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Next, it's up to us as practitioners to create a space that fosters results. (As this site expands we'll talk more about generating space
intentionally). But for now, let it be said that the practitioner needs a blank mind, meaning she or he can't have 'stuff' going on. Their bills must be paid, their everyday responsibilities in life must be handled so their mind is a clean slate.
Anything less and the focus won't be there. Then we need to clear out our thoughts and get "into a zone." We're aiming to cultivate a profound level of feeling and concentration. Then we limber up and stretch so as to facilitate the flow of our own ki. When you loosen joints, whether on yourself or on another person, you're already a third of the way toward enhanced ki circulation. These
pre-massage practices will help us keep the mind creatively blank, a space of 'sensible emptiness.'
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A map is not reality. Likewise, a pressure-point chart is merely an approximate representation, a guideline, not dogma written in stone. How do you know when you're on the 'right spot' without turning a chart into a religion? If your intuition is tuned up, you'll either simply know or you'll have a strong suspicion. In addition, your partner's response will help clue you in. (Some charts list so many points you can hardly see the body they supposedly refer to).
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Despite what some books may suggest, the theory of pressure points is not an exercise in painting by numbers. It's mere wishful thinking to search out a recipe book that tells you "press here for this
malady, press here for this result." It's the intention behind the touch that will help the body reroute the flows of ki correctly. In addition, ki is like water in that it can't and won't be pushed. We lead it with the quality of our character.
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A review of the literature on pressure points, by no means as comprehensive as I would prefer, unknowingly paints the following game plan in approaching the nature and flow of ki through our bodies:
1) Settle ki down
2) Discharge the excess
3) Redistribute the remaining ki proportionately
4) Invigorate what's been redistributed
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To facilitate remembering and to maintain some consistency, pressure points are presented on the following pages as we encounter them during the
full-body massage sequence as shown on the video.
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'When our thoughts are agitated, our
lessons are in vain.'
-- Taoist saying
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