Day 62: Ryodoraku Acupuncture

I have been blessed that a group I took a weekend seminar in either 2018–2019, is offering to those who purchased software that can image your meridians, 19 CEs of education, free. Thankfully, it is also broken down into segments that produce a certification for those hours, that I can turn in to my board towards my next certification. I am very happy about this. In this training, he teaches us a Japanese style of acupuncture called Ryodoraku, which literally means “Line of good conductance”.

All acupuncture is based on Qi, and techniques to keep it moving. Balance. For many years Asian medicine was the sum of separate modalities. Moxabustion was performed by one doctor, herbal therapies were by another, needling was still yet another. Herbal formulas was actually the medicine, even more so than the needling. In 1950, Dr. Yoshio Nakatani noted areas of electrical conductivity on the skin of patients with various diseases. These also followed the lines of Chinese acupuncture meridians. He named the points, Ryodoraku.

These points were found on the hands and feet, of which there were 12 points (24 because the meridians are bilateral). 8 of these points were Yuan/Source points. Do you remember what these points were used for? They are used to keep Qi moving in the meridians. They have a direct relationship to prenatal Qi, and they can tonify both the Yin and the Yang organs. Today, only Source points are used in this modality. These points were found, precisely, by measuring their whereabouts with a 1.4 centimeter ruler. Electrical current was then applied to the needles. Dr. Nakatani created an elaborate graft to keep track of the patient’s progress.

Ryodorako is just another system used in acupuncture. Even though both Chinese medicine and Japanese medicine work with the same theories of meridians, acupuncture points, moving and balancing Qi, and what is referred to as Four Basic Steps, the approach is different. The four basics are, what meridians are out of balance, which points are needed to restore balance, where are the points located, and what type of treatment will be used.

In summary of Ryodoraku, it uses electricity to evaluate the meridians, it is objective and thoughtful, and it is very acupuncture focused. Objective, meaning, it does not focus on the tongue and pulse checks because that is very subjective to the practitioner checking them. His using science based technology leaves no room for subjective ideas. It either is, or is not.