I Ching discussion

"To get to the essence of things one must work long and hard" - Vincent Van Gogh

I was looking in the I Ching today (at random) and I found a brief paragraph about the Five Elements with Earth in the centre. Keep an eye on this space to see what I make of it.

I Ching confusion

In the Five Element Blog I have started to consider the Elements related to the I Ching. Well, it is confusing!! The trigrams of the I Ching are made up of three Yin or Yang lines. Three Yin lines is Earth and three yang lines is heaven and all the changes in between are the movement from heaven to earth and vice versa. The principle is easy in itself but when you start looking at the interpretations of each mix of Yin/Yang and which element or direction they refer to the movement of Yin to Yang becomes really hard to contemplate. There is no simple Yin/Yang symbol here, rather a looping crossing journey going backward and forward and around.

Using boolean logic and starting from 000 as we introduce 1's we get 001, 010, 011, 100, 101, 110, 111 but this is not the accepted order of change in the I Ching, rather it is 000, 001, 101, 011, 111, 110, 010, 100.

So watch this space and I will try to elucidate some thoughts.

What is Shiatsu?

I have just read Thea Bailey's article in the Winter Shiatsu Society newsletter and it prompts me to upload some old text from one of my first leaflets.

Shiatsu IS difficult to define and so perhaps rather than define it for someone else we should invite them to find out what it is:

Shiatsu uses stretching, rocking, acupressure and holding but that is not what it is. All of these statements describe a tool or a method that may be used. So what is it?

Shiatsu is an opportunity; it is time for yourself but shared with a fellow human being; it is a place of peace; calm and quiet, but energising and refreshing. It is an education.

Shiatsu is truly beyond words. It is different for each individual and for each practitioner. The quality of touch and the range of movement used depends on what the body/mind is tacitly asking for. On an emotional plane it is the unconditional touch which allows the body to release stuck energy and come to harmonious flow again.