Q's for Dr. Duckworth: Sakai Teate

Dear Natural Life Therapy Clinic, Inc.,

Could you give me some details about Sakai Teate bodywork, please?

Jay

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Dear Jay,

Sakai Sensei (Sensei means 'teacher') was one of my teacher's (Masahilo M. Nakazono Sensei ) teachers; a Shugendo priest (Buddhist) who spent 1/2 of each year wandering the mountains and 1/2 the year living in a villiage where he taught and provided Hand Ki Te A Te, a hands-on therapy focused on the abdomen. Te is a Japanese word that translates as 'hand,' 'helping hand' and teate translates to 'medicial care.' So te a te means the spirit of the helping hand, healing touch, hands healing the spirit, spiritual hand work. Sakai Sensei taught his students the Way of Hand Ki, learning to access and focus one's own Ki (chi) in the hands for therapeutic purposes; the Chinese would call this way, Chi Gong.

Nakazono Sensei studied with Sakai Sensei in the 1950's and applied this principle of Hand Ki to all his tactile therapy work (Shiatsu, Anma, Ampuku, Kappo and Sotai) and taught his meridian therapy students, the Way of Hand Ki. In fact, Nakazono Sensei taught his students to diagnose and treat the meridians with only handwork. Only when a student demonstrated the capacity to purposefully influence the meridian Ki with the hands was he/she taught needling technique (acupuncture). All practitioners who have graduated from studies with me have been taught this way.