What it means to have 'nothing blocking you'... 719

A few days ago, just past noon, I felt a strange sensation in my right leg, thinking, 'Hmm? This feeling is nostalgic...'
Calling it a 'strange sensation' is an exaggeration; it was just that the side of my knee started to itch...

It was a sudden, creeping itch, so I instinctively looked at my right knee... but there was nothing there.
But it itched... and as I touched the area with the pad of my finger, I felt a tiny, slight snag.

It seemed to be an insect bite, but it was at a stage where it hadn't started to swell yet, so it was completely invisible to the eye.
But you know, for the person experiencing it, that familiar little bump is definitely there...
So I couldn't just say, 'It looks fine, so it's okay,' because, in the end, it still itched...

'I wasn't even exposing my legs, so when and how did I get bitten...?'
'Was it from when I was cleaning the gutters? But that would be way too late for a reaction...'
I was grumbling to myself like that, when it suddenly hit me.
'Oh, I should use Banky for the insect bite!'

Banky is what is commonly known as cupping therapy.
Recently, you can occasionally see the marks on the backs of athletes.
This time, rather than for promoting blood flow, I was using it like a poison remover to draw out the source of the inflammation from the skin.

I immediately attached a cup to the outside of my knee, right where it bends, near the kneecap where the line breaks, thinking, 'The itch is around here...'
If the 'opening' of the insect bite were here, bodily fluids or the remains of the insect's stinger would come out, but... no matter how long I waited, the opening wouldn't appear...
Not only did the opening not appear, but even the mark of the bite didn't surface...
'No, but it really does itch...' I started making excuses to no one in particular...

'Well, there's no point in rushing...' I came back to my senses (?) and decided to leave it on for a bit longer. While I was at it, since my leg was already exposed, I decided to attach a few more cups to my calf.

I knew there was a hard, knotty spot in the middle of my calf, but even when I massaged it or rolled it with a roller, the intensity felt too weak, or rather, I didn't feel like it was really reaching the spot. So, on a whim, I attached a few cups to the front and back of my lower leg.

About 15 minutes later, I checked the cup on the side of my knee... but there was no particular change.
It hadn't turned red, and the opening hadn't appeared.
'It's not like the itching would go away just because I drew blood anyway...' I finished that session of Banky, making excuses for my own strange expectations.

After that, the itching subsided, and although I felt a stinging sensation a few times over the next few hours, by evening, I had completely forgotten about the insect bite and the itch.
Just when I had forgotten that I had even done Banky for the first time in a while, I was surprised by something.
It was the sensation that, while standing, force was flowing smoothly from the sole of my right foot all the way up to my waist and back, without any obstructions.

You might think that's normal, but... when it's not usually flowing, you don't have the experience or physical awareness of what a 'flowing' state feels like, and you don't even know that it wasn't flowing in the first place.
...Well, I learned that this time, too.

I've been pressing the pressure points on the soles of my feet every night, and since around last month, I had started to feel a warm sensation around the ball of my foot, but even then,
'My foot feels warm... it's tingling... does this mean the warmth is circulating? Or is it just throbbing because I'm putting too much pressure on it?'
I couldn't be sure of the reason for this unfamiliar warmth.

But then, while I was standing in the kitchen, I realized it with my right foot.
Something was flowing—or rather, moving—from the bottom of my foot upward, without any muscles hardening, and independent of my own intention.
'So this is what it means to have nothing stopping it...' followed by, 'So this is what it means to pass through...' and then, 'It means I had been stopping it (it had been stopped) until now...'

And I could clearly tell that there was something 'stopping' it in my left foot.
Compared to my right foot, I could tell that it 'wasn't passing through' and was 'stopped.'

While experiencing this state, I realized once again that I had been thinking—or rather, 'assuming'—that 'this is just how legs feel' in a way I couldn't put into words.

Speaking of 'assuming,' it could be said that I hadn't been able to envision what a 'healthy state' was, or rather, I 'didn't know' and 'didn't even try to know.'
This feeling is probably true for everything, and I felt that this was truly a shame, or rather, a waste.

When I was little, I never thought about the flow inside my body; I just 'used' it.
I have no idea 'when it started to stagnate' or 'what it was like originally,' and although I am in a state of 'now' where I wonder 'was there ever really an original state to begin with?', I savored the quiet comfort of this physical sensation, learned about the 'smooth flow' and 'space' that the body originally possesses, and the sense of security that comes with 'being in one's body,' and it was an afternoon where I tasted a strange, lingering feeling that was both warm and ticklish.