Almost anyone over the age of 35 has this experience. A kind of slowing or decline. We don’t recover quite as fast from certain illnesses, our digestion slips a notch or two, we have less emotional tolerance toward certain situations, or we are plagued by odd symptoms or feelings that fail to make their mark on a western biomedical exam. There are countless ways in which we used to have a bit more “space,” more “flexibility” or a greater capacity to navigate stresses and strains that naturally arise in the process of living. Mister Wu has learned a great deal about people by working on their feet for the past 30+ years. He has this idea that as we age, our body accumulates small compromises that by themselves quickly become unnoticeable, but at a certain point will begin to interfere and reduce our body’s ability to deal with assaults from the outside, or can coalesce together into a chronic or serious illness.
As he says it, “the space within the body gets filled up with the waste products of not quite resolved illnesses, unreleased emotion experiences, environmental toxins or the residue of physical injuries.”
From my clinical work, I think this is true. Problems that we used to be able to shake off, now seem to stick to us. It is like a car with worn out shock absorbers. We feel every little bump in the road, and our ability to maneuver seems more mushy.
While I use needles and herbs to treat these kinds of situations Mr. Wu uses his hands, which he focuses on the feet. His methods include those which more deeply direct the body to heal illness, and those which gently can be applied in a daily way to strengthen our systems so that they can properly metabolize and expel the flotsam and jetsam of everyday life.
There is a little foot massage protocol that he uses to get a person warmed up to receive a treatment. It stimulates the spine and all the spinal nerves, the immune system, the lymph system, along with the ren and du channels (these are major acupuncture channels that are considered quite fundamental). Along with these are five points on the big toe, these stimulate and balance deeper structures in the brain and thus rebalance the hormonal and endocrine system.
You can do this little massage for yourself or loved ones on a daily basis, like you take a vitamin or exercise to maintain your wellbeing. It is simply done in five minutes, feels great, and not only will boost your body’s ability to metabolize and expel what which does not serve you, but creates a quiet sense of wellbeing as well.
I just shared this with my Facebook friends. I so love the elegant simplicity of this foot massage for well being. And am enjoying the writings inspired by Michael’s visit to Taiwan. He is always at his best when he writes about the Chinese culture he loves.