Amazing Eastern Medicine

I was thinking of closing this blog when Abby left Japan, but she cheered me to keep on writing. I'm not sure if I have some more to write about, but I will try for a little while longer. It's already been one and a half years since I left school, and I have no contact with schools now, so the word 'sensei' for me is a little strange. But the title of this blog will be as before.

I know many new people came to Nagano as ALTs this summer, too.. I hope all of them feel comfortable and start enjoying their new life here. But I have no contact with any ALTs now, and so, I'm not sure if my blog is interesting or useful for you. When you have any comments or questions, please don't hesitate to tell me.

Today's topic is "Eastern Medicine". Have you ever tried acupunture or moxibustion? I did not believe in that kind of Eastern medicine before, but it's working for me now! Amazing!

For the last two or three years I have had pain and deformation in my hands and it's getting worse. I visited some hospitals and doctors, but the doctors said they found no problems from the X-ray films and blood tests. I came back home tired and disappointed. A few months ago, one of my friends recommended acupuncture and moxibustion. I have never tried it, but i wanted some way to cure my pain and fear,and so, I visited a practitioner she often visits . Everything was new for me there. The practitioner listened to me carefully and treated me with acupuncture, moxa, and some stones for more than one hour. (Moxa is dried mugwort leaves, and they put a small pile of it on our skin and burn it. Don't worry, it doesn't burn the skin.) After that my pain is decreasing magically. The deformation is also getting better, and I can play the piano more lightly now. I was surprised and I asked many questions to the acupuncturist. His philosophy was so interesting that I'd like to write it here, though I'm not sure if I can put the special words into English.

" How were you after the last treatment? Tell me anything. More information is better for the next treatment." (The doctors at the hospitals wouldn't listen to me.)" Sickness is caused by the facters both outside of the body and inside of the body like sadness, or anger."" We relieve the symptoms, but we treat the causes of it at the same time. For example, we think a corn on the foot is caused by the internal organ. Let's think of the condition of your whole body. When the condition of the body gets better, your pain wll berelieved. " " We say the doctor who cures the disease is the second best, and the one who prevents disease is the best doctor." " We need to know the condition called 'mibyou', 'not sick yet' You may be already sick, but there are no symptoms yet. We treat an illness before the symptom appears. Doctors and acupuncturists served emperors in China and when the emperor got sick, they wre killed! So they got the skill not to be killed or to escape before the emperor's sickness. . " The U.S.A. occupying army tried to ban acupuncture as it seemed so barbarous, but a reporter from the New York Times wrote about his experience (He suffered appendicitis ,but recovered with acupuncture), and so the idea disappeared." Cuba has a very high level medicine and acupuncture is used a lot there. They say it is workin well."" The reasons for stress change as society and the people's life changes, so, don't cling to the texts. This was taught in a textbook written thousands of years ago!." " We don't use surgeries to cure. But we have anatomical charts. It's different from Western one. We think of the function of the organs, not the shape" " We stimulate the current of the spirit with acupuncture and moxa. When it is smooth, you are healthy." (I'm not sure with the traslation.)

If you are interested, why don't you try acupuncture? Oh, you don't have to be afraid of the pain with the treatment. It's incredible, but I feel almost no pain with the thin needle.