JAKI (邪気), the noxious Ki, and "Frozen"

I have been taking acupuncture treatment for several years now. Its holistic approach to illness and health suits me better than the symptomatic therapy of western medicine. After about an year of treatment, I could feel KI running through and discharging from my body.

According to what my acupuncturist say, when the KI in my body is in an unbalanced state, JAKI (邪気, noxious KI) is trapped inside, trying to find the exit. My body is likely to keep the stress in, not able to relax and free myself.

When the acupunｃturist pierces certain points, the noxious KI is discharged from there. It rushes out fast and it is freezing cold. Sometimes the discharged KI is so cold that it runs through the needle freezing the acupuncturist's arm and shoulder. I can feel a lot of it coming out from the back of my feet. The point is called Yong Quang.

After the treatment, my body feels tired but lighter than before. It is like tipping the dust bin of stress that you had for some time.

Freezing air discharging from the back of the feet. Hmm, it reminded me of a scene from Disney movie.

In "Frozen", Queen Elsa "Lets it go" and frees herself from everything. Her powers are released from her hands and feet. There is a scene where she steps on the ground hard, and a great crystal appears, and fractals build up to make a grand ice castle.

I wonder if the freezing air discharged from my hands and feet is magic like Elsa's. I step on the ground hard to give a check.

From a point of view of a patient of acupuncture treatment, I can very much identify with the state of Queen Elsa. Letting go the freezing air from hands and feet, you feel lighter and better, more balanced. No more stress, no more things to suppress or conceal.

I wonder if the "Frozen" production thought about any link between Elsa's power and acupuncture.

The world reflects your heart

'The world is beautiful to the eyes of one with a beautiful mind.

The world is kind to the one with a kind heart.

One who can create fascinating things has free spirit.

One who is diligent is the one who humbly take to heart their ignorance.

The world looks the way your heart is. 

Look into your heart, the world could be a beautiful, kind, fascinating place.'

This is what felt from a rough but beautiful piece of sculpture work by Yasutake Funakoshi (1912 - 2002). 

Funakoshi was one of the famous Japanese sculptor, and created many sculptures of beautiful young women- fair, gentle-eyed, reverent. In 1987, he suffered from cerebral stroke and his right side of the body was paralyzed. Funakoshi, however, did not give up his creative activity, and with his left hand he continued to create until his twilight years.

Compared to the sculptures of his ripe years, the works after his stroke are coarse and rough, but we can clearly feel more intensified energy from them.

His innocence, sincerity can be seen in his works. His heart is reflected in his works. 

One's heart creates the world.

能面 Looking at the world through Noh mask

Noh is a Japanese classical musical-dance drama. The main actor wears a wooden carved mask which has very restricted visual field.

To give you an idea of how small the field is, put the tips of your left and right thumbs and index fingers together and make a circle, stretch out your arms in front of your face, and look through the circle. That small circle, that's how much you can see when you put on a Noh mask.

Facing forward, you cannot see your feet, your left or right side or above you. People and things suddenly come into or disappear from your vision like magic. Even walking up or down some steps becomes a hard task.

Presently I practice Noh wearing the mask. I have to dance across the stage with a spear, kneel and pick things up off the stage. I have done those procedures without the mask many times, but with the mask on, every move becomes timid and fearful. I have the fear of falling off the stage or stepping too far or too short. I cannot be confident of where I am on the stage. My natural navigation system depends so much on visual information.

So, how do I position myself when the visual information is restricted? There are three things I rely on.

On the Noh stage, there are 4 pillars in the 4 corners of the stage. These become very important indicators of where you are. Even through mask of the restricted visual field, when the pillars come into vision, you would know which way you are facing and heading.

The Noh stage is floored with wooden boards. On the main stage, the seams of the boards go vertically facing towards the audience, but at the back part of the stage where the musicians and stage hands sit, the boards are seamed horizontally, and on "the Hashigakari", a bridge that diagonally links the dressing room and the main stage, the seams go along the bridge (which means that it is in diagonal direction compared to the main stage direction). The direction of the seams also gives very important information on where you are on stage.

If your vision is restricted in even seeing your feet, how do you know about the seams? Your feet will tell you. In Noh, you glide on stage. The back of your feet are in contact with the floor and by moving with glides, you will know the direction of the seams and know when the seams change.

Pillars, seams and the feet; they give me information to my navigation system on stage. I did not know that my feet could be so sensitive when put into focus.

Looking at the world through a Noh mask, I learn that when there are some restrictions to what you are accustomed to do, then other senses start operating much more sensitively than before to compensate for what you need, to gain the same performance.

I think the same principle applies not only within a self but within a system or organization.

Stomachache, bile, Hippocrates, English and Soseki

This is a note I wrote in December 2014 relating to my awareness to connection between the physical state, the temperament, language and theories of East and West.

One November weekend late at night, I was in agony from a severe stomachache so was taken to the emergency room. Blood test, x-ray, CT, ultrasonic echo - various tests only checking me and not making me any better - revealed that my gall bladder was “sludged” with biliary sludge. Whatever was that? I had no clue, so the doctor explained to me what was happening in me.

Gall bladder is a place where bile secreted from the liver is stored, and bile helps digest the fat. The pain attack was due to the biliary sludge that obstructed the biliary duct, the bile could not flow into duodenum, hence unable to digest the fat from the dinner that I had that night.

The doctor suggested of surgically removing the gall bladder completely – she said it would solve the problem for good, and I would be functionally fine without that organ. I am very cautious about being physically ‘cut up’, I have always wanted to be buried in the grave with most of my physical parts that I was born with, so I carefully and politely refused her professional suggestion and thought of seeking for second opinion elsewhere.

Several days later, a friend of mine who is an acupuncturist commented on the gall bladder attack I had. It is said in the Chinese medicine that the pain in the gall bladder is caused by stress, especially from repressing anger.

Anger, this word was an eye-opener. 

It reminded me of “The Four Temperaments” of the Greek physician Hippocrates. The theory suggests that our health state is controlled by the balance of four kinds of bodily fluid – blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm –and excess or lack of these fluids can also affect the personality trait and behaviour. There are no medical grounds that support the theory today, but the four personality categories are still used. The temperamental categories are "sanguine", "choleric", "melancholic" and "phlegmatic".

The temperament concerned with yellow bile is choleric, and this trait tends to be egocentric and extroverted. They may be excitable, impulsive, and restless, with reserves of aggression, energy, and/or passion, and try to instill that in others. The one related to black bile is melancholic, and people with this temperament appear serious, introverted, cautious or even suspicious. They can become preoccupied with the tragedy and cruelty in the world and are susceptible to depression and moodiness. They may be focused and conscientious. They often prefer to do things themselves, both to meet their own standards and because they are not inherently sociable (info from wiki).

I am very melancholic. Since I can remember, I have always had some kind of anger within me, anger towards the world, towards me, but was always very reluctant to verbalize it. To have displeasure, unhappiness, irritation was a normal state. When I had very strong anger which could not be pacified with reason, I would contemplate carefully on the anger, and then with a deep breath, inhale and seal the whole matter.

"Gall bladder", "anger" and "temperament" were all linked with a beautiful clear string, and everything seemed to make sense. It was clearer than the explanation that the doctor gave me. I have always had anger within me, anger that could not find any exit. Through extreme pain caused by accumulated anger, I physically understood the ancient Greek theory.

When I was talking this to my Canadian friend (in English), I once again saw the matter clearer. The words "gall" and "bile" are used when expressing displeasure and temper - "vent his gall on ...", "gather his bile together".

It is all very coherent, I suffering from gall bladder attack.

There is a line from a poem written by Soseki Natsume:

"Yet every drop in her is turning gall now."

The blood and tears, and all other bodily fluid in this girl is turning into gall, and she is unable to shed even a drop, and dies very slowly. Imagine all the bodily fluid turning into gall and not being able to shed even a drop. From the pain I suffered while I was taken to the hospital that night, it is easy to see what hell it would be, like the fluid slowly eating yourself.

The pain teaches me the greatness of Hippocrates, English and Soseki. The Four Temperaments Theory, English and the poem by Soseki all contain the essence and nature of human being.

正気＆狂気 KI part 2 - sanity and insanity

In my previous article, I wrote about how Japanese expressions are rich in using the character 気 (ki). Ki is an expression that we use and share so often. My understanding of the basic meaning of ki is "life-energy", but I consider it is an idea that is too familiar to define, and also is interesting to explore.

With non-Japanese speaking readers in mind, I would like to write in my future articles on expressions that contain "ki". The first one is about sanity and insanity.

正気 (sho-ki) means "sanity".
The first character 正 means "right, proper, true"

狂気 (kyo-ki) means "insanity".
The first character 狂 means "crazy, abnormal, bonkers"

Common in two words is that the first characters explain the state of ki.

So, in sanity, the life-energy is "true and proper", and in insanity, the life-energy is "abnormal and has gone bonkers".

If your life-energy is true and circulates around the body properly, your mind and actions function with no great problem, and your conduct would be accepted by others.

However, imagine your life-energy circulating wild, slowly, stiff, jerkily, not smoothly. I imagine the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland (and Johnny Depp's from 2010 movie is just so ideal!). It would certainly affect how you walk, talk, look and relate to others, and others would see madness in you. The life-energy which is in you, in effect, can be seen by others with what it does to your actions.

Life-energy ki is in you and around you.

気 KI ≒ energy

Ki basically means air, vapor, atmosphere, feeling. I think there is also the meaning of  "energy" in this character.

The character "気" (ki) is used in a lot of Japanese daily words. Here are some.
元気 (genki - the basic ki) lively, healthy
本気 (honki - the original ki) serious, earnest
勝気 (kachiki the winning ki) strong will, unyielding
弱気 (yowaki - the weak ki) fainthearted, pessimistic
色気 (iroke - colourful ki) allure, sexiness

In Japanese idiomatic phrases, 気 (ki) is something that becomes big, small, something you give, something that drops, scatters, sinks, appears, disappears.

Looking at how the character is used in words and phrases, the common meaning that lies in them is "life-energy". I feel the similar idea in Aristotle's quintessence, aether, and also in "the force" that the Jedi knights have in Star Wars.

Ki is some material that fills the universe, that is exchanged between things and creatures.

The Ki is always around you.

呼吸 - kokyu - breathing

We constantly breathe, it is an involuntary act. We exist because we breathe.

In Aikido training, Sado tea ceremony lessons and also Noh lessons, my teachers often remind me of the importance of 呼吸 (kokyu), breathing. It is in the basics of training in all three.

What is usually an involuntary act can create great differences in performance when put into focus.

When the breathing is deep, the performance becomes more balanced and stable.

On the other hand, when we are in a stressed state, in a panic or in an emergency, our sympathetic system comes into action and the breathing becomes shallow.

Breathing means existing
Breathing shows our state of mind
Breathing changes performance

Breathing reflects how we face our everyday life.