touchpad. And then, I stumbled across Gautama Buddha's words and remembered my motto: Everything is Energy; the body is the interface. All this information streaming in 24/7, what do I wish to give energy to and multiply? What's my Inner Constellation saying right now if I stop and go inside and reconnect to my North Stars...."that which you have recognized as true, and which will be beneficial to you and to others; believe that, and shape your conduct to it." Laughing Buddha wears a smile because he has identified his North Stars, charted his course and has arrived. May his jolly happiness rub off on you today.

Triple Energizer Constellation: Resurrection!

Active Time:  9-11pm

Element: fire

Fundamental Principle: yang

Season: summer

Happy Easter! It seems the perfect day to highlight Triple Energizer (TE) meridian, also known as Triple Warmer. TE is best known for circulating energy flow throughout the following three warmers inside our cores: 1) heart and lungs to aid respiration (from diaphragm upward) 2) stomach to aid digestion (between diaphragm and navel) 3) intestines to aid elimination (from the navel and below). Triple Energizer also regulates our immune system and flight-fight-freeze response; its job is to keep you alive at all cost. In today's fast paced world, I find many people's Triple Energizer in perpetual overwhelm, often stuck in survival response. When this happens, extreme emotions ranging from hyper-arousal and angst to extreme fatigue can be experienced.

TE is a yang meridian associated with the element of fire and is most active between the hours of 9-11pm. It's very easy to trace, starting at the ring finger and tracing directly over the back of your hand, up the arm, across the shoulder and straight up the neck to the base of the ear. Go around the outside of ear to end near the temple at the hairline. I find that if one is tired, tracing this meridian in the direction just indicated is energizing. If you find that you're stressed or overstimulated, TE can be sedated by reversing the direction of the trace, starting at the hairline temple area, going down and around your ear and ending at your ring finger. Another balancing tip is tapping on TE-3 (commonly referred to as the Gamut Point in meridian tapping). TE-3 is located on the top of the hand between the ring finger and pinky in the valley between the bones of the 4th and 5th metacarpals. This point is commonly called the bodies "reset button." I include TE-3 in algorithms for insomnia, trauma, thyroid imbalances, menopause, stress and PTSD just to name a few.

When Triple Energizer is flowing in a balanced state one feels safe, protected and capable. When its flow is disturbed, defense is elevated above any other purpose. TE is a great meridian to target if you wish to transform a perceived threat into a transformative experience. I've developed the following practice to employ when one feels the body go into a reactive state unnecessarily: while resting one hand over the heart and tapping the TE-3 gamut point affirm, "Even though in the past, I've reacted with fight, flight or freeze, I now open to the practice of flow."

Spring has Sprung!

A storm hit my mountain town this weekend and inspired a contemplative piece on resiliency. Hope you all are healthy, strong and feeling like spring chicks :) 

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb
©Karla Johnston, InnerConstellation.com

It is spring.

I am 2,695 miles from my childhood place,
my family of origin:
ebbs, flows, impressions, memories of that land.
I sit inside my warm home,
watching snow fall:
swirl, lift, rise before it settles.
I am peace.
Unsuspecting storm reminds--
peace wasn't always so.

Gratitude remembers freedom's blossoming:
bared feet, sink toes in deep,
curl around a sun-warmed sandy shore.
Breath I did not realize I held, releases.
Awestruck at the depths,
I look across watery layers: turquoise, cobalt, royal blue
and only after receiving my fill
take further in
surrounding spring drenched mountains.

I am peace.