Ba Mai, Dynamic Stillness, Mid-space and Ignition
一生二
One gives birth to two
What formerly was Charles Chace's module on Ignition and integration, and expansion on the Extraordinary Vessels will be now 2 non-sequential but complementary classes:
- Ba Mai, gateway to deeper dynamic stillness: explorations on the Morphology and inherent movement
- Mid-space and Ignition
Ba Mai: explorations on the morphology and
inherent movement palpation
The
Extraordinary Vessels are one fascinating piece of TEAM, with their overarching
influence, connection with primal qi, and unique place as gateway between
internal alchemy Nei Dan and medicine. The direct perception of the vessels
themselves has been largely overlooked in our field of medicine, relegated to
the Nei Dan practitioners and their field of internal alchemy. More often than
not, our decision-making process when selecting a vessel for treatment tends to
be based on theoretical considerations and/or indirect forms of palpation (as
the pulse or the abdomen). Few scholars have taken the bold step of exploring
the Ba Mai from both perspectives and keeping a fluid and open-minded approach
while rigorously pursuit clinical efficacy. Li Shizhen, the outstanding XVI
century physician, was one of those scholars. Li Shizhen was himself a medicine
and Nei Dan practitioner, and in his seminal book Qi Jing Ba Mai Kao he
approaches the issue from both perspectives, revisiting previous knowledge on
the topic and adding his own interpretations. After a couple of decades working
on the Ba Mai and 11 years of work on Li Shizhen’s Qi Jing Ba Mai Kao, Charles
Chace, who was as well practitioner of both these disciplines and one of the
core developers of Engaging Vitality, mapped out the Morphology of the Ba Mai
on the Fluid Body. The Engaging Vitality palpatory skills served him to bring
back to medicine the possibility of accessing the Ba Mai directly, allowing to
any practitioner of medicine -even without inner alchemy or qi gong training- a
grasp of them in a tangible and useful way.
The Fluid
Body and the Ba Mai share some characteristics, for instance they organize
themselves around a midline, and they tend to layer. This, and the palpatory
skills trained enough to be able to listen at the Fluid Body, are the starting
point of the journey that takes us to engage the Ba Mai in one of their most
direct manifestations.
We’ll be
exploring yet another form of palpation for the Ba Mai in this seminar.
Developed after the Fluid Body palpation and making use of the palpatory skills
acquired with the Engaging Vitality training, the Inherent Movement palpation
is a complementary approach to directly engage the vessels by listening at
their movement. We can directly palpate or resonate with the inherent movements
of the vessels, this offers another angle to approach them and another cross
referencing tool.
In this
seminar we will explore both of these novel ways to directly contact the Ba Mai
and will be cross referencing this with abdominal palpation and simplified
forms of Ba Mai pulse diagnosis coming from Li Shizhen.
This class
is complementary to the Ignition class taught by Felix DeHaas, where the Nei
Dan and inner cultivation aspects are explored in depth, and also the palpatory
references for the midline.
Requirements
to take this class:
Duration of
the class: 2 days.
General
topics:
·
Revisiting the Fluid Body.
·
Revisiting pulse and abdominal
diagnosis for the Ba Mai.
·
The Ba Mai as fields of influence.
General indications. Trajectory and treatment holes.
·
The morphology, mapping the terrain.
·
Walking the path: practice session on
the morphology. How does it feel under our hands. How to work with it in
clinic.
·
Inherent movement: generalities and
conceptual frameworks
·
Palpation and recognition: practice
sessions to learn how to tune into the inherent movement of the vessels.
·
Putting it all together: practice sessions
to cross reference the multiple ways of listening at the Ba Mai and work with
it in clinic.
Trainer: Rayén Antón (assisted by Felix DeHaas).
Trainer: Rayén Antón (assisted by Felix DeHaas).
Mid-space and Ignition
Mid-space
The mid-space or midline is a concept which
has always played an important role in East Asian Medicine as well as in
Osteopathy.
In East Asian Medicine and Inner
Cultivation traditions we find many references to the Mid-space. It is narrowly
connected with the ideas about the Extraordinary Vessels which have developed
over the last 2000 years. From East Asian Medical and Inner Cultivation
perspectives the Du, Ren and Chong Mai are all expressions of the Mid-space. In
some Inner cultivation texts we can find also the mentioning of an even more
central aspect, the Zhong Mai or Central Vessel.
Also, from Osteopathic and Cranial
perspectives the Mid-space is a very important concept.
Thanks to great scholars as Li Shi-zhen who
integrated knowledge from inner cultivation literature into the medical
literature we have now access to a wider view of the Extraordinary Vessels.
We can see the Mid-space as the core of our
system, or as the central axis, on which our whole system organizes itself
around. In the clinical setting is the free flow in and openness of the
Mid-space essential. If we are able to palpate the mid-space and are able to
open it up, we can greatly improve the whole self-reorganizing ability of the
system.
Another aspect of the Mid-space is the
concept that the Chong, Ren and Du Mai are all expressions of the Yuan Qi 元氣 (Primal Qi)
We have to realize that the Mid-space is
narrowly related with all the other channels, be it Extra ordinary Vessels,
Primal Channels, Divergent channels, Collaterals etc. Also they are narrowly
related to different aspects of Qi, Blood and Fluids.
Ignition
Ignition is a palpable process in which we
perceive comprehensive transformations related to the influence of the Yuan Qi 元氣 (Primal Qi) on the body. These
transformations express themselves as improved coherence, communication,
connections and organization.
Ignition could be viewed as a kind of super
De Qi 得氣 , a situation in which the whole system
makes a major shift towards a therapeutic change. If it happens it is a pretty
reliable measure that some significant and lasting shift in momentum of the
health of the patient took place.
This is not something which can be forced
and not necessarily happens in every treatment. But we can facilitate this
process and once so often it can happen in a clinical setting. For being able
to facilitate this process the practitioner needs to rest in the SSIO to the
best of their capacity. By recognizing the Shi 勢
(propensity) and Ji 機
(Qi dynamic) the practitioner could estimate if he or
she has an opportunity to facilitate the Ignition. It deserves a certain amount
of Yi 意(Attention/Awareness)
of the practitioner.
Ignition is also closely related to the
Mid-space and its dynamics. So a basic understanding of the Mid-space and the
ability to palpate the Mid-space is crucial here at this stage.
This workshop has grown out many years of
practice and experience of Charles (Chip) Chace who studied this material thoroughly
and developed it in conjunction with other aspects of Engaging Vitality. At the
moment this material will be presented by Felix de Haas a close student of Chip
and because of his own background very familiar with this material.
In this seminar we will learn:
·
How the Mid-space is perceived
from TEAM and Inner Cultivation traditions.
·
How we can palpate the
Mid-space
·
How we can improve the free
flow in and openness of the Mid-space
·
How the opening of the
Mid-space can facilitate the self-reorganizing ability of the body.
·
How to facilitate the process
of Ignition
Set up of the workshop
Saturday morning : Introduction to the main
concepts of the Mid-space and its history in TEAM and Inner Cultivation.
Saturday midday : Learning to palpate the
Mid-space
Sunday Morning : Introduction into the
concept of Ignition and learning to facilitate Ignition
Sunday Midday: Integration of this material
in the wider context of Engaging Vitality and TEAM.
This seminar is a complementary
intermediate class to: Ba Mai;
explorations on the morphology and inherent movement palpation..
Intermediate class on Mid space and
Ignition will be given by Felix de Haas assisted by Rayen Anton (the other
intermediate class about the Bai Mai will be given by Rayen Anton assisted by Felix de Haas)
Requirements to take this class: have
completed the basic Engaging Vitality training (Modules 1-2-3 or similar basic
training)
If you're interested on these classes, check our section CALENDAR and find your next destination!
If you're interested on these classes, check our section CALENDAR and find your next destination!