The Auricular exercise - or Unfurling your Phenomenal Flaps! by Binky Slade

Auricular energy, the energy to do with the external ear that we call auricle.
These amazingly designed flaps act as TV aerials of antennae to receive
the electrical energy which is outside our bodies - its the universal energy
that surrounds us that we call Chi, or 'Prana' in Yoga.
Doing the auricular exercise involves a technique where you massage and
unfurl the ear. It alerts and stimulates all parts of the body to take in Chi.
Just so you can appreciate the extent to which you will benefit from doing
this particular exercise I am going to give you the background to what is
actually represented on the auricle.

In Ear Reflexology or Auricular therapy as it is sometimes called,
which was developed by a man called Paul Nogier in 1951, the auricle
is the focus of "rich innovation" which means it supplies the organs of the
body with great nerve force. In a similar way to foot and hand
Reflexology there are numerous points located on the auricle.
A reflex point is a place which acts as a trigger to an organ or area of the body.
This point is either massaged or stimulated with a cotton tip - or an acupuncturist would put a needle into the spot. When massaging if some of the points are uncomfortable, these are the spots that need attention.
Actually there are over 400 points on the auricle and they are related to every function in the brain and body.


Diagrams 1 and 2
Ear Reflexology and Acupuncture points for treating conditions or problems.
The extraordinary aspect of the shape of the auricle is that it mirrors the
shape of the foetus and the many areas on the ear actually represent the
parts of the foetus. If you superimpose the foetus on top of the ear you
would see that the reflex zones correspond to the anatomy of the foetus.
The head would be where the lobe is and you would find all the parts of
the head, such as eyes, ears, teeth, tonsils, represented on the lobe of the auricle.


Diagram 3
These are the acupuncture points not only for points on the body but also
for certain conditions and states of mind. You'll see that a lot of the main
ones, the most interesting ones, are actually on the edge of the ear that we
unfurl when we massage the ear doing the auricular exercise. You might like
to know some of them. Where you start to uncurl the ear,just where the fold begins you've got Darwin's point and that's for sleep disturbance. At the top is the allergy point for treating allergies. The point of Jerome is again for sleep problems and there's even an anti-fear point.

Another interesting point that I found if you look at the foetus diagram again, where the ankles are represented . This is something I knew nothing about until recently. Well, my son who is 19 broke his ankle 7 weeks ago and
has been on crutches an din plaster. I was unfurling his ears and as I reached a point on the ear on the right he went "Ouch, Mum, that really hurts and so I said " Oh I'm really sorry it must be my guitar index finger nail that jabbed you.' So I did it again, despite being really gentle and careful. Again He responded "That's really hurting right there". I wondered why it hurt and asked "Is there anywhere else on your ear that hurts?" and he said "No, no other points at all." Wouldn't it be funny if it was the
ankle point ? "So we looked it up and sure enough , there it was. Exactly! His right ear, his right ankle. Amazing. We always do this don't we? Ten years on after I first learnt touch for health and I still find it amazing. Wow! It works. Why are we surprised?!

Another point that was given to me is one that reduces your hunger." I've nicknamed it the Anti- appetite' point. It's right beside the Bosch point but just inside, right behind the beginning of the flap. If you are really hungry and your are trying to forgo that extra helping or dessert you can just sit there and rub these points. A fair amount of pressure needs to me used, even if it is a little unpleasant and if done properly and persistently it reduce hunger in many people. Nerve plexus areas. These are the reflex areas that related to the major nerve plexus areas.
There are 10 represented here - I do believe there are many more. We know
them as chakras or energy centres and we usually think of there being 7.
Massaging these reflex areas outwards away from the orifice will balance out
any of the 10 nerve plexus areas/chakras in your body. Each chakra or nerve
plexus is comprised of many nerves that form a big network.
They divide again in a complex manner. Each plexus area controls a system
or type of tissue in the body. Of course the solar plexus is the one we are all
familiar with and where we all feel our emotions.

All these points are related to every function of the brain and the body,
the auricular exercises activities the brain for crossing the auditory midline,
helping the left and right hemispheres to function well together. It helps the auditory skills such as recognition, perception, discrimination,
(discriminating between sounds that are related to what you need and sounds that you don't really need like the traffic) attention andmemory.

In Brain Gym they do the same exercise calling it the "thinking Caps" as it
increases our mental and physical fitness so that we have a "switched -on"
sense of hearing as well as concentration. If you are doing something like
working with computers it can help although you need to be careful when
wearing headphones or playing computer games because these can switch ears
off - as can any electrical devices.

Physically the auricular exercises improves our breathing and our energy. When you get use to unfurling your ears you may start to notice the subtle changes which take place in your body. It also releases the jaw, tongue and facial muscles and improves left/right turning ability and our sense of
balance. My favourite thing is that it helps with public speaking, singing
and music and actually helps you to hear the resonant sound of your own voice.
Dr Dennison of Edu-K says it is "particularly effective with the integration
of speech and language because it switches on the reticular
formation of the brain - the membrane covering the whole brain - so that the
words and meaning of language are more accessible simultaneously with the
sounds and rhythm of imagery." Dr John Thie, the founder of Touch for Health
found that tit increases sensory input and decreases neck and
shoulder tension.

The Auricular Exercise We begin with the pads of
the index finger and thumb and start at he beginning of the ear flap
with firm rolling pressure pulling the edges of the ear flap up and out
and back. Unfold the outer edge gently , massaging the while working
you way right down, round the back and down to the lobe.
This is a Touch for Health exercise and is also done in applied Kinesiology
and in Acupuncture systems. Keep your chin level. You can do a nice yawn at
the same time making loud vowel sounds as well.

Ears are so different. Everyone's ears are very different......
Here's a little titbit for you. Research has shown that half of all learners are auditorily limited because the majority of teaching is verbal - so all those poor switched-off students out there trying really hard to learn and finding it difficult might find it really good if schools, at the beginning of lessons. Had all the children unfurling their ears.
In fact if there's anything you are trying to learn or memorise or study, if you unfurl your ears while doing it, it will help you to remember whilst doing it.
Pass that on to any children you know.

I know it al sounds very far fetched - very strange and a bit weird if you are new to it, but here is a little story you might enjoy. Knowing lead is a non-conductor so it can short circuit the ears so to speak and block the Chi I went along to a local scrap yard. There were three three fellows in their blue overalls who came over to me and asked me what I wanted.
"Have you any lead?" and they led me to a big barrel of lead and watched me
intriguingly as I rummaged through all these different pieces and shapes and
sizes until I found a piece which I was very pleased with because it was
exactly what I was looking for. Wow this is perfect. Its exactly what I
need. How much is it?:
"Actually" they said, "do you mind us asking what do you want it for?"
They were very curious and I thought, How am I going to explain this one?
Oh well I'll take the plunge - and start telling them about this Chi energy in the
air, everywhere around, that you can't see or feel, it's all energy,
remember the Superman movie? And then I said "In fact if I take this piece
of lead and put it over your ear it will block the energy coming into your
ear". Well they were thinking that I was really strange but they were going
along with it, very politely and one one of the men said "Can you show me?"
I said "Yeah, I'd be really happy to show you" so he stood there while I
took hold of his arm for a Indicator muscle - anterior deltoid and began
pushing his arm up and down and asking him to turn his head left and right
and the holding the lead against his ears...........

By this time they were trying to contain their laughter and thought I was nuttier
than a fruitcake, but at the end of it, I checked his ears to make
sure they'd switched on after I'd held the lead up, because sometimes
it take smites for your ears to adjust.
One of his ears was switched on and one switched off so I said "Now I don't want to leave you with a switched off ear so I can fix it for you!
so he said "Well, all right then, do it" I went for his ear and unfurled it and he went
"Oh whoooa that's just too weird. Tell you what darling. No charge for the lead.

A few minutes after I had left apparently a good friend of mine just
happened to turn up in his truck loaded with lead from the roofing job he'd
just done - and they were still talking about me "This crazy lady...she went
for my ears. And so on and so forth so my friend said" Did she have long
hair and a bicycle? "yes" came the reply, then "She's as cosmic as you are ,
no wonder you know her!!" I must say I'd rather be described as cosmic;
than round the bend!

To demonstrate the lead test:
1. you need a clear indicator muscle. Turn head to the right and test the
Indicator muscle in the clear, then a little further to the right and test
again. The muscle should stay switched on, if it doesn¹t, then you need to
correct by doing the auricular exercise. Correct whilst keeping the head
turned to the right. Recheck the indicator muscle.
2. Turn head to the left and repeat.

3. When the indicator muscle remains firm for the test, in the clear, hold
the piece of lead against the ear and re-test. Lead blocks the energy so the
muscle will unlock.

4. Recheck afterwards to make sure that both ears are switched on again.
Do the auricular exercise if you wish.

The reason we test the ear facing back seems to be because it's involved
in the reflex of turning the head towards sound when you are a baby or in a
crawling or lying down position.
It's interesting to note that we're born with lots of reflexes.
The blueprint is there in our brains when we are born, but the programme
is built up when we are very young and as a baby starts to move it builds up
the connections in its brain piece by piece by movement and experience,
the reflex patterns are built from outer stimulation and sensory information.

Early development is really important for functioning in later life because
a child can be handicapped without sorting out the initial patterns and it
can miss out on cross crawl and cross patterning. Breast fed babies get
stimulation from both sides because each one is exposed when breast feeding.
If you are bottle feeding or know someone who is it's a good idea to get
them to change arms so each ear has a chance to be exposed.

If ears are cramped up it can reduce their efficiency, affect hearing and
reduce attention span, also reduce our comprehension of what we hear.
For people who turn their heads frequently, taxi drivers, truck drivers or watching tennis, it can switch their ears off.

Brian Butler write about doing the auricular exercise:
There's no doubt that we will hear better, remember more of what we hear,
understand more of what we have remembered
So knowing all you do now of the many benefits, be inspired at the start of
every day, like cleaning your teeth and UNFURL YOUR PHENOMENAL FLAPS!

Binky Slade Touch for Healther Bognor Regis