hands on health |
Do-In Routinefor Maintaining Health |
Do-In is a Japanese form of self-massage used by Zen Buddhist monks , and martial artists and others. 'Do' is the same as the Chinese 'tao' and means 'the way' 'In' means 'at home' or 'with ourselves'. The purpose of the routines is to bring us in line with our daily activity.
A lot of the routines follow the meridian lines in their direction of flow, clearing any blockages. The routines move the chi (energy / life force)
The yin energy rises up the front and soft parts of the body. The yang energy descends down the back and harder parts of the body.
At the beginning of the day use more pressure to stimulate. In the evening use less pressure and slow down the routine to relax.
It is best to wear loose cotton clothes, have no shoes on, and have an empty stomach.
These routines are taken from the book by Jon Sandifer, “Acupressure for health, vitality and first aid”.
Sitting Have feet firmly on the ground
Standing Knees slightly bent, feet parallel, about a hip width apart.
1 Get your chi energy flowing
· Relax shoulders.
· Place hands at forehead level.
· Press palms together and rub them vigorously and vertically.
· Clap hands once or twice intermittently.
· After 30 seconds of rubbing shake out your hands, and your wrists, and exhale sharply.
Repeat the rubbing and shaking three or four times until your hands feel warm and tingly. Your chi energy is now flowing
2 Head and face
· With open hands and loose wrists begin tapping all over scalp as if you were drumming. Work on top, side and back of head.
· Bring fingertips to your forehead and rub vigorously up and down as if your fingers were a rake, from hairline to eyebrows. Begin at centre of your forehead and work towards your temples. (This stimulates your digestive system and gall bladder)
· With thumb and middle finger, pinch and squeeze your eyebrows from the centre of the eyebrows to the outside of the eyebrows. Try to achieve this in one long outbreath. Repeat three times. This boosts your lymphatic system.
3 Lungs, heart and kidneys
· Place hands on cheeks with fingertips facing upwards. Press into cheeks and at the same time rub up and down as fast as you can (This brings chi into lung area.)
· With same vertical action rub either side of nose. Repeat for 3 outbreaths.
· With outside edge of hand flick your ears from back to front.
4 Headaches
· With thumb and middle finger press and squeeze where the bridge of your nose meets the corner of your eye. Apply the pressure as you breathe out, repeat five times. This is for headaches behind the eyes and for tired eyes.
· With your thumb work your way from the corner of the eyes along the upper eye socket until you find two small hollows that neatly fit your thumbs. Put the fleshy part of the thumb pad into the hollow. With your elbow on your chest first breathe in, the as you breathe out let the weight of your head drop forward onto your thumbs. This relieves sinus congestion and headaches in the forehead region.
5 Eyes
· With your index and middle finger press into the lower portion of the eye socket. Begin close to the eyes and work your way round to the far side, pressing five or six times. Try and achieve this in one long outbreath. Repeat three times.
· Rotate your eyes as wide as possible in a clockwise direction four of five times. Repeat in opposite direction.
· Open your eyes as wide as possible so there is maximum stretch. Screw up your face and eyelids. These strengthen the muscles of your eyeswhich relates to the function of the liver.
6 Ears
· Take hold of ears. Rotate them forwards, then backwards
· Pull ears backwards and forwards.
· Take earlobe. As you breathe out let the weight of your arm pull down. Repeat five or six times. strengthens kidney energy) This is a useful exercise if you feel tired during the day or distracted by too many things going on.
7 Mouth and jaw
· Rotate your jaw as far as possible in one direction several times, repeat in opposite direction. Now move jaw forwards and then backwards. (The mouth is the gateway to the digestive system. This strengthens muscles for chewing and activates the salivary glands that produce enzymes vital for digestion.
· Chatter your teeth together and see if you can focus pressure intially on the left side, then in centre, then right side of jaw.
· With thumb and forefinger, pinch and squeeze the upper part of lip. As you breathe out pull down and towards the right side. Relax, breathe out and pull down towards the left side. The upper lip relates to the stomach.
· Pinch and squeeze the central part of the lower lip, pulling the lower lip initially to the right. Then relax. Now pull the lower lip to the left. Repeat three or four times. (This exercise will help circulate the blood and chi of the small and large intestines.)
· Place your right thumb under the centre of the jawbone and begin to wiggle and press your way under the bone all the way towards the angle of the jaw. Repeat this process with your left thumb on the left side of the jaw.
Rub and clap your hands, and shake them out as before.
8 Neck
· Rotate your head in a gentle but wide circle allowing your head to drop forward as you breathe out and rotate backwards as you breathe in. Repeat in opposite direction.
· Link hands behind your head, raise your elbows and as you breathe out allow the weight of your hands and arms to pull your head down so that your chin touched your chest. Hold this posture until you have completed your out-breath. Breathe in, raise your head and release the pressure. Repeat exercise as you breathe out.
· With one hand on top the other placed behind the neck, apply pressure at the base of the skull using the heel of your hand. Work your way down the neck towards the shoulder. This can alleviate pressure in the gall bladder and bladder meridians at the back and side of the neck.
9 Arms
· Stretch your right arm out so that your palm is facing forwards and your hand pointing towards the floor. With your left hand make a fist and, with a loose wrist, pound from shoulder along the inside, softer part of the arm towards your open palm and the fingers of your right hand. Work your way along the inside edge, the centre and outside edge of this softer portion of the arm Repeat this exercise three times. This exercise follows the heart, circulation sex and lung meridians.
· Turn your hand over and keep your arm outstretched. Now pound from the back of your hand towards the shoulder, along the inside edge, the outside edge, and along the centre of the arm. This stimulates the small intestine, triple heater meridian and the colon.
10 Shoulders
· Now rotate your right arm in a large windmill motion towards the front of your body. Build up more momentum and allow your breath to exhale the excess chi. Shake out arm vogorously from the wrist. Repeat with left arm.
· Bring your right arm across the front of your body until your clenched fist is resting on your left shoulder, support your right elbow with your left palm and begin to pound gently into your left shoulder. Work into the muscles and specifically focus on any area that appears tense or painful. Repeat this process on the opposite shoulder. Remember to breathe out.
· With your back erect, tense up your fists, your wrists, your forearms, your shoulders, your neck, your jaw and your face. Make sure you have taken a deep breath in and hold the tension in this position as long as you can. When you are ready, let go of the tension and the breath in one short exhalation. Repeat this exercise three times.
11 Staying alert
· Standing up, with the backs of your legs straight, bend forward and bring your fists behind your back as far as you can reach. Ideally, try and place the backs of your hands at the level of your shoulder blades. As you breathe out pound down either side of your spine toward the sacrum and then begin again as high up as you can reach. Repeat this process four times avoiding pounding directly on the spine. The bladder meridian and nervous system are vital for receiving chi energy and transmitting it around the body. Any stretches or pressure we can apply in these areas help to keep us alert, focused and open to what lies ahead.
· Place the back of your right hand against your coccyx and your left hand with its palm down on top of your head. Simultaneously pound both up and down with pressure from both hands. What this does in effect is to compress the chi energy through the centre of our body making us more alert. Do this process using the right hand on the coccyx and then switch hands for a minute.
· Make clenched fists, but maintain loose wrists, and with the back of your hands pound your buttocks. Try to keep your shoulders and arms relaxed while you do this and find areas of sensitivity or tenderness. Deep in the tissues of each buttock is GB30 (Gall bladder meridian point). Most of the blood that our system needs is used by the brain. When we lose focus or concentration it often means this blood is being used digesting a heavy meal or it is sitting in the muscles of the buttocks. This is an easy exercise to do even at work. Many years ago teachers would apply pressure to this area of their pupil's anatomy if they were failing to concentrate!. Conversely we can relax a person's nervous system by gently patting or rocking the sacral area.
12 Lungs
· The lung meridian begins just below the collarbone and works its way along the softer edge of the arm to the thumb. Begin by breathing in and simultaneously stretching your arms with the palms facing forwards so that your arms are now above your head at 45 degree angle to your body. Hold the breath, look upwards and as you breathe out gently pound your chest in the region of the crease just below your collar bone (LU1) and make a Tarzan call. Repeat this exercise four or five times (or until your neighbours tell you to be quiet!).
13 Internal organs
· Sitting comfortably in a chair place your fingers up under your ribs near your sternum. As you breathe out lean forward and allow the back of your hand to rest on your thighs, thus driving your fingers gently up under your ribs. This is not an exercise to do to someone else, but is quite safe in your own hands. You will know how hard to press. Breathe in and begin to sit up. Slide your fingers towards the middle part of the ribs and again press up under the diaphragm and lean forwards. Finally place your fingers on the outside edge of the ribs and repeat the process. This is an excellent massage for the internal organs (stomach, pancreas, spleen, liver and gall bladder.)
· Sitting upright, place one hand upon the other with the underlying palm over the navel. With very little pressure gently rotate your hand in a clockwise direction around the navel. This calms and sedates the digestive system.
14 Legs and more
· Standing up, with fists and wrists loose, pound down the outside of the legs from the hips to the outside of the ankle. This is the gall bladder meridian.
· Pound up the inside of the legs from the ankle along the centre of the inside of the calves, up the centre of the inside of the thighs towards the groin. This is the liver meridian.
· Pound down the front of legs beyond the knees and on the outside edge of the shin bone towards the top of the foot. This is the stomach meridian.
· Now pound up the inside of the leg close the shin bone, above the knee and up towards the groin. This is the spleen/pancreas meridian.
· Pound down the back of the legs from where the buttock joins the leg down the back of the knees, down the back of the calves to the outside edge of the ankle. This is the bladder meridian.
· Complete the exercise by pounding up the inside edge of the calf towards the inside edge of the groin. This is the kidney meridian.
15 Leg stretch
· Standing, put your feet and knees close together and cross your hands one on top the other on your knees. Bend your legs, look forward and rotate your ankles, knees and hips together. Do this as low down as your knees will let you and repeat in the opposite direction.
· Stand with your legs as far apart as possible with your feet firmly planted on the floor and parallel to one another. Keeping your back straight and looking ahead bend your knees and lower your upper body to a point where you feel a stretch. Hold this posture for several breaths and gently begin to rise again. Do not lock your knees and gently allow your knees to drop down and feel the stretch. This is an excellent exercise for the abdomen and for the meridians found on the inside of the legs (liver, kidneys, spleen / pancreas).
· While you are standing, lift your right leg off the ground and shake it all about. Kick it forward, do a side kick and a mule kick behind you. Repeat this a few more times and then repeat the exercise with the other leg. This will eliminate any stagnant chi which may have built up during your exercise so far.
Rub your hands and clap as in the opening routine and shake them out.
16 Feet
· Sit comfortably in a chair or on the floor and bring your right foot up so that your ankle is resting on your knee. Begin by rotating the ankle with your hand in large circles, clockwise and then anti-clockwise. With the back of your right hand pound from your big toe down towards the heel and along the soft inside edge of the heel. Repeat this three times. Now rotate each toe in turn clockwise and anticlockwise. At the end of the rotation of each toe squeeze and pull it on an outbreath to eliminate excess chi that has built up in the meridians. It is best to pull and squeeze the edges of the toe - where the nail joins the flesh on the edge). This is more effective than holding the toe above and below. Complete the exercise with the foot by slapping the foot hard on the ground.
· Stretch both legs out in front of you. Notice the difference between them.. the right leg you have massaged will feel vibrant, alive and tingly whereas the left leg which you have yet to work on will feel cold, lifeless and lacking in energy. This is a great moment to reflect how we are generally when we have not done any do-in. We often wander around like our left leg.
· To complete the sequence, massage your left ankle, sole and toes.
17 Completion
· Rub and shake your hands vigorously again.
· Sit comfortably with your eyes closed and allow your breathing to come from your belly. You could place your hand over your navel to help you tune into your breath. Feel yourself sink into the floor. Have a sense of being there in the moment and then begin to visualise the activities that you are about to pursue.