A Blue Poppy blog post by Bob Quinn
Iwashina Anryu Sensei just returned to Japan after teaching at the end of April here In Portland, OR. He is called Dr. Bear, a name given him by Native Americans in the late 1980s in recognition of his unique healing skills. Here’s how he was given the name: A Native contingent was in Japan for an anti-nuclear march, and one of their leaders had a severe asthma attack. He had such relief from Mr. Iwashina’s treatment that a few days later in a full-moon ceremony he and others in the group honored Mr. Iwashina and bestowed the name Dr. Bear on him. They said he practiced “bear medicine.” He has used the name proudly ever since. Dr. Bear has many times visited Sundance ceremonies and delivered free treatments to all in need and has also worked in Native clinics when he has visited the Bay Area.
Dr. Bear is a genuine master. I have had the great good fortune to study with just a small number I would put in this category of true mastery. There just aren’t that many real masters out there. I have also studied with many acupuncturists who are very, very good, but probably not really genuine masters of their craft. What is the value of a master and having contact with one? I have asked myself this question many times.
I think most North American practitioners probably go their entire careers and only rarely, if ever, encounter someone at that level I am placing just below mastery—let’s call it the very very good level. There aren’t that many at this elevated level either, although they are not as rare as masters.
If a student at NUNM, where I teach, pays me a compliment I thank them and let it go at that. But if someone says I am a master, I feel I have to set things straight. I explain that they would not say that if they had ever seen an authentic master. I am not one. For the sake of my patients I wish I were, but I am quite clear where I am on the continuum, and it is nowhere close to mastery. I am a student and what I share when I teach is my studentship. Period.
One of the pleasures of hosting someone like Dr. Bear (a company I run with a partner, Portland Traditional Japanese Seminars, hosted his seminar) is that some of the NUNM students come and for the first time meet a genuine master. I know how it can change one’s entire career trajectory. It has for me. In fact every time in the last seven years that I have studied with Dr. Bear has been a major point of inflection for me. There is a subtle transmission that alters me in ways difficult to describe.
I incorporate into how I work a good deal of what I learned from Dr. Bear, but the main value for me in being his student is not that I copy him in every respect. I have studied with others, and I want to honor their teachings as well. I am eclectic by nature and I think many in the U.S. are this way. The main value is watching his process with patients, watching the combination of classical analysis and cultivated palpatory examination, together with sensitive treatment skills. The outcomes of his treatments often astound me, and yet they are so gentle that it is a wonder to our skeptical minds that they work at all, let alone amazingly.
There has been a craze in Japan for using the teishin (one of the nine classical needles—one that is not inserted at all, but is rather used to influence change in the surface-most layer), and it is just started in this country as well. I take this as a good thing that practitioners and students are looking to find ways to deliver effective treatments that are sensitive to optimal dosage levels. But one has to note that Dr. Bear was way ahead of the curve; he has been using only teishin for almost 30 years. A true pioneer. I count myself lucky that I ever met him and have been allowed to continue to study with him these last seven years.
I’ll close wishing for all readers mentorship under a genuine master, or failing that, one with someone at the very very good level.
Best wishes all around,
Bob Quinn