Why NESA



Kobayashi Shakuju Series

August 07, 2010

NESA is eager to host the Kobayashi Shakuju series for the Shakuju Association of North America (SANA) and is proud to welcome Kobayashi this August.  NESA needs to confirm a minimum number of registrants by June 1 in order to run this program. Please send your $100 deposit, applicable to the cost of the program, by June 1st to confirm your interest in the course.

Unfortunately, we are unable to offer practitioner discounts for this program, therefore practitioner costs listed below are for all practitioners, including NESA faculty and assistantship hosts.

If you have questions regarding the course content, please contact Ellen Leifman.  Course information is listed below.  You can view a complete course description in the course catalog or by clicking the course name.

Beginner Shakuju 

Thursday, August 5 
10:00 am - 4:00 pm 
$195 (Practitioners); $150 (Students)
5 CAEs

Introduction to Shakuju Therapy 

Saturday & Sunday, August 7-8 
10:00 am - 4:00 pm 
$395 (Practitioners); $350 (Students)
10 CAEs

Advanced Shakuju Therapy 

Monday & Tuesday, August 9-10 
10:00 am - 4:00 pm 
$425 
10 CAEs

Introduction to Shakuju Therapy & Advanced Shakuju Therapy (Combined Format; 4 Days)  

Saturday thru Tuesday, August 7-10  
10:00 am - 4:00 pm 
$795 (Practitioners); $750 (Students)
20 CAEs


About Shakuju:

Shakuju Therapy is a method of treatment using acupuncture and moxibustion. This is a non-insertive technique for practitioners to use on pediatric or adult patients for any condition.  Shakuju Therapy shares the same roots as Keiraku Chiryo, or meridian 5 Phase.  The emphasis is on abdominal diagnosis and the use of back-shu point areas. It was designed as a method of balancing the entire body. Points are selected based on an evaluation of the abdomen and the pulse. This principle is based on the idea that the spinal energy is at the core of the vital process from the beginning of life. The back, where the governing vessel and bladder channels run, is where the "root" of the energy system is treated.  This root system is the deepest level of the energetic being. Even the points on the limbs typically used in acupuncture for root treatment are "branches" of this nucleus of vital flow. 

In Shakuju theory, the foundation and center of the human body is the abdomen, or hara. Palpating the hara is an important diagnostic tool used to confirm the success of treatment, and will reveal areas of temperature and texture changes, hardness, pain and pulsation. The term Shakuju comes from shaku and ju, tight or painful areas palpable in the abdomen that are of critical importance for evaluating the patient and developing a treatment strategy. The Nanjing refers in particular to subjective pain, palpation pain, sensations of hardness under pressure, and palpitations. After regulating the pulse, the practitioner locates shaku in the abdominal region using anatomical divisions that are classified according to the five phases. This is the basis for determining the five classifications of abdominal patterns, or sho.

Contact needling (sesshokushin), a technique where the practitioner moves the needle with light contact on the skin, is performed on the abdomen at several points in succession as one of the first treatment techniques. The technique has a profound influence on the entire body and will change the pulse.

The precept of Shakuju is that if the clinical findings can be reduced to the root concepts-the hara, jīng qì and the governing vessel-then treatment will have a meaningful impact on regulating the patient's qì. By translating these clinical findings into the language of yīn and yáng, from which the five phases are derived, the therapy will resonate with the deepest wellspring of the patient's vital source.

The Introduction to Shakuju and Advanced Shakuju courses will be taught by Kobayashi Shoji, Lic.Ac. (in Japan), who graduated from Sophia University in 1965 and from Toyo College of Acupuncture in 1969.  He also completed the Physiotherapy Instructors Program at the Tokyo Education University in 1972 and soon after began his private practice, establishing the Taishido Acupuncture Clinic.  He began teaching acupuncture at the Kanto College of Acupuncture in 1976.  He is currently the president of the Shakuju-kai, the study group for Shakuju Therapy in Japan.

We will email course confirmation after June 1st

If we are unable to run the program, all deposits will promptly be refunded.