Beliefs vs Principles in Birth, Life and Medicine

There was recently a discussion among Chinese medicine practitioners about whether there is a purpose to gestation beyond the physical development of the fetus, in other words, is there a connection between a mother and her fetus beyond the placenta and umbilical cord? Instead of thought provoking answers to the question at hand, the discussion was continually pulled toward religious and superstitious beliefs, such as Buddhism and karma, conditioned souls and the mythical ghost fetus of Chinese lore, who waits under the bed for the moment of birth to unite with his physical body.   

If instead we can first look for the principle underlying life, then when we discuss life, health and the application of medicine, we can easily differentiate truth from superstition and religion. Further, starting from the principle of life, it naturally follows that we can see a greater purpose for gestation and birth that is both strikingly simple and deeply profound. With these principles at hand, gestation and birth are no longer mystical processes that require religious or superstitious beliefs to explain a natural process, which allows expectant mothers to connect to the real process occurring within.

Contemplating the complexities of life is not simple work, but it is a greatly satisfying and rewarding pursuit of Chinese medicine and Hunyuan medicine!

Sun Simiao on Childbirth

 "Always, the priority is that the woman in labor must not be rushed or frightened."

Sun Simiao, Bei Ji Qian Jin Yao Fang, Volumes on Gynecology. Translated by Sabine Wilms, Chinese Medicine Database, Portland, OR.

Sorting the Heart, Liu Baigu, and Inducing Labor

...Without sorting our Heart, it is more difficult to know the correct actions to take, easy to fall into a position of trying to control labor and birth increasing the potential for unnecessary interventions. Liu Baigu of the Huai Xuan[1] school presents us with the steps to cultivate the Heart, the first being to remove selfishness by observing inner phenomena, desire and emotions. This means replacing wants and desires from the exterior with gratitude and contentment on the interior. For birth this includes eliminating the desires and wants to induce labor for exterior purposes, including the desires of the provider, discomfort, schedules or fear, and replace it with gratitude and contentedness in knowing that nature takes care of things in the appropriate manner and knows the proper time for gestation to end and labor to begin.

When making decisions in pregnancy, there are several influencing factors: what we ourselves want to do, what we think our healthcare provider wants us to do, what we think our friends, family and society want us to do. This struggle in making decisions can feel like a game of tug of war with the mind, weighing the pros and cons, trying to justify our choices to ourselves and everyone else around. If instead, the decisions are approached with a clear Heart, the correct path arises naturally with less anxiety and fear about the judgments from others. There are no universally right answers when it comes to health, pregnancy or childbirth, thus it falls upon each of our own Hearts to make decisions that induce Courage within.

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[1] See Seidman & Jaensch, 2013. Hunyuan Xinfa: The Lost Heart of Medicine. p 74, for more information about Liu Baigu and the Huai Xuan school.

Wisdom of Liu Yuan on Xinfa, Heart Method

When it comes to the fairer sex and the blood and Qi are moving during menses, if she consumes [inappropriate substances] or has an inharmonious Heart and Xing, she frequently becomes angry and annoyed, sometimes furious, depressed and bitter. The entire gamut of this negativity leads to Qi and blood stagnation, resulting in the formation of clots, menses pain and masses in the body. If this situation is allowed to linger for too long it becomes very difficult to treat and she feels like she lives a ruined life.

One cannot and must not ever make the mistake of trying to treat this condition like one would treat carbuncles¹. Never use a treatment that aims at scattering accumulations. One should not use this method. Rather, one must protect and nurture her. One must make her feel at home in her body, that her body is precious. Make her believe in herself, in her Center, one hundred percent...

When I [Liu Yuan] see this type of disease, immediately I tell the patient that they must reflect upon their intentions. This disorder requires Xinfa² as its modus operandi. Once this is established and on course, a great doctor can assist with the application of medicinals.³

This passage by Liu Yuan in his Commentary on Medicine points out that when a physician is only able to see the outer symptoms of disease, remaining unaware of the condition of the patient's inner Heart and the origins of their disease, it results in delayed application of proper treatment. In this case, he highlights the commonality of overlooking the accompanying origin of this case of carbuncles originating from the obstruction in her Heart, extending out to the physical body causing the present symptoms. Thus a gentle and nourishing treatment to free the movement of the Heart using Heart method, Xinfa, was his chosen method of treatment, which may be accompanied by herbs to nourish the Heart.
 

¹ Carbuncle is an abscess, boil or lump on the skin usually resulting from infection and often containing fluid

² Xinfa, Heart (Xin) Method (Fa), a treatment method to nourish the inner Heart of a patient through words, teaching the patient to value life and find contentedness in their own Heart.

³ Hunyuan Xinfa: The Lost Heart of Medicine, Seidman & Jaensch, 2012, p. 217

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Hunyuan Birth Series Outline

What will be covered in this class

Class one will include an introduction to the purpose of pregnancy and birth and why the insights of ancient theories are still applicable today. It will cover an introduction to Yin Yang and the 4 trigrams of Heaven, Earth, Fire and Water. Then we will introduce the Hunyuan principle of Unification (recharging the body and spirit) and Separation (living and connecting to the exterior world), and the six spheres' role in gestation and birth-conception, formation, growth, orientation, emergence, and birth. We will look deeper at the Yin-pivot role (part of the Unification principle) in fetal development and focus on fetal development in the 3rd trimester. Finally, the first class will cover methods to increase Unification (recharging ability) in preparation for labor, including how to improve sleep, proper diet, unification breathing, appropriate exercise, the importance of emotional health, meditation and qigong exercises, Xinfa (Heart Method) techniques, and contemplations from classical texts.

The second class will go deeper into the Unification and Separation cycle, and the dual aspects of the emotional Heart and physical body. We will look at the effect of emotions and over-emotions on birth and how information we see and hear can influence the birth process. We will explore the meaning of Generosity and Courage in the birth process and how birth beliefs can be used to strengthen the ability to birth. Class two will include deeper Xinfa work, contemplation from classical texts, as well as meditation and qigong exercises.

The final class will cover the stages of labor, the timing of labor, Unification and Separation roles in labor and birth, focusing on contractions, transition phase and the pushing stage, as well as techniques to maintain Unification during labor. We will also cover the purpose of pain in labor and the role of emotions in the stages of birth.The third class will also cover newborn care, breastfeeding, and postpartum recovery.

For more information, see the website where you can download an outline of the 3-class series.