I will never forget In Spring of 1973, my mother, younger sister and I had moved to Washington state I was walking across the living room the evening news was showing a clip actress Shirley MacLaine had recorded while she had been in China. She witnessed a woman receiving an acupuncture treatment while in labor, laughing, smiling and eating an orange.
“I had the clear inspiration/realization that the Medicine of the Past will become the Medicine of the Future. All I will need are my hands”.
Later that year in the fall I began attending Eastern Washington State University. Majoring in Geology minoring Psychology. About two years later while visiting my sister and life-long mentor Paulette in Santa Fe, New Mexico I began having severe stomach pains. She took me to see a Naturopathic Physician, Jay Victor Scherer.
He walked in put his fingers on the area of my spleen and said “stop eating sugar”! Within a couple days the pain was gone. My seeking began. I had to know HOW he knew and HOW it worked!
I returned to EWSU, but so much had changed for me. I lasted another 6 months and knew I was not doing what I was supposed to be doing with my life. So I left Washington and moved to New Mexico.
I began my holistic medicine training in 1976 when I was accepted into the naturopathic program at Jay Victor Scherer’s Santa Fe College of Natural Medicine. In 1977 I became Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT), giving me a strong foundation in palpitating muscle tissue, finding tight tender spots, holding patterns and muscular imbalances. By 1979 I received Certifications in Iridology, Colonics and Domestic Herbology. I was beginning to discover my direction as a healer and now understood, I could “see with my hands”!
In fall of 1979 I was overheard complaining about my health by a student who was in the internship program at the Kototama Institute in Santa Fe. She asked me if I would consider getting acupuncture as one of her “finals”. I was to commit to complying with absolutely every recommendation. In exchange I would receive free treatment at the Institute with the benefit of being overseen and possibly treated by Nakazono Sensei until I was released. I was experiencing excruciatingly painful menstrual cycles. In addition, I was plagued with dyslexia and an inability focus. (At that time there was no official diagnosis for Attention Deficit Disorder).
When I was introduced to the founder of the institute, Masahilo Nakazono Sensei. I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be. Within two months of treatment, including a strict Macrobiotic medicinal diet my menstrual pain disappeared and has never return. My dyslexia and ability to focus had profoundly improved. Soon my fascination with the fact that the treatments were actually changing the way my thought processes worked led me to ask Nakazono Sensei many questions.
When he did respond it would be by saying something I couldn’t quite hear, with a smile in his eyes and a chuckle, stroking his beard and nodding. Finally one day I must have asked the right question, Nakazono Sensei responded clearly, “If you REALLY want to know, come to my school”.
This school was by invitation only. I was there the next day filling out my application! The application included an essay question as to why here, why Kototama Institute?
When I went for my interview with Nakazono Sensei my acupuncturist, Sarai Saporta was with me. She was his personal secretary, ran the school and his interpreter. (He spoke English with a Japanese /French accent).
When he read my essay he threw his head back and started laughing until tears rolled out repeating “Jizo Bosatsu! Jizo Bosatsu! You can come to my school!”
Sarai would later explain to me that Jizo Bosatsu was a “bodhisattva” of healing and gratitude, acknowledging our ancestors for the information they passed on to us. In Japan you find a statue, often carved from granite all along roadways and in parks to protect and comfort the children.
I began the program at the Kototama Institute School of Life Medicine in 1980 under the instruction and direction of Masahilo Nakazono, Sensei and his 2 sons Katzuhara Nakazono, Sensei, and Jiro Nakazono, Sensei.
The curriculum included diagnostic and therapeutic theory, applications of Gogio (Five Element) medicine, pulse diagnosis, Meridian Therapy, the Kototama Principle, Te A Te (Spiritual Hand Treatment), Kototama sound rhythms and patterns, Aikido and calligraphy.
Upon completion of the basic program in 1982 I continued my studies with an internship of 4 years at the Institute, followed by a year of apprenticeship with Jiro Nakazono, Sensei. I was state and nationally board certified in 1986 by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM) as a Doctor of Oriental Medicine (DOM) and began private practice.
From 1986-1988 I had the opportunity to further my studies while contributing to the community by volunteering for a 3 day weekend once or twice a month at a free Oriental Medicine Family Clinic in Ensenada, Mexico under the direction of Inochi Resources, a non-profit organization founded by Masahilo Nakazono, Sensei and led by his most senior student.
I wanted to contribute to my local community so In 1986 I augmented my training with emergency medicine and became an EMT and firefighter joining the Hondo Volunteer Fire Department where I ultimately became a lieutenant. I also became the “Medic” and onsite DOM to all the concerts promoted by the companies “Big River and Evening Star” in northern New Mexico until 1994. Here are some of the bands that I’ve worked with.
In 1991 in order to keep a standard of over all health I wanted to start taking Aikido again. I had not trained in Aikido since 1982 at the Kototama Institute so I began to look for a dojo. There were 4 or 5 at that time and none of them seemed “authentic” or have the same “sense” that the Kototama Institute dojo did… until I found Damon Apodaca Sensei’s “Roninkai Dojo”.
As soon as walked in I could tell “this was the real deal”! Apodaca Sensei had been one of Nakazono Sensei’s original Santa Fe Dojo’s students and had participated in the construction of the Kototama Institute about 1977. He would continue his training under Nakazono Sensei until his retirement from Aikido in 1982. Apodaca Sensei departed to San Diego to continue his training with Chiba Sensei to become an instructor.
I realized we were briefly in the same place at the same time but did not meet for almost another ten years.
We discovered we were on the same path via our connection to Nakazono Sensei. We were married in 1993 by Mary Lou Cook and moved to Newport Rhode Island. Nakazono Sensei always encouraged his students to be “missionaries” and bring the arts to where they were needed. We were able to establish our “Center” combining our arts very successfully treating and teaching influencing the community and even in the “political” arenas. I became involved with the state organization RISAOM serving as President, vice president, treasurer and legislative chair. Apodaca Sensei also served on various national teaching committees. We relocated back to NM in 2008. Apodaca Sensei build a beautiful dojo on our property Santa Fe Budokan.
I am currently in private practicing and and am very Kansha (Grateful) to still be treating, learning, loving, suffering, seeking
“When someone attracts a following by giving a symbolic explanation of what he, himself, has grasped in a priori (spiritual or soul world) and is satisfied with such a state of affairs – this seeker is as yet a beginner. The one who is at the end of his grasping of a priori and still suffers because he is not able to hand it over to others – he is the real seeker”.
-Mikoto Masahilo Nakazono