Moxibustion and Cooking
When I wake up in the morning, I first go to the eight-mat Japanese-style room. After preparing a candle, matches, and a moxa stick, I light the candle. I hold the moxa stick over the flame, and once it starts to smoke, I quickly stroke it over my entire body. It feels good, as if the areas where my blood flow was stagnant are suddenly clearing up.
I have been practicing moxibustion for about 20 years now. I continue it because I want to improve minor ailments. When I am feeling well, I use the moxa stick, but when I have pain somewhere in my body, I apply a thorough warm moxibustion treatment using loquat leaves.
My paternal grandmother used to make her own moxa. She would ask my mother to place it on areas she couldn't reach, like her back, and light it for her. I believe this happened about once or twice a month.
At the time, I was in elementary school and would sometimes follow my mother and watch from nearby. My grandmother's back was covered in many black dots, which were the scars from the moxibustion. When my mother lit the moxa, my grandmother would close her eyes, saying it felt good for a while, but halfway through, she would wince and look like she was enduring the heat.
My mother would remove the hot moxa with tweezers and place the next one on. As a child, I wondered why she would do something so painful. The smell of moxibustion was ingrained in my grandmother's bedroom, but my mother used to say, "This smell is nice, isn't it?"
I had heard from a friend that they and their spouse had been seeing an acupuncturist (T-san) for many years. Through a stroke of luck, I had more opportunities to meet T-san, such as having meals together. She is a very charming woman, and I feel energized every time I see her. She also holds acupuncture and moxibustion seminars, and one day, she asked me, "Let's hold a workshop together."
Although quite a bit of time passed, we were finally able to hold it the other day. I prepared the meal to go along with T-san's seminar. She said, "I want to make it a workshop where we can provide care from the outside with moxibustion and from the inside with food." We incorporated the wisdom of medicinal cooking and chose ingredients for the upcoming rainy season and the hot summer.
The venue was the Japanese-style room in our home. The seminar by our eloquent teacher was easy to understand, interesting, and very lively. The dishes I prepared this time were summer herb chirashi-zushi, vinegared potatoes, steamed eggplant, corn and new onion spring rolls, tomato, egg, and yam soup, and adlay tea. I used ingredients that help drain dampness and water accumulated in the body and replenish qi.
In the end, it all comes down to eating seasonal ingredients. How warm and wonderful nature is. Moxibustion and cooking. We are talking about wanting to hold this every season from now on. Over the past few years, I have come to want to pass on what I have to those who need it. Lightly and with enjoyment.
