Ancient Medicine Modern World

This first thing I noticed about Taiwanese traffic when I first got there was that it was all over the place. I’m not talking about the major wide boulevards that mingle scooters, buses, Mercedes and pedestrians in a slow motion explosion of movement. Or the way they manage to compress the traffic of 4 lanes into 2. I’m talking about the movement when at an intersection or merging. There was something that did not make sense and felt dangerous. Unruly, but in a non-aggressive way. Everyone else seemed to find a smooth glide flow. But, me, I constantly had the feeling I was riding a bicycle with a bent wheel.

Later, I figured it out.

In Taiwan, people do not cross in front of each other, they cross in back! Rather than do the little 4 way stop face to face with polite hand gestures negotiation that we are so fond of in the West. They just slightly adjust course and slip behind. I used to think it was about saving face, later I figured out is just easier and faster. When your world is Saturday afternoon at the Market crowded, you don’t have time for endless negotiations of space. Take the easy route, slip behind.

I suspect Japan, where SOTAI movement therapy originated, the situation is not unlike that of Taiwan. So it may not have been a giant leap to realize that the body kinks and stiffens when forced, but will unfold and smooth when lead into the direction of least resistance.

SOTAI, I have discovered after an introduction at a workshop last weekend, can unlock glued down hips, and vanish back pain with a few gentle moves. The trick is this: move into comfort and away from pain. It goes completely against our assumption of no pain, no gain.

It’s frightfully simple. And effective too.