No to derail the discussion, but maybe you folks would find this interesting:
Japanese acupuncture, for the most part, is performed by the blind. The same thing that happened in China in regards to "proving" medicine because of the influx of western medicine thought happened in Japan. Both countries were going to throw out folk medicines like acupuncture and herbology in favour of the "western" variety (biomedical sciences).
While Japan was quite busy becoming a seriously industrialized country, they recognized that the blind would have no jobs in the "new world." So with much pleading from that population, the blind had their designated profession laid out by the government.
A new style of acupuncture then developed. One we call "Meridian Therapy." It has evolved over the years, lending many diagnostic techniques to sophisticated palpation. The idea has helped me in my practice. For the Traditional Chinese Medicine approach, most points are chosen based on patterns about a person's condition in relation to their verbal responses, their tongue picture and radial pulse. While these are of some importance in Meridian Therapy, moreso is the ability to sense tightness or depressions along a meridian (hence why the blind are so successful with it - possible heightened sense of touch).
In my practice, not only is it nice to get certain acupuncture points right because of pattern diagnosis, but it is certainly great when there is a "problem" with that acupuncture point as well.
But of course, one has to wonder (if one believes in this sort of thing) whether I'm actually doing the healing, or just part of a bigger picture (God/Source/channel). But that's WAY off topic!
All the best,
Kenton Sefcik
An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory. Friedrich Engels