Иголки (акупунктура)
What is this
Of all the Chinese and Japanese approaches I know, I remember my heart beating in rhythm with Kiko Matsumoto's style. Kiko studied great Japanese masters such as Dr. Nagano, Dr. Manaka, and many others and has accumulated over 50 years of personal clinical experience. For me, Kiko's style is the most precise and physical in its diagnosis. I immediately know whether the diagnosis and strategy were correct for a given person. For me, this style is the most unifying of body and soul.
I would especially like to thank Asina Erder, my teacher, from whom I gained theoretical experience at her desk and practical experience in her clinic.
Needle and moxa
The Needle. A precise, merciless, and merciful creature. With maternal tenderness, it seems to say, I see you in your pain, I notice the cause-and-effect relationships, I can nullify this pain and restore the movement of life to your body. At least this time.
Using a needle and moxa (a plant used in moxibustion, where acupressure is applied to specific points), I return the body to a point of rest, resetting it. And then the race is in your hands again. How you begin and continue it is entirely up to you. How many such races are needed is up to you. I will be there, with maternal precision, ruthlessness, and compassion. And with a needle in my gentle hand.
The body as a lie detector
The body never lies. The story the body tells will be the most accurate and truthful. Every tense muscle, every painful point tells a story of self-censorship, self-denial, spasm, hormonal imbalances left over from unprocessed emotion, and being stuck in painful scenarios.
What does a session look like?
Although the needle is something very physical, and it helps to release physical pain, and the session itself is precise, focused on the goal, almost silent, in full contact with the physicality, in this silence what is supposed to happen happens.
The metal from which the needle is made also represents an element. A person, as a reflection of this world, contains all the elements; the micro reflects the macro. In Chinese philosophy, the element of metal reflects the ability to let go, to purify oneself, to transition between the outer and the inner.
This means we're sort of sitting down on the ground to sort through our bones—what's alive in us, what's dead in us, what we want to let go of, where we're growing and transforming. It's about looking beyond the horizon to reassemble ourselves a little more whole. Only through the body.
A little fairy tale in life
The Legend of the Blind Master Waiti and the Bamboo Pipe is a famous Japanese story about a real-life healer named Sugiyama Waiti (1610–1694). Waiti was born into a samurai family, but became completely blind as a child due to smallpox. With the path of a warrior barred to him, he traveled to Edo (now Tokyo) to learn the skills available to the blind—acupuncture and massage.
In ancient Japan, the art of acupuncture was traditionally passed on to the blind (they had a phenomenal, heightened sense of touch, allowing them to locate points by the smallest changes in the skin). Young Waiti Sugiyama also desperately wanted to become a healer, but he was unsuccessful. His fingers weren't flexible enough, and the thick Chinese needles of the time caused pain to patients. A frustrated teacher eventually expelled Waiti, saying he lacked talent.
In despair, Waiti retreated to a cave on sacred Mount Enoshima. He observed a strict fast and prayed fervently for many days to the goddess of arts and wisdom, Benzaiten (Benten), asking her to reveal to him the secret of healing.
At the end of the hundredth day, exhausted and weakened, Vaiti tripped on a rock at the cave exit and fell. Freed from the pain, he felt what had pricked him on the ground. It was a small, hollow bamboo stalk, and embedded within it was a tiny pine needle. At that moment, Vaiti had a revelation: "The needle doesn't need to be forced into the patient's body. It needs to be placed inside the guide tube! Then the needle can be as thin as a human hair, and its insertion will be instantaneous and completely painless."
Thanks to this discovery, the Japanese method became unique: the needles became so thin that their insertion resembled more a light touch of a butterfly's wing.