Last weekend I attended the seminar, “Five Phases and Root Treatment in Japanese Acupuncture” in downtown Chicago. I got to practice again my Japanese needling technique, contact needling, abdominal palpation, and diagnosis.

The style taught is based on the book Introduction to Meridian Therapy by Shudo Denmai. Personally, I would have loved a deeper insight into the Japanese treatments, but for just one day, the seminar was still OK.

Japanese acupuncture uses the abdominal diagnosis much more than TCM. When you hear about abdominal diagnosis it doesn’t seem like much, but when you get the chance to palpate and feel the differences on people, then it starts to make sense. I had the chance to feel the “bumps” on the skin (excess), I felt my finger sinking (deficiency) and even the differences in the roughness of the skin. Japanese protocol seems more fluent, and a bit more focused on the patient since they diagnose mainly on palpation.

After dipping into Japanese acupuncture, we thought appropriate to enjoy a matcha latte for lunch break and organic yummy food at Le Pain Quotidien.

Downtown was sunny, streets were full of people, and as usual, we enjoyed every minute of it! How can you not enjoy it when it’s almost midterms time but all we can think about is spring!