ICE Workshop: ICE Workshop

In memory of Dr. Manaka Yoshio

The following article can be found in this november issue of the NAJOM (North American Journal of Oriental Medicine), an special issue in Memory of Dr. Manaka Yoshio
[Volume 16, number 47 - november 2009]

"The first ICE Workshop: Barcelona 2009, a Personal Account" by Manuel Rodríguez.

Before studying TCM I was trained as an engineer. As much of my job involved field work in developing and using new materials, I was rather soon stripped of my ‘calculus innocence’, and learned how the reality imposes its laws upon any theories, as well as how old maps are only of limited use when treading new lands.

This report is not about my CV, so I shall only add that after a couple of decades of labs and factories, I decided to study Chinese Medicine, which at the time in Spain meant just TCM. I studied first in Spain and then in Beijing, and was immediately charmed by the internal logic of the system. I was so in love with the discipline that I easily overcame any conceptual holes my engineer mind detected, putting them in the account of my own ignorance. But there was always a buzzing little voice saying things like ‘how can any discipline be the same now that it was 2000 years ago’ or ‘how it happens that most of my ‘why’ questions are always answered in terms of ‘because that is what is said in the Neijing?’ or ‘how it happen that the Shu (transport) points seem to disregard the supposed general flow of the meridians?’. This voice was getting to be a real nuisance, so I left Beijing and started practicing in Barcelona where I live. The usual activity of starting a new business pushed aside any theoretical concerns I had, and most of the questions went into a dormant state.

But, as life went on, I met Stephen Birch, who, while presenting a Shonishin seminar, also took some time to explain a few basics of Japanese acupuncture, mentioning Meridian Therapy and Dr. Manaka’s Yin-Yang balance style, as well as a vision of Qi and Jingmai which deeply resonated with my own –poor- understanding of these concepts. I still remember that seminary as the proverbial ‘wind scattering the clouds to reveal a blue sky’. I felt Stephen’s way of thinking about Qi, Jingmai, etc, was exactly what drove me to study Chinese Medicine to start with, and I wanted to know more and more about it. Following Stephen’s advice, I started my new training, in Manaka style, first in London, and in Toyohari next, in Amsterdam.

So that is how I got exposed to Dr. Manaka’s spirit. Of course I was almost shocked by its pragmatism and scientific rigour, but I was specially appealed by the conceptual synthesis he made between innovation and tradition. It was my first exposure to a materially existent manifestation of the concept of evolving tradition, were any new practitioner add his/hers grain of sand to a towering construct which, with its roots deeply buried in the past, continues growing with the times, a tradition which has no end, no top. I felt liberated, not longer chained to a dusty, immovable ‘tradition’, but part of a living, continuously evolving one.

Good and bad are always mixed in real life. To learn I had to travel abroad, but my training in London and in Amsterdam put me in touch with a lot of people who, like myself, were trained in different styles of acupuncture and who, in their day-to day lives, were actually practicing a personal mixtures of their studies. But they tended to refer to these “mixtures” with some embarrassment, often in conversation only after the couple of after-class beers -such an important part of our study system. I can also say that the “mixers” felt, in the majority, rather insecure, not only about the mix itself, but also about the adequacy of talking about it in this specific moment, usually in any kind of theoretically marked seminar.

The fact was that many practitioners were creating their own mixtures, as well as personally testing new ideas as they naturally arose in a daily, mix-breed practice. This was the impetus for the ICE workshop (ICE = Integration Communication Exchange). We wanted to create an open a space where theories could be tested and contested, where all ideas could be discussed, free of theoretical constraints, and mixed with all this richness derived of the conscious practice. This freedom on thinking, together with the emphasis in practical testing, was, I believe, the nucleus of Dr. Manaka’s medical genius. So, together with a couple of colleagues also inspired by what we knew of Dr. Manaka’s thinking, and supported by his co-author of ‘Chasing the Dragon’s Tail’, we called the first ICE workshop in Barcelona.

And here starts the report. I won’t enter in tiring details about people, subjects, heat waves, etc. I would signal instead that the panels, discussions and practice were as varied as I like to think Dr. Manaka himself would have enjoyed. During three intense days we learned about the role of ritual, about the possibility of use the concept of fascia, how to better train our hands, the role of ‘Yi’, different aspects of polarity, rhythms and colours, the appreciation of the tongue…, a wide variety of subjects were presented and practically tested in an ambience of open exchange, without fearing which theories, teachers or schools we might be questioning. In keeping what we think was part of Dr. Manaka’s way of working, all theories and suggestions were presented with adequate references, either to classical texts or to modern proven research, and attendants were invited to discuss and give their opinions. Theories and suggestions were tested in practice, and we discussed the possible conclusions we might extract from this.

Chaotic sometimes, always friendly and open, funny most of the time, this practical part was something that has never happened before, at least not in the closed containers of the more regulated seminars and schools. The originality, rigour and richness of the presentations and the quality of the practice, the spirit of ‘seeing is believing’ was not only our desired trademark for future ICE workshops, but also constitute our humble tribute and acknowledgment to the clear intelligence, the open spirit, the investigative drive, the genius of a groundbreaker physician, Dr. Manaka Yoshio.

Dr. Manaka was dead in 1989, but his thinking is alive. We plan to continue offering the kind of open space we think is needed for the development of his ideas. We plan to continue celebrating our ICE workshops. We invite absolutely everybody to participate.

Manuel Rodríguez
Studied and practiced chemical engineering, management, Aikido and graphic design before undertaking Chinese Medicine, which he studied in both Spain and in Beijing. Back in Barcelona, he practiced and taught TCM, but after meeting Stephen Birch, changed his focus to the study of Shonishin, the Manaka System, Keiraku Chiryo and Toyohari. In 2008, he published two books on Oriental-style pediatrics. He currently practices, teaches, and writes in Barcelona, Girona and Madrid.

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