“An Example of the Psychosomatic Relationship”
By John Diamond, M.D.
Extract from the book
The Meridians and Beyond: The Diamond Reports, Vol. 2
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Bill had lost twenty five pounds in weight, but, strangely, his belly seemed larger than ever. He asked me what he could do about it. My first hunch was that there was a weakness of the abdominal muscles, but I could not find it on examination.
Yet there must have been a problem. When I asked Bill to touch his toes, he could barely contract his abdominals. His fingertips reached only halfway down his lower legs. I decided to massage an area on the inner aspect of each thigh, which, as Dr. George Goodheart has shown, contains neurolymphatic points associated with the abdominal muscles. Suddenly Bill burst into tears, not as a result of any pain from the massage, but tears coming from deep within him.
I continued to massage and he continued to cry. Actually, it was more weeping than crying. The tears were profuse. After five minutes of this, Bill wiped his eyes and said that the tears were gone, it was all over. There was no pain in the areas I had been massaging. In fact, they felt quite relaxed.
Now Bill could touch his toes, because he could contract his abdominal muscles. He must have gained at least four inches in reach as a result of releasing the tears.
You may wonder what the abdominal muscles have to do with tears and crying. I have shown[1] that tears relate to the small intestine meridian, and Dr. Goodheart has shown that the abdominal muscles also relate to the small intestine meridian.
This is the essence of my understanding of psychosomatic medicine: that all the tissues and organs of the body are related to specific emotional states through the acupuncture system.[2]
[1] See my Life Energy: Unlocking the Hidden Powers of your Emotions to Achieve Total Well-Being. New York: Paragon House, 1985.
[2] Ibid.