How to get better

[dij]

Hiya folk
could you help e out with an interpretation that's proving more elusive then I can contend with. Please?

I've been suffering with ill health for some time now and it seems like I'm never going to get better. I do my best to eat healthy and get exercise and de-stress.

I asked Yi "what can I do to make myself better/get back on track"

Yi answered: 34.2 - resulting in 55

While 34 is all talking about what I want and 55 talks of attainment of my goal (via perseverance of 34), I don't know that I understood the message. If it was 'just keeping going' - well, I've been doing that and it's not helping.

So I rephrased to : "what am I doing wrong about my life/health?"
and got 39.5 (??) In the midst of great obstructions - friends come . This I interpreted as Yi telling me I should ask for help. Who/what should I ask for help?

Err. Please help? lol

Thank you!

 

[tashij]

Can you go to Brazil?

http://www.friendsofthecasa.org/HealingStories.htm

 

[martin]

Dij, without knowing more about the nature of your illness this answer is a hard nut to crack. But here is my guess:
The vitality of 34 comes from below. It ascends. To meet that vitality and free it (so that it can move upward) you will have to descend.
If you breath low, in your belly (line 2), how does that feel? Free, pleasant, obstructed?
Do you have a habit of breathing too high?
The "friends" of 39.5 are maybe somewhere around your navel.

Does this make any sense?

 

[seeker]

Forgive me for stating the obvious, but have you seen a doctor? Both of these hexes talk about not depending too much on your own resources, you need outside help. If you have seen a doctor, maybe its saying you haven't seen the right kind of doctor. You might need a specialist or maybe your illness is actually caused by something mental related such as depression. Like Martin, w/o knowing more about your situation it is difficult to say, but I think you are being advised to get help of some kind.

 

[dij]

Hello and thank you.

Tashij - thank you for that link, it looks very interesting and I'd love to go some day. I cannot at the moment, but it sounds amazing.

Martin - those are some very interesting interpretations of the Yi. This is why I posted the question - because my knowledge of Yi is very basic, and very often I feel like Yi is answering very precisely only I don't understand. I have been having stomach troubles for ever, and this is exactly where most of my 'illness' comes from. In addition to that I have just been over tired, prone to stress and as a consequence getting little colds and stuff more often.

It is also amazing what you said about breathing and descending as I have been unable to breathe properly ever since I gave up smoking back in January. It's almost as if I had to learn how to breathe all over again and it's not been easy.

Thank you so much for your help.

Seeker, thanks, you make a very valid point. I have sought help already and have received some. As you say, the question is really what kind of help is going to be helpful, because sometimes a wrong kind of help can be far worse then no help at all.

I guess what I was really after is how other people interpret the reading I got. For example, I never knew about connecting line 2 of 34 to the belly - too much of a coincidence if you ask me.

I wonder where Martin learned about that.

Considering that the answer 39.5 was to question "What am I doing wrong about my health?" I wonder if Yi wasn't telling me that the help I am getting is the wrong kind of help?

Any ideas?

I appreciate it greatly anyone taking the time to comment.

 

[martin]

Did you try a doctor who specializes in Eastern medicine (acupuncture, ayurveda, etc) Dij?

 

[dij]

Hi Martin. No, I haven't. I am undergoing Chi energy treatment which seems to be helping as far as I can tell. I've also consulted traditional doctor in the past but that didn't really result in anything helpful.

 

[martin]

The "friends" of 39.5 are the lines of the lower trigram, especially the corresponding line 2.
So I think that 39.5, apart from its other meaning (friendly people come to help), also confirms your earlier reading (34.2) that emphasizes line 2.
Your belly is your friend and more generally the lower part of your body. Because there is your vitality. From what you write it would seem that it cannot rise very well because of a block in the area of the stomach.
Traditional western doctors sometimes cannot find the problem in such a case. They look at the stomach, the liver, etcetera, take blood tests and everything seems okay.
My doctor, who has a western medical education but is also an acupuncturist, once said to me "By the time they find something in your blood you are already nearly dead!". She was joking a bit of course, but there is some truth in it.

 

[malka]

Dij,

I'm so sorry to learn of your illness. I read 34 and 55 as representing a tremendous amount of power and strength. Perhaps even heat. 34 is about how to use your power, and line 2 emphasizes this, telling you to do what is right.

My intuition wonders if there isn't an emotional component to your illness? Might you be facing an opportunity to come more fully into your own power? To know your power and yourself more completely?

In Chinese medicine it is possible to develop an abundance of heat within the body that can cause illness. I agree with Martin's suggestion to consider acupuncture as a treatment -- it's excellent for eliminating excess heat in the body.

You've also mentioned doing energy work, and it sounds like you're not sure if it's helping. I encourage you listen to yourself closely: How do you feel following a treatment? You should feel grounded and centered, and it should leave you feeling more present in your body and your life. Or does the treatment generate excess energy and heat that feels overwhelming in your body?

I smoked cigarettes many years ago, and remember what it was like to withdraw from nicotine and face all the extra energy that came with bringing more air into my body. It was disorienting and bizarre. I needed to learn to be with myself in a whole new way. Perhaps this is also part of what you face. Nicotine is a drug, and withdrawal can include suddenly feeling all the anxiety that has always been with us but which was masked by the drug. Your difficulty breathing could be related to facing and coming to terms with this anxiety.

These are just random thoughts -- please take or discard whatever seems best for you. Good luck, and know I and others here care for your well-being.

Blessings,
Malka

 

[candid]

Dij,

So much really great input you?ve already received here.

Only thing that pops into my head is that it may be possible that you are trying too hard to overcome these things, rather than allowing your body (friends) to naturally equalize itself.

You know the saying, ?I?m going to do this if it kills me?? An old inspirational speaker named Zig Ziggler wrote a book called ?Release Your Brakes?. 34 is applying power through stomping on the gas peddle. If your emergency brakes are locked, this can cause a lot of stress and grinding. Something?s going to give. But if you instead work on letting go rather than applying more pressure, the car isn?t fighting against itself. 39 could be your own reluctance to let go. It is also possible that the power you needed to overcome smoking is still being applied, although no longer necessary. Try releasing your brakes and see what happens.

 

[bradford_h]

Hi Dij-
I tend to read 39.5 as "when things get serious enough you will get the help you need"
It may not have been enough that this was merely bothering you.
Now you are taking it seriously enough to ask others for help, and lo, here some of us are.
But please note- you might not yet be talking to the right doctors here.
Your response will be proportionate to the seriousness you perceive.
Maybe the Yi is suggesting you take this more seriously.
If nothing else, so you can put your worries behind you
and get to work on a cure.

 

[dij]

Hello again.

Thank you so much again for the answers - so much to think about!

Martin - thanks again for clarification. You are so right about the western medicine - it's just not suitable for certain type of problems.

Malka - interesting view point. Do you always read 34 and 55 representing too much heat or was it just in this instance? (I'm stubbornly trying to learn Yi as well as get to the root of my problem). And yes, the energy work I receive makes me feel much more 'together' and 'righted'. I am grateful for all your thoughts - they are very valuable. I think you are so right about cessation of smoking forcing me to "to learn to be with myself in a whole new way". So well put.

Candid - very good point and accurate as well. I do have a tendency to hold on like a pit bull and not let go when I really ought to. I had a bit of a cathartic night last night in which I tried to let go and while initially it was very unpleasant and scary, eventually I felt like a valve has been released somewhere inside. It's not all done still, but thanks for brining up that point.

Hey Brad.
I was wondering myself if that wasn't what 39.5 meant. Of course it doesn't tell you what is the help you need, but as you pointed out, here you all are (bless you!!) helping.

I don't understand what you mean by this: "Your response will be proportionate to the seriousness you perceive. "
??

I can assure you I'm not taking this lightly at all, it's just that I have no precedent for dealing with something like this and the usual avenues are not being as effective as I expected. OF course, that could be the crux of the problem - the fact that this just needs to resolve itself in a longer time then I'm used to allowing for recovery.
I have been home off work for the past three days with a really bad cold. I haven't taken three days off work (in a row) in years. Usually, I'll feel really awful for a day but then drag myself into work the next day as soon as there is a tiny bit of improvement. This time however, I had just been so sick I couldn't do that. I am finding that it's really amazing how much stress and anxiety I bring on myself. In all the readings I have been doing lately I got one which told me that I have to sometimes allow myself to make mistakes because that's how really learning occurs. I guess for some reason I have been so over anxious not to make any mistakes that I'd been making my 'ridgepole sag to the breaking point'.

Sorry for this public soul searching session, but I just wanted to let you all know how much I appreciate your advice and help and that I am taking it all on board.

best wishes to all
dij

 

[candid]

Dij, your soul searching is among friends. Been there (here) myself, and it can be very healing.

The more I hear you speak of this, the more convinced I'm becoming that this stress is the crux of this dis-ease you are experiencing. Stress and stomach are directly linked. Maybe your gut is trying to tell you something? Our bodies are wiser than our minds, very often. Listening to what the body is saying can often help to adjust our ideas, or our work, or our relationships, or whatever, so that we can enjoy life more fully.

 

[bradford_h]

Hi Dij
RE:
I don't understand what you mean by this: "Your response will be proportionate to the seriousness you perceive. "

I meant if you think this is life threatening you're going to have a proportionate response and fight for your life.

I notice you live in the land of UK where medicine's just about paid for. This side of the pond it costs us US$110 just to learn if we have a head cold.

 

[malka]

Dij,

Soul searching tends to lead to soul discovery -- so go for it!

I'm still learning Yi, and have no "always" in terms of interpretation. My comments were based upon what I read in Huang, what you wrote, and my intuition. But ultimately I feel it's more important what YOU feel about your answer.

I've learned what sometimes seems like illness is really a healing crisis. You may be in de-tox as your body just goes through the motions of releasing toxins built up from nicotine. If so, this is a time to be gentle. You may find drinking lots of fresh water and eating healthy organic foods to be helpful. An Epsom Salt bath can also help.

Blessings,
Malka

 

[dij]

Hullo

Candid - thanks for kind words and encouragement. I totally agree with you that we should always listen to our bodies. Trouble is, when you get out of synch, sometimes you can't understand what the body is trying to tell you. I'm keeping with it though.

Brad - thanks for clarification. I would never go to a doctor here just for a cold and neither would most people. Even though you will get seen for free, the doctor will not help you in any way other then to tell you to drink plenty of fluids and maybe just give you antibiotics *just in case*. They like to do that a lot here - which is half of the reason why my stomach is so racked - too many general antibiotics in short space of time. When you have to pay for your health you tend to take more responsibility for it yourself - although I do feel sorry for you guys in the US - your health care is truly a luxury.

Thanks Malka - already doing all those!!

I've got a super detox tea from an exotic location consisting of 20+ herbs. I think my question to Yi was a general - why am I always getting sick? one.

I forget which Hex talks about this, but basically one of them says that in order to get better one has to find people who care. It's almost as if your well wishes is what?s making me feel better.

I wonder what other people think about that proposition - as it is a bit out there?