Hand Healing In The Martial Arts

The kwoon was unusually quiet.  When I entered Sifu was standing with his hands on Jane’s head, she was seated with her eyes closed.  Everyone else was getting on with the business of training, warming up or in a conversation of hushed whispers.  The aura of the healing that was taking place gave the usually lively character of the room the feeling of a church.

Its strange how Sifu was just standing and Jane sitting, to a casual observer nothing was happening and yet the energy transfer that was taking place was obvious enough to change the atmosphere in the room and affect everyone in it.

Jane was experienced enough to ‘assist’ Sifu in his work and had opened her mind and energy to allow him to do his work.  She had her tongue pressed to the top palette and was pulling the lower abdomen in and up.  She was sitting erect with both feet flat on the floor and one hand in the palm of the other with the tips of the thumbs lightly touching and the arms framed in front of the body.  This allowed the energy to circulate freely in the ‘heavenly’ circuit between the governor and conception vessels feeding energy to other meridians of the body.

With the healer and ‘healee’ working in harmony, their energy melding together and then being directed by Sifu and sometimes guided by Jane they were able to clear blockages caused by both mental and physical tension, and ease the pain of injury and illness.  The body always strives towards good health but sometimes needs to be reminded of how to feel that well.

Sifu stood erect, his tongue to the top palette, his lower abdomen pulled in and upward, his chest sunk and shoulder blades pulled down and apart, it seemed as if his entire body slightly ‘pulsed’ with each elongated breath.

A few minutes before the class started they ceased with Sifu making a few arcane signs over Jane’s head and then a symbol that was like a lightening bolt to ‘earth’ the energy he then clapped his hands and stood for a few moments collecting himself before starting the class.

At the end of the class it was ‘feedback’ time….  And I guess the student’s curiosity had to get the better of them.

“Sifu – was that healing that you were doing with Jane before lesson time?” asked Sarah.

“It certainly was” responded Sifu.

“Was it Reiki?”

“Reiki is the name of a system of healing started by by Dr Usui”, answered Sifu “but as Jane is a tai chi student, we were healing from our own system.”

“Was yer healing her with yer Chi then Sifu?”  Sarah asked in her own inimitable, cockney way.

Sifu laughed.  “It depends on your point of view.  Martial artists are healers and peacekeepers.  We develop the power and sensitivity to change disharmony and violence, whether it is in one person or a group of people; to peace and harmony.  Healing can often be a kind word, sometimes a sharp reminder, sometimes just a hug.

When you hurt yourself, the first thing you do is put your hand to the wounded place and press or rub – it’s natural.  When hurt, a child runs to its mother for a hug and for her to ‘rub it better’.  When a child hurts themselves in class, we often just put a ‘Rupert Bear’ plaster on the wound, even if it doesn’t need it to make it better… the attentions and care of another is important to all of us.

Humans are tribal in nature and therefore touch plays an important part in healing – this is why we enjoy massage and reiki type treatments.  What are normally subliminal energies to most people can be crafted through tai chi for self healing and for healing others.  If both healer and healee practice the art it can be even more powerful as we both know how to harmonise and direct the energy.”

“So that’s a yes then?” remarked Sarah.

“My point is that it could be described as ‘chi’ – and that’s probably the easiest way to describe it as that’s our method of learning these skills, but the healing work goes very deep into our nature and culture often working intensely at subliminal levels and is the most natural method of healing and pain relief in the world.”

“Were you working wiv her chakras Sifu?”  Sarah asked.

“To a certain extent – yes.

“Each chakra has a meaning doesn’t it?”  Sarah wasn’t going to let go until she got a full answer.

“Different areas of the body are affected by different areas of your life, therefore you can get a ‘reading’ of a person by feeling the energy flow there.”

“Can you explain that?”  She was like a dog with a bone and didn’t intend to let go.

“Okay…. ‘Chakra’ means spinning wheel of energy, so they are the areas of your body where energy tends to affect you most.  We have seven major chakras.

The ‘root’ chakra is where you experience sexual and mortality feelings, if a life and death situation occurs your mortal fear can make energy exit your body there.  It is often said that ‘adrenaline is brown’.  In both forms, this is a very powerful energy.

The ‘sacral’ chakra is your dantien and the centre of your body in relation to the gravitational pull of the earth.  This is where your instincts reside – you say “I have a ‘gut’ feeling that this is right or wrong etc…  and your instincts usually turn out to be far more reliable than your thinking mind!

The solar plexus chakra is your ‘worry spot’ this is where normal anger and fear reside.  This is where you get ‘worry ulcers’ and a pain or discomfort every time you worry or get nervous.  A release of energy at this point can make someone laugh or cry…

The heart chakra is where you feel love, compassion, patience and tolerance…

The throat chakra is communication, you often ‘choke’ on words or ‘choke’ them back, sometimes you don’t have the skill or bravery to express yourself properly and suffer as a result.

The Third Eye chakra between your eyebrows is the chakra of inspiration and visions.

The Crown chakra on the crown of your head is the spiritual chakra, this is where great spiritual leaders like Jesus Christ and the Buddha are depicted as having a golden aura or halo to show that their spiritual alchemy is complete.”

“Alchemy?” queried Sarah.

“Yes – any good training system will progress your life through all the chakras for you to turn your spiritual lead into gold.. Thus you overcome mortality and discipline your sexuality (root chakra) get in touch with your instinctual self (sacral chakra) overcome fear and anger (solar plexus chakra) and this enables you to develop love, patience, tolerance and compassion (heart chakra) – this leads on to inspiration (third eye chakra) and enlightenment (crown chakra).”

“And that is what you were doing to Jane?” Sarah looked astonished.

“No – she had a headache.”