Taiheki (体癖、たいへき) is a concept of one's bodily tendency in sensitivity, temperament, movement and personality. The concept was established by Haruchika Noguchi (野口 晴哉), who was the founder and a teacher of Seitai (整体) in Japan. Noguchi said that man's tendency of sensitivity can be divided into five categories, each of which is divided into two types, one of which is active (odd-numbered types) whereas the other of which is passive (even-numbered types). In addition, there are two anomalous types. Thus, 12 types of Taiheki in total have been defined. Among them, odd-numbered types have a tendency to release compressed energy in an active way, whereas even-numbered types are passive and require others' attention to release compressed energy. The 12 types are like pure colours in colour, and there is a combination of two types in one person (this is called complex Taiheki). The concept of Taiheki is somehow similar to the typology by Ernst Kretschmer, Enneagram of Personality and Four Temperaments. However, Taiheki is not only applicable to psychological aspects such as one's emotional or behavioural tendencies, but also to one's physical characteristics including the shape of face and body, balance of weights, and tendency seen in movement. According to him, all these aspects are correlated with the state of five lumbar vertebrae. In Japanese, tai (体) means "body", whereas heki (癖) represents "habit" or "tendency". Noguchi established the concept of Taiheki through his activity as a healer and Seitai teacher sometime during the early 1950s. A modified weight scale called Tairyo Haibun Kei (体量配分計) (body mass distribution meter) is used to tell somebody's Taiheki. The scale's platform is divided into left and right parts for both legs, and each of the parts is further divided into three parts: frontal right, frontal left, and rear parts. Thus one stands over the six parts of the platform. When he makes postures, such as brace and forward-bending position, the scale gives data on the biased balance of his weight in a certain direction for each posture. According to Noguchi, each Taiheki has a distinct tendency to the biased balance of weight in each posture. One can hence determine somebody's Taiheki based on the collected data. Alternatively, without using any special apparatus, one's Taiheki can be estimated by observation of his/her physical constitution, postural characteristics, kinetic features, or psychological tendency in sensitivity . Noguchi's seitai provides exercises specifically designed for each Taiheki, to adjust its unbalanced tendency when it is excessive. It is thought that in general one's Taiheki doesn't change dramatically in adulthood. Noguchi himself was Taiheki type 9 mixed with twisted type, whereas his wife, Akiko Noguchi was Taiheki type 1.
12 types of Taiheki
Release and Attention - Odd-numbered Taiheki and Even-numbered Taiheki Odd-numbered Taiheki of 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 are considered to be the types that can proactively dissipate excess energy. Even-numbered Taiheki of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 are less likely to dissipate their surplus energy, are more susceptible to their surroundings and desire the attention of others when they lack energy.
Classification of the 12 types of Taiheki Taiheki types 1 to 10 are closely related to the kinematic characteristics of a particular lumbar vertebra; types 11 and 12 are somewhat specialised and characterised by an overall acuteness or dullness of sensitivity.
Upwards and Downwards category: Types 1 & 2 L1 vertebrate is important in the movement of people having these Taiheki. When they stand upright and bend themselves forward, they often put their weight on the frontal part of their soles. They are underweight and slender, with a long, firm neck, narrow shoulders, thin chest plate and slight muscle tone in the limbs. When they have a posture in which they bend themselves forward slightly, they often bend their neck and above. They have a straight spine. They tend to wear plain and conservative clothes. Type 1 is more comfortable looking up when placing feet on a desk and hands around the neck; Type 2 is more comfortable looking down. They tend to have smaller breasts in women. Right and wrong, praise and blame, are central to their sensitivity. They value reputation and honour. They are good at constructing and telling logic. About their high linguistic ability, they are sensitive to words and highly susceptible to verbal suggestions. Hence, they often become ill or healthy simply due to their assumption or other person's words. They are realistic and interesting in their conversations. They require long sleep and often have a dream about the story. They are very sensitive to lack of sleep and worry a lot about it. Because they persist in good reason, truth, and rules, they cannot take action without having good enough reason for themselves. They tend to overview the world as if from the viewpoint of heaven, and have high metacognitive ability. Thus, Noguchi said that people with the Upwards and Downwards category are the least wild, and like Xian/Sennin/Hsien (in Taoism), Xian is believed to live in a high mountain, or heaven immortal and have some magical power. Noguchi meant that people of these Taiheki live in an imaginary world with an overview of the natural world. They like books and studying from childhood and listen well to adults, so they often honour students. They believe that emotions are below reason and should be controlled by reason, so when they see someone being overwhelmed by emotions, they think it is a pity. They tend to like the colour blue. They are elegant.
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