The Dampness

Medicine Buddha

Dampness - from the archaic for being confused, bewildered, shocked. Stupified.

Today I went to see Donna, my hero. She is amazing and so pretty. I love seeing her. She is a true healer and a guru.

Today she had her little dog, Felix, in the office. He is this cute mini-collie long haired looking dog with a pointy face and clean eyes and ratty hair on his legs. He sat under her desk the whole time smiling at me. So cute and so knowing!!

Donna and I talked for a long time, and she told me what good health I am in compared to a year ago. This makes me feel good, and I know it's true - I've come far since those dark days of Lyme Disease, candida and PCOS. I have been feeling excellent lately, alert, healthy and strong.

But these last couple weeks since the inauguration I've had the flu and a lingering cough. My lungs are heavy, and I have had the feeling of a sluggish liver and bone pain in my hips and thighs. I wanted Donna to get to the bottom of it. After some poking and prodding, she looked at me and sighed. I could tell she was trying to figure out how to tell me something, or how much of something to tell me. Then she said, "This is a spiritual and mental block, not a physical block. It's a spiritual block, but it didn't originate within you. It's not yours."
"Okay."
"Your liver is very taxed, it's totally blocked. It's processing some negative karma you picked up in DC, in the crowd, and it can't handle it. Twelve people's negative karma." Of course, this makes sense.
"How does that happen?"
"With that crowd, with all those needy people, it just happens. When you are open, or worn down, or clear, you can take on the negative karma of others." She goes on, "Have you not been very hungry lately?" No, I haven't been. "You need to eat more, even though you're not hungry. You're damp. Totally damp. You need hot drinks and brown rice and agave. And your lung chi is very low in part because of this, not because of the flu. This isn't the flu. This is a terrible spiritual illness." She looked astounded. "This is very special, very rare, for someone to take on the negative karma of strangers. This is important work! And it's not going to just clear up like a cold." I wanted to cry. I thought about all the beautiful people in DC, about the RELEASE - of personal and collective histories, the generations present and pouring forth - and it wasn't surprising that with all that intense energy flying around that some of it had gotten lodged in my liver and caused a dampening down in the deepest layers of my being. "This is what happens when we are clear," Donna said.

"So what do I do?" I said.

Donna left the room, and two seconds later came back with three bottles of pills, and figured out which one I should take. Chinese herbs. 36 teapills a day for 10 days. The came the acupuncture, an incredibly wild treatment with energy literally flying from my liver down my left leg and out my baby toe. As Donna rung me out like a sponge, I gazed up at the beautiful Medicine Buddha above the examination table. I could feel him returning my gaze, laughter in his eyes. What was he thinking? He was looking at me so lovingly, with such compassion, like a mother looking at a child. "Should I pray?" I asked after my chi began to flow, unobstructed.
"No, no extra prayers."
"Is there anything else?"
"Yes. I get the feeling that you need to curl up under a blanket and have a hot drink. No lifting, no carrying, no exercise. Just laying down, resting, sleeping. For ten days. I want you to go home, not back to work, and I want you to just curl up and let your body take on this healing." I asked her if she could write me a note to give my boss telling him I had some healing to do and had to go home. She laughed.

Then I asked her, "With other people's karma, is the work I am doing now to rid this karma helping them? Is it passed to me, and then I can tranform it? Has it been lifted off of them?"

She looked at me, her eyes flashing. "Yes, for some. I'm getting that for three of the twelve, for these three needy beings, you are critical, your taking this on for them has been a real release for them. They know who you are. Your compassion, your positive reaction to these new burdens and your ability to process them heals all beings. You are doing your part. I am so proud to treat you. Now go lay down!"

Stupified.