Culture, Ki and the Healer As an Artist

!1 Culture, Ki and the Healer as an Artist Daoyin, Shiatsu and the “Spacious Guidance” of Seiki Soho Paul Lundberg. This article (here in an abridged version) was written in stages over a two year period, both to reflect the changing view and altered parameters of my own work over the precious decade and to contribute to the ongoing debate in the English shiatsu world on our understanding of Ki, the meridians and energetic processes in treatment. An extended 3 part version appeared in The (UK) Shiatsu Society Journal, between 2010 and 20011. My thesis is that Ki is culturally determined and mediated. In recent years I have become increasingly convinced that culture - the background of common understanding and shared feeling in society - is not only crucial to healing itself but a rarely acknowledged influence in relation to the transfer of traditional medical treatments from one place to another. To understand the development of Shiatsu, either in Japan or in the West, the historical context at least must be recognised. By extension too, the influence of Western Culture on Japan during the short period in which Shiatsu emerged must be considered. More awareness of the whole Eastern tradition could help us focus on what is most important and unique about its healing wisdom. Then, perhaps, we will better adapt the work to our own circumstances and needs. This seems especially true now, as we review our direction and priorities in a fast changing world. SHIATSU IN CONTEXT If, as most people would agree, Shiatsu pertains to the subtler range of therapeutic or medical practices, then it could be seen as aligned with Daoyin, the collectively named “guiding and inducing” methods regarded in classical Chinese Medicine as the original and ideal forms of treatment for their simplicity, communicability and ultimately transforming ways to health. Developed from the earliest human experiences of healing and deeply imbued with natural (Yin-Yang) principles, Daoyin embraces and informs all manual techniques and exercises, including refined approaches to harmonise body, breath and mind. According to the “Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic” (c.100BCE.) the subtle Daoyin methods were developed by the people of the Middle Kingdom and stood as the central “pillar” of medicine, reaching out to and uniting the later, more specialised and technical methods (acupuncture, moxa, herbs etc.) legendarily developed in the outer regions of the Chinese empire, where conditions were harder. Its refinement implies an internal discipline by which the practitioner learns to integrate physical and mental forces and cultivate the necessary awareness to guide others in self-regulated healing practice. For these reasons the education and classical role of the doctor were extended to include philosophy and fine arts, such as painting, calligraphy or poetry, opening cultural channels that supported healing. And, for similar reasons, exercises refined in the parallel arts of self-defence culminated in the “Inner School” martial arts devoted to health. In China today, Daoyin finds expression within the Medical School of contemporary Qigong and, by extension, in certain aspects of Anmo-Tuina (physiotherapy and massage). The aim and essential healing principle of Daoyin is relaxation and mental tranquillity. It thus converges with the subtle mental practices and the philosophies of the Buddhist and Taoist “schools” of Qigong to form a coherent and integrated body of practice, woven into the cultural pattern of Chinese medicine and healing. When we look to Japan for similar continuity and a context for Shiatsu, the picture changes considerably. The influence of classical Chinese Medicine has always been strong, but Japanese traditional medicine (Kanpo) also developed a character of its own. Shiatsu, we know, was conceived fairly recently as a !2 specifically therapeutic alternative to the old massage (Anma) which was seen as degraded. Shiatsu Ryoho, the “finger pressure healing method” developed by Tamai Tempeki, belonged within Kanpo, where many methods were united by an overall medical philosophy. However the retreat of tradition in the face of Western influence and the effects of war exacted a heavy toll. A fragmentation occurred in which Shiatsu lost connection with the nourishing central ground and with the lateral links that could give it breadth and authenticity. It was re-established in 1962 on the basis of research proving certain benefits already established for Western physiotherapy but its techniques were highly formalised and it was effectively separated from its roots in traditional medicine and from other Japanese methods like Ampuku and Sotai. At this time too, Japanese “Do-In” appeared only as a formal self-treatment method and any deeper transmission it might have contained was missed. In fact, it is in relation to Hara that the subtle principles of healing find true cultural resonance in Japan. “Hara”, the experience of physical body centre as a deeply felt connection with nature, is quite normal to the Japanese. In a sense it permeates all Japanese life, but in relation to traditional crafts, ceremonies, sports and high artistic endeavours it is of profound significance. Here the Hara centre, or Tanden, functions as a collecting point of power and co-ordinating point for action. In traditional Japanese medicine the abdominal area is an especially important focus for both diagnosis and treatment of the sick, but Hara is vital as a centre of reference for the practitioner too. Hara training takes many forms but its aim is a highly developed awareness, integrating the mind, breath and feelings in various skills. Thus it lends precise qualities to prescribing and teaching remedial exercises or practices for health and, of course, to all manual therapies through which it is channelled. Linking the spiritual seamlessly with the mundane, Hara consciousness is the natural base for appreciating the Japanese contribution to the subtler healing arts in their most spontaneous, simply human form. Contemporary Shiatsu generally, and the Western approach especially, have tended to concentrate on theories and techniques related to the twelve primary Meridians, including the extended versions developed by Shizuto Masunaga who was largely responsible for re-introducing elements of classical medicine. This emphasises its character as a therapeutic speciality whose benefits are obtained through traditional knowledge, and it is effective as such. But I believe this focus on the Meridians has led to forced interpretations which can also be constraining and distract us from what touch itself can effectively communicate, especially when that touch is practised as an art based in Hara. MERIDIAN SHIATSU - The Development of a Trend or Style Deep, calm and sensitive hand or finger pressure was practised on the Hara and other places in the body as a healing method. Shiatsu was conceived as a refined expression of healing touch in place of Anma, as we saw above. It was intimately connected with Japanese traditional medicine and incorporated the most subtle of diagnostic and treatment principles, though without necessary reference to classical Meridians or points. However, following the turbulent events in the middle of the last century, it took a course of its own. Through the efforts of Tokujiro Namikoshi it was re-established in Japan as a traditional therapy, though now based on modern anatomical and physiological knowledge. It used only a simple grid of lines superimposed on the body as a guide to technique. Various styles of “tsubo therapy”, in which the treatment of selected points was based on classical knowledge, also re-emerged around this time. !3 It was Masunaga who created the Meridian style that we are broadly familiar with today. He continued a family tradition of Shiatsu, but also studied and taught modern psychology. He was deeply interested too in classical Chinese medicine and philosophy and eventually developed a novel approach to Shiatsu, a Meridian-based treatment which synthesised the organ/meridian functions of traditional medicine with certain ideas from biology and psychology. He had been involved, with Namikoshi, in the research that enabled Shiatsu to gain official approval in Japan and was concerned to maintain its image as a modern therapy. The old spirit of Hara-to-Hara communication and resonance, which characterised Tempeki’s work and the earlier healing tradition, could not reliably be presented in the critical ambience of the time. The emphasis on the interior disciplines that ensured the mental and physical preparation of the practitioner as the instrument of healing perforce gave way to versions of Shiatsu that concentrated on the exterior objectives and technical aspects of the method. In Masunaga’s system, the twelve paired vital organs became archetypes for the main life phases or functional patterns of the organism, and the Meridians were ‘extended’ as they were seen to be the expression of the organ functions throughout the whole body. His theory of Kyo and Jitsu explained the harmony or disharmony of the Meridians as a dynamic interaction that could be sensed through a particular form of Hara diagnosis and followed ‘energetically’ in treatment. He also described in precise terms the nervous system responses to distinct qualities of touch. Traditionally, the Japanese learn by repetition, and treatment follows a standard form into which subtle variations are introduced almost automatically according to the particular conditions encountered.

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