Interview with Dr. Joon Hee Lee, Visceral Osteopath
Dr. Joon Hee Lee, DAOM, LAc
Dr. Joon Hee Lee is a practitioner of Barral Visceral Osteopathy, a subtle and profound manual therapy, and has recently started practicing at our Jeju branch and occasionally in our Itaewon branch as well. Today we talked to him to find out more about his background and treatment approach.
1. Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you came to practice at Create Wellness Center?
I am an acupuncture, herbs and manual therapy practitioner from the US. Through Sunjae, one of my former students at NUNM, I found this great opportunity to serve wonderful clientele of Create Wellness Center in Korea.
2. What is Barral style Visceral Osteopathy and how does it differ from other styles of Osteopathy?
It is more commonly known as ‘visceral manipulation’ which is designed to help release the restrictions in our organs and unhealthy compensation patterns and ensure them to function optimally. Barral also developed techniques for releasing tension in the dura, nerves, brain, blood vessels and articular components. Therefore, it is a whole-body approach.
What makes it differ most from other styles of therapy is ‘listening’ (through the practitioner’s hands). ‘Listening’ is a subtle anatomy-based evaluation method and is the most important aspect of this approach. Listening refers to the process of listening to each individual body’s intelligence and what we are told through our hands, rather than just listen to the patients’ symptoms. For example, a patient might report right shoulder pain but her body could intuitively know to ask the practitioner to treat her liver. In this case, treating just her shoulder usually yields a temporary result at best but taking care of the root, which is the restriction around her liver, would yield a long-lasting result.
these hands were made for listening
3. What kinds of conditions have you treated, and is there any particular condition / patient type that you specialize in?
The most common condition that I see in clinic is body pain, whether from muscular-skeletal causes or internal conditions. Barral found that even for muscular-skeletal conditions, over 70% of cases have a visceral origin. Digestive issues and women’s health issues are other common conditions that I have treated. This approach is also particularly useful for pediatric patients because of its non-verbal diagnostic method and gentle hands-on technique for young ones.
4. Are there any unique aspects of your use of Barral style that are due to your specific background?
My study of enhanced listening skills and palpatory senses led me to further explore the body in the context of my background of East Asian medical concepts, such as qi (energy) and meridians. This helped to bridge between western and eastern medical perspectives and allowed me to understand the body more wholistically.
5. For those unfamiliar with Barral Style Visceral Osteopathy, can you walk us through the logistics of what a visit looks like? Duration, procedure, sensations one might feel, etc.
When I first see patients, I tell them that I would like to do a physical exam first, before even hearing about their conditions, in order to be more objective without preconceived ideas during the listening process. To begin, I would put my hand on top of their head to find whereabout their body “pulls” my hand and attention to. Then, my hand hovers 10 cm above their entire body to detect subtle changes of their body temperature, which gives me important information. Now I put my hand on various areas of the body to detect the most important area their body wants me to work on. My hand will identify the specific structure that needs to be released. After a few more of such examinations, I would then ask patient about their symptoms and history. With my findings and the patients recounted experience, I make a connection between what the patient tells me and where the body guides me. Then, the gentle hands-on treatment follows. The area treated is not always the area of patients’ symptoms. After the release of the main area, I repeated the listening process again to see if there is another area the body guides me to work on. When there is no further finding from the listening processes on that day, this indicates that it is the best time to stop. So, duration of treatment is dictated by what their body tells, not by a set treatment duration nor what the patient wants.
6. Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions today! To leave us, can you tell us what are some of your personal methods or tips that you can offer for attaining wellness in your daily life?
Sure thing:
I practice feeling gratitude for everything in my life
Practicing moderation in eating and also exercising regularly
I find that it is important to finish my last meal 3 hours before bed
