D_Glenn wrote:Thanks for posting this. Is this common in Taiwan?
Is there any other protocols of massage for different ailments that you are aware of?
Have you ever came across any martial types of massage for the abdomen?
No probem, thank you for posting here, I am just happy to read your posts lol.
What I know, the particular sets and styles, are not at all common in Taiwan. I've never seen anyone do Sun style here either. But I am sure that the people here have variations that do the same kind of thing. Whatever people know over here, I am sure it operates on the same kind of human body. There are a great many variations of 'protocols'. I have found that they all are related and the main difference is in intensity. Seated, standing, still, motion, lying, pressing, rubbing, imagining, anything, it all has the same idea. Just different flavors, intensities, etc. for different kinds of people. That being said, there are intensities I have seen, and intensities I have felt, that are beyond what I can do, and there are also clearly intensities I am not aware of. Not knowing what is possible makes it difficult to research new things.
Re intensities, for example the leg point and rub techniques can really hurt. The face massage technqiues all seem to hurt. But if you accept the pain, as I have found, you get used to it and it helps you. You know you have hit the right spot when it is tender! Tender in the right way. So, they were demonstrated on me so I could feel where. And you don't forget that kind of painful feeling! But then you know how to do it in an 'intense' way. But there are also gentle ways. The gentle ways do the same thing as the intense ways but it takes a different kind of practice and probably fits a different personality. Then you have gentle qigongs versus hardcore arms-ripping-off qigongs and bone and tendon bending daoyins. It's not for everyone. And I suppose you can hurt yourself with some of these exercises.
I have come to understand something of the internal from my kidney stones. I have discovered that when you are fresh and young and uninjured it is actually very difficult to feel things like qi because it is natural. As you age and problems creep in, they afflict the qi and this shows up as a problem. Then you can feel the qi if you look at the problem because you feel the problem. (Otherwise you need a lot of mental imagery or hands on from the teacher, I speculate.)
It's all very interesting but I am going to need a lot more time to make sense of all this. It's a lifetime practice.
As for the abdomen, the primary practice is circular rubbing and it shows up in several different qigong sets. The other kinds of methods but I think that circular rubbing is a major one and that after that there are more effective ways to practice moving the abdomen. I saw a side to side seated practice once. And Fang Kai's contains a seated circular practice. Once you are familiar with a lot of variations you could create your own.