Chinese Massage and other therapeutic practices
In the field of alternative medicine there are many valid traditions, but often it is not clear that there is the link between all the disciplines of energy, because they are presented in their multiplicity: this happens often in our western world, used to analyze, separate, break up the knowledge and recognize things by their diversity. So one may ask what is "better"?
Homeopathy, acupuncture, shiatsu, tui na, ayurvedic medicine, yoga, qi gong (etc., etc..)?
If we assume that there are at least valid in most of the foundations of therapeutic traditions that have been handed down for centuries (or millennia), then perhaps it would be useful to move slightly from this point of view, based on the comparison, and adopt another, where you can accept a minimum of trust to put in at least one of these traditions and addentrarvisi, since the comparison (rational) it is done only after gaining some knowledge. In this perspective one can slowly discover that is no longer very relevant "what do you do" but "how you do it", or the quality of practice rather than the type. It may help to remember, for example, that Chinese martial arts the term used most recently and most pro-Western Wu Shu, which stands for "martial art", while the term is most popular and oldest Kung Fu (or gongfu), which simply means "exercise performed with skill" and that, not surprisingly, the Chinese martial art associated exclusively.
Some preferential channels between East and West have fostered Here we have the spread of some at the expense of other disciplines, so there is often a fragmented view of the various practices, which sometimes are attributed to a common tradition. For example, many people identify with the Chinese medicine 'acupuncture, but it includes a large tradition of herbal medicine, diet, energy massage (Tuina), alchemical practices / meditation (Qi Gong).
In the field of massage, in particular, is widespread in Italy Shiatsu (Japanese origin), but not as Tuina, which is the discipline from which it originated Shiatsu, then developing its own identity.
The Tuina massage takes a variety of techniques, including movement of push, pressure, friction, "tumbles", "kneading", percussion, traction, etc.. It includes, as Shiatsu, the use of pressure on specific body areas and pathways (meridians), the stimulation of selected points on the body (acupuncture points) and the use of joint mobilization to facilitate the movement of energy through the joints, which represent some of the most important "hinge" of the body, while the structures that separate and connect different parts of the body and where it is easy, therefore, watch the phenomena of blocking or stagnation of energy.
TuiNa is often associated with the treatment of certain disorders, such as skeletal muscle, anxiety and emotion in general, circulatory disorders, and food. I am writing this because people often ask "what good is this massage." Although it is only right to respond, in reality this is a much "Western": the energetic disciplines, including Tui Na, do not consider a disorder in its particularity, but inscribed in the wider context of the balance of the organism , going to identify what's working in the "energetic physiology."
More generally, a therapeutic action in Chinese medicine is above all a journey of healing for the patient and the therapist is not that aid in this process. So the first step is the "mutual trust" even though in reality it is difficult to solve some problems (do not forget), we should try not to think, not to give importance to what the problem, but our desire to solve it. Scientific medicine calls it the "placebo effect", placing it in opposition to the effectiveness of a drug, but in reality it is a great ally in the therapeutic action of all medicines (no one can deny it): it is the imagination (Shen) which takes hold in reality and is the fertile ground on which a correct therapeutic approach can find great results
Category: East and West on: January 22nd, 2009
What do you think?