Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Shonishin Tools

This was a recent commission of Shonishin tools for Shaun Sutton from the United Kingdom.  I must say I really enjoy my clients from the UK, they are exceptionally polite, kind, and insightful.  They also make me feel the acupuncture education there is superior to the United States, or at least the continuing education possibilities are much more extensive.  It is always nice to get clients that are full of new ideas and I get to learn something new or have to try some new techniques in my tool making.  Shaun sent me a copy of his book; "How Toxic Are My Trousers," and I highly recommend it.  Shaun is a man of great sensitivity and thinks very deeply about the way he lives.  He has even chosen as an acupuncturist to not use standard stainless needles, because he finds the metal does not resonate with him personally and therefore influences the treatment in a negative way.  I feel blessed to work with someone with such high standards that shares my love for silver acupuncture tools.

From top to bottom you will find a modified honeybee shaped heragata, a teishin/enshin, and a fish shaped yoneyama.  Shaun has a 7 month old daughter so she is one lucky girl!   Heragatas are generally flat but this one was made cylindrical so that there are no sharp edges.  The blunt end glides smoothly over the skin and has a wonderful warming effect, while the "stinger" may be used to stimulate specific points.  The teishin/ Enshin is finer than most enshins with a 9 mm ball.  I feel this size is much nicer for general treatment and has a very nice balanced feel.  The "fisheyama" has a normal yoneyama tail while the dorsal fin is also sharpened for a larger yoneyama blade surface while the belly is more gentle and round for techniques such as guasha.  The nose is good for stimulation of individual points and "fish kisses."  I love setting stones in my yoneyamas so this one received a blue topaz.
Shonishin Tools


2 comments:

Unknown said...

Shaun did not have a google account so he wanted me to post this response to my post of his tools;

Hi Anton, thank you for the fascinating insight to your work and kind comments about working with me. For anyone interested in working with Anton, just do it and trust he will understand what you need better than you do yourself. If he's unsure he asks. I gave Anton a very rough brief for the Bee shaped heragata and the four sided fish tool Anton refers to as the Fishiyama, and just let him do his best, even with not having worked with him before, although with the Teishin-Enshin I was more precise in my instruction.

I may be naively easy, but I was happy to have worked this way, just giving him the idea of what I wished of each aspect of the two new tools. He put his own creative and intuitive mind to it to do the rest, with great results!

Knowing I can now have the tools I need made for me has helped my taking such a bold decision as an acupuncturist to go completely 'stainless steel free'. It probably sounds like a foolhardy professional move, as there's no market yet for this type of work in the UK, and it will make no sense to the consumer, but if my body and senses are crying out such a message to me I just have to listen and follow it, irrespective of what other people do or seems to work for them. For other acupuncturists ask yourselves this, "were the ancients performing acupuncture using stainless steel as a metal for their early therapy tools and, is sticking a stainless steel pin into the body creating the change you seek to achieve, or is it just placebo, and other aspects in your work are the real therapy?"

I won't plug my own book, but thank you Anton for the mention. I will be thinking of the new tools once I learn the limits of what I have now. Best from Shaun Sutton

Shelterd Life said...
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