ICE Workshop: ICE 2010

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ICE 2010

Here we are, back to our homes and work.
After this second edition of the ICE workshops, I think we have good reasons to congratulate us. First, we were more participants than in the past year, and this is always a healthy sign.
Second, this time we were in a beautiful place, surrounded by nature, but by a nature tamed enough to have a good swimming pool at our disposal. Being all together most of the time helped us also to accomplish one of the objectives of the workshop: the free, informal contacts and exchanges.
Third, step by step the ICE workshop is finding its pace and pathways. We know now that we are participating in a passionate story of research and practice, we are adquiring the conscience of be working in the frontier of the knowledge, and thus with the wonderful feeling of not to be alone in our walks. And also we are becoming more and more active in the workshop. I think next year will be again an step forward, and I remind all of you that we, the provisional organizers, are eager to get your proposals (remember, you do not have to feel subject to the ‘academic’ format of the usual presentations) and any comments you care to share.

As soon as we receive this year’s presentations, we shall hang them in the blog for you to remember… and prepare for next year

Thank you all, and see you in July 2011, 8, 9 and 10, same place, still growing illusion

The organizers

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WHAT IS THE ICE WORKSHOP?_______

An open space for learning, exchanging and experiencing

As practitioners of different styles of acupuncture we have many times asked ourselves: How can I mix those different styles? Or: What style would be more advantageous to treat this case? Or still: am I doing the right mix? In the other hand, we are already practitioners, so we have developed our own ‘systems’, incorporating at the same time more and more some aspects of therapy not usually spoken of in the acupuncture schools…

This is the seed of the idea. Powered by these feelings, we want to create an open space
where we can exchange experiences and continue learning and practising, in an ambience favouring experimenting and mutual learning. We gave this idea the form of a workshop, where -besides some lectures to help focus the study subjects, we will have lots of practice, round tables and discussion in an ambience of openness and conviviality.

We already celebrated past year our first meeting in Barcelona, where we had an animated exchange of methods and ideas (please see this post for more details) and we are calling this meeting again in 2010!
The meeting this year will be full of interest –we are planning to study some of the seldom addressed aspects of TEAM, and besides we are adding an extra candy: This time we will meet it in a beautiful place, a natural park in the middle of the hills near the Mediterranean coast, with a 30 meters swimming pool and lots of places for walking, sunbathing, chatting or simply enjoying the ambience (for details see www.canbenetvives.org). This way we will have both, an interesting seminar with an ambience of conviviality, and a magnificent three days holiday in the countryside. You are welcome to come on your own, or take with you all your family -they will surely enjoy the environment and facilities!!!

Some details you will want to know:

Nuclear subject:
Influences and management of subtle aspects of TEAM
We propose a study of some seldom considered factors, like colours, sounds, attitude, posture, conscience, etc. using mainly the acupoints and checking the influences, specially looking at three sets of parameters:
o Changes in the abdominal wall, using Manaka style map and palpation
o Changes in the pulse, using Toyohari /Keiraku Chiryo map and methods
o Changes in the tongue, using a very simple approach

The goal will be to study which factors influence what. For instance: Does colour influence the pulse? or: Does conscience influence the abdominal wall?, etc.
We will also practice body management techniques, like Qigong, Yichuan, etc.

Lecturers:
We already secured the collaboration of Stephen Birch, Miquel Angel Cabrer, Francesc Miralles, Felipe Espada and Manuel Rodríguez. Other lecturers will confirm their participation over the next two months.

Language:
Lectures, workshop and its proceedings will be in English. If there are a number of non-English
speakers, translation to Spanish will be provided

Dates:
July 2nd, 3rd and 4th.
Registration and reception starts on July the 1st. at midday. Workshop closes the 4th after lunch

Place:
Can Benet Vives, a human development centre in a natural park near Barcelona, easily accessible by train (Calella station) or by road. A pick-up service from the Calella train station will be provided

Accommodation:
Three to four beds rooms, with bathroom and shower ensuite

for more info, contact: Miquel Ángel Cabrer: acujapo@hotmail.com or directly to: ice.workshop@gmail.com

Paying attention

Each workshop has a nucleus; in this occasion paying attention is what the workshop is all about...

Check the comments & schedule below, and find out why!

A comment in this year’s subjects…

Yi (conscience, awareness, intention, etc.)

As we started to discover past year ‘yi’ is a very important aspect of Oriental Medicine, but it’s an aspect which has been all but forgotten in the normal training procedures. Believing its understanding and management can lead to significant improvement of our practice (not to speak of the internal cultivation benefits), we are trying to put the yi back on stage. This year we will see some ideas on what can be done with the yi in our practice, and how this could affect it. We set up also some exercises, some of them devised to check the validity of some of the yi-medicine theories, other designed to help developing the ability to consciously using yi.

Yi Jing (Classic of changes, I Ching)

One of these books and concepts almost everybody thinks to know and understand. We plan to unearth not only some usual misconceptions, but also have a brief glimpse on how this book’s theories influenced the medical classical thinking and how we can (if we learn enough) use them in our today’s therapeutic practice.

Schedule 2010

July 1, Thursday.

19.00 hs. Arrival, accommodation

20.00 – 20.30 hs. Registration

20.30 – 21.30 hs Workshop introduction. Participant’s self-introduction

21.30 hs. Dinner!

July 2, Friday.

09.00 – 10.00 hs. Breakfast

10.00 – 11.30 hs. Yi: importance & management

11.30 – 12.00 hs. Coffee break

12.00 – 13.00 hs. Therapist’s preparation and cleansing

13.00 – 13.30 hs. Free time

13.30 – 14.30 hs. Lunch

14.30 – 15.00 hs Free time

15.00 – 16.30 hs. Attentiveness and sensitivity

16.30 – 17.00 hs Coffee break

17.00 – 18.00 hs Polarized needles

18.00 – 19.00 hs Panel discussion on today’s subjects

19.00 – 21.00 hs Free time: personal meetings & discussions

21.00 hs Dinner!

July 3, Saturday.

09.00 – 10.00 hs. Breakfast

10.00 – 11.00 hs. Yi: importance & management

11.00 – 12.00 hs. Yi Jing & Medicine (presentation)

12.00 – 12.30 hs Coffee break

12.30 – 13.30 hs. Yi Jing & Medicine (practice

13.30 – 14.00 hs. Free time

14.00 – 15.00 hs. Lunch

15.00 – 15.30 hs Free time

15.30 – 16.30 hs. Attentiveness and sensitivity

16.30 – 17.00 hs Coffee break

17.00 – 18.00 hs. Dr. Manaka’s method & Yi Jing

18.00 – 19.00 hs. Panel discussion: integration of different acupunctural methods

19.00 – 21.00 hs. Free time: personal meetings & discussions

21.00 hs. Dinner!

July 4, Sunday.

09.00 – 10.00 hs. Breakfast

10.00 – 10.30 hs. What happens when we needle?

10.30 – 11.30 hs. Different enpishin, different effects? (presentation and practice)

11.30 – 12.00 hs. Coffee break

12.00 – 13.00 hs Panel discussion: Integration of different therapeutic methods

13.00 – 13.30 hs. Wrapping up: Conclusions.

13.30 – 14.00 hs. Free time

14.00 – 15.00 hs. Lunch

15.00 – 15.30 hs. Farewell…

Looking forward to see you in less than 2 months!

Manuel Rodríguez & Miquel Ángel Cabrer | organizing committee ICE Workshop Barcelona

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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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ICE 2010

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