Qi and the body (1)

The base of the view of the body in the Oriental medicine, as well as Oriental thoughts in general, is summed up with a word, qi. However, the concepts of the word, qi varies even among Oriental people, so it is difficult to define what it is. It is hard to grasp the idea of qi even for Oriental people, but if people look at the history about qi in China, it leads to one view.

It is difficult to describe the whole history of qi here, but those who try to grasp qi philosophically and understand the universe in terms of qi are Zhang Zai（張横渠） and Zhu Xi （朱子） of Neo-Confucianism.

According to Zhu Xi's Li-Qi theory (理気説), the existence of the matter is formulated by the cohesion of qi（気） and "how it is" is shaped by li (理). Li would be the concept corresponding to DNA in the term of the modern science, however there is no modern concept comparable to the accumulation of qi.

What is notable here is that we can comprehend the phenomena relevant to the cohesion of qi from the clinical experience of acupuncture and moxibustion therapy, and it is significant to reevaluate the body and the universe in the view of qi.

When looking at the body from this kind of view, it is natural to see how the body is according to the degree of accumulation of qi. Rather, it is better to see diseases as unbalance or deviation of the state of qi cohesion, because it gives a different view of diseases from the western point of view and shows more distinctive characteristic of Oriental medicine.

The base of the disease concept of Oriental medicine, especially acupuncture medicine is deficiency and excess concept (*1) .

The definition of this concept in the textbook is that deficiency refers to deficiency of the healthy qi and excess refers to excessiveness of the pathogenic qi; deficiency is the weakened condition of the body function and excess is the state that the strong constitution reacting strongly against the pathogens, in the modern words.

However, these interpretations are merely giving each word a meaning conceptually, and it is hard to see the substantiality in the Oriental medicine, rather it is more likely to imagine the patient in the schema of the western medicine.


*1 translator's note: this deficiency and excess concept refers to the relative yin and yang. This article was written in 1987 (Shoji Kobayashi and Sango Kobayashi "Toyo Igaku Koza vol.10 "Keiraku Shakuju Chiryo hen", p254-5).

“Acute Low Back Pain is the Enormous Fatigue”

“Acute Low Back Pain is the Enormous Fatigue”

Shoji Kobayashi

There are many patients who come to the clinic due to acute low back pain. For example, a woman who came to the clinic recently, visited her daughter in San Francisco. On the day of her arrival in SF, as soon as she bent her body downward to take the luggage, the acute pain ran through her left low back and she could not move. She had to rest for a while, then, came back to Japan.

In the view of Western medicine, 70% of acute low back pain’s causes are unknown. It is rare that you can find the disorder of the bone of low back by X-ray. Acute low back pain is also called as “intervertebral sprain”.  When bending the body, the tendons that stabilize the vertebrae are lengthened, and the pain occurs. So, usually speaking, it is very rare to have the disorder of bones.

It is very interesting that the most patients complaining the acute low back pain have no pressure pain objectively (pressed by others) on the area where they feel the pain. Sometimes, there is a muscle tension, but there is no anatomical problem there.

However, why do they feel such a pain due to the slight movement? It is a mystery.

It is similar to the mechanism of chemical sensitivity. For example, the sick house syndrome is the physical constitution reacting sensitively to the volatile chemicals in the paint of the wall and the glue of the wall paper of the new building.

In addition to the allergic body tendency, easy to react to such chemicals, one has been absorbing the volatile chemicals little by little for a long time. As a result, the new stimulation of the volatile chemical to the maximum permissible amount, the symptom appears suddenly. Imagine a glass filled with water as much as having surface tension. When adding a drop of water to the glass, the water spills out. Chemical sensitive is similar to this.

Let us apply this mechanism to the acute low back pain. As one is very tired, the body condition is very unstable, easy to lose the balance of muscle tissues of the low back with a little stimulation. When trying to carry the luggage or sneezing, pressure is applied to the low back, and the acute low back pain occurs.

Here, it is said that the most cases of acute low back pain are healed after taking the good rest. It is true that when one takes a rest, one can recover from the fatigue and pain disappears, but it indicates that the fatigue is the main cause of the acute low back pain.

It can be said that the 70% of acute low back pain which causes are unknown stem from the accumulated fatigue for a long time, as well as the most diseases, that the tiredness of the body lie underneath.

30 % of acute low back pain with obvious causes is due to things, such as the bone disorder. However, for example, even if the intervertebral disk hernia is found, when you think seriously, why one has the disk hernia? The cause of it would be the true cause. So, the disk hernia is just a trigger of the acute low back pain.

By the way, the woman mentioned above had high fever, close to 38 ℃　(100.4 Fahrenheit) after the treatment. Then, the left low back pain disappears, but the pain moved to the left back behind the heart, and next week, her left knee started to be painful.

This indicates that after the treatment, the tension all over the body started to be loosened. This lady understands the treatment policy of acupuncture very well, so she understood that “the pain moved” without panic.

However, in fact, this is not that the pain moved, but the distinguishing pain was resolved and the next stage pain appeared. The fatigue of the body was layered, and the body started to heal from the surface layer. After the next treatment, all pain of the whole body disappeared.

Here, how to prevent acute low back pain? Answering this question simply, “not to accumulate fatigue”, that’s it.

The top cause of accumulated fatigue is lack of sleep. Nothing can be substituted for sleep. In addition, when you are extremely tired, refrain from taking a bath, because it would make your body very cold and led to the fatigue.

Acute low back is troublesome because it can easily recur, so the prevention is extremely important.

*This is a translation of the article in the monthly magazine, "Will", February 2014.  

Trauma

Trauma is receiving an injury of qi from the outside. The extent of healing of it is depending on one's congenital strength. Trauma includes those without bleeding, such as bruise and sprain, those with bleeding such as cut, burn, frostbite, those from chemicals and biological toxins such as bee bite.

Bruise weakens the power of qi on the affected area, and the surrounding part receives its negative influence as well. Those with bleeding are rather good thing, when the amount of blood is  a little, it reduces the bad influence on the surrounding tissue.

Burn and frostbite means the death of qi on the area, and it requires the professional treatment when the affected area is huge. Both chemicals and biological toxins suppress the movement of qi of the body, the speed spreading through the whole body is rapid, so it requires the fast proper treatment.

<note>
(1) When you get bleeding with a little cut, let the blood come out a little, then apply moxa on the scar, then put the plaster on it.
(2) For burn, let the affected are cool down with running water for around thirty minutes, and the degree and area of burn is light, put moxa and a plaster, or apply Shiunko, the Kampo ointment made by Seishu Hanaoka.
For frostbite, if the degree is light, massage the area well.
(3) For chemical toxin trauma, firstly, wash off the chemicals on the affected area well.

*This article is translated from "Yamai hitokuchi memo" p. 186-7, written by Shoji Kobayashi, 2005. Articles of this book were meant to be written for patients who came to Taishido Acupuncture Clinic.

Feeling nervous and no concentration

These symptoms (feeling nervous and no concentration) are both upsurge of emotion. It indicates that the power of controlling upsurged emotion is weak, and the tendency of getting upset easily is more or less depending on the congenital factor. It is important to observe children when they are small, but even if they are restless, as far as they have something to become enthusiastic, you do not worry about them too much. 

Rather, the problems lie on introverted disposition, such as they prefer stay inwards or take time to make a move. For those who have introverted disposition, qi tends to be deviated to the head, and this tendency is strengthened as they develop their physical strength towards adolescence.

It is recommended to play sports or exercise to release excessed qi, and to take care of their daily life not to weaken their power of inner organs that can control the upsurge of emotion. 

<note>

Look back your daily life. 

(1) To release excessed qi, consider to cut your hair short, try to go out often, make a contact with nature and communicate with people.

(2) To strengthen the power of inner organs, it is important not to take cold foods and drinks as possible, not to eat too much and limit sweet foods. 

(3) In these cases, it sometimes occurs not to develop conversation with others and ends up to repeat the same thing. As a result, the conversation tends not to be deepened so much, and they are not followed by their own behaviors. 

  In the contemporary standardized society, there are a lot of people who do not fit the society and feel the pain. It is as if they try to fit their feet to the shoes, so those who understand this situation have a role to look for the environment that can fit with them. 

(4) In this kind of symptom, it is better to have a good communication with a specialist. 

*This article is translated from "Yamai hitokuchi memo" p. 184-5, written by Shoji Kobayashi, 2005. Articles of this book were meant to be written for patients who came to Taishido Acupuncture Clinic.

Sleep

Some people have difficulty to fall asleep, but if their sleep are not enough, they feel sleepy during daytime.

Sleep is quieting down the movement of qi of the body as it becomes dark at night. Generally, the movements of animals are largely corresponding to the change of light and shade during the day.

Quieting the movement of qi down means that qi gather in the internal organs, the core of the body. The movements of limbs become more still than daytime, and the brain works subconsciously.

The internal organs accumulates power during night. When the movement of qi of the head cannot be calm down at night, one feels difficulty to fall asleep. There are two causes for this; one is that the internal organs do not have enough power to accumulate qi at night, and the other is the case when the movement of qi around the head is extremely stronger than the power of qi of internal organs. The case that one cannot sleep because the body is extremely tired corresponds to the former, and the case that one is thinking too much and takes time to fall asleep corresponds to the latter.

When one cannot stop feeling sleepy, it indicates that the power of qi of the internal organs is not tonified enough during night. One can compare the old person drowsing during daytime or whose sleeping hours at night gets shorter to the old battery; the power of tonifying qi of  innter organs is not sufficient and it is easy to run out quickly.

<note>
(1) Firstly, examine the cause well, such as whether using the body too much until exhausted completely or whether having the big problem or not.

(2)  For the case of severe fatigue, it is necessary to have professional treatment, but in such a case, one might feel more tired after the treatment.

(3) Do not consider to take sufficient nutrition when you are extremely tired. High nutritious foods require rather strong digestive power, so they are too heavy for the exhausted body. Rather, it is recommended to take something carbohydrate, easy to digest, such as potatoes, little by little.

*This article is translated from "Yamai hitokuchi memo" p. 182-3, written by Shoji Kobayashi, 2005. Articles of this book were meant to be written for patients who came to Taishido Acupuncture Clinic.

Weight

The weight of an adult usually does not change when the condition of the body is stable, but there are some changes, such as between in the winter and in the summer and between in the morning and in the evening.

The body weight is the total amount of one's qi, and the density of it varies depending on individuals, such as people whose density of qi can be seen mainly on bones (so called big-boned people), those can be seen on muscles and those can be seen mainly on fat. These elements form a shape of the body, so you can guess your condition referring to your parents.

The density of qi becomes the highest on bones and the least on fat. Generally, the density of qi of bones and muscles do not change so much, so the change of weight within a day or between seasons is considered as the change of fat.

The rapid decrease of weight is considered as the swift loss of density of qi, so for example losing 10 kg of weight within a few months indicates the severe loss of qi. The loss of qi starts from fat and reaches at bones in the end.

The exhaustion of qi can be divided into three stages; first, the loss of weight though one eats a lot, then the loss of appetite itself, at last breathing becomes shallow or difficult, and one cannot take even the air. The symptoms of the body gets worse in this order.

In addition, increasing the amount of qi leads to the increase of the weight, it usually appears as the increase of subcutaneous fat, except athletes. If you give high nutritious foods to infants and children whose constitution of the body are in the process of building up, their bodies learn the condition of needing the big amount of qi, and this condition tends to stay for the whole their lives.

It is important to give priority to vegetable foods rather than animal food products with high protein and high nutrition for meals of infants and children not to make them overweight. The power of digestion gets stronger, and you can avoid the risk of obesity considerably.

To lose weight for adults, it is either to use the body to enhance the qi of the layers of muscles rather than that of fat, or to lose the amount of ingesting foods. Both remove the qi of the layer of fat that is easier to move, but its effect largely depends on the congenital elements and the state during infancy.

<note>
(1) It is necessary to have professional diagnosis and treatment for the case of the sudden weight loss.
(2) To lose weight, the ways are the exercise and diet. Especially, reduce or cut sweet foods. It requires strong will power, and it is necessary to continue patiently.
(3) To lose weight simply from the cosmetic reason, it often becomes the desire to exceed their own body conditions. In such a case, you cannot expect the good effect so much, and it sometimes become too extreme to harm their own bodies.
(4) Reducing foods are not only staple foods, but including all foods and drinks between meals.
(5) Foods with the sweet taste are considered to loosen qi of the body, so one becomes fat, it is strongly recommended to avoid it when you want to reduce weight.

*This article is translated from "Yamai hitokuchi memo" p. 179-181, written by Shoji Kobayashi, 2005. Articles of this book were meant to be written for patients who came to Taishido Acupuncture Clinic.

Dried skin

The condition of little sweat progresses further, the skin gets dry. This indicates the power of qi of inner organs is getting worse than the previous stage, but where to get dry depends on the deviation of qi.

The condition of dryness proceeds more, the skin gets harder and it sometimes can be said as scleroderma.

Let us apply the same point of view to the dried skin in the winter and the dried skin for old people. The winter is the season when the flow of qi of inner organs generally gets settled quietly, and so are the seasons of autumn and winter of the life.

<note>
(1) First, it is important to look back at your lifestyle. Avoid the lifestyle with "over" something, such as overwork and overeating.
(2) The natural moisture of the skin is different from being rubbed with oil from the surface, so using the lotion to the dry skin is merely stopgap measures.
(3) The habit of using lotions and cosmetics makes the qi of the skin being rubbed up and inactive, so it is difficult to get the natural moisture of the skin.

*This article is translated from "Yamai hitokuchi memo" p. 177-8, written by Shoji Kobayashi, 2005. Articles of this book were meant to be written for patients who came to Taishido Acupuncture Clinic.

Hyperhidrosis, hypohidrosis and night sweat

Sweat is an important reference point indicating the condition of qi metabolism of the body. Usually, it is good thing to perspire.

The power of the core of the body, the power of inner organs, is weak for those who rarely perspire, and on the other hand, the power of inner organs is active for those having hyperhidrosis.

The extent of sweating is depending on the conditions of the air and of labor, though there is some congenital factor. So it is unusual that one perspires without doing anything when it is cold, or that one does not perspire though he/she does physical work in the hot weather.

Sometimes one perspires during sleep at night with the adequate bedding though the air is not so hot. This indicates inner organs that supposed to rest are being active, and rather the power of inner organs is getting weak.

Physiologically, the same thing can be said when one gets old and he/she tends to sweat easily. Labor means not only the physical activities including sex, but also other things, such as the work that needs extreme mental concentration and meals.

<note>
(1) Those who does not sweat, rarely sweat and have night sweat should receive treatments for a certain period with perseverance.
(2) The problem of sweat is not only the quantity but quality as well. When one feels comfortable with sweating, it indicates good perspiration.

*This article is translated from "Yamai hitokuchi memo" p. 175-6, written by Shoji Kobayashi, 2005. Articles of this book were meant to be written for patients who came to Taishido Acupuncture Clinic.

Swelling, rash, eczema and itchiness of the body

All these symptoms; swelling, rash, eczema and itchiness of the body, are considered as skin diseases, but except cases caused by the outside, such as mosquito bites, generally it is assumed that skin diseases are due to the problems of the inside of the body.

The qi  power of the core of the body, that is expressed as inner organs, gets too weakened to attract qi of the whole body, so it appear as rash on the surface of the skin. The light one is itchiness, then swelling, and it changes to pain in serious cases. 

There are two ways of declining power of inner organ qi, congenital and acquired ones. The congenital way is one's constitution, so one can understand its strength to some extent when observing and talking with one's parents, grandparents, siblings and other relatives. For example, when one was in his/her mother's womb, the mother was unwell or she had a hard time in labor, these become congenital bad causes.

On the other hand, the acquired is resulting from the lifestyle which weaken inner organ qi, the lifestyle to make one's body cold. In this case, chilling the body means consuming cold beverages though one does not use one's body much; for example, drinking beer or whisky with ice everyday, or drinking juice frequently.

As a special case, rashes often appear when the mother had a hard time in labor, for example giving birth to twins or triples. This is due to the severe exhaustion of energy, so one cannot control qi of the body. I this case, one should avoid not only cold beverages, but also high nutritional value foods.

Atopic dermatitis (atopy is congenital hypersensitivity and also called as allergic dermatitis) is due to strong congenital elements, for example, the mother took cold foods and beverages during pregnancy or giving the child high nutritious foods too much during the weaning period.

<note>
(1) Stop drinking cold beverages completely.
(2) When waking up in the morning, drink one or two cups of hot water before taking any other things into your stomach.
(3) Continue these two things for a week or ten days.
(4) Hot water here means plain boiled water, you should not add anything even a teaspoon of sugar, tea neither.
(5) When you cannot think about the exact reasons, consult with a specialist.



*This article is translated from "Yamai hitokuchi Memo" p. 172-4, written by Shoji Kobayashi, 2005. Articles of the book were meant to be written for patients who came to Taishido Acupuncture Clinic.

                                       

Blood congestion and bleeding of the skin

Congestion and hemorrhage are both phenomena of ruptures of blood vessels. One that the blood stays inside of the skin or the mucous membrane is called congestion and one goes outside of them is hemorrhage. This is a massive movement of liquid qi.

Congestion looks dark red, indicating one's inactive condition, coldness. When congestion stays inside of the body for a long time, the power of normal  qi of the body is gradually absorbed in it, and one tends to lose energy. For example, one starts to complain the symptoms such as the cold of the body, dizziness and pain.

There are two types of congestion, one resulting from the problem of the inside of the body and the other caused by the trauma. The former is not easy, one has to get the power of the body itself to absorb stasis qi.

Women who gets close to menopause sometimes have blood congestion that looks like a bruise (purple spot or purpura). This diminishes within a few days without any pain. It can be described as a physiological phenomenon discharging so called unnecessary qi.

Traumatic blood congestion such as a bruise, strong pressure and sprain requires special care. When one is young, sometimes the normal qi can surpass traumatic blood congestion naturally (in other words, blood congestion disappears naturally), but it is important to have a proper treatment done, otherwise its influence stays there even if one gets older. It may appear as cold, pain or difficulty to move the body much later.

Therefore, when one has a pain though he/she has no idea of its cause, one should look back the past whether or not he/she had been hit strongly when he/she was young.

In contrast, traumas with bleeding, such as a cut or a scratch, do not cause such a problem. However, one has to be careful with the amount of bleeding, and it is necessary to avoid a lot of bleeding. Hemophilia that one has difficulty to stop bleeding once received a trauma is a serious condition that the qi of the body diminishes rapidly.

(note)

<blood congestion>
(1) internal cause
Ask a specialist for its diagnosis and treatment.
(2) traumatic cause
The affected area would be very painful, but bear the pain and rub it well for about 30 minutes.

<bleeding >
(1) Ask for a professional treatment for the large quantity of bleeding which cannot stop easily.
(2) For other cases, apply moxa to the affected area and fix with a plaster. Moxa has a function to stop bleeding and to sterlize, so it is okay to apply moxa to the affected area directly.
(3) One can use any kind of moxa.
(4) It is important not to let the affected area wet as possible, and there is no need to change the moxa until it stops bleeding enough.


*This article is translated from "Yamai hitokuchi Memo" p. 169-171, written by Shoji Kobayashi, 2005. Articles of the book were meant to be written for patients who came to Taishido Acupuncture Clinic.

Sensitivity of the skin and the mucous membrane

The condition of the skin getting sensitive is expressed as "easy to get a rash" generally, and "festering" in the serious state.

Recently, the word "allergy" is used quite often. It includes various conditions, from the light one,  such as just red spots and those spreading the whole skin, accompanying itchiness, to the serious one, getting blisters or itchiness turns pain.

The causes of the allergy are understood as the external stimulation such as the sunshine, plants for example the sumac, animal hair, dusts, soils, cosmetics, detergents, synthetic fibers. However,      when considering that there are those who are weak and those who are not to the same external cause, it can be said that whether such stimulation becomes stimulation of allergy or not, is related to the condition of the recipient.

In the explanation of the Western medicine, the strong reaction of antibodies to the antigens turns allergy, but how antibodies react are depending on each individual's daily life.

The mucous membrane is what consists of the digestive organs, the respiratory organs and the urogenital organs, being continuous to the skin, so it can be referred as the skin inside the body. The mucous membrane has a sensitivity as well as the skin, so the hyperemia or the inflammation may occur by the stimulation of plants such as pollen, the animal hair, strong alcohol, strong coffee and tea, hot food and drink, spicy food and drink, sometimes medications and a poison in some cases.

The inflammation of the mucous membrane is referred as an "ulcer" generally, but the light one is called a "sore" and sometimes "itis" is used such as the gastritis, and the lightest one is hyperemia. The mucous membrane in such a case becomes red and painful like the skin.

Whether it is the skin or the mucous membrane, both are the surface of the skin, so the density of qi of the body there is the loosest and most flexible. However, what sustains the order of the surface are organs, so if organs get weak, the flexibility of the skin or the mucous membrane decreases, getting weaker or easier to react to the stimulation from the outside.

The phenomena, such as the pain, itchiness and the abnormal reddish color of the skin or the mucous membrane, imply heat, indicating that the core of the body called organs gets relatively weak, that is, becoming cold relatively (Coldness includes the state of less active).

There are two kinds of organs getting weak, one is congenital, another is acquired. Congenital one refers to hereditary problems, prenatal or time-of-birth problems, but it is possible to restrain the problem by the proper daily habits, as well as the acquired case.

The advisable daily habits are sweating once in two days, sleeping before midnight, having the modest food and drink both in quality and quantity, having the moderate sexual life and trying to look oneself objectively when having the worries.

<note>
(1) If one thinks this symptom merely as a problem of the skin, one tends to think just applying the medication to the skin and be in hurry. The problem of sensitivity is constitutional, so basically, one has to look back and correct his/her own lifestyle, such as sleep and work hours and leisure, and treatments would take some time, so one should not hurry.

(2) It is advisable to look back your own lifestyle, then consult with a professional.

*This article is translated from "Yamai hitokuchi Memo" p. 166-8, written by Shoji Kobayashi, 2005. Articles of the book were meant to be written for patients who came to Taishido Acupuncture Clinic.

Chill

A chill is the condition of feeling cold and shivering, in such a state, even one put a blanket on, the feeling of coldness stays. This is considered that one has the coldness from the core of the body to the surface of the body, in other words, the movement of the qi is getting weak systemically.

However, shivering means that the body still has power. If one loses the force of body qi, one cannot even shiver. In an extremely strong chill, during the period recovering from it, one sometimes gets fever and sweat on the contrary, but this indicates the body qi is getting stronger, so it is a good phenomenon.

The cause of a chill should be found in the temporally close past, so when one looks back one's daily life, it would be easily understandable. Generally speaking, a chill is one of symptoms of a cold, but one should be careful when it accompanies a pain in the abdomen.

(Note)
A chill accompanying a pain in the abdomen is the condition when one's energy gets lowered more, so it requires a professional examination and treatment.


*This article is translated from "Yamai hitokuchi Memo" p. 165, written by Shoji Kobayashi, 2005.

Heat

Whether one has heat or not is scaled by a thermometor, but it can be also known by comparing the pulse rate, the temperature of the forehead and languor with one's normal condition.

Rather, it is far more important to get accustomed to judge one's own condition of the body than  caring about deciminal one or two numbers showed in the thermometor. One can lighten the psychological burden to taking account of small change of temperature. 

Except high fever, there is no criteria, such as more than what degree may harm the body, and also heat is not necessary to be shown as high fever in the thermometor all the time,  it is very important to know the condition of heat checking disorders of the body. 

Heat symptoms are evaluated from the body conditions, such as fatigue, the color of the face gets red, the whole body, of course the forehead as well, is getting hot, increased pulse rate and so on. 

Heat indicates that the movement of qi of the body gets overactive, but one should not judge to lower the temperature as soon as one gets feverish. Fever is the condition that one cannot control the heat because the power of qi of inner organs to govern the movement of  the body smoothly decreases and brings coldness in the center of the body. Basically, the body needs a rest, so it is better not to lower temperature forcibly to work or something. 

(Note)

1. When one gets fever, one tends to think to use an ice bag to alleviate fever, but it should be done after the treatment such as acupuncture. The treatment is to give power to the qi of the body and to diminish the coldness of the core of the body, so if one uses an ice bag after the treatment, it does not cool the body so much. 

2. When one has fever, one should not take a bath. Taking a bath is consuming the qi of the body, so it deteriorates the fever more. 

3. Slight fever continuing for a long time, sudden high fever, symptoms with a chill, strong pain somewhere in the body, such as the head and the abdomen, something wrong with one's consciousness are emergency conditions, requiring professional examination and treatment. 

*This article is translated from "Yamai hitokuchi Memo" p. 163-4, written by Shoji Kobayashi, 2005.

Meridians

There are some patients who say that they feel something moving down to the leg, though the needle is applied on the abdomen, or "electricity running" and so on.

This means that the patient has something irregular down the leg. It is very common to perform needling on the limbs or back though, for example, the patient has a headache.

Especially the feeling as if the electricity is running in the body is like the lightning streaks down the ground. The path such the electricity runs is expressed as "meridian" in Oriental medicine. As the lightning is called as "electricity", the power, qi, is running the all over the body.

Such responses of meridians were used to be very common long time ago, but now people have lost such senses, so this is not what everybody can feel. However, the fact that applying the needle on certain point can actually cure the disorder which appears far away from the point. This is understood as the qi is transferred from the point where the needle is applied, through the meridian and reaches at the affected area, in other words, the unbalance of qi is adjusted.

However, does the qi really run through the meridian that you expect?? There is no way to prove it, so this is quite uncertain. Because, it is also common that the lightning streaks through the meridian that you never anticipate. Even the qi runs through the meridian, it is very modern point of view (!) to think that the qi runs where one expects.

Rather, it is more practical to think that the symptom, such as a headache, is one of reference points indicating the unbalance of qi of the whole body, in other words, as the tip of the iceberg.

The movement of qi is more open and generous. It is the power to move all over the body, not limited only via the path of certain meridians.

*This is translated from the article by Kobayashi sensei, "Taishido Times Square" vol.16  

Listlessness and heaviness of the body

There are three types of feeling listless chronically, mentioned below.

1. Feeling listless from waking up and during the morning.
2. Feeling listless in the afternoon and the evening.
3. Feeling listless the whole day.

When you feel weary only one day today, you can guess its cause thinking back what you did the day before.

The case when one feels dullness of the body from waking up and during the morning chronically is the type that one can accumulate the qi of the body by being active. One does not move the body during the night and the air becomes cooled down, so his/her power of qi gets weak in the next morning. This is the reason why one feels listless in the morning,.

Likewise, the case one feels listless or heaviness of  the body in the afternoon and evening is the type one exhausts the body qi because of the daily activity. For this type, one has not to exhaust the energy during the night.

The third case, feeling listless the whole day means it is the more severe case than these two cases. The vital energy is getting weak overall, one exhausts the qi of the body by daily activities and he/she cannot fill the energy up during the night.

If one finds out the cause of such weakness of the body qi, one has to eliminate it. For example, the practitioner has to find out if the person always goes to bed after the midnight, he/she has enough sleep, whether the amount of the foods he/she takes are too little or too much, if he/she takes any medication regularly, if he/she is overwork, if the work environment is too cold, if he/she has excessive sexual life, if she is too active during her period, and as a matter of congenital qi, if one's family member or relatives have similar conditions.

Ultimately speaking, the dullness of the body means slackness of body tissues, namely, the density of the body qi gets loosened. This brings the coldness into the body, and makes the body movement more dull.

All types of listlessness vary in terms of the extent of symptoms and they are not the same.

The expression that the body is heavy, is often used when one feels the weight on one's limbs and difficulty to move them, but sometimes one feels the whole body is heavy. Both of them are regarded as more serious conditions than feeling listless.

The heaviness of the body is sometimes felt even if one's weight is light. This means that the power of qi of inner organs cannot reach at extremities fully, so the movement of qi of extremities gets dull. Basically this occurs when the power of digestive organs becomes weak.

Here, the problem lies in the core where the body gets the acquired qi, but limbs are what makes such power of inner organs more active, so if one cannot use limbs freely, it is a fatal problem.
As recommended countermeasures, one changes the quality of the diet, ie. vegetarian foods that is more light to the body, and eats less.

*This article is translated from "Yamai hitokuchi Memo" p. 160-2, written by Shoji Kobayashi, 2005.

So, the green outside of the clinic was "the gourd"!!
It grows so fast!!

Exercise (10)

The most of people experience a cramp in the leg when they get old to some extent. It is understandable to get a cramp after the hard exercise and so on, but sometimes one is seized with a cramp and wakes up during sleep at night.

This can be understood as the fatigue of the body itself appearing in the legs where the pressure was put the most. In other words, the cramp is not only the problem of the legs. The fatigue is what the movement of qi of the body gets slow and cold, so needless to say when using one's legs, and even when yang qi gets cold at night, the qi movement of legs slows down. When it gets stronger, the pain appears in the legs. To prevent a cramp, it is important to think about the cause of the fatigue.

*This article is translated from "Yamai hitokuchi Memo" written by Shoji Kobayashi, 2005.

Exercise (9)

In synchronized swimming, one plays closing one's nostrils pinching the nose. This is not simply for preventing water coming in from the nostrils, rather indicates that one should not inhale the water through the nose.

One must not breath through the nose when swimming. The modern medicine explains that the water through the nose compress the eustachian tubes, and it makes one loose the sense of balance and drown as a result. Water has the much thicker density of qi than air, so it is impossible to inhale such qi through the nose in one breath. That's why even if there is no influence on the eustachian tubes, one feels discomfort, such as the pain in the nose. When one requires the supply of gas is rapidly, the body uses the mouth.

 *This article is translated from "Yamai hitokuchi Memo" written by Shoji Kobayashi, 2005.

Exercise (8)

A human being floats on water, because the specific gravity is around the same or rather lighter than water. One gets lighter in the sea water furthermore, but it is notable that there are people who are called "hammers" (note: those who cannot swim are called "hammers" in Japanese ).

This is because lacking experience in water makes one's consciousness upset, and the body gets harder more than necessary, and as a result it makes impossible for him/her to adapt to water. This can be understood as one's consciousness thickened density of qi, so that the body gets heavier than water.

It can be said that the flexible movement of qi lightens the body, makes the movement of the body smooth, lessens the stress to the body, this is largely related to the state of consciousness.

*This article is translated from "Yamai hitokuchi Memo" written by Shoji Kobayashi, 2005.

Exercise (7)

One of the merits of swimming is that one rarely feels the load of the gravity. One can move the body freely because of feeling no gravity, but in other words, the amount of exercise is prone to be increased. In addition, the resistance of water is rather strong, one tends to feel more fatigue than exercise on the ground.

Fatigue means that the body heat is consumed. Staying in the water, which temperature is lower than the body temperature, for a long time leads to consumption of the body heat. Warming-up exercise before entering in the water is absolutely necessary to raise the body temperature in advance.

*This article is translated from "Yamai hitokuchi Memo" written by Shoji Kobayashi, 2005.

Exercise (6)

Everybody should have experienced the fast beating pulse after exercise. The rapid pulse indicates that the heat is produced in the body. However, the most of the heat produced by the extreme exercise is unnecessary for the body, and it takes a lot of energy to diffuse it. This is the reason why exercising too much becomes burdensome.

It is ideal for those who always exercise like athletes not to produce heat much even during exercise, so the normal pulse of an athlete tends to be rather slow.


*This article is translated from "Yamai hitokuchi Memo" written by Shoji Kobayashi, 2005.