Shakuju Therapy Seminar in Hawaii

Thank you for attending the fist Shakuju Therapy Seminar in Hawaii! Thanks to Tisha, who organized this workshop, thanks to Mr. Stephen Brown as a fluent interpreter with full of passion for Japanese acupuncture, thanks to Rande who helped Tisha to prepare for the seminar, and thanks to all the attendees who came from all over the states and Australia, the three days seminar was completed successfully!

During the seminar, the morning session began with a lecture of Shakuju Therapy and the demonstration of Shakuju Therapy by Kobayashi Sensei, then in the afternoon the attendees were divided into 8 groups and practice BL 40 insertion and learn the procedure of Shakuju Therapy.

We hope that this seminar gave you some inspiration in your acupuncture practice and understanding. We are looking forward to meeting you at Pacific Symposium 2012 in November at San Diego!!!

demonstration by Kobayashi Sensei

practice session

Hawaii Seminar 2012

Almost Hawaii Seminar

Are you ready for Shakuju Therapy Workshop in Hawaii starting from this Friday, 23rd?? Have you packed acupuncture tools and a swimming wear? Except those, just bring your passion and curiosity for acupuncture with you!

If you are new to Shakuju Therapy, it might be helpful to read "Acupuncture Core Therapy" or "About Shakuju Therapy" series of this blog before the seminar. For those who have attended the SJT seminar before, thank you for coming back!!!

Wishing everybody attending the seminar a safe journey! See you and let us enjoy acupuncture in the big island!!!

Teawase-kai

In Japan, we just had a second Teawase-kai; SJT brushing-up workgroup session yesterday.

Teawase literally means matching or joining hands together. This word is often used in the martial arts sphere, when two or more people meet up and compare each other's skill. So, just like the martial arts, many Shakuju therapy practitioners, regardless of his or her skill and experience, gathered together. They were divided into three people groups, one person treats, another is a patient, and the third person is the watcher.

Actually, this third one is the key person. When the therapist marks Shaku and Back-shu points, he/she always have to ask the third guy for check. Except those, everything is depended on its group. So, for some groups, the practitioner and the watcher are checking and arguing each step and various reference points, but for other groups, the treatment session is just like a normal treatment, observed by the third acupuncturist. Imagine, your each procedure is watched... yes, it is a good pressure.

In the clinical practice, an acupuncturist has to face the patient alone. Acupuncturists are prone to be self-satisfied sometimes. To avoid this, it is a good opportunity to meet up other acupuncturists who have the same interests, same passion in common (please read Therapist's principles 6).

Yes, Shakuju Therapy Workshop in Hawaii is going to be held this weekend!! We are looking forward meeting everybody who are interested in Shakuju Therapy!!! Aloha!

Teawase-kai

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.

Jin Well Point

As one of the supplemental treatment, a practitioner sometimes uses a jin well point. Then, which Jin well point is the problem, either painful one or senseless one? In other words, which is considered as more deficient in terms of Hie?

Regarding other symptoms would help answering this question well. Almost all symptoms start from the state of yin deficiency, then develop through the yin excess, the state that heat was kept inside of the body, the yang excess, the heat starts spreading outwards, then the yang deficiency, the state that the heat itself diminishes in the end.

Namely, the deficiency of Jin-qi caused by some reasons, was something like discomfort feeling in the beginning, but as it gets Hie gradually, it develops from the pain inside to the pain outside, then finally it ends up with the state of desensitization without feeling of any pain. This is the process of the deficiency of Jin-qi growing. It is applicable to almost all symptoms, and an extremely physiological process. Then, it is possible to answer the question which is the more severe state of Hie.

Then, how can you confirm that the unresponsive well point is the more deficient in terms of Hie? It is obvious when you stimulate the jin well point and check the change of deep reference points responsive to the stimulation. That is, when you press the painful jin well point and see which reference point changes, and compare it with when you apply pressure to the jin well point without sensibility. One chooses the jin well point because it links with the deep Hie, not because it is simply the jin well point. It is notable that every step of Shakuju therapy is a process of getting rid of Hie, i.e.. tonifying the deficiency of Jin-qi.

* This article is translated from Japanese Shakuju Association blog.

Inserting ability

To insert the soft needle with the round shaped tip, the pressure applied from up to down with one's fingers has to be transmitted to the tip of the needle correctly. When the vector indicating the direction of pressure applied to the needle is in alignment with the tip of the needle, one can minimize the degree of damage towards the human body. The gap between the vector of pressure applied to the needle and the tip of the needle means the unstability of the needling, namely it makes the numbers of cells injured by the needle increase.

The basic training to insert a soft needle without making it bend would be the most appropriate practice to know such a vector. In other words, if one uses a hard needle, even though the vector is not in alignment with the needle tip and makes the needle unstable, it can penetrates the body easily without being bend. This is so called "painful needle", the unstable needling, dispersing the pressure applied to the needle. Those who are used to hard needles are prone to get stuck in such needling. Just apply the pressure towards only one point, the tip of the needle. When you can do this precisely, you are able to insert a needle. This is called inserting ability.

* This article is translated from Japanese Shakuju Association blog.

Two days seminar in Chiba

Two-days Shakuju therapy seminar was held in Chiba last weekend. This two-days workshop has been held annually since 1997. Many acupuncturists and acupuncture students who have been doing Shakuju therapy gather to attend Kobayashi Sensei's lecture. In clinical practice sessions, Kobayashi Sensei introduced the new supplemental treatment using points between toes. Answering the question from participants, he explained that it is a very useful and effective treatment for symptoms such as a sprain, but put stress on the importance of back shu points for the fundamental treatment rather than using the handy supplemental treatment as usual.