Katsugen Kai

KATSUGEN KAI TAKEMUSU AIKIDO AND YOGA

PORTUGAL

Regeneration Movement

Katsugen Kai, which literally means " School of regeneration" is a method created in Japan by Haruchika Noguchi Sensei and practised since the early twenties until today. The movement was introduced in Europe by Itsu Tsuda Sensei (dead) based in Paris and Katsumi Mamine Sensei based in Barcelona. The Movement´s objective is to achieve the normalization of the human body, giving it the ability to react healthy and naturally to any abnormal disorder, a faculty that modern man is loosing progressively.

Haruchika Noguchi - Founder

( 1912 - 1976 )

Itsuo Tsuda Sensei

( 1914 - 1984 )

Katsumi Mamine Sensei

( 1944 )

A very simple technique is used, if indeed can be called a technique. By practising the Movement (Katsugen Kai) regularly we can achieve:

1- Develop reflexes to handle any health problem in an automatic manner. For example , the stomach will react rapidly to the ingestion of any bad food. Other individuals that would have ingested the food would suffer from poisoning.

2- Deeper and peaceful breathing.

3- Shorter and deeper sleep.

4- Faster recovering from fatigue.

5- Greater body flexibility, elimination of tension and stiffness.

6- Great capacity for concentration and relaxation.

7- Very precise needs. the body will know what to eat without the need to consult specialists.

8- Great co-ordination of mind and body. This ability improves rapidly.

9- Great serenity of spirit.

The Movement (Katsugen Kai) has indeed healing effects, but this is a secondary aspect. As any spiritual discipline, it is necessary to practice it without the will to obtain advantages from it. In this way, the advantages come naturally. Therefore, those that only seek it as a cure are not accepted. The "Return to Normality" is the only motivation accepted, unhurriedly and without demands.

For example, something that cannot be obtained by will is sleep, which is in fact a relaxation of our will. Forcing oneself to sleep is a contradiction that leads to a greater state of insomnia. If one is not a prisoner of the word "sleep", one sleeps when feels like it and vice-versa. The problem arises when someone is not sleepy, worries about it and forces oneself to sleep.

Tsuda Sensei used to say that any explanation would inevitably deny the subject. There is no other way to understand the Movement but through its practice. Then, all the mental explanations are insufficient. It is like a yawn or a sneeze, the body executes them, no explanation can substitute them.

On the description of the Movement, two concepts exist. They shock deeply those who hear about them: practice without intervention of the will and breath through the hands.

Suspension of the voluntary system- During the Movement the voluntary system is disconnected: a person lets itself go. The body needs which are normally suppressed, do all the work. You do not start the Movement, it starts itself. The idea of disconnecting momentarily the intellectual control of our activities scares some, thinking it will create disorder or anarchy.

In fact, there is nothing extraordinary or abnormal about the Movement, which is in harmony with our common knowledge of nature: yawning, sneezing, shivering, agitation during sleep, etc.

The function of the Movement is to activate those answers.

Breathing through the hands- Is it possible to breathe through the hands? The difficulty is in the definition of "breathing". Tchuang-Tse, the great Chinese philosopher, used to say 2500 years ago:" The real man breathes through his heels, while the common man breathes through his throat".

Anyhow, this is not the issue to be discussed. We ask the students to think that it is possible to breathe through the hands. After a long period of practice, new sensations arise: tingling, stinging, heat.

When one places a sensitive hand over a student´s body (when the Movement is practised in pairs) and breathes out through it, the fellow student will experience new sensations, different from those of body contact. This sensation remains and radiates even after the contact has ended. This exercise can be done even from a distance, without the need for close contact.

Reations - The reactions to the practice of the Movement are very subjective. There as many reactions as there are individuals. on the same individual, the Movement changes and develops progressively. Every area of the body be affected differently: the neck, back, pelvis, legs, etc. Reactions ranging from quiet to violent can be produced. There are some individuals that, paradoxically experience the Movement standing still. In this case , the Movement is working internally, instead of externally. Some react by sleeping, a sleep very different from the ordinary.

Humberto Afonso performing concentrated exhalation with a student ( Aikido and Katsugen Seminar with Tsuda Sensei - Madrid 1976 )

Programa of a group practice

1- Breathe out through the solar plexus.

2- Group activation circle with synchronized inhalation at the beginning and at the end of the practice.

3- Breathe through the hands with synchronized inhalation.

4- Concentrated exhalation: each is in turn a donor or a receiver. The medulla oblongata is activated.

5- Regeneration Movement.

6- Deep inhalation, followed by slow exhalation at the end of the practice..

7- Relaxation: Important moment, where the effects of the Movement are harmonizing in the body.

Two students doing Yuki ( Aikido and Katsugen Seminar with Tsuda Sensei - Madrid 1976)

Three phases of evolution

In the beginning, the process of normalization is reached stepping through the three following phases:

First phase: relaxation

Normally the muscles change and relax. one feels an enjoyable fatigue and feels sleepy constantly.

It is important to rest every time it is possible and not forcing eating when not hungry.

At the end of this period one can experience a sensation of cold, like water running under the skin. According to some, this reaction can be very strong and shivering follows it.

Cold must be avoided at this stage, especially after sweating.

Second phase: Hypersensitivity

Your body will be in pain. The forgotten traumatisms do come back. Insomnia returns, fever is also a possibility.

This period awakens the body´s sensitivity.

Usually, fever results in forced bed rest, though this is not necessary, one can carry on with daily routine.

One should rest and warm up during the stage of shivering or sensation of cold. After the fever, when the body´s temperature drops bellow its normal level, rest is almost compulsory. The length of this period varies with the body´s condition.

Third phase: evacuation

The whole body relaxes. relaxation penetrates deeply, releasing the body´s humidity. Evacuation increases, fecal matter may become very dark. Diarrhea may also be abundant.

Evacuation may occur in other forms: urine, sweat, constant yawns and even expelling of foreign bodies (metallic objects, spikes, tolerated by the body until then).

Colds are to be avoided during these reactions and take it easy once the reactions end.

The heart of "pure heaven"

The Movement is some kind of withdrawal in search for internal harmony and not the execution of a technique.

One asks for nothing, one must wait for harmony to reveal itself naturally. One must put aside the search for power, efficiency, greed, struggle and seduction.

The Movement must be practised with the heart of "pure heaven", like the relaxation before sleep.

You might say this is difficult to accomplish, as there are always ideas and images that show up in your spirit. This is precisely what is good. Let them show up without following them. Then the spirit will be calm with what happens inside us.

One must avoid giving rise to speculation, following one idea after the next.

We have proposed the following principle: without knowledge, without technique, without purpose .

The development of breathing

The Movement develops a deeper breath, which penetrates little by little from the edges of the diaphragm to the bottom of the abdomen. One ends up feeling a stable Hara (abdomen) and flexible Koshi ( the back side of Hara, formed by lumbar vertebras and pelvis).

One must not force the means to achieve this objective. We give ourselves to the wisdom of the body and time and to the exercises necessary to achieve this state.

Each individual has got a different past and different needs so there are endless personal discoveries to be made.

Seitai (the normalized body) is reached when one gets the first belly point (epigastrium) negative, the second point neutral and the third point positive.

Then, one stops living in a hurry, prisoner of unexplained fear. Then one starts to feel the real human love.

Therapeutics

To consider the Movement as therapeutic is to misunderstand the issue. The normalization of the body brings good health as a consequence, but this is not synonymous of lack of disease.

The body will develop better power of adaptability to new situations, such as climatic and environmental changes and will react rapidly to anomaly. One can be disturbed by situations that do not affect others and this can be deemed as a healthy reaction of the body, much like a bell ringing inside the body as a defence mechanism.

The awakening of the Movement

Some have confused the Movement to mean " freedom". The Movement does not need to be noisy; as the body normalizes the Movement becomes more refined and merges with every day life´s movements. Every gesture will be regenerating and show spontaneously in case of need.

No body - No Mental

When the body works well and in silence, one does not think about it. The body can switch to a state of alarm if needed. If nothing happens it remains free from tension.

He who thinks well does not look like is thinking, his spirit remains free from tension. This is the No Mental.

He who discovers the No Body and the No Mental transcends space and time, life and death. For him, physical death is nothing more than a changed in "Habitat".

Based in an article from Santos Roman, the first organizer and leader of the Movement in Madrid