Our bodies are probably the most complex, miraculous, under-valued constructs on the face of this planet. In the western world in particular, so many of us just drag ourselves around using our bodies like robots and then wondering why they don't work when we didn't take them in for regular servicing.
In the skin alone there are countless nerves and neurons, every layer beneath the skin also has its own network, fascia, muscles, tendons... And from the perspective of Tibetan medicine we also consider the importance of energy channels, points and meridians.
Touch is not just pleasurable to us, it is vital to our well being. Babies who are not touched die, older people who live alone and are not often touched by another person are more likely to have suppressed immune systems. Even a simple hug can lift us on a bad day.
So it makes sense that the best treatment comes from a machine that understands our own, another body. In particular the human hand, it could have been purpose made for healing!
The hand is flexible, soft and firm, sensitive - fingertips are the second most sensitive part of the body after the tongue, able to mold to the shape of the body, able to sense pain, stress, energy blockages, tightness of muscles and tendons, and can do something to relieve these conditions.
When we lay our hands on another person with the intention to heal we are honouring so many aspects of our physical and energetic selves, we are practising a form of help and healing that has been part of being human since we first came to be. Our mothers were our first healers, through the simple yet profound act of loving touch. That is an unbroken lineage of healing we all belong to.
So when you choose massage as a treatment, or as a preventative measure, it is always so much more than massage. It is a treatment that is far greater than the sum of its parts.
Ku Nye, as the major external therapy of Tibetan medicine is certainly more than massage. It incorporates not only massage of the muscles and tissues, but also can include work on the energy chanels and meridians, acupressure, moxibustion and cupping, Yuk Cho, Hor Me, joint mobilisation, and treatments with hot stones and shells.
Ku Nye massage also brings in an understanding of the five elements, how we are made from them and exist in a universe consisting of them. We look at the fundamental type for each individual who comes for treatment. Every Ku Nye treatment is different because every person is different, and can be each time we treat them. The consultation prior to the actual massage is essential to establish what work needs to be done each time, and which aspects of the Ku Nye repertoire will best suit the patients needs on the day.
And it is all delivered to you through the best possible healing tool of all, hands.
Lucky me, working with Menpa Tserang at the Xining Tibetan Medical Hospital in Amdo last year.
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