Client Education

What do I mean by “Client Education?”

I think that if you have been injured, are suffering from chronic pain or disease, or just are experiencing some persistent symptoms that are impacting your quality of life, part of what will help you is to have a better understanding of what is happening with you, and what you can do about it given the resources you have and some knowledge about what to do for yourself.

I will do my best to explain to you, in language you can understand, what is happening.  I do that by explaining as I go along what I am finding, what it means in terms of Asian Medicine, Western Medicine, and just plain English - my goal is for you to have a personal understanding of what is going on.  Sometimes that could mean teaching you about the anatomy of your injury, or about how your organ functions are affecting your condition. Sometimes it might involve looking at your cultural context, your home life, or looking more closely at your history.

If you have been injured in a car accident, you might need to know something about the process of dealing with insurance, attorneys, other medical practitioners, etc.  I will help you find out what you need to know about that, as well.

My belief is that any of us, when we are suffering, would like to know how to help ourselves.  I believe that there are many ways that we can become empowered to help ourselves, very often with just basic education about the specific issues we are facing.

Have you injured a muscle or joint?  If you understand what that means and specifically what your injury is, you can modify your movement, apply specific stretching or strengthening movements, or external applications to help yourself.  Maybe some herbal treatments might help.  Maybe a specific referral to another practitioner who specializes in your condition would be most helpful to you.

If you have a hormonal imbalance, and it is coming from a specific imbalance that you can understand and help with some basic home treatment, it will help you get better much faster while getting some treatment for it.

If your condition is impacted by medications you are taking, dietary habits that you have,  or environmental exposures from your work or living situation, I will do my best to help you to understand your health concerns and how they might be related to the context that you find yourself in.

If possible, I will suggest or teach you how to do specific movements, external applications, home treatments, or other self-care treatments that will help you.  If necessary, I will refer you to someone else who might better serve your needs, according to your specific situation, to the best of my ability.

To me, this is part of my responsibility as a practitioner of the traditional therapies that I have been trained in.  Any of this is included in the course of services that I provide.

Look around this site as time goes on - I will be posting new informational articles from time to time…

For more information, please give me a call at (206) 632-5640, or email me at ed@hibikimedia.com (Click the envelope icon at the top right of this page)

Ed Antkowiak, L.Ac. - Seattle Acupuncture and Professional Education

What is Acupressure?

“Acupressure” is a term sometimes used to describe Asian Therapeutic treatments where a practitioner will use his or her hands or fingers, or even elbows or other body tools to influence the flow of energy along the acupuncture channels of the body and treat injuries or other health issues.

“Acupressure” is a term that was often used in English some years ago, before it became more widely known that Asian bodywork therapies actually are very diverse, and that there are many different styles or practices that have very deep lineages.  In some of the oldest written records of Asian Medicine, manual therapy was considered to be a unique branch of medicine, equal to Acupuncture, Herbal medicine, Moxabustion therapy, and some other forms of medicine.  Often, manual therapy was associated with schools of martial arts and injury treatment.

In China, manual therapy is often referred to as “Tuina” - and in fact, specialists of Tuina therapy are trained and respected as practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine in their own right.  Manual therapy or Tuina departments are common in Chinese hospitals.

In Japan, “Shiatsu” is a generic name for a type of manual therapy that is sometimes known in the US as “Acupressure”.  There are many other names for Japanese manual therapy schools - Amma, Sotai, Reiki, Judo-Seifuku, etc.

My original teacher of Japanese manual therapy called what he taught “Teate”, or simply “Handwork” or “Hand Treatment”.  At the Kototama Institute, where I first trained, Teate therapy was a very big part of my training.  My fellow students and I spent over a year being carefully trained in Teate as a foundation for the other therapeutic practices taught at the Kototama Institute.  I have been studying and practicing this kind of treatment for over 25 years now.

One thing that is unique about the practice of Teate is that it includes extensive treatment of the abdomen, to harmonize the internal organs and make sure that your belly is in working order, with everything moving through as it should, organs in the places where they belong, and able to function at their best.  This is often a new experience for people, and most people find the benefits of this treatment to be very powerful.

Treatment of the myofascial system and its integration with the bones of the skeletal system is also a big part of Teate treatment, and this can be very beneficial if you have experienced any sort of injury, even one long ago that might still be affecting you.

Overall, the goal of Teate treatment is to help to harmonize and re-integrate your whole system, and to restore optimal function of your many circulatory pathways - energetic flows through the acupuncture channels, blood and lymph circulation, other fluid movements in your body, and musculo-skeletal integration.  Manual treatment will be a big part of your experience in receiving treatment at Hibiki Natural Therapeutics.

Techniques used during a Teate session include direct pressure, indirect pressure, vibration, rhythmic pressure, stretching, twisting, and other movements, and techniques comparable to medical qigong.  The range of pressure used varies greatly from very light pressure to relatively strong techniques.

In addition to my early training and long practice of Teate therapy, I have been trained in Tuina as part of my Chinese medicine training, and have also studied under teachers of manual therapies from other cultures and specialties.  I draw from a wide variety of influences in the manual therapy that I use in my practice.

For more information, please give me a call at (206) 632-5640, or email me at ed@hibikimedia.com (Click the envelope icon at the top right of this page)

Ed Antkowiak, L.Ac. - Seattle Acupuncture and Professional Education

What is Acupuncture?

By now, most Americans have heard of acupuncture.  You probably know that acupuncture is a kind of therapeutic treatment from China that is done by inserting small “Acupuncture Needles” into certain points on your body, called “Acupuncture Points”, and that somehow that is supposed to help with medical problems.

To a lot of people, that seems mysterious, possibly scary, and kind of weird.  How could that work?  It might seem unbelievable, but you might have heard from friends or the media that a lot of people have been helped by acupuncture.  What is going on here?

Here is a brief overview.

Acupuncture did begin in China, somewhere over two thousand years ago.  By 200 BC, there were Chinese medical texts that describe the use of acupuncture in great detail, indicating that it had already been widely practiced by that time.  Acupuncture as a therapeutic practice spread through much of Asia, and was adopted into many cultures, in many places being taken into the culture of an area and being practiced in a particular way in that culture.

In that way, China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and other places became cultures where acupuncture was accepted as a very useful medical treatment.  Because of the length of time it has been practiced, and the variety of cultures and schools that have evolved over the years, The practice of acupuncture has become very diverse, and is used in a lot of ways for a lot of things.

This is possible because acupuncture is a manifestation of a very comprehensive medical paradigm, and acupuncture needles are very versatile tools.

In general, Asian medicine looks at each person as a unique presence, and in terms of their  physical bodies, as existing and functioning as an intertwining complex of circulatory systems that circulate both energies and substances both inside and in relation with their environment.

Optimal health is present when all of the circulatory systems are unobstructed, flowing freely, and have enough of what they need.

Traditional evaluation methods are used to determine where and in what body systems circulation might be obstructed or deficient, and where to apply stimulation with an acupuncture needle to correct such an imbalance.

Acupuncture needles are used to affect the flow of energies and substances in the circulatory systems.  They can be used to influence blood flow, the movement of heat or body fluids, local areas of muscle tightness or weakness, nervous system function, hormonal balance, etc.

The acupuncture that I practice is primarily rooted in the Japanese tradition that I learned at the Kototama Institute, but has been influenced by Chinese acupuncture methods and other traditions.

For more information, please give me a call at (206) 632-5640, or email me at ed@hibikimedia.com (Click the envelope icon at the top right of this page)

Ed Antkowiak, L.Ac. - Seattle Acupuncture and Professional Education

Also look around this site - I will be posting more articles as time goes on…

What is Moxabustion?

Moxabustion is a therapeutic treatment from Asia that is almost unheard of in America. It is one of the most powerful treatments practiced by Acupuncturists, however.  In fact, in the Chinese language, the term for Acupuncture is “Zhenjiu”, which could be translated as “Acupuncture/Moxabustion”.  In the traditions of Asian Medicine, Moxabustion treatment is considered as inseparable from acupuncture as a branch of medical treatment.

Moxabustion or Moxa treatment is widely practiced throughout Asia and the world, but for various reasons it is not known much in the US.

Some sources say that moxa treatment is actually older than acupuncture, being referenced in Chinese medical classics more than 300 years before Acupuncture is discussed.

Moxa treatment is done in very many ways in many different cultures, and this kind of treatment is very effective for a wide variety of illnesses and injuries.  Moxa is a very versatile treatment - it can be used to affect blood circulation, hormonal imbalances, pain of all kinds, immune disorders, and many other internal imbalances.

Ed Antkowiak of Hibiki Natural Therapeutics has studied and practiced Moxa treatment for over 25 years, and is a specialist of this kind of treatment.  I was originally trained by a Japanese teacher who was a specialist of Moxabustion treatment, among very many different fields that he excelled in.  I have used Moxa treatment over the years to treat many people for many different kinds of conditions, from breathing problems and allergies, to digestive problems, menstrual disorders and fertility issues, and musculoskeletal problems.

Look around my site to find more information about Moxabustion treatment…