What can Western physiotherapy do compared with Tibetan physiotherapy?
What is physiotherapy, and what is “Modern Tibetan Physiotherapy”?
Here we explain the differences. Up to 1994, the term remedial gymnastics was quite common, but with increasing internationalisation it was replaced by the term physiotherapy. Western physiotherapy has its roots in manual therapy, i.e. treatment that does not involve medication or surgery. This means physiotherapy has overlapping areas of application with osteopathy and chiropractic.
All three systems use targeted manual techniques to treat functional disorders in the human body and to reactivate the body’s self-healing powers. This can include muscles, bones and joints, as well as internal organs and nerves.
The aim of Western physiotherapy is to help people regain their original, active body awareness—whether it was disrupted by an accident, surgery (e.g. insertion of a new joint) or illness (e.g. stroke) is irrelevant. Patients are instructed on how to perform movements correctly and go home with an exercise programme between sessions.
Physiotherapy knowledge in rehabilitation, prevention of poor posture and improvement of physical and mental wellbeing, pain therapy and paediatrics is extensive. Treatment methods include classic massage as well as connective tissue massage, ultrasound applications and electrotherapy. As in osteopathy, functional disorders are exposed to various stimuli such as heat, cold, pressure or stretching techniques.
Therapists of Modern Tibetan Medicine and Physiotherapy, like us here at the Umahaus in Berlin, view the person as a whole and therefore extend healing work into areas that, in the Western healing tradition, are reserved for other groups such as osteopaths. In the West, the skeleton, muscles, skull, internal organs and all tissue including fascia, the musculoskeletal system, internal medicine as well as the ear, nose and throat and the urogenital area fall within the scope of osteopathy. Tibetan medicine goes far beyond the concept of “integrative medicine and naturopathy”.
Illness = imbalance of the bodily fluids
Health = balance of the bodily fluids.
Tibetan medicine understands mechanical, physical and mental disorders as an imbalance of the three basic energies: water, wind or fire. These energies must be able to move freely in the body; otherwise, the originally open channels become increasingly blocked and lead to toxins such as tension.
The holistic view of patients built into the principles of Tibetan medicine looks at what supports the “inner doctor” and what hinders it. During a thorough diagnosis and medical history, the skilled therapist takes into account the person’s living circumstances, the season, the time of day, where the illness occurred, the person’s body type, diet, urine, and the type of tension. The next step is to stimulate the “inner doctor” with external (e.g. healing massage or acupressure) and internal (herbs) applications.
Hands are used to open blocked channels and shift energies. Techniques from physiotherapy, osteopathy and chiropractic are also applied.
Other healing methods include moxibustion (heating a point on the body using a heated cone made of mugwort leaves). Tsampa massages help absorb excess oil with barley flour and are the traditional way to end a Tibetan massage, in order to absorb toxins that have reached the skin through the oil massage.
Given that almost every modern illness is linked to stress in some way, reducing it with methods such as forehead pouring (Sanskrit Shirodhara) is an important complementary relaxation therapy. We also offer hot stone therapy and, depending on requirements, brine baths, fango packs or red light therapy.
To promote circulation and bone mass formation, the UMATI is used: a rod made of steel and copper sticks that is tensioned during production and releases vibrations during treatment that quickly bring a person’s basic energies back into balance.
All of these aids and therapies serve to activate and strengthen the factor of the person’s “self-healing power”. It is therefore important to prevent the saboteur: “stress”.
Stress and UMATI
We raise our shoulders to protect our neck, we raise the left shoulder to protect our heart, we tense our abdominal muscles to protect our organs. We clench our teeth to protect our teeth, the blood thickens so that we do not bleed out, the stress hormone cortisol is released so that we have enough strength to fight or flee. From an evolutionary perspective, stress is a sensible response to dealing with a life-threatening situation. After an exceptionally stressful situation, the body normally calms down again.
However, we live in a state of constant psycho-social stress that never lets up and that many people can no longer consciously perceive—otherwise they would change it. Vague pain in the back, neck or shoulders, cardiovascular problems, irritable bowel symptoms, lipid metabolism disorders and high blood pressure are accompanied and fuelled by stress. In the ranking of stress factors, the loss of a loved one is at the very top, but even joyful events such as Christmas, weddings or football matches are classified as top stress factors. During the 2006 Football World Cup, the number of heart attacks during matches played by the German team increased significantly. Many of us spend an almost motionless existence in front of mobile phone or laptop screens. We are bombarded with news, films and games whose declared aim is to increase users’ engagement rates through corresponding stimuli, and this keeps our cortisol levels elevated in the long term.
Our therapies and treatment tools such as UMATI are an invitation to live in a healthier, more analogue and more mindful way, to rethink one’s own thinking and to assess stress states more realistically.
The cork
A wonderful way to explain a person’s alignment with their life energy is the cork analogy.
Take a cork and hold it under water—this is how most people live. The cork wants to float on the surface, but we do not allow it. The cork will rise, because that is its natural state, but we do something unnatural to it by holding it under water again and again. In the same way, we do something unnatural when we blame someone, hate someone, or feel inferior. These are unnatural emotions that drain and stress us over time; they may feel normal because so many people act that way, but they are still unnatural. As soon as we let go of the cork, it floats to the surface. There are many ways to learn to let go.
Advice for everyday stress
Meditation
Skin temperature measurements have shown that just a few minutes of meditation warm the hands. The vessels dilate, more warm blood reaches the extremities and blood pressure drops. A good meditation or successful inner reflection can be so relaxing that it is physically noticeable as all struggles and worries fall away from the body. Detaching from one’s physical being and the problems of the world, while simultaneously elevating the spiritual being, is like taking the path of least resistance. Energies such as electricity or water always take the path of least resistance. In meditation, the path of least resistance is not the same as the autopilot that plays out familiar reactions, but a path on which trust in one’s inner knowledge grows and helps to master life situations, whether big or small.
Mindfulness
The aim is to step out of the negative carousel of thoughts and interrupt the usual automatisms. It can help to remember funny or happy moments, or to picture a red stop sign in your mind’s eye. “Coming to your senses” by physically perceiving the current situation: how does the ground feel under your feet, who or what is next to you, place your hands on your stomach and take a deep breath at the traffic lights.
Healthy lifestyle
Daily movement, a healthy diet without processed meat products, and mindfulness—even when eating: consciously tasting (is it sweet, salty, bitter, sour, astringent, soft, liquid, grainy, hard, etc.) and smelling.
Self-treatment / partner treatment
Daily, mindful self-treatment with UMATI helps to align your own vibrations with the original, healing life energies. A UMATI application has a strong meditative component, often compared to a state of meditative contentment/bliss.
All of this advice helps to switch off the negative autopilot.
Not only one’s own lifestyle, but also genetic predisposition and unchangeable environmental influences contribute to the fact that we can become ill even without any action on our part. Nevertheless, that does not mean we should not try to help ourselves a little.