The Tui Na Manual : Chinese Massage to Awaken the Body and Mind / Maria Mercati, 2018, c1997. Healing Arts Press A Division of Inner Traditions International. 160 pages, illustrations in color, tables, appendix, index.
In The Tui Na Manual, author Maria Mercati describes how to apply hand pressure to the skin to alleviate pain and affect well-being. The author illustrates points on the body relating to 12 internal organs and specifies methods that utilize a “grasp and push” style of massage called Tui Na. According to Mercati, Tui Na is part of the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) perspective informed by Yin and Yang and the Five Elements and is a unique and health-promoting system of touch. She says it’s not necessary to be a professional bodyworker to be effective. Yet, she implies that being fully informed helps the practitioner to be agile and precise.
Author Mercati says if you know the meridians well, it’s possible to assess a health condition and then apply the best treatment with touch. In The Tui Na Manual we learn how the body’s organs are related energetically. Locating hidden pain or discomfort helps reference the organ or congestion in a meridian. As well, knowledge of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements supports the choice of treatment.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (or TCM) as we know it today is the refinement of three concepts. These concepts together become the philosophy characteristic of TCM. It is the blending of a world view, a detailed knowledge of the physical body and the natural forces usually referred to as elements. Using TCM words, Yin and Yang is a world view that combined with the physical body and the elements—wood, fire, water, earth and metal—gives a true picture of a person’s well-being.
The Chinese view of well-being includes the influence of the mind and emotions on the body’s internal organs, giving a comprehensive picture of the continuum of robust to poor health. Readers already familiar with acupuncture and Chinese medicine will gain a new perspective with touch therapy.
It all starts with Yin and Yang, a Chinese principle known as “the concept of relativity”. In this viewpoint, human beings, indeed all creation, are known and understood from a perception of opposites, of Yin and Yang. An easy-to-grasp concept about Yin and Yang is that opposites make one or the other possible. Imagine how hot and cold, day and night, spring and fall, tall and short, sweet and sour, etc., etc. are opposing energies. A great variety of Yin and Yang examples are given in most books on the subject, and here The Tui Na Manual is exceptional due to its clear and precise illustrations and tables. Examples of concepts hint at the vastness of this subject.
I’d expect that the sheer amount of information on the pressure points, called qi-points, would delight a student of touch therapy, if interested in going deeper than the mechanics of touch. This new edition of a book formerly entitled Handbook of Chinese Massage details many attributes of TCM. A few of these are: how an organ is thought of as either storing or using up energy; how organs reflect the characteristics of an element; how organs are seen either as Yin or Yang and exhibit opposing energies. Conversely, readers can see that pairs of organs manifest an element, in turn influencing one or more neighboring elements.
For a Western reader unfamiliar with TCM, the concepts in this book will seem both intriguing and bewildering. For example, we see that while an organ and its meridian carry the same name, the meridians may offer therapy for a condition that’s seemingly unrelated to the function of the organ.
How does this happen? Energy in part, is responsible. It circulates in the body along the meridians—lines or pathways that connect bodily organs and tissues. Such energy is seen as the kind you were born with, what the Chinese call Jing, or the energy sustainable by food and exercise called Qi. Emanating from the Kidneys, Jing pervades the body and vitalizes it; along with Qi, Jing coordinates all bodily functions.
Two examples of the Five Elements are the Fire Element and the Metal Element. Each of the elements have six attributes: two internal body parts or tissues, an emotion, a sensory organ, a taste, a season and the temperature. The internal body parts for the Fire Element are the Heart and Small Intestine which correspond to Joy, Blood Vessels, Bitter taste, the tongue, heat, and summer. The internal body parts for the Metal Element are the Large Intestine and the Lungs.
As one of six pairs of organs, how can the Lung be related to the Large Intestine? In the Chinese system, these two belong to the Metal element and are an example of Yin for the Lung and Yang for the Large Intestine. Mercati adds that they are viewed as “hand meridian partners” (p. 48). With the Lung meridian forming in the upper chest and moving down the arm to the thumb, and the Large Intestine meridian beginning at the tip of the index finger and moving up the arm, ending at the upper lip and nostril, qi-points along these lines help hand, wrist, arm and upper back pains. They can also help with sinus and nasal issues.
A variety of conditions are increased by too much fire and are referred to as heat or inflammation. Some conditions can be mitigated by either reducing the heat or introducing cooler energy. Fire’s two elemental companions, Water and Wood are examples of how this philosophy works: heat or fire can be controlled by water or fueled by wood. Thinking this way about dis-ease and bodily pain, the Tui Na practitioner accesses the meridian and the qi-points most likely to increase or decrease the energy of the element that apparently is the cause of the dis-ease or pain.
Chapter 4 focuses on technique—special hand, thumb, wrist, palm and elbow moves for kneading, pulling, rotating and stretching muscles and joints. Further, there are treatment schemes for sports injuries, musculo-skeletal aches and pains, as well as ailments such as digestive issues, headaches, and conditions like high blood pressure, insomnia, emotional stress, and eye problems.
You could also take advantage of the protocol for self-care given at the end of the book. There’s a daily routine that covers over 50 points, or you can use the less-specific pummeling technique that hits about 7 very powerful points. Copy the skeletal illustration in the Appendix to create your own protocol of points, especially if you are new to Tui Na or acupressure.
Are you sold on the idea of Tui Na? Would you be willing to try it to relieve pain? All of the information in The Tui Na Manual is enough to fill hours of pushing and probing just to get the idea or feel how it might work. Try an accessible qi-point found on the fleshy area of the back of your hand, in the web of skin between your thumb and first finger. Access this LI4 point (Large Intestine 4) by grasping it with the thumb and first finger of your opposite hand and press firmly into both sides of this point. Hold for a few (10) seconds and notice any difference you feel. Attention to this point “can relieve pain anywhere in the body”; specifically it can dispel headache pain.
See Maria Mercati’s website for more information, books and courses in Chinese massage therapy.
Follow
