What The Heck Is A Seasonal Tune – Up?

Sensei Masahilo Nakazono

Mary S. Wallis, L.Ac., discusses using Meridian Therapy Acupuncture treatments in maintaining a healthy balance.

Meridian Therapy is a medicine inspired by our Asian ancestors. My particular form was handed down by M. Masahilo Nakazono O’Sensei to his student Thomas Duckworth, D.K.M., L.Ac.. Dr. Duckworth then expanded upon those gifts with inspirations of his own to create Inochi medicine. That earned him his doctorate from M. Masahilo Nakazono O’Sensei. Dr. Duckworth of Natural Life Therapy Clinic has graciously imparted those gifts to me in an apprentice style clinical based education. For the gifts of Kototama/Inochi medicine I am eternally grateful. With this medicine, I am living proof, health can be regained and maintained through seasonal treatments (“tune-up’s”).

Healthy individuals can maintain zest of living with Meridian Therapy treatments on a seasonal basis. One treatment at the change of season helps the energetic system sync up with the changing season and prepare for the upcoming season. When the seasons change, it is often difficult to stay in balance. The drastic weather differences challenge our protective energy. By reminding our twelve main meridians of their symbiotic dance of balance the body has better access to “center” from which best judgment arrives. From “center” we are more likely to eat healthy, allow time for appropriate exercise, and rest when needed. Our protective energy then stays fortified and keeps out the possible offenders like damp, cold, excess heat, wind, or excess dry.

A “tune-up” in Meridian Therapy uses tools such as acupuncture, moxibustion, and hand therapies, such as Shiatsu. One makes an appointment for a “tune-up” when the weather begins to change toward the next season. In St. Louis, Missouri, where I practice, the saying is “if you don’t like the weather, wait fifteen minutes and it will change”. That makes it less clear as to the change in season. The general rule suggests a seasonal treatment to be scheduled: when nights cool to sixty or below and the days are hot (summer to fall tune up); when nights cool to fifty or below and the days are pleasantly warm to crisp (fall to winter tune up); when nights are cold at around freezing or below and the days begin a warming trend of forty and above (winter to spring tune up); when nights warm to fifty and above and the days are pleasant at sixty and above (spring to summer tune up).

There is a window of approximately three weeks in which the transition occurs and when treatments should be scheduled. In my practice, I have noticed those weeks tend to fall around mid November to early December for fall to winter, late February to beginning of March for winter to spring, late April to early May for spring to summer, and mid August to early September for summer to fall transitions.

I have been in practice long enough to see patients who have regained their health and now keep seasonal tune up appointments. They report fewer episodes of cold and flu, a general state of well being, and feel the Kototama/Inochi meridian therapy tune ups are responsible.