The Technique, we were frequently informed, was devised in the classical tradition of Eastern medicine... to be easily accessible, inexpensive, and effective without reliance on invasive procedures, drugs, or supplements. Our Japanese mentors ceaselessly and strenuously impressed upon us the need to explain to people that the essence of medicine is maintaining health, not the treatment of illness.

"Just as a good swordsman anticipates an opponent's blow and evades it in order to strike, a sound medical regimen anticipates illness and avoids it through health care."

As long as we were living and practicing in Japan, we were 'preaching to the converted', and we had a practice based more on blending with seasonal changes and strengthening bodies and body systems than on curing an illness or mending a bad back.

As opposed to the health-oriented Technique we were taught, the culture of America is illness-oriented. No one but a lunatic would visit a physician to say he felt great and wanted to feel even better! Much less ask for guidance for passing from a hot season to a cold season!  And yet, it is just this "lunacy" that we, as holistic practitioners, applaud.

The majority of Americans uphold the Eastern paradigm of health not with their bodies, but with their automobiles. No one would dream of going 25,000 miles between oil changes, or wait for the brakes to completely wear away before changing them. Do you wait, hoping to get 100K miles out of your tires, or do you change them before they explode? How do you feel about being stranded for lack of engine coolant in Lower Slobovia? Yes, America is a land of car maintenance, not health maintenance.

For goodness sake, don't pamper your car at the expense of your body. What is more—it is a clinically proven fact that regular qi treatments make a person nicer!

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It was in February 1981 that my sciatica/paralysis was healed by Dr. Matsuura, and I continued having regular treatments from her until her death in May 1985. It then took me two years to find another practitioner whose high reputation was justified by his skill. He astonished me on my first visit to him by feeling my qi and saying: "Did you ever have treatment from the late Kayoko Matsuura? I seem to feel her qi in you." Her qi lives on in me and contributes to my health and well-being. I do not know if it blended with my qi or has a distinct life of its own. I do know now that the qi of all those who have (literally) touched us with love or kindness or goodness or a sincere desire to help us resides within us and elsewhere, and can be accessed to provide us pleasure, comfort, health, and happiness. The feeling is as palpable as a transcendent memory of bliss.

I had my introduction to communing with the various qi within me in 1991. It was at a meeting of the Te No Kai (The Society of Hands), a sort of Baker Street Irregulars for qi practitioners in Tokyo. Someone mentioned how communicating with the qi of his long-dead grandmother had seen him through a recent crisis, and I was surprised that not a single member present smirked... in fact, they all nodded as if it was a trite truism.

The grandson of the deceased said:

"Qi is breath, it is electricity, it is spirit, and it is more. It is the link, the nexus of the mind and body. It is thought, and thought is the great bond, the supreme unifier. Just as light is both a discreet unit and an unbroken wave at the same time, so thought is qi itself and the means of transmitting qi to wherever we choose to send it. And nothing, not even electricity, is as fast or as penetrating as thought. You might say that qi is the purest form of energy, and like energy of any sort, it cannot be destroyed. When a person dies, their qi returns to the universe where it can be accessed by the living. At the same time, their qi remains on Earth inside of those they loved. Christians talk about guardian angels. They are probably manifestations of a loved-one's qi. At the moment of my grandmother's passing, she held my hand and whispered, 'Death will keep us together.' And so it has."

That evening I joined a small group of people sending their qi to heal those who were in hospital or bedridden at home or living abroad and unable to come for treatment. It was an experience that opened vistas for me not unlike, I am sure, those geographical vistas seen by voyagers during the Age of Discovery.

Today I communicate with the qi of a person, living or dead, whose respect and approval I seek. I dedicate my workday to that person, and use their qi together with mine for healing and promoting tranquility. We also do "long distance" qi treatments regularly, and guide our trainees through the experience of working hands-on on an absent person.

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THE CORE ISSUE

Over the past 5 years, we have seen an increase in persons suffering from the following "cocktail" of symptoms--lower back pain, tingling or pain in the fingers and toes, headache, loss of appetite, poor sleep, loss of mental clarity, weakened immune system, and fatigue. The common diagnoses are usually Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Fibromyalgia, and in extreme cases, MS.

What all of these sufferers share is a lack of a core, and this core is, of course, two-fold: mind and body. Or, from the qi perspective, a single deficiency of mind/body.

The physical manifestation is a weak lower back/pelvic girdle. These persons tend to live from the margins of their body. When they sit on a chair, their feet will not be planted on the ground, but they will be on their toes; or they will be leaning forward with their hands or elbows on their knees for support. They tend to hold people and objects from the fingertips rather than with the hand. When they stand, they usually need support because of the weakness of their core. They will lean on whatever is available or hold on to an object to steady themselves and hold themselves upright. And it will always be either the left side or right side that is leaning. People without a core have a definite left/right bias for support.

In terms of personality, such people rely on others for their ideas, motivation, and philosophy. In Japanese, they are called "pillows", because the heaviest head leaves the deepest impression...meaning the louder or more insistent the argument, especially by older, "parental-type" figures, the more they are likely to agree and follow regardless of the merits or demerits of the content.

People without a core, therefore, rely on others to provide support. This support can be material, such as nursing or caretaking. It is also mind-oriented meaning sympathy, guidance, and providing direction. When the support is either unavailable or insufficient, the physical symptoms mentioned above strongly manifest themselves. What we do is to explain to people about the core, and then strengthen their core area and lower body, while enabling them to become psychologically stronger and more independently-minded. Mind follows body. We have a significantly high success rate.

Since most people are unable to see themselves as others see them, we have, for the past four years, been using President Bush as a classic example of a person without a core. We have no intention of getting into the lamentable schoolyard name-calling that passes for political discourse in this country. The President is a highly visible celebrity who possesses all of the physical and mental traits characterizing a lack of core. A person has only to go home and switch on the nightly news to see what we are talking about, which simplifies things for us.

Have a look to see what we mean.

Walking: "Some people call it a swagger. In Texas, we call it walkin'." If so, the entire population of the Lone Star State should drop whatever it is they are doing and schedule a SIKE appointment before it is too late to save their upper spines from serious disability. Since Bush has no core to support his upper body, he relies on his shoulder blades (scapulae) to carry him. The scapulae are the third largest bones in the body (after the femurs and hips, which should be supporting him), and people without a core use them to hold themselves up in mid-air as it were, rather than let the ground take their weight. Hence, Bush's arms never dangle at his sides, but are always splayed out as if they will turn into wings. This puts a terrific strain on the neck and upper back. Whoever was transformed into the President's 7th cervical vertebra must have done something awful in a former life that completely ruined his karma. That poor vertebra is suffering by taking the weight of the scapulae which are taking the weight of the body.

Standing: Bush cannot support his upper body, so he leans on the lectern when he makes a speech. His left forearm/elbow is on the lectern, his body is leaning left, his neck is twisted, and his upper body is bending forward. When he tires of that posture, he will grasp the lectern with the fingertips of both hands for support, but his left hand is extended further than the right, and so his body is still bent to the left. His neck compresses/recedes like a turtle pulling into its shell, his eyes narrow, and he gives the impression of someone who is very uncomfortable in his body.

Sitting: The President sits at the edge of his seat with his hands or elbows on his knees, his upper body leaning forward. He looks as though he is ready to get up and leave at any second, but in fact, he is keeping his mid-section and lower back from caving in.

The Mind: It has become the comedic equivalent of shooting ducks in a barrel to point out the President's frequent lapses of grammar, syntax, and common sense. The cumulative effect of these lapses leads many people to compare his intellectual bona fides with that of toaster-oven. The fact is, however, he cannot get the words right because they are not his. He relies on the dictates and directions of agenda-oriented "mentors".  

Cheney and Rumsfeld are remnants of his father's presidency. Rice is George Schultz's proxy from their Stanford days. He introduced her to Bush and made sure Bush took her on board. Schultz is an even older and more formidable parental-figure (he gave the nod for Bush to enter the 2000 Republican primaries), and is inseparable from the Bechtel Corporation. The "pillow" that is Bush is receiving the triple-head-with-one-voice of "older and wiser" mentors that supported his father. What is paradoxical is that, unlike his body's natural inclination, they are not left-leaning.

Should you or anyone you know experience the "cocktail" of symptoms listed above, look at the President as a standard for comparison, and if you note his characteristics in yourself, get to work restoring your core.

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THE PATH OF HEALTH

Tranquil, steady breathing is the pathway to health.

There is nothing worth racing or rushing for.

The breath of Nature is rhythmic and tranquil.

Flowers do not succumb to the pressure of time and rush to bloom.

But we fall into disorder, agitation, and commotion when we 'fall behind' time.

Humans are the only organisms capable of conceiving the future.

Most of our stress and all of our anxieties come from thoughts of the future.  Until we realize that our anxieties are always one station ahead of us, and thus groundless, the future remains a prime source of human agitation.

Agitation disrupts our breathing.

Every moment of agitation is a moment lost to our span of life.

Calm yourself by gently slowing your agitated breathing and returning to the present.

Restore yourself to a steady repose.

With the natural rhythm of breath, our bodies will move as Nature intends, toward health.

Happiness, sadness, anger, suffering, pleasure...all are interesting.

Observe a child: tears give way to laughter, and pain gives way to pleasure. Binding oneself to any single transient emotion disturbs our breathing and subverts our core of tranquility. In extreme cases, we stop breathing altogether.

Each life is encircled by an ever-turning wheel of varied emotions.

When the wheel turns to anger, get angry; when you are facing sadness, feel sad; conform to the changing reality before you without losing the healthy rhythm of your breathing.

This is the path of health.

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MEANWHILE, ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD

The Chinese have always been fanatics about keeping records and statistics, and the Japanese are not far behind them in enthusiasm. Until modern times, the mortality rate for children in those countries was high, the peak incidence for girls at age 3, and for boys at age 5. If a child lived to age 7, he/she was considered to have survived childhood, and likely to go on to marry and have children.

Thus, the 3^rd day of the 3^rd month (March 3) is Girls Day. The 5^th day of the 5^th month (May 5) is Boys Day. The 7^th day of the 7^th month (July 7) is Lovers Day (it is also an astronomical event—the "rendezvous of the stars Altair and Vega). In Japan, people mark these days by visiting shrines and decorating their homes to give thanks for their children's health, and to wish for continued good health.

It is good for us, too, to take a moment to count our blessings and, like Oliver Twist, ask for more.

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CHANGE AND RENEWAL 1

Emotional scars leave clear physical traces.  The traces take many forms. Poor digestion, poor sleep, headaches, backache, sensory loss, impotence, lethargy, muscle pain, twitching, fatigue...In short, emotional issues result in a loss of flexibility somewhere in the body, and that loss of flexibility is the beginning of a physical problem that diminishes quality of life.

Over the 15 years of our professional practice, roughly 90% of emotional scars/physical traces resulted from anger/resentment/frustration left unexpressed, which, therefore, had become internalized. This unexpressed anger has a corrosive effect on the flexibility of the body.  Diagnoses ranging from MS to lupus to rheumatoid arthritis to chronic fatigue syndrome cleared up quickly once the embedded anger was removed from the body.

Perhaps the most unusual case we saw was of the elderly holocaust survivor. She and a boy she later married survived the Nazi camps, displacement, and unspeakable hardships—always together-- to carve out a life in the U.S.  The two were inseparable. On the eve of his 80^th birthday, her husband died in his sleep, and she awoke to find him lifeless by her side. Within a week she lost her sense of taste. Everything she tasted and smelled was bitter.  We treated her two years after the event. When I suggested that her body was holding onto anger, she confessed to being furious with her late husband for leaving her behind, abandoning her as it were.  What truly enraged her was that he left without saying good-bye, and without allowing her a leave-taking.

From a qi perspective, the physical scars of emotional issues are most commonly found embedded in the scalp and spine. We all watch a person's face for physical signs of emotion, never thinking that the scalp moves in the same way, and is just as revealing. And unlike the face, which can be consciously configured to hide the truth, the scalp never deceives, nor does the spine.

Hence, we approach emotional scars through the body. First we use the scalp and spine as a diagnostic "map, and then seek to restore flexibility to that part of the body that has been robbed of its freedom of movement and change. The stomach can shift position and shape, and the resulting discomfort is intense (think IBS). Compression to the upper cervical vertebrae can lead to everything from migraines to insomnia to loss of feeling in the fingers to fatigue, etc.

Once flexibility has been restored, the individual "opens up", and that almost always results in a physical outburst that we call "cleansing", and others call an emotional catharsis. Tears, crying, gasping, spasmodic sobbing, and panting are all physical cleansing elements, designed to invigorate and cleanse the ears, nose, eyes, throat, lungs, digestive system, and (believe it or not) brain. If your chest has been compressed through tension/fear/emotional issues, what better way to jumpstart your lungs than taking in huge lungsful of air in order to sob? The tears themselves are saline and cleansing. The muscles between the ribs are exercised and the chest expands, the upper thoracic vertebrae can relax, and the upper cervical vertebrae (base of skull) can be released from compressed tension.  Circulation, especially needed by the brain and liver, accelerates. The organism experiences full-fledged, full-body dynamism for the first time in years.  Perhaps since you were an infant exhibiting the same behavior naturally...

Joseph Campbell writes of how an "ordinary" person becomes a Hero: The Hero... reassociates with the powers of Nature, which are the powers of our lives from which our mind removes us. This consciousness is a secondary organ of a total human being, and it must not put itself in control. The mind must submit and serve the humanity of the body.   (My underline) 

In other words---Mind Follows Body.  Even the so-called somatic (body)-oriented psychotherapies, if they help at all, are time-consuming, verbose, and costly. If you seek change and renewal, look first to your body. Emotional scars are clearly visible. Find them and cleanse them from you. Then keep your body and soul cleansed by doing kiryu.  

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CHANGE AND RENEWAL 2

I am asked from time to time just how qi works. Meaning, I suppose, in a deeper sense, just what is it and how is it able to effect changes in living things? The Honda Motor Company has been studying and researching qi in their labs in Tsukuba, Japan, and some of their findings have been interesting and even enlightening. I have synthesized some of their findings with my own experience and philosophy to propose the following.

All life is movement. All movement creates sound through the medium of vibrations. These vibrations are measured in Hertz (vibrations per second). The human ear is capable of perceiving from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. The planet Earth vibrates at about 8 Hz, which is called the Schumann resonance. As the musician/musicologist Ron Gorow has pointed out, "Perhaps not coincidentally, the human body in a relaxed state resonates at the same frequency, as do alpha brain waves, characteristic of states of higher consciousness, inspiration, and creativity."

Qi itself is a flow of vibrations that produces an "echo effect" on systems in which the qi is flowing and vibrating at a harmonious frequency, but qi is frequently stymied in its motion when encountering something that is vibrating little if at all. This latter effect is commonly termed "blockage", and it is what we look for when diagnosing and treating a health problem. Most people assume that I am somehow using my qi to force an opening in their qi in order to restore the flow. The drain rooter effect comes to mind.  Shove it in, whirl it around, remove the debris, and get the flow back.

In fact, what we do is nothing of the kind.  We relax all or part of the individual to the point where his/her own qi will naturally begin vibrating in the "blockage". In short, we add nothing and apply no external forces to produce change; we remove tension in order to renew the free flow of qi in the people we treat. The body, with a little nudge, fixes itself. This is the basis of kiryu. The body will remove its own impediments to the flow of qi, and health is maintained and enhanced. What we do is therefore persuasive, as opposed to the coercive techniques of, say, chiropractic and rolfing.

Another definition of qi is "the link between mind and body." English is a clumsy means of expressing this concept; it might be better to say that qi is the medium in which mind and body live as one. And so besides the physicality of vibrations, and renewing movement where it had been blocked, qi treatments entail a psychological perspective, what in Japan is called "altering the conscious".  To put it another way, we attempt to change the direction of people's thoughts regarding their ailment, or to put an end to some thoughts entirely.

The mind, like the body, expends a lot of energy. The most fatiguing types of thoughts are repetitive or obsessive thoughts, and those not guided to any realistic end. If you do repetitive exercise with only your arms, you will develop, then overdevelop, then cripple, specific muscles while the rest of the body goes untouched.  The breakdown comes from excessive tension at one point or place.

It is the same with the mind. Repetitive thoughts develop only one segment of the mind, and left to their own devices, these thoughts can ultimately inhibit the free functioning of the mind AND cause bodily damage. The qi collects, swirls, and ultimately coalesces into blockage through repetitive thinking.  This includes obsessive thinking about illness.  Just as people will unconsciously pick at or habitually touch a sore, many people think (without being aware they are doing so) over and over about their ailment. We seek to divert people's minds in order to remove mind-induced blockage and allow the body to heal. As Dr. Matsuura told each of us who came for treatment, "Now get out of here and have some fun!"

Our discipline is based on a modern revision of classical Chinese medicine. About 80 years ago, Haruchika Noguchi blended the physicality of qi with the Western paradigm of anatomy and physiology. Noguchi was, not surprisingly given his intelligence and wide-ranging interests, an accomplished student of Zen. His commentaries on Zen "classics" are eccentric, humorous, and insightful. His study of Zen brought him to the brilliant innovation of adding the mind to medicine, and making the mind as physical as the thumb. There has never been in 1400 years of Zen records, a single enlightenment (satori) that was not triggered by a physical stimulus. The sound of a stone striking a bamboo, the sound of laughter, a blow to the head, the sight of a meat market...

"A monk stood before the Zen master. "My mind is deeply troubling me," he said. "Show me your mind, and I will remove your troubles," replied the master. The monk laughed, and walked away, happy."

Noguchi would often use Zen "illogic" or contradiction to break the logjam in people's minds while he was touching their bodies. Happily, he was in the country where Zen is most widely practiced, and people were familiar with it and responded well. Unfortunately, Therese and I are practicing in a country where a Zen outburst could provoke a lawsuit.

Most of the great thoughts and revelations of history have been physically induced. The blinding conversion of Saul to Paul; the fiery presence before Moses that changed civilized morality; the sight of the emaciated corpse that changed Shakyamuni into the Buddha; the apple that fell in front of Newton leading to the Principia; the key that fell out of Einstein's pocket that led to the Special Theory of Relativity; Proust's petit madeleine; Wordsworth's daffodils, Keats'  nightingale...

We attempt to heal the body by re-directing the mind through touch and the physicality of qi. Once people begin feeling they have more energy, more focus, more mental acuity, we know for certain that their bodies are on the mend. And the road to mending is not always the shortest distance between two points. But that is for the next Newsletter.

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THE  BODY'S  PRIORITIES

We last wrote: "And the road to mending is not always the shortest distance between two points. But that is for the next Newsletter...

I recently received an email from a disgruntled woman .  (Emails from gruntled people go up on our website as Testimonials.) The gist of her email was that her return to health was not following a logical progression.  The worst of her pain was over, but it still returned unexpectedly from time to time. Not only that, but the results of each treatment were unpredictable and "uneven."  One treatment left her feeling blissfully pain-free, while another made her tired and nauseous, while yet another produced so much pain in her legs that she thought she would pass out, while yet another made her feverish and sweaty, while still another made her hungry, and she ate much more than usual. And, what is more, enjoyed what she ate!

To sum up her complaint as a composite of most of the complaints we receive would produce the following:  "It seems to me that if I were getting better, there would be a steady linear progression from much pain to no pain at all. I don't think we're making progress." Or  "I don't see why getting rid of PMS has caused my skin to get blotchy." Or "I've cut my medications back 80%, but I can't cut them off completely. I don't think this is working."  As the King of Siam liked to say, "Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera."

Prolonged pain is frustrating, debilitating, and dehumanizing. It takes away our human pleasures, and leaves us with little more than basic life-sustaining bodily functions that become more and more difficult to perform. The loss of pleasure, optimism, and creativity associated with chronic pain produce extreme psychological effects that can last for years.  Sleep is no longer refreshing or rejuvenating. Pain also leads to wide-ranging side effects: our bodies produce chemicals to help us cope with pain. When powerful analgesics are added to our natural chemistry, our quality of life declines even more as side-effects increase. Some analgesics, notably steroids, can become habit forming. Other drugs create a psychological dependency. They can never be cut off completely without an accompanying personality change.

Pain leads to a rapid decline in muscle tone. We cannot move, much less exercise, as much as we used to, or as well as we would like. The body's balance has been compromised. If the left leg is causing the pain, the body will naturally transfer its weight to the right leg. The hip joint will be affected, as will the sacrum.  Muscle tone declines even further. Talk about a domino effect...

Now add to this external factors: Stress at the workplace; financial worries and hardships; frustration and anger at any number of things, including the "unfairness of life; caretaking your elderly or infirm family members whose gratitude at your efforts is dubious at best; worry over a persistent, debilitating, and costly disease in your pet that has the vets stumped; living with one or more teenagers; concern for the shredding social fabric and degraded environment; an obsession with your declining health status; etc, etc, etc.

Given these internal and external factors, why should there be...no...how can there be a steady linear progression of returning to health? There is not one PAIN to be dealt with at this time. There is tissue damage, nerve damage, compromised musculature, corrupt sleep patterns, several flavors of anxiety, and poor digestion. The body's cleansing system has a "to do" list about three feet long, even if were robust enough to undertake its task.  What seems like an isolated pain in the lower back and leg is, in fact, a body-wide medley of problems. And you can't fix the one without fixing the others...

The trouble is, once SIKE starts the healing ball rolling: restructure the muscles and bones, stimulate the cleansing system, stimulate the nerves, relax the stomach, stimulate the liver and heart, promote sleep, etc., it is very hard to know which of the problems the body will naturally deal with first. Regardless of your priorities, your body will direct its healing energy according to its own needs.

It may be the cleansing system, in which case vomiting frequently occurs; this is unpleasant, but it is the fastest and most effective means of body cleansing. Cleansing could be endless diarrhea, or a fever accompanied by sweating. One man produced a bowl of ear wax!  The skin as the largest organ of the body is a major agent in cleansing. Changes to the body, especially the body's hormones, register right away on the skin.

It may be sleep. Many people yawn after treatment, feel overwhelmed with a pleasant languor, and nap for several hours. Some people (including Therese) have actually passed out and slept for a day. Once they are rejuvenated by sleep at a cellular level, their bodies will move on to its next task.

It may be healing the inflamed nerves, in which case those little neural synapses will party like Pamploma, Mardi Gras, and Rio Carnival all in one. The pain is stupendous. But when the party's over, you feel great.

And do not forget...when you get out of pain, if only for a couple of hours, and use your body as you wish, your lack of muscle tone will become apparent as aches and pains. These are often mistaken for the original problem.

Remember this:  If you can be out of pain for a couple of hours, those hours will extend into days, then weeks, then months, etc. etc. etc., and you will be pain-free.

The body's priorities for progress and your desperate wishes to be ailment-free do not always coincide.  But everybody gets better in the end.

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SPINAL  INTEGRATION

Now, I consider that the phrenologists have omitted an important thing in not pushing their investigations from the cerebellum through the spinal canal.  For I believe that much of a man's character will be found betokened in his backbone.  I would rather feel your spine than your skull, whoever you are.  A thin joist of a spine never yet upheld a full and noble soul.  I rejoice in my spine, as in the firm audacious staff of that flag which I fling half out to the world.                                                Herman Melville, Moby Dick,  Chapter 79

TF writes: Over the course of these last few Newsletters, Mallory has given a concise overview of the "Qi Energy" side of our practice, which I, for one, greatly enjoyed and appreciated.   Even if you've been treating with qi for 20 years, it's refreshing to hear it explained from another slightly different slant.  Since I'm beginning work on a SIKE structure book soon, I want to elaborate a bit on the "Spinal Integration" portion of our work.  Not that the boundary is inviolate; during the course of a normal treatment we integrate both to the same end: a better balanced body.  A body, we hope, which has readjusted its strength and relaxation, so that changes enhanced by treatment will continue, and the overall sense of well-being will be improved.

In the world of body mechanics (yes, you do have a design), or if you will, body alignment, the spine is literally the backbone of support.  Interestingly, the use of the traditional military posture: feet together, knees locked backward, backside tilted up, chest out, and chin flying up, ignore the spine entirely.   Proper body alignment creates a Central Line of Support from the inside out, which is the spine and joints, and from the bottom up, which is the feet, knees, pelvis, shoulders and head.  If there is proper strength in the short ligamental muscles which surround the joints and spine, and, if the body is aligned with the joint below supporting the joint above it, the body is brought into its proper relationship with the "Law of Gravitation".    When this relationship is in place, a natural uplift occurs, which in turn allows the longer, improperly used muscles of the body to relax, and an immediate elation is felt from the combination of relaxation and new-found strength and length. 

We incorporate a series of movements and exercises in our practice, which redesign the body and the mind, so that proper alignment is achieved and maintained in all resting and moving states.  Sleep is more relaxed and deep, that tennis game improves, added breath improves the singing voice, it's more comfortable to stand in line, and sit during long meetings.   The SIKE series is actually taught so that when the body and mind develop the proper "memory", it becomes a tool for a home "workout", and allows progress to continue without coming in for treatment.   For proper balance to occur it takes some people a mere 5-10 sessions, for others, perhaps with more serious structural problems, it can a year or more.  But as Dr. Matsuura always said, "It may take time, but what else do you have to do as important to your well-being?"

And here-- for those interested parties-- is a supine exercise some of you may know, designed to promote spinal extension, the Supine Exercise:

Lie on Back.  Bending the knees, place soles of feet flat on floor,

and gently press lower  back flat on floor.  Relax body.  Extend

arms outwards from body to form a cross, making sure shoulder

blades are flat on floor.  Look up to the ceiling (no TV watching,

music listening is good) and hold pose for 5 minutes.  If the

fingers begin to tingle, bring arms in and lay hands on chest

wherever they feel most comfortable.  If there is tension in the

neck, slowly turn the head to left and right, inhaling through

nose before moving, moving on the exhale, and stopping in the

middle before moving the other side.  Using a small pillow to

support the head is also good.

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THIS MAGIC MOMENT

Halloween

Human beings have had since prehistoric times a speculation about, and fascination with, death. Life was then, indeed, "nasty, brutish, and short", and it was natural for ancient peoples to ponder what came next rather than what was presently happening. Communing with the dead was the one sure way of getting information about the "other world".

Whether the community was hunter, nomad, or agrarian, the cycle of birth, life, death, re-birth was a natural concomitant to the change of seasons. Season change meant watching the sky, and so astronomy quickly became an advanced "science" long before the word existed.

The ancients (as we do) marked the change of seasons with solstices and equinoxes, but reserved cross-quarter days, which fall midway between these events, for feast days. These astronomical events were imbued with magic and mystery, none more so than the time of year when departed souls returned to earth to rejoin the living for a brief communication. To the northern Europeans, the "bridge to the other world" (Yule) opened at the winter solstice. To the Chinese and Japanese, the spirits of the dead returned at the quarter day (Bon) between the summer solstice and fall equinox. To the Celts, the quarter day between the fall equinox and winter solstice (Samhain) was the day the world of the dead had access to the world of the living.

The Chinese and Japanese viewed the return of the dead as a benign and pleasant event. Even today, paper lanterns are lit to direct the spirits to food which has been prepared and set out for them. The Scandanavians lit fires to scare the spirits back to their world. The Celts set aside our present November 1 as the day to deal with the dead. People might be visited by supernatural powers or spirits, and many spent the previous night in burial mounds to commune with death in life. In Ireland, there are many legends of great heroes dying at Samhain.

The Catholic Church, determined to extirpate paganism once and for all, declared November 1 All-Saints Day, known as All Hallows Day in Britain. The common people, equally determined to preserve their tradition, celebrated Samhain the night before, which came to be called All Hallows Eve or Halloween. The Celts built bonfires and wore frightening masks and costumes in order to scare the spirits away. However, this is not the origin of our costumes and trick-or-treat.

As the feudal system declined in Britain in the 15^th century, the Antwerp Entrepot - the largest wool market in the world—grew wealthy. The British landed gentry had traditionally allowed local peasants to use marginal land ("commons") to graze their animals and grow subsistence food. In order to expand production of wool for sale in Antwerp, the gentry evicted the peasants and enclosed the commons for their sheep to graze. The Enclosures Movement saw the dislocation of thousands. A generation of homeless people was born. Civil unrest occurred as the esurient peasantry struggled to maintain life at a time when "sheep devoureth men".

These homeless took advantage of quarter feast days to roam the countryside begging for food. Because Samhain followed the harvest, it was usually the most opulent and lavish feast day. There was a tradition for housewives to bake "soul cakes for the dead. These seem to have been small fruit tarts. Bands of homeless would gather at Samhain, and walk through the countryside from home to home, asking for soul cakes. They disguised themselves, so as not to invite retribution from local authorities. They stood outside of homes and sang, "Good Mistress, please,/a sweet soul cake we pray./Apple, pear, peach, or cherry,/ anything to make us merry."  The implied threat of violence was not lost on the housewives, who usually handed over the cakes.

It is interesting to note that one of the most exciting and interesting events on a child's annual calendar had its origin in death, persecution, turmoil, and fear. Our health and sanity depend upon us living through inimical events, be they physical or psychological, and coming out the stronger for the passage. My prolonged illness of 25 years ago has almost faded from my memory. I have now "legendized" it to the point where it glows as the happy opportunity to meet  Dr. Matsuura and her qi, which in turn set me on this unexpected, strange, and rewarding path of hands-on health care.

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THE ART OF PUTTING THE BODY IN ORDER

Contrary to popular belief, and what the AMA would have us believe, medicine is not a science. The premise of science is the infinite replication of the same procedure to obtain the same results. The methodology used to obtain precise coordinates will get a rocket to the moon every time. Change any step along the way and your rocket will land elsewhere.

Medicine is an art. There are statistical data indicating how Jill Average is likely to react to a medication or procedure, but the fact is, each of us react differently. This is true for caffeine, nicotine, aspirin, codeine, and any other chemical put in the body. I am glancing at a magazine ad for cold medication, and find a list of possible side-effects including dizziness, nervousness, sleeplessness, and gastritis. Some of us will experience no side-effects, while others will suffer them all. The artfulness of medicine resides in knowing what to apply to whom, and in what quantity and duration. More below...

Believing as we do that Life resides in the mind/body as a continuity of experience (rather than as a series of transient, punctuated events), TF and I have sought to introduce some history into this year's newsletters.the object being to show how ancient and far-off events still reverberate in the collective mind/body of the world. And so, I am going to end the year by presenting a brief history and philosophical background of the health discipline we practice. It may help answer many of the FAQ we receive.

Haruchika Noguchi (1911-1976) was born in a tough neighborhood of Tokyo. He was a thoughtful child with a taste for the Chinese classics, much as Victorian children studied the literature of classical Greece and Rome. He soon became fascinated by Chinese medical treatises, and early on recognized his ability to transmit his qi to others and produce healing benefits. You can imagine that, in a poor neighborhood, word of a local boy with the gift of healing soon made him a popular figure. By the time he entered middle school, he had a local reputation as an adept of classical Chinese medicine.

His reputation was sealed at the time of the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1924. The devastation in Tokyo was so immense that it was hard to separate the dead from the dying. Bodies were taken to Hibiya Park near the Ginza and placed wherever there was a spot on the ground. Noguchi went to the park, and passed from person to person, putting qi into their ears with his fingers. People who showed a response (such as a fluttering of the eyelids or muscle twitches) were taken to makeshift clinics. Those who did not exhibit a response were considered as deceased. The 13-year old Noguchi became, if not famous, then well-known in the downtown Tokyo community.

Noguchi continued his study of Chinese medicine, and at the same time, began learning Western medicine, especially physiology. By the time he was in his early twenties, he had a profound knowledge of both disciplines, and established his first dojo in a middle-class neighborhood. He named his discipline Seitai. Sei means to put or arrange something in the best possible way. Tai means "body. Together they mean "to put the entire body in its best possible order".  

He did this by using the body's nervous system as a sort of grid, and inducing the body to heal itself by applying qi to the necessary location along the grid. He believed in maximizing the body's natural healing power while minimizing external "aids" to health. He devised an exercise that he called Katsugen Undo (Source of Life Movement) which, if practiced daily, brings the body to its maximum potential for health. The movement stimulates the extrapyramidal motor system to use the body's own qi as a sort of full-body scan-and-repair mechanism. We have slightly modified Katsugen Undo, and called it Kiryu (The Flow of Qi). A lengthy explanation and discussion of Kiryu can be found in my book, Qi Energy for Health and Healing.

He did not believe in adding his qi to another's body to promote healing. Rather, he sought to remove impediments to a person's health. There are many reasons why qi gets blocked—some mechanical, some systemic, others psychological—and Noguchi sought to remove impediments so that the person's own qi could fulfill its healing powers. To that end, he inveighed against doing anything to "help" a person. All that was necessary was to guide them to the condition where they help themselves. He warned his students about trying to force qi on a person, even for his own good. "Just as a few drinks can make you happy, and suddenly that next drink makes you unpleasantly drunk, so does too much qi lead to a counterproductive result. Know when to stop!"

Noguchi's style of medicine found unqualified acceptance in pre-war Tokyo. It was fast, cheap, and effective. It could be done at home, and people were taught, for a nominal fee, how to provide basic seitai treatments to others. Further, Noguchi had a charismatic flair and healing manner that attracted hundreds of people to his lectures and workshops. He formed the Seitai Association (Seitai Kyokai), which he turned into a sort of alternative membership HMO. It is still going strong today. He began taking promising men and women into his home and dojo to train as practitioners.

After the war, Japan was in ruins. Tokyo had been firebombed several times, and the toll of death and destruction exceeded that of Hiroshima. Medical equipment and supplies were almost nil, and most doctors found themselves unable to treat people for want of the facilities, medicine, and equipment they were used to. It was now, indeed, that Noguchi's qi-based style of medicine became popular, not only among the blue collar class, but among the upper/educated class. Many doctors and educators joined Noguchi's association to learn his style of medicine in order to make themselves useful in the post-war recovery process. After the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, Noguchi approached the American Occupation Authorities, and offered 3^rd tier war criminals the chance to avoid prison time through expiatory public service by joining his association and practicing medicine in poor neighborhoods for free. The sight of former generals and admirals doing hands-on medicine in ruined neighborhoods gave the association both gravity and luster in the public's eye.

Though only in his 50's, Noguchi had become the Grand Old Man of holistic medicine in Japan. Moshe Feldenkrais, through his practice of judo, had a long acquaintance with Japan. He sought Noguchi out to discuss with him Feldenkrais' ideas of holistic medicine. 

The interview did not go well. Feldenkrais, whom Noguchi referred to as 'the Israeli' in his reminiscences, had a mechanistic view of the body, and told Noguchi that there was a different treatment for every problem. Noguchi replied that he had one treatment for every problem –Katsugen Undo—and that qi could fix whatever was fixable. Feldenkrais disputed this, and tried to get Noguchi to accept a more physical/mechanistic approach. This caused Noguchi to froth at the mouth and terminate the conversation. He had no kind words for Feldenkrais after that. Feldenkrais left no record of the discussion.

Noguchi was a firm believer of quality of life having precedence over quantity. He often said that "The person who lives with joy and vigor will enjoy a tranquil sleep." This was, for him, true on a daily basis, and also on the visionary basis of dying with no regrets. He smoked and drank heavily, and died "young". He died with no regrets. His widow survived him by 28 years, passing away only last year. Two of his sons now run the organization and provide treatments at the Headquarter's Clinic. The Association's Board of Directors reads like a 'Who's Who of the Prominent' in Japan, including the ex-Prime Minister Hosokawa.

Noguchi was learned in the Chinese Classics, and used the classic literature of Chinese Zen as a teaching tool for Seitai. He relished the Zen element of surprise to divert the mind from its pre-conceptions. Like Shakespeare, he knew that "When the mind's free, the body's delicate", meaning sensitive and flexible. He was skilled at taking peoples' minds off their troubles, so that he could successfully treat a physical problem.       

He created a new medical art which was highly esteemed by other artists. Noguchi himself and the Seitai discipline were and are very popular with potters, painters, writers, poets, and musicians. He was a particular lover and patron of music. He cultivated the friendship of musicians, and spoke extensively on the relationship between the rhythm, tone, and texture of music, and his style of medicine.

His calligraphy is prized simply because it is his. I cannot tell if it is exquisite or awful. It is certainly unusual...powerful and childish at the same time. He was a lover of seasons, and marveled how the human organism changed daily in order to blend harmoniously with season change. He was stern, and often harsh (he did not suffer fools gladly), but he had a warm heart and, when he showed it, a truly endearing smile.

Through illness, I joined the Seitai Association in February 1981, and after studying briefly with Mrs. Matsuura (a physician who joined the Association right after the war), I apprenticed to the grandson of a general who had done his public service under Noguchi. We are still very good friends and colleagues. 

The Mind Must Submit and Serve the Humanity of the Body

                                                                                              Joseph Campbell

MF writes: A veteran psychotherapist came in recently to have a treatment for lower back pain. When the session was concluded and she got off the massage table feeling loose, relaxed, and pain-free, she began to muse.

"I cannot begin to understand how people accommodate themselves to pain, and yet rush right out for $1000 worth of psychotherapy when they experience a twinge of anxiety." I asked her to elucidate.

"However, they say they cannot live a second longer with anxiety. Give me drugs, do something, anything, just get rid of this awful feeling. But no one has ever died of anxiety. You feel crummy, but it's nothing like sciatica or migraines. With the proper tools, you can fix it yourself in an hour. You can't say the same thing about pain."

For those of you who wish to learn everything there is to know about the physiology of anxiety, I recommend Robert Sapolsky's excellent book Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers. By the time you have read the book cover to cover, you will never worry again. Trust me. The physiological effects of worry are scarier than almost anything you can imagine.

For those of you who wish to know the SIKE take on anxiety, read on...

At the base of the neck is a big vertebra, the 7^th cervical (C7).

Below it, are four small thoracic vertebrae (T1-4). The nerves coming off these four vertebrae are linked to the brain, the heart, and the lungs. In other words, these three organs work together. This is why when you perceive something frightening, your heart starts pounding (tachycardia), your throat and lungs grow tight, your breath becomes shallow and rapid (hyperventilation), and you find it difficult or impossible to concentrate your mind on anything meaningful. Just say BOO to an unsuspecting person and you will see this result.

For better or worse, human beings are the only creatures capable of conceiving the future. All other beings live only in the "eternal present".

Anxiety occurs when we have a fearful thought about the future (usually irrelevant to the present), and we "believe" the thought.

It is a beautiful day, sunny and mild. You are driving merrily on the freeway listening to music when, suddenly, the thought enters your head, "What if I suddenly lose control of my myself, and my mind forces my body to steer the car off the road". At this moment, the muscles alongside of T1,2,3,4 grow tense, the vertebrae lose their flexibility, and the nerves running from them to the organs become agitated. If you exhale strongly so that your shoulders drop, the four thoracic vertebrae release their tension, and then think to yourself, "How ridiculous! There's no way I could ever lose control. What a stupid thought!," anxiety will not occur. The vertebrae will relax, and the nerves will continue functioning as usual.\ If, however, you suck in your breath and hold it, and think, "What if I really do lose control? I'll crash and die. This is serious!," you will have an anxiety attack. Your scalp will tighten, your chest will constrict, your heart will pound, and your breathing will speed up. In other words, your body has given a thought a home. You have this great big body, but you let a little disembodied voice/thought usurp its power. It is a voice in the head, a thought, just like Gee, it would be great to win the lottery,  or  Maybe I'll vacation in Maui this year,  thoughts that you would ordinarily let pass casually in and out of your mind. 

Mind follows body. If you don't believe it, try imagining what will happen to your mind when your body dies. Naturally, we at SIKE take a body-oriented approach to removing anxiety.

Fight Back

These anxious thoughts are messages from somewhere in the mind that tell you that you will lose control of yourself. Each person has his/her own "special message", but they are substantially the same across the spectrum of humanity.  The message is like a tape loop that is repeated over and over, until you can hardly believe that there are times when you are free from the message. Those times will always be when you are doing something physical and mentally engaging. No one feels anxiety during an orgasm.

No one can produce a palpable message, in the way that they can produce urine or sputum for a sample. The message has no body, yet seeks control of the organism. Don't let it!

The best thing to do is to make fun of the voice. "It will take more than your empty words to get me into a car crash!"  You can and should get angry at the voice. "How dare you threaten me!" Go into a safe "haven" such as your bedroom, and thrash a pillow to death, thinking of it as the message-producing voice. Get a punching bag, and beat the voice to death, shouting at it and getting truly angry and indignant; or even mad as hell.  Do something physical and loud, even violent, to the anxiety, and it will quickly submit to your body which is, after all, real.

However, if you are timid and fearful of the voice, and submit your body to its domination, you will feel awful, and no amount of prescription drugs will help you.  The mind does not feel its own message. The awfulness of anxiety is physical, and its physicality comes from the effects explained earlier. Your body, driven by your "true voice", is the cure for this unpleasant condition.

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