Movie "Heart Shaku: Abdominal Diagnosis of Shakuju Therapy"

Here is the movie of "Heart Shaku: Abdominal Diagnosis of Shakuju Therapy". (If there's no English subtitle, please click the red "cc" button in the bottom!)

Sweat (4)

There are people who rarely sweat. Not sweating means either that they have energy to produce heat, but are weak to diffuse it, or that the energy to produce heat itself is weak.

Those who are weak to diffuse heat tend to be yang excess, and the skin is liable to get red and rough, because the heat stays inside of the body. On the other hand, for those who are weak to produce heat, their bodies have coldness, so for women, they have difficulty to get pregnant.

When they receive acupuncture treatments, their bodies gets warmer and start sweating.

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

Sweat (3)

The sweating area is depending on each individual, such as on the head, the neck, the face, the lower back, the palm, the sole or sometimes the whole body. Moreover, as one gets older, or depending on the condition of the body, one sweats on the different area.

However, concerning sweat, the area is not problem, but the quality is. In terms of the quality of sweat, non-sticky sweat is better, but what sticking to the skin is abnormal as sweat due to low energy of the body.

Sometimes, one sweats because of mental stress. This indicates that the body has a weak point affected by the surrounding, and this sweat is also sticky. 　

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

About Shakuju Therapy (3)

As Kobayashi sensei and many other practitioners in Shakuju Association say, ultimately speaking, a needle is merely a thin metal, and moxa is just withered grass. In general, it is considered that acumoxa therapy = oriental medicine, but we, as professionals, have a different way of thinking.

The important thing is how you use a mere thin metal and dry grass.

In the acupuncture world, there are mainly two different therapeutic ways; one is western medicine, another is oriental medicine. Then, what do you mean by saying Oriental medicine way? If you treat as written in ancient Chinese classics, is it Oriental way?? If you treat in the way that  western doctors in the hospital never do, is it Oriental way??

Western medicine has made remarkable progress by looking at human body in more and more micro view. Because of this, people  can get to know what had not been discovered or noticed yet.

On the other hand, how about Oriental medicine? In Oriental medicine (precisely speaking, it is not only medicine, though), it has been considered that everything in this world, including human beings, are qi. That is, the answer is clear from the beginning. Diseases are also qi, sick people are just different from healthy people only in terms of the state of their qi. According to this simple idea, it is possible to treat any diseases regardless of symptoms. 

In Shakuju therapy, it is considered that the cause of diseases is the "deficiency of Jin-qi (= Hie)" . The cause of lower back pain is the deficiency of Jin-qi. The reason for not being able to rise the shoulder is the deficiency of Jin-qi. No appetite is stemming from the deficiency of Jin-qi.    We think simply like this. Therefore, the purpose of the treatment is "tonifying the Jin-qi". In Shakuju therapy, we think Jin-qi is tonified by acupuncture and moxibustion. The cause is   assumed the one ultimately, you don't need to have any doubt in the treatment.

In other methodologies, they treat patients according to the symptoms and if the causes of diseases are different, they have to change the means of treatment as well.

Why are there so many kinds of acumoxa therapies, then? Every method should be all good and effective, and each should have its own characteristics and merit, for each existing as a therapeutic method. Though, the way of examination, used acupuncture points and tools are all different... So, why don't you think like this? Taking account of the causes considered in each therapeutic method, in fact, there exists the common fundamental cause of all sickness. When their treatments are targeting on the assumed causes, however, they are solving the fundamental cause which has not been noticed as a result. If you think this way, you are able to explain that although many acupuncture therapies are doing the different things, each of them has the good effective result in the same way.

Acupuncture and moxibustion are therapeutic method which can approach the fundamental cause of diseases of patients. Then, isn't it wonderful if you can think about this fundamental cause and perform treatment efficiently?

The answer is Shakuju therapy. This fundamental cause is referred as "the deficiency of Jin-qi (Hie)"in Shakuju therapy. Why don't you learn Shakuju therapy?

About Shakuju Therapy (2)

In the background of the birth of Shakuju therapy, there were mainly two factors; Kobayashi sensei's questions in medical practice when he was young, and the problem of school education.

The treatment when he started his career as an acupuncturist was the therapy style that one judges meridian conditions by pulse examination and treats for the cause of diseases and appeared symptoms.

Questions that came to his mind when he was adopting the treatment style, and its contradiction with clinical practices, these led to the clinical education at K Acupuncture School in Chiba, where Shakuju therapy was born. I have been teaching clinical training classes at school as well, and find very difficult for an acupuncture school as a job training school to have a certain level of internship before graduation, systematized clinical training classes and education which can give students enough skill and knowledge as professional therapists after their graduation.  

At that time, what Kobayashi sensei was thinking about clinical practice education, except those mentioned above, were 1) how to treat patients regardless of age and sex differences, 2) contents of classes bearable for students' training (i.e. even students who have little knowledge and skill can diagnose and evaluate the treatment result),  3) maximizing the ability of the tools, i.e. acupuncture and moxibustion, to treat people, and 4) therapeutic theories based on oriental thoughts, such as concepts of qi and yin-yang. Covering these four factors, what systematizes only the facts seen in clinical experiences straight is the present Shakuju therapy.

Medicine is art, but it has to contain scientific aspect as well, for, not only masters, but everybody can do the same thing. Medicine as ta-ji contains science and art as yin-yang. Pursuing clinical cases and seeking the best form as art, as a result of containing four elements mentioned above, Shakuju therapy gets the scientific aspect as well.

*This is translated from an extract of Japanese Shakuju association blog.

Sweat (2)

Sweat has a role to keep body heat in a certain condition. So, it is quite reasonable to have perspiration when being active in daytime. Even during sleep, the body is active quietly, people sweat lightly.

However, abnormal sweat during sleep is the matter. This indicates that even during sleep, abnormal heat is produced somewhere in the body, in other words, there exist weak points in the core of the body (internal organs) that can control heat during night. The idea of internal organs here is a broader concept than those in Western medicine; for example, it is said that bone diseases belong to Kidney, and this idea is broader than kidney in Western medicine.

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

About Shakuju Therapy (1)

When comparing Shauju therapy to other acumoxa methodologies, there are some distinctive differences. One of such differences is the way to assign sho (pattern) and to treat.

Most of acupuncture therapies collect a patient's information by the four examinations, and decide which acupuncture points to use. Sometimes, sho　was named after summing up such information in the process. This method can also be seen in Chinese herbology, forming a counterpart of acupuncture in Oriental medicine. Because it is same, you can treat patients either with acupuncture or herbology in the same way.

In Chinese herbology, a patient takes the whole prescribed medication according to the condition of the body, that is lead by the information, by mouth at the same time. How about acupuncture, then? If you want to use LI-4, LI-11, GV-14 and GB-20, you can not apply a needle to these points at the same time. So, in which order do you start needling? 

As a fact can be seen in clinical experiences, the human body changes surprisingly even with one needle. That is, the body often changes a lot, when comparing before and after the first needling. Isn't it a more ideal treatment with less stress to patients, to check changes of the body and perform needling in the most suitable way according to the state of the body each time of needling in each point, rather than to treat after summing up all information of the body in the first place? 

Shakuju therapy is what a therapist always confirms changes of the body each needling, approaching the body gradually from the yang side to the yin side and targeting on the cause of diseases. Following changes that appear in each needling as they are, it makes therapists possible to treat patients regardless of symptoms or names of diseases with acupuncture and moxibustion. This can be said the very Oriental therapy, being different from Western ways, I think.

*This is translated from an extract of Japanese Shakuju association blog.