Home Healing Massage: Hwal-Gong for Everyday Wellness

Chapter 1

WHAT IS HWAL-GONG?

1. The Act of Giving Love

2. Principles of Energy

3. Seven Major Benefits of Hwal-gong

4. Three Principles of Hwal-gong

5. The Art of Touch

The Act of Giving Love

When our lower backs hurt, we automatically tap our backs. Our hands go immediately to our stomachs when we have stomachaches. It’s as though our hands have minds of their own. Stroking, tapping, and touching painful areas of our body are instinctive ways we heal and love ourselves. Touch is a natural healing method that is perhaps as old as humanity itself. Acupressure and massage techniques have formalized this method of healing. The most important of the principles that form the foundation of Hwal-gong are not the physical techniques, however, but rather the mind-set used while performing it. Essentially, Hwal-gong is an act of giving love, or of transmitting loving energy to others.

The energy that flows in our bodies is called ki, also commonly spelled chi or qi. It is the life energy that sustains our daily activities. When ki is weak or when its flow is blocked or too strong, it becomes imbalanced, and we become ill. Our thoughts and habits directly influence the flow of ki in our bodies. Negative or excessive habits such as overworking, heavy drinking, overeating, excessive sex, and other activities are the culprits that destroy energy balance. Positive habits and a positive mindset will help ki to have a balanced flow.

Compassion and a genuine desire to help while giving Hwal-gong sends healing energy that can be felt tangibly in the receiver’s body. The same can happen with negative intentions and thoughts. For example, if you start your day in a gloomy mood, others around you will also be affected. Even in our daily lives we are responsible for the type of energy we transmit to others through our thoughts and actions.

Giving and receiving Hwal-gong can help us create positive energy. It heals the giver as well as the receiver, allowing for our own natural healing while we heal others. It not only treats disease, but also adds vibrancy to life. In a modern world that is often competitive and individualistic, Hwal-gong teaches that by helping others, you can help yourself. Those who bestow Hwal-gong on others with love and care not only heal them, but they also purify their own bodies and minds. This is a true act of love. The kind of love exchanged through Hwal-gong is the kind that can be compared to the unconditional affection and devotion between a mother and child. It is the most potent healing power in the world.

These drawings appeared in Hwal-in-shim-bang, a book about strengthening the mind and body written by Toi-gye Whang Lee (1501-1570) during the early Chosun Dynasty of Korea. It includes methods to maintain and improve health and the life force. These drawings, by Toi-gye himself, are illustrations showing self-healing.

This is a mural found in a doctor’s tomb in Sakara, Egypt, that dates back 4,000 years. It indicates that the ancient Egyptians employed reflexology to the hands and feet for the purpose of healing.

Principles of Energy

The principle of natural energy flow in our body is called Su-seung-hwa-gang . Translated literally, it means Water Up, Fire Down. It describes water energy of the kidneys rising upward along the back of the body, and fire energy flowing down the front of the body from the heart toward the abdomen. When Su-seung-hwa-gang is present, a person’s head feels cool and the abdomen warm.

Unfortunately, many people today have hot heads and cold abdomens instead. Their energy is concentrated in their heads and circulates poorly. This state is described as Upset Energy. When you are upset your head feels cloudy or hot, and your abdomen or feet feel cold. This condition is also accompanied by symptoms of diarrhea. It is a product of our lifestyle that we can use healing massage (or yoga) to counteract.

State of Su-seung-hwa-gang

Meridians on the body

Throughout this book, you will see various acupressure points on the body. In traditional Chinese medicine the acupressure points have poetic names that offer insight into either a point’s benefits or location.

But in the West people use abbreviations that reflect the organ system influenced and the position of the meridian. Also, each point is assigned an identification number to track its placement along the body. Point location numbers, such as Ki 1, GV 3, are standard referencing system used by professional acupuncturists. See box for key to abbreviations of the meridians. This book uses both an identification number and a Korean name to indicate each acupressure name.

Abbreviations of Each Meridian

In addition to energy channels, there are energy centers in our body. In Korean, these energy centers are called Dahn-jons, literally meaning a field where energy gathers. In Sanskrit, these energy centers are called chakras, meaning a wheel or circle. As their names describe, Dahn-jons are places where energy gathers and swirls in a circular motion. They help regulate the energy flow in the body and each is associated with different nerve ganglia in the spinal column corresponding to different brain areas, different organs and glands, and even different emotions or personal characteristics. Therefore, for our body and mind to be healthy and Su-seung-hwa-gang to occur, our Dahn-jons must be healthy. When our Dahn-jons are healthy they are