coincidence that when I tried Master Chia’s practice it did seem to
help. I had the usual orthopedic treatments with hot soaks and
analgesics and muscle relaxants, which had me walking around in
a stupor. I went to a chiropractor with very transitory results, but
with some arrest of pain. Then I went to an acupuncturist, who
didn’t help at all. I then went to an herbalist who helped a little. This
practice seems to have done something, seriously.
Dr. Young: What was the diagnosis?
S: They said that there was severe muscle spasm — espe-
cially of the upper back, involving the neck and the area that was
subscapular. They also found a portion of my lower back in which
the distance between the vertebrae was narrowed. It looked as
though I’d have a chronic condition mainly because of some pulled
or torn muscle attachments. For almost two weeks after I fell, I
couldn’t lift my head. Nothing would happen. No inkling of a mes-
sage (that I wanted to lift my head) would come through. In fact,
when I tried to get up, just after I fell, I couldn’t. When I pushed
myself over onto my side my head just flopped over. Gradually,
after two weeks strength came back into my neck muscles, but
there was still an assortment of clicking and crunching noises and
pains. My head was tilted to one side and one shoulder was con-
tracted and higher than the other for months. The insurance people,
in fact, agreed that the whole area was in spasm.
Dr. Young: What did Master Chia suggest you do to cure this
condition?
S: He first asked me to relax the area between and around my
eyes. That alone helped to heal everything. All kinds of heat and
flowing sensations came on on their own. There were various pre-
scribed exercises designed to open up various energy routes. For
example, the six healing sounds I found most relaxing. One is ad-
vised to do them before going to bed because they are conducive
to good sleep. If I slowly stretch in the prescribed manner, allow for
the effects to become evident after each time I very y loosen up.
My pulse beats differently I seem to throb all over. It has a very
quieting effect. Really! Another favorite of mine is also soothing,
though in another way. All that it consists of is gazing at a spiral-like
diagram until my eyes begin to water and then closing them a ro-
tating them a set number of times, first in one direction and then
the other. This produces a very good, soothing, soft, comfortableChapter XIII