【 專欄二/導引按蹻 】
治療學即是觀察
莫仁維 /張尊堡 譯

圖片來源 / wix
幾個月前,建珍推薦我參加2月28日到3月2日在雪山坑舉辦的第二梯次治療學工作坊,我毫不猶豫地答應了。因為我一直希望能更了解解剖學,特別是肌肉與骨骼的功能性。在這為期三天兩夜的工作坊中,張老師不僅講解了身體下半部的解剖構造(骨盆、大腿、膝蓋、小腿、腳踝、腳掌及腳趾),更重要的是他啟發我們要從全然的態度來看待身體的機能與疼痛的關係,以下是張老師在這次工作坊的課堂中一些重要觀念的簡要結論分享。
觀察而非被觀察
治療學的核心在於透過對身體的主動覺察以取代被動接受觀察,這種主動是全面性的,不僅是關注疼痛點或特定部位,更是以痛點為基礎進而理解整個身體的覺察,讓疼痛成為身體給予自身的祝福。所有感覺、覺知與意識都是從疼痛中產生的,它總是在身體的某些地方出現,我們不應該只是把「去除疼痛」作為唯一目標,反而應該透過來自身體不同部位的訊息,學習如何與之共處,並讓這些疼痛不會成為生活的障礙;甚至透過這些疼痛點,我們可以進一步深入探索造成疼痛的根源。除了從肌肉與骨骼的解剖結構學習,更需要從解剖學的基礎上進一步理解其功能,從而深度認識自己。透過解剖學的學理提高層次,體會學理背後的意涵,從身體學習身體的智慧,這些智慧都與我們的個性、情緒、工作、生活方式、習慣等緊密相連。
疼痛的波粒二相性—世界唯心所造
如同量子力學中的波粒二相性,身體的疼痛與症狀可視為投影成具象物質的「粒子」,而背後引發這些疼痛的根源則是「波」,這些「波」來自於我們的生活方式、個性與習慣等;要能夠觀察並理解疼痛的根源,我們必須培養出對更高層次和頻率波長的觀察能力,這種更高層次的頻率或波長可以視為一種內斂而不可見的能量。我們能夠與這種更高層次的頻率連結,乃是透過對「法」—即自然法則或「道」的深刻理解。在傳統學理中,頻率與波長常以「氣」來表達。道家所說的「心氣相依」即是指心與氣互為一體且密不可分,「心」即是「氣」,同時也是頻率與波長的體現。在我們一念之間,內心的狀態(亦可解釋為情緒或心境)就能改變並進而影響當下的情境,也是「世界唯心所造」的體現。身體所呈現出的狀況,便是來自「自己」的反應,當中涵蓋了我們的想法、活力、態度、價值觀、內心狀態及人格。因此,疼痛的狀態其實是無比珍貴的機會,讓我們得以從中反觀自我,並學習如何改變、成長,並與自然法則相連結。
上述內容是我對課程所學的粗淺理解與總結。除了學習解剖學等實質的知識外,我更有幸親身接受老師與同學們的治療,緩解了我腿部與腳跟的緊繃。我想向所有同學,以及不辭辛勞準備餐點與各項事務的行政人員明華與師母表達最深的感謝,讓我們能夠無後顧之憂地專注學習。最後,也特別感謝同學們帶給我寶貴且難忘的治療學經驗。
Observing and Not to be Observed
February 28th – March 2nd
Richard Moh 莫仁維
Several months ago, Jian Chen recommended me to join the second workshop on Massage Therapy at the Snow Mountain outing [雪、山坑]. I committed to go without a second thought. I had always wanted to learn more about our anatomy, especially the understanding of the functionalities of our muscles and bones. In the three days two nights workshop, our teacher has covered not only the anatomy of the lower part of the body (pelvis, thigh, knee, lower leg, ankle, foot and toes) but more importantly inspired us to look at our body in a wholistic manner. The following is a concise summary of some of the many concepts taught by Teacher Chang during the workshop.
Massage therapy is about observing and not being observed. The observation is a wholistic observation, one that looks beyond the point of the pain and/or point of situation. Pain is considered a blessing. Feelings/awareness and consciousness emanate from pain. Pain always exists here and there in the body over time. We should avoid the focus and mindset that we need to get rid of pain but instead, we should learn how to cope with the pain and minimize the pain to become an obstacle to daily life activities. From the pain points, we learn to see the reasons and sources of the pain points. We not only learn to understand the muscle and bone anatomy but also learn about its function and hence learn to know more about ourselves. We learn about the meanings beyond the functionalities of our anatomy - its connections to our personalities, emotions, work life, lifestyle, habits, and more.
Just like the wave-particle duality concept in quantum mechanics, the pain/symptoms developed can be referred as the particles and the cause and reasons beyond the pain points are the waves. The waves can be classified along with our lifestyle, character and habits, etc. To reach the observation and understanding/feeling/awareness/consciousness of the cause/roots of the pain, we would need to self-cultivate ourselves with the ability to observe at a higher level of frequency or wavelength. The higher level of frequency or wavelength can be referred as the subtle/unseen energy. The connection to the higher level of frequency is done through the spiritual understanding of [法] the natural law or “the way.” A traditional description of frequency wavelengths is qi [氣]. There is a saying in Chinese idiom, [心氣相依], which says the heart and qi is interlinked, interdependent and are together as one. Hence, the heart is the qi and therefore is the frequency wavelengths. At a flash of a thought, the state of the heart (can also mean mood or “frame of mind”) can change, and thereby change the situation. Thus, “the heart determines everything” [內心決定一切]. The body condition is the reflection of who you are, your mindset, thinking, vitality, attitude, values you hold, your state of the heart and your character. Thus, the pain points are the gifted opportunities for us to see who we are and see how we can learn/change/nurture our character and link the law of nature.
The above is a humble attempt for me to summarize the lessons that I learned. In addition to the classes, I had the blessing to experience the actual massages from both the teacher and many classmates to help alleviate my tightness of the legs and heel. I would like to extend my greatest appreciation to the classmates and to the administration Ming Hua and 師母 to relentlessly help prepare the food and many other matters to allow us students to learn without any worries. And thank you classmates for the wonderful and precious therapy experiences.