The first weekend of the 2025 Jinshou Tuina program is wrapped up and was a blast!

 

by Ethan Murchie

One of the goals of the Living Neijing Project is to participate in the ongoing transmission of our own living lineages of traditional arts. In fact, a desire to give back by continuing the work of our teachers and see our family arts grow and prosper is a major motivator.

Jinshou Tuina is a form of manual channel therapy developed in the twentieth century by multiple generations of practitioners based on received traditional teachings blended with modern adaptations. The core of Jinshou Tuina is Chinese manual therapy taught by Taiwanese Xingyi Quan master Xu Hongji in the 1960s and 1970s and passed on to us by American Xingyi quan master Vince Black.

 

 

In Taiwan the tuina techniques coming from the mainland were mixed with the special spinal manipulations of local Buddhist monks and the trauma medicine of the local martial arts families, especially incorporating many external herbal formulas for injury management.

In America, Dr Black added to these core techniques the craniosacral therapy and osteopathic understandings of his teacher Dr John Upledger. Along with the inspiration provided by Andrew Taylor Still, the founder of osteopathy, this mix of Asian and American methods provides a complete method of primary care firmly rooted in tradition and uniquely adapted to the modern American setting.

 

 

This year, we are proposing a 4 weekends Jinshou Tuina Foundations program.

The goal of this 2025 program is to create a kind of circular economy in which the space for people to delve deeply into the gongfu of these arts and the understanding of the application of Neijing science give the therapists the ability to be financially independent and who in turn are able to design a lifestyle that involves the ongoing engagement with the kind of practice that creates better practitioners, Neijing scholars and therapists.

 

 

In March 2025 we held the first of four weekends in the 2025 Jinshou Tuina Foundations program. We had a great group of people come into town from all around the continent to spend four days working together on manual techniques, fundamental theory, physical culture and business best practices.

Here are some of the specific things we worked on during this gathering:

• Using the essential manipulations of the spinal articulations, compressions, decompressions and separations, as the main focus, developing our hands to be effective tools for manual therapy, soft yet forceful, gentle yet penetrating.
• Learning to identify and feel the independence of 意氣 yì qì and put it to use in our treatments.
• Tuning the channels through stretching and guiding to access the full potential of Jingluo Qigong.
• Putting the clues left for us in the Huangdi Neijing to work through following instructions in Lingshu 71 on the eight emptinesses in the human body, the “true qi” and how problems in the branches, the elbows, shoulders, knees and hips, create twisted and compressed roots in the vertebra at the levels of the back shu points.
• Working on the fundamental craft of rolling fukaya style moxa cones for direct moxa, elevating the channel therapy game in everyone’s tuina.
• Beginning the orientation in small business best practices for an independent therapist, budgeting, the critical role of an admin assistant, clinic management, promotion, pricing, sales and adding value. We want our people to not only be kick ass therapists, they also need develop the skills and experience to create a comfortable, sustainable lifestyle.

 

 

Based on the success of this first weekend it looks like we are off to a good start.