Kototama Inochi Medicine
Masahiro Nakazono Sensei, 1918-1994.
Kototama Inochi Medicine is a system of traditional Japanese acupuncture, but it is much more than another way of applying needles to the body. Kototama Inochi Medicine is the life's work of the late Masahiro Nakazono Sensei (1918-1994). Sensei studied medicine, art, and philosophy with some of the most celebrated figures in Japanese history, each a master of his particular craft -- Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido; George Ohsawa, founder of Macrobiotics; Koji Ogasawara, leading authority on the kototama principle and Shinto; Sakai Hon Li, Buddhist monk and master of abdominal massage; and many more. He integrated these experiences and created a form of medicine that incorporates the principles of kototama into the treatment format, organizing each treatment around the pursuit of human development and progress, and not just the alleviation of symptoms. I have studied this medicine with Ted Hall, L.Ac., a direct student of Nakazono Sensei, since 2012. After completing his foundational training at the Kototama Institute in Santa Fe, NM in 1984, Ted then underwent an intensive period of study and practice with one of the school's instructors, and the only person to have earned the degree of Doctor of Kototama Life Medicine (DKM), Dr. Thomas Duckworth, from 1989 - 1998. This is my lineage.
Kototama Inochi Medicine is a unique blend of Japanese Meridian Therapy acupuncture, moxibustion, and Japanese bodywork. It includes palpatory diagnosis of the pulses found at the wrist and neck; diagnosis and treatment of the abdomen; gentle needling techniques; various manual therapies such as Anma, Shiatsu, and Kappo; and the study and practice of kototama sound meditation. In Kototama Inochi Medicine, the treatment is firmly rooted in the hands, in the bodywork, called Teate. The needling itself then becomes an extension, or a more specific application, of this handwork. As Dr. Duckworth says, "The treatment is in the diagnosis; the diagnosis is in the pulses; the hands treat the pulses; the needle is an extension of the hand."
Kototama is a Japanese word meaning "the power of spoken word or sound." Inochi means "life," or more completely "life as the intelligence of self-creation." The life energy of the human body vibrates in harmony with the various frequencies of the universe, giving rise to all of the functionality and form that we can observe. All languages across all cultures recognize five fundamental sounds, the vowels. Whether these sounds, and others too, are being voiced aloud, swirling around in our heads making up our thoughts, or are unconsciously operating in the background, their vibratory patterns are present and affecting us in one way or another. The combinations of these vibrations, along with the human body, including the organs, tissues, and acupuncture channels, are all of the same universal life energy. Kototama Inochi Medicine treats the person at this level of being, integrating the body, the mind, and the spirit into a single unit.
Kototama Inochi Medicine is a unique blend of Japanese Meridian Therapy acupuncture, moxibustion, and Japanese bodywork. It includes palpatory diagnosis of the pulses found at the wrist and neck; diagnosis and treatment of the abdomen; gentle needling techniques; various manual therapies such as Anma, Shiatsu, and Kappo; and the study and practice of kototama sound meditation. In Kototama Inochi Medicine, the treatment is firmly rooted in the hands, in the bodywork, called Teate. The needling itself then becomes an extension, or a more specific application, of this handwork. As Dr. Duckworth says, "The treatment is in the diagnosis; the diagnosis is in the pulses; the hands treat the pulses; the needle is an extension of the hand."
Kototama is a Japanese word meaning "the power of spoken word or sound." Inochi means "life," or more completely "life as the intelligence of self-creation." The life energy of the human body vibrates in harmony with the various frequencies of the universe, giving rise to all of the functionality and form that we can observe. All languages across all cultures recognize five fundamental sounds, the vowels. Whether these sounds, and others too, are being voiced aloud, swirling around in our heads making up our thoughts, or are unconsciously operating in the background, their vibratory patterns are present and affecting us in one way or another. The combinations of these vibrations, along with the human body, including the organs, tissues, and acupuncture channels, are all of the same universal life energy. Kototama Inochi Medicine treats the person at this level of being, integrating the body, the mind, and the spirit into a single unit.