Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

I had a mean cold also, for about 2 weeks. I produced about 6 big buckets of slime.
(ok, maybe that's a detail you didn't want to know about)
I played from time to time, and in my case it helped loosening the lung slime, ease coughing a bit, what ment better breathing. And I simply felt better for a while.
The virus won't stay long in my flutes I guess, and no one else is playing them. The flutes themself don't sneeze yet = )

Hi Marek! Yes...I am blowing through it now...sounds very different with blocked tubes in my head!

I will send you a DVD soon...my laptop DVD writer isn't working, but a new laptop is due at the end of the month, so I will produce some DVDs of the summer school then. Can you read DVD+ ?

How is everything in Prague? Cold there!?

Thank you.

I asked my wife about your suggestion and she says knows of this and will get me some. Interesting...

Thanks again for your advice.

Last edited by Adrian (2007-11-04 04:44:17)

A general rule of thumb is that if you're catching something it's best not to play as it usually just knocks you out. If you are over the worst of it then gradually playing a bit will help you recover by invigorating yourself and clearing the lungs. You'll know where you are by playing just a bit. The shakuhachi will be there when you start to recover. It might be best to sleep and recover quicker and then play. It's also time well spent listening to shakuhachi and/or following along with a score. Maybe that monster sankyoku piece you've been putting off.

  If you're immune system is down and you want something to boost it quickly, and I mean quickly,  I would recommend Nutrilite Vitamins (Double X). They are made from herbs grown on bio-dynamic organic farms in California. Nothing harmful. You can also take these daily as a dietary complement. You can find them on a web site under Quixtar. 


  Running a cloth with rubbing alcohol down the flute won't hurt it much although I have only done it to get rid of a moldy smell (because a few people out there keep their flutes so saturated!). I follow it up with a dab of oil an hr. or so later.

If you want to avoid colds drink a lot of green and white tea especally matcha.

You should not exert yourself when you are ill, this is a rule of thumb. That's why you don't go to the gym for example when you're sick. Playing shakuhachi is physical, so it's probably best to avoid.

I heartily second the Neti Pot. Here's a link to the one I like:

     http://www.nasespuelen.de/englisch/

It's plastic, and some folks are fussy about that, concerned about organics leaching into the water, however, this is fairly hard plastic (the suspect chemicals are those added to soften the plastic, as in soft plastic toys, and other fine things we give our kids to chew on...), and I think its benefits/features outweigh any small risks: The water is not heated enough, nor in it long enough, for leaching to be much of an issue, if at all. It's the right size (big enough to do the entire lavage in one go), it's shaped right (got a long ergonomically shaped snoot on it), and it comes with a dandy measuring spoon for the salt. Takes all of ten minutes to learn how to use it.

Plus, it's cheap: USD 20.00 shipped from Europe.

Here's a direct link to a PDF of their user guide, so you can do the deed even without buying their product, if you can find a way to pour it:

     http://www.nasespuelen.de/englisch/down … _GUIDE.pdf

One thing I particularly like about their 'recipe' (it's not unique, I'm sure) is that they recommend making a 'buffered' solution, ie, adding a small percentage of baking soda to the mix. Makes for a much 'smoother' broth

Nasal lavage is OK to do when you have a cold, but it's best to do routinely as a prophylactic measure. The theory is that the saline, regularly applied, presents unwanted bacteria and their ilk with a toxic environment. Since the solution is isotonic, or close to it, it's not toxic to the user. In any case, it's quickly in, and out. Every other day or so seems to be sufficient.

Thus endeth the proselytyization.

Last edited by edosan (2009-07-08 21:42:05)

edosan wrote:

Nasal lavage is OK to do when you have a cold, but it's best to do routinely as a prophylactic measure. .

Here in Australia we have a cool product called "Frequent Flyer" which is a mixture of saline, tea tree and eucalyptus in spray form. I use it all the time.

To help alleviate the sinus thingy that goes along with colds follow this Dao Yin recipe - form soft fists with both hands and then slide the back of the thumb knuckles (first knuckle) from the outside of the bottom of the nostrils up to the inner corner of the eyes with extremely light pressure. Do this slowly 4 times breathing in as the thumbs move up and breathing out as the thumbs come down. It's partly a lymphatic thingy and also covers some crucial acupressure points that are beneficial for this condition. The light pressure is also crucial as heavier pressure tends to actually have the opposite effect by compounding the stagnation syndrome. Another couple of useful acupressure points are Bladder 2 (inner end of eyebrows) and Yintang (in the middle between the inner end of both eyebrows) - use middle finger(s) to apply light to medium pressure for about 3 minutes

Last edited by Lodro (2009-09-30 01:14:54)