Saturday, January 23rd. Today we worked with the children--they are so much more willing to just try whatever you say, it was fun. First I worked with the ten children together while their parents observed--we played a game to see where they felt different things--what do you feel when it's your birthday and where do you feel that? What do you feel when your friend takes your toy and where do you feel that? Then we escalated things a bit to 'where do you feel sad?’ ‘Where do you feel scared?’ and then, finally, “when you think of the earthquake what do you feel and where is it?” One boy cried quietly, I think he was surprised by the tears. He was one of the boys who worked with me privately in the afternoon.
Mei-Mei and Mia, two of Liu Meng’s volunteers observed as I worked with three children who had been buried for 28 hours, with a little girl whose sister died, and I worked with several parents, all with good results. I had a good night sleep last night—I learned about the electric blanket, and that made a world of difference. Tonight, I have a hotel room--the room is warm, the shower is beautiful and the toilet is western style. My knees are very grateful. I had dinner with 2 of my translators. All in all, the 4 days here working with Liu Meng and his volunteers were everything I could have wanted.
I learned so much about what works for the Chinese people. Being direct--"go where you feel the most pain" is effective. Western style of--"Go to the center of where you feel the energy" is confusing. Muscle testing is exasperating and completely unnecessary here. I intend to set up regular skype calls with the group to check in, and this will have to wait until I am back from San Diego later in February. Liu Meng tried to give me money from his savings --which is how he takes care of feeding his volunteers--I refused of course. They are so generous with so little. I compromised by letting him get our ride to Mianzhu, where we would be holding our second workshop.
Sunday, January 24th. Today, we travelled to Mianzhu. Last night I had my very first Chinese massage. Two hours later, I was returned to my hotel with a western toilet and a hot shower. The massage was done fully clothed, except for shoes with a lot of time spent on our feet. I was so happy. I had just had dinner with two of my translators and a friend of theirs who just got back from Kuwait and is now working on finance and economics here in China. The four of us were together in the same room in comfortable lounge chairs drinking hot jasmine tea and watching an American movie in Chinese while the 4 masseuses talked and giggled. Once in awhile one of the ladies I was with would chime in and the giggling would increase.
I am including experience to illustrate something that is very different and precious about being part of a community here. It was a treat the way the girls who were working on us enjoyed their camaraderie and included us in their happy conversations. When we had meals together for the last 4 days at the workspace, we all ate out of the serving dishes together, taking small portions and adding them to our bowls of rice. I think it is that very essense of being so interconnected that makes muscle testing here weird rather than helpful. I realize that in the United States culture we are stuck with the illusion of separateness, and that establishing muscle testing repoire is a fundamental need to gain that access and permission to reconnect. I noticed here, especially during the final 2 days that I never needed it or missed it.
Tom Stone, who created this work, spoke with me before I left for China. He said that I would not need to teach muscle testing. Yet, on the first day of the training I tested that it was optimal to include it. And I get how perfect it was to learn why it didn't work first hand. I am grateful for the lesson, and at the same time, I regret the time wasted with the group in Dujiangyan. I am staying at a hotel while I am here in Mianzhu--Y130 which works out to about $50 for 3 nights. I notice that my brain parses out currencies visually rather than based on reality. I initially cringed when I forked over Y400. My brain goes "that's 400 dollars!!!" I am happy to have a western bathroom, my knees are especially happy. I am grateful for heat. Liu Meng, the man who invited me, and his staff live without heat, wash their clothes by hand in little basins, bathe using heated water in the same little basins and dine happily together. We all wore our heavy coats while conducting the workshop, and I probably should have worn my hat. They have a much greater need than I do for the money he had offered, and with any luck, there may still be a few stateside donations coming in to offset my expenses. Regardless, it would have felt wrong to me to take the money from him. He is so dedicated to the people who are suffering with trauma from the earthquake. His volunteers are equally committed to helping their people get better and get some release from the grip of their suffering.
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