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The Ki to Health
Healing, martial arts, and…  what kind of kung fu?
 
by Michael Abedin
 
A healer should be like Nijinsky – a dancer, graceful and light on his feet.
– Shyam Singha, creator of Dr. Singha’s Mustard Bath
 
In rural China hundreds of years ago, the village martial arts instructor was also usually the local medical guy – the bonesetter, acupuncturist, herbalist, and hands-on healer. It made sense since he saw a lot of injuries, both from his students’ training and sometimes from actual combat.
            There’s also a point in good martial arts training at which so much internal power builds up, it’s almost impossible to ignore the fact that it could be directed to something other than fighting techniques.  You begin to internalize it for your own healing, and realize it could be directed to others as well. (There’s a Tantric kung fu joke there, but that’s another article.)
 
Ground, Grasshopper.
            Healers also find that martial arts –internal and external – are a good way to ground and focus energy and keep the body healthy and vital.  Both the healing arts and the martial arts, however, have lost some of their shared vision.  The healer whose body is a wreck is almost a cliché these days, as is the martial artist who has no clue as to the healing application of the arts, much less their spiritual content.
            It’s time for a change, a return to what’s already there. The “ki” in Reiki is the same ki or chi that a martial artist focuses, or that an acupuncturist balances with needles.  It’s internal power, the stuff that everything is made of, and it’s the key to getting back in touch with who we are and where we’re going in the immediate future.  It’s nourished by breath, and if it’s not being focused in any system of healing, yoga, or martial arts you study – you’re not getting a complete system.
 
AAN publisher Michael Abedin is a fifth-degree black belt in Chinese Kenpo and an eighth generation Reiki Master teacher of the Usui lineage.  He’s teaching a Reiki intensive at Lauterstein Conway Massage, January 29-31, and a two-hour class demonstrating the parallels between martial arts and healing at the Satori Academy, January 9.  (512) 879-7299 for details, or michaelabedin@yahoo.com