Consultations are held at
Elephant
Pharmacy at 1607 Shattuck Avenue at Cedar (7 blocks north of University
Avenue) - 8 blocks walk from the
Downtown Berkeley Shattuck BART station), Berkeley, California 94709
Director:
Losang Jinpa (Michael Reid Kreuzer),
D.Ayur,
M.A.H., Ph.D (1) 510-292-6696
Call to Book Appointment
www.Ayurveda-Berkeley.com
Please CALL US,
no e-mail available.
In our study and practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine, we approach each
client with the idea that they present a unique and special manifestation of a
more general disharmony. When we decide how to help the person who has come to
us, we can view their situation with the certain time-honored therapies in mind.
These therapies are a graduated approach to designing a truly holistic treatment
plan. These are:
When we form a therapeutic health management plan, we always start with the least invasive techniques first. As you can see from the above list, the most invasive treatment is last on the list. We always look at the lifestyle of the person first i.e. diet, exercise and relaxation. These, then, form what are called the self applied health regulation therapies, that is, the client can do these at home or at work for free.
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Massage is the first hands-on therapy that is on the list. Massage can be broken
down into two parts. The first is massage that is done by a qualified
practitioner and the other can be performed by the client on themselves. We will
look at the former one here.
There are five schools of massage in China:
One finger pushing - Yi Zhir Chan Fa
Rolling - Guen Fa
Nei Gong - literally "internal training", this technique involves the actual
external transmission of the practitioners Qi to another person usually through
their hand and fingers. It is called internal training because of the lengthy
internal training it requires to be able to master one's own Qi to the point of
being therapeutically effective. This type of training can be used for oneself
or another person in a helpful way and also can be directed in a harmful way to
another person such as in the Dim Mak practice. We only study, practice and
recommend methods for helping people of course!
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Pointing - this is a type of "acupressure" that originated with Gong Fu (Kung
Fu) schools to revive persons in emergency situations due to martial arts
training and combat. This "Hit Medicine" can be looked at as the beginning of
Chinese traumatology. Many martial art teachers were also practitioners of
Chinese medicine. When some one was injured in training they would be able to
treat them there on the spot. As an adjunct to this, herbal formulas were
developed both for external application and internal usage to treat martial
injuries. The Shao Lin Monastery, one of the first places where Buddhism came to
China, has a long history of herbal formula development by Buddhist monk doctors
to treat injuries and internal pathologies not only to the martial monks but
also the local people in the surrounding villages.
Bone setting - this subspecialty of Tui Na is basically Chinese orthopedics.
This is used as injury management in such cases as setting broken bones and
dislocations.
Remedial pediatric - this method is widely used in China for children under two
years and children up to five to six years old. This technique has a wonderful
effect on children who are too young to have acupuncture or who, along with
their parents, are wary of needling. This can also be combined with internal
herbal therapy. There are some very excellent practitioners of pediatric Tui Na
in the states now.
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We use three styles of massage therapy in our healing arts practice, Ayurvedic
Pancha Karma and Marma Massage (traditional East Indian cleansing/rejunvenation
massage and acupressure massage), Tui-Na (pronounced tway-na) and
Tibetan Medicine remedial massage.
Tui Na, is a highly refined system of medical massage designed to treat specific
pathologies. In all traditional Chinese Hospitals there are Tui Na wards where
doctors of medical massage treat patients for joint and muscle pathologies,
insomnia, hypertension, headaches, toothaches, stomachaches, neuralgia's, etc.
At such hospitals, Tui Na is one of the most popular treatment modalities due to
its effectiveness and comfort level. Medicine Buddha Healing Center's
Losang Jinpa, D.Ayur, studied Tui Na with
diverse teachers
at two different schools of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Academy of Chinese
Culture and Health Services (www.acchs.edu)
in Oakland, California and at the International Institute of Chinese Medicine (www.IICM.org)
in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Tui Na in general has the following functions:
It promotes structural and locomotive health by regulating the nervous system -
the Qi will flow through the body properly. This will increase mobility, range
of motion and decrease pain.
It improves resistance to disease by boosting the Defensive and immunological Qi of the body.
It "flushes" metabolic waste out of the body.
Rolling is used directly on sprains with bruising and swelling.
The Rolling Method, which is from Shanghai, treats locomotive and structural
problems. It was created by Dr. Ting Ji-Feng, the Grandmaster of the Rolling
method, and because of political repression, was quietly taught to his students
at the time. It went on to become the most popular remedial massage in China.
The rolling method is best used for joint and soft tissue problems such as
chronic joint pain, tenosynovitis, peripheral adhesions of the shoulder,
contusions, sprains, strains, and impaired movement. It is also indicated for
torticollis (wry neck), insomnia, migraine headache and high blood pressure.
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The One-Finger Method concentrates on "one finger pushing" to push acupoints
along energy channels by concentrating the practitioners force through the tip
of the thumb or fingers. It is especially useful for treating internal,
pediatric and gynecological diseases. This method arose during the Sung Dynasty
(960-1279CE) and most of the original movements are still in use today.
When helping a client we frequently use both methods in the same session. For an
example, most of our clients have some sort of upper body tension which
manifests as upper back, shoulder and neck tightness. If we are doing just hands
on work to those areas, we will use shiatsu style methods to loosen the muscles,
rolling technique to further loosen the muscles and open the channels and then
use one finger pushing to work specific points in the areas. We also use Tui Na
in combination with other modalities such as acu-pressure, Ayurvedic massage,
Pancha Karma, moxabustion and internal herbal treatments. We find Tui Na
especially helpful with clients with "tennis elbow" and heel spurs.
We perform Tui Na with either the client seated or lying down. Tui Na massage
can be supplemented by external therapies such as herbal liniments, plasters or
fomentations (herbal steam - swedana and nadi swedana). In many
clients, Tui Na methods achieve even better results than acupuncture.
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Tui Na must be learned from an experienced instructor in person such as the
teachers that
Jinpa studied from. There is no way to learn this method from a book or just
by having it demonstrated to you. Jinpa's teachers required him to practice on
a traditional rice bag daily for many hours over a long period of time and on
his fellow students under their supervision before he was allowed to practice on
anyone else.
For Tui Na to work properly four requirements must be met.
This discussion is based on Jinpa's understanding of his personal notes and
verbal instruction in Tui Na with
three different
teachers at the Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Services (www.acchs.edu)
in Oakland, California and at the International Institute of Chinese Medicine (www.IICM.org)
in Albuquerque, New Mexico and his own private practice.