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Some Historical Insights into Ancient Healing |
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The medicinal
practices began with folk medicine. This
information was passed down to family members through an oral tradition,
long before written language was developed.
In time, these practices became the traditional medical practices
of a community before they spread throughout the country and beyond.
Shamans and Magicians emerged as the keepers of healing, medicine,
magic and the spirit world. Later,
monks gained the knowledge and carried it to other areas.
Some aspects of this medicine was buried in the temples as sacred
and was kept secret from the masses.
Massage and
natural medicine emerged from magic to religion to empiricism and science.
These methods continued to change over time, finally emerging as
the medical practices we know today.
Reconstructing the history of massage and healing touch from
ancient records begins with the circumstantial evidence and inference so
respected in archaeology and anthropology, when hard evidence and written
records are not available. However,
it’s commonly accepted that in the beginning, massage and touch was the
people’s medicine.
Once language
was developed, information could be recorded in written form.
The written records were simply a way of recording the common
practices that existed centuries before the documents emerged.
Written records
and historical documents of more than 4500 years have been found in China
and India , confirming the ancient systems of medicinal practices and
massage. It’s not always
clear whether India or China was the first to record healing methods,
although each nation may lay claim to it.
However, it is clear that healing methods emerged from both.
Healing touch
and medicinal methods spread throughout Asia , from India and China ,
along the Silk Road and other travel routes.
These records are the rich resources that precede and inform all
modern forms of medicine. There
is no telling how many of these records have been destroyed or buried for
safe keeping. We can only hope
these treasures will continue to be found throughout the ages.
The indigenous
medicinal practices spread from India and China, to Tibet, Thailand,
Burma, Korea, and into Japan . There
is considerable documentation of monks, spreading spiritual practices of
Buddhism, meditation, calligraphy, mantras, chanting, healing touch,
herbology, exercise, and so forth, throughout Asia . The traveling
physicians not only brought their medicines with them as they traveled
from place to place, they brought their philosophies, their religions, and
their knowledge. Each nation
integrated new information into their own medical practices according to
their cultural inclinations and philosophies. Each country, India , China
, Tibet , and Japan , developed its own formal system from the indigenous
methods. Japan seems to be the great receptacle, the melting pot, for
refining the arts brought from other nations.
Each cultural
tradition represents a complete system of medicine, rather than a
collection of individual therapies. These complete systems of medical
traditions include accurate diagnosis, effective treatment protocols and
techniques, and a wide range of self care and preventative approaches.
There are
essential similarities and unique differences in all of their styles.
All share the concept of elemental influences and internal and
external pathological factors. They
share systems of pulse taking, purification, and touch.
These have been practiced and refined over thousands of years.
Each system has
an underlying philosophy, unique pathology and physiology, and thorough
concepts of the body, which incorporate subtle bodies and physical bodies.
There is a wide range of treatments and an extensive knowledge of
medicinal substances, which includes nutrition and herbs.
The client’s environment, diet, behavior, mental states, seasonal
reactions, signs and symptoms, and spirit all influence treatment.
At the root of
these traditions is the idea that health is a reflection of leading a life
of balance, the true goal in life. These concepts go beyond mere physical
health to the achievement of balanced function of
body, mind, emotion, and spirit.
Asian Medicine embraces the concepts and philosophies that
everything in the universe is energy manifested in many different forms. Jin Shin
Acutouch is thought to have come to Japan from India and Tibet through the
southern route. It integrates
and utilizes a rich blend of the subtle energies of Yoga, Chakras and
Kundalini from East India and Tibet and the Traditional Oriental Theories.
Ancestral Knowledge and Organ meridians are embodied for treatment
and application. It’s just
so fascinating to discover a healing art that attends to the “Way things
are.” |
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