Perhaps one of the principles I understood best when I began practicing ninjutsu is that “fingers are like antennas with the help of which you feel, receive information about your surroundingsThis is what Sensei told us several times. It was easy for me to understand this because I have always considered that holding someone’s hand is the second most intimate gesture possible, so I could relate to something that was familiar to me. When you hold someone’s hand, you can «read» that person almost like a book, if you really pay attention to what’s coming from the person next to you. In addition to the fact that you know his intention to travel, you can sense his mood (is he happy, excited, sad, restless, thoughtful, stressed, dejected, impatient, scared, angry, absent, sincere, etc.). In fact, any touch gives you information about the person in front of you. Even the banal handshake when meeting a new person. You can get a first impression from the way he extends his hand, whether his grip is firm or not… In short, the fingers and the hand represent a «door» through which various sensations come and go.
Since I started practicing ninjutsu, I’ve had the opportunity to delve a little deeper into things and pay a lot more attention to touching. I realized how important the way you touch a man is… I will never forget the moment when I first «read» a training partner by the way he shook my hand. He was very tense, he tried to compensate for the fact that our exercise wasn’t going very well by putting in a lot of strength, sometimes he jerked my hand. In the end there was no peace for us. But at a certain point, after many attempts, I felt my mind relax and my body become lighter, more flexible. That’s when I started paying attention to all the «information» coming from him. The more he pushed and tensed, the more his body felt like a rigid block attached to my hand. I could also sense the position of his legs, even that his shoulders were raised or that he was only working with his arms and not his body. At first I thought it was just me, that it was just in my head, but I looked at him to see if what I sensed was true or not, and I almost couldn’t believe how faithfully you can guess such details about a man just by the way he puts his hands on you. It was an amazing experience to be able to check in and «work out» every week.
Of course, there is another type of touch… One that is much scarier than the one where you are forcibly captured… For example, when you work with Sensei (but also with other more advanced colleagues)… It’s as if a hand comes out of a cloud of fog and grabs you. You feel the hand, you see it, it seems that you are not held firmly (you hope to escape easily, obviously it is an illusion), but you have no idea where the opponent is and what he is doing… It doesn’t tell you anything, it doesn’t give you any indication of his intentions. Simply, the hand seems glued to the hand, it is a very smooth manipulation, nothing brutal or painful. It’s really scary!! 🙂
So how you touch someone is essential, as is how you react to someone’s touch (I still have a lot of work to do on both).
In therapy, however, touch is on a completely different level. Why? Well, it’s simple! Because you work with people who suffer. Because you want to help them. Because with your touch you must convey care, calm, involvement, protection, support, encouragement. Because to the touch you have to understand the body, the pain, the suffering of the person in front of you. Human touch is… explosive. It’s so hot that it melts everything, including the ego.
THE Raiden Dojowe have a great opportunity to learn Sensei Cristian Laiber which is also therapisttherefore the way he explains the techniques to us, the topics he covers in the training have a deeper meaning. For me, in the over two years since I started training, I have listened to Sensei speak and learned many important things. One of them is that to be afraid is to live in an ever-alert body, which an angry man lives in an angry body. To change, people must become aware of their sensations and how their body interacts with the environment. From what Sensei tells us during training, European Union I felt encouraged to be mindful and notice the sensations I feel in my body. And I don’t mean emotions like anger, anxiety, fear, but to what lies beneath these sensations: pressure, heat, muscular tensionetc. I felt encouraged to become aware of the way I breathe, the way I move. Of course, I’m not very good, but I try. Well, in this seminar conducted by Peter KingI had the opportunity to experience all of these things.
The first day of the seminar
On Saturday (May 25), the first day of the seminar, I learned visceral manipulation techniques. Well, when I first heard this term I looked at it like the calf at the new gate. There are some moments in life when you feel very stupid. I know, I know it’s not nice to say it because they taught us beautiful concepts such as self-esteem and self-love… But… bad luck! Sometimes you have to accept that you’re stupid. But, as a Romanian proverb says, «God makes a nest for the crow-stork» (I think it is clear to everyone that in this case I am neither God nor the nest 🙂 ), I am lucky that Sensei is a patient man. I asked him and he explained it to me. I found everything he told me extremely interesting. So I was looking forward to the seminar. Well, my expectations were far exceeded by what he gave us Peter King on the first day of the seminar.
First of all, I’ll confess that I’m a fan of the way he explains things Peter King during the course. He does it in a relaxed way, joking when necessary, but always underlining what he believes is truly important. This type of abdominal massage is truly fascinating. I think my grandmother (she was a biology, anatomy teacher) would have been proud that I had become interested in such a thing. Okay, she probably would have been less proud that I forgot half of what she taught us in anatomy, but that’s another story. 🙂
Practical, Peter King he took each organ separately (liver, gallbladder, spleen, kidneys, large intestine, small intestine) and massaged it, thus releasing the tensions accumulated there. Naturally he spoke to us in detail about every single organ, the functions I have in my body, but he also underlined the contraindications of such a massage. In fact he has said several times that in oncology cases (for example) it is preferable to discuss with the oncologist before having the massage. He also said it’s good to know our limits and not get involved where we could cause more harm.
But as interesting as the theoretical part was, it could not be compared to the practical part. And now I’m going to get back to the idea of touching. It’s a big deal to palpate a human and «see» the internal organs. «You I wait AND Listen with your fingers. You don’t have to think. It is necessary to feel«he told us Peter King. It takes a lot of patience to be able to do this. Also, I imagine you have to be very well connected with your sense of touch to be successful. Peter King palpate, massage the patient without looking at the place where he puts his fingers. Look away, thus focusing on the feeling and allowing the sensations in the fingers to reach the brain, be deciphered and see inside the body.
As for me, I can proudly say that I could feel the liver and how it moves. Of course bad people will say that if I couldn’t find that either (even if it’s very big), then… But I’m really proud of that moment. Otherwise, most likely, my other grandmother would be proud of the way I kneaded the dough for bread or muffins. 🙂 It was very complicated for me to get to the spleen and kidneys (which are organs «masked» by the ribs). But another thing I noticed today is this it takes a lot of practice and patience. So it’s possible!
When I was a patientit was even more fun. Especially in the liver and spleen. When the guys began to palpate the abdomen, Mr. Goe woke up in me and I began to ask Bogdan with each touch: «you found it you found it» (it was about the liver). Bogdan jokingly replied: «It has to be there somewhere» (this was the moment when I should have realized that something is rotten in Denmark 🙂 ). Bogdan continued to palpate and at some point reached a point from which there was a painful lightning with a bunch of ramifications fixed on the opposite side on the left. I moved to the spleen, the same thing happened there. A painful lightning with a lot of ramifications on the opposite side. Then I thought that the liver and the spleen have most likely exchanged places. 🙂
«I’ll see what you think!«he says at one point Peter King. Which I found extremely funny because that’s what Sensei also tells us at every ninjutsu training. I still haven’t found my brain’s off button. I think it will take a little longer. 🙂
Cranial manipulations, Sunday 26 May
We had some left over from yesterday, so today we continued diaphragmonly then did I get to the cranial massage. I enjoyed this day even more. It wasn’t as spectacular as yesterday, but it was challenging in other ways.
«You must be relaxed observers«, he tells us Peter King. Ah, good! I can do it. I’m a good observer!I tell myself. «Oh, and of course don’t think«, he adds Peter King. Oh boy! I don’t know how to do it!I say…
«If you are having an internal conversation while you are resting your skull, then you are using the wrong part of your brain«he told us Peter Kingto my dismay. Well, where to banish thoughts?! You have to understand that from my internal discussions I have written about 7-8 adventure trilogies so far!! Where do I put my thoughts? I have a rich imagination!
All my defenses were tested this weekend. Usually, when it comes to getting close and touching, my system starts closing doors and pulling shutters… And believe me, there are some rows of doors… When I was acting as a patient for my colleague, I noticed that I had started closing doors… Then I thought: wait a minute… if I close everything then nothing will reach my colleague, I won’t collaborate with him. And there was an internal struggle: to close the shutters or not?! At one point I realized that our shoulders were tight, tense and we were told to relax. Then I thought I’m already thinking too much and it’s not good, he just told us that Peter King We DON’T think. Clearly I’m ruining my colleague’s practice. Well, now I also had a guilty conscience. I finally got tired of thinking and I think I relaxed somewhat. Perhaps! I do not know! Then I started to feel my colleague’s fingers relaxing on my head. The sensation was pleasant, at one point even including a tingling sensation in the head.
The location where Peter King doing cranial massage is like worshiping, adoring the patient. You seem humble, reserved, you don’t violate his privacy, you almost ask him to tell you what he has or to allow you to help him.
I was very happy to see him again Peter King! I have learned many things in these two days, others have intrigued me and I want to delve deeper into them, try to understand them better.
In closing, I want to thank him Sensei Cristian Laiber for organizing this seminar! And I advise you not to miss the opportunity to attend Peter King’s seminar next year. You have a lot to learn about your body but also how you can help others!
latest posts published
Sempai, Kohai and Dohai: respect for the hierarchical system
What is a dojo (道場)?
Mitsu no sen (three points) les trois principals initiatives
Karate Belts: Understanding the Order of Ranks
The concept of “Giri”, a profound moral commitment
Athlete Imaging | Martial Arts Larry Foisy
Black belts, keepers of knowledge
Kyokun Martial – In karate there is no first attack.
The social economy at the heart of our martial arts center
