A:TLA Annotations

Energybending - A Comparison

While the Lionturtle and Aang use the same technique, Amon seems to be using another method.

When Aang takes away Ozai’s bending, and when the Lionturtle teaches Aang energybending, they both thouch TWO points on the body, the yin tang and the ru zhong point aka the Ajna chakra and the Anahata chakra.

When Amon ‘takes away’ LBZ’s bending, he only touches ONE point, the yin tang.

Now what could that mean?

I think Amon is faking it. That he is making people believe that he is taking away their bending, when what he is actually doing is blocking a chakra.

Here is why:

Amon touches the yin tang point aka the Ajna chakra:

Yintang Acupuncture Point 

When Uncle is teaching Zuko about lightning, he talks about bending needing a certain amount of inner calm. So, if you were to close that chakra and lock all the anxiety inside someone, making them incapable of being calm, that would effectively take someone’s bending away.

Quite clever actually, since the more terrified they are/become the more permanent this block will be. And Amon is sure laying it on thick.

Note: This also means one should be able to undo it. Which is good, considering some of the promos we’ve seen.

Ru zhong, Ajna chakra, Anahata chakra.

Image source: One

Fire Nation Colony Spa: Incense Burner

At the spa, at the beginning of season two, we see two incense burners in the background. Incense is not only burned at temples for worship but also has medicinal uses.

Incense in China is traditionally used in a wide range of Chinese cultural activities including, religious ceremonies, ancestor veneration, traditional medicine, and in daily life. Known as xiang  香 (literally “fragrance”), incense was used by the Chinese cultures starting from Neolithic times with it coming to greater prominence starting from the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties.

Image source: One

Song’s Clothing and Clinic Furniture

Song is wearing a traditional Korean dress called a

Hanbok (South Korea) or Chosŏn-ot (North Korea) is the traditional Korean dress. It is often characterized by vibrant colors and simple lines without pockets. Traditional women’s hanbok consists of jeogori, a blouse shirt or a jacket and chima, a wrap-around skirt, which is usually worn full. The ensemble is often called chima jeogori. Men’s hanbok consists of jeogori and baji which means pants in Korea. The bajwere baggy pants in traditional men’s hanbok.

The cabinet we see behind her is for the storage of herbs used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. and in Traditional Korean medicine 한의학 - 韓醫學, which developed with the influence of Traditional Chinese medicine and thus is rather similar.

Image source: One, two

Song’s Clinic

The sign above the door reads 醫 Yi. Yi means both: Doctor or Medicine.Song’s
profession as a doctor of Traditional Medicine would be called 中医 Zhong Yi.

The other doctor treating the man is using fire cupping.

Cupping therapy is an ancient form of alternative medicine in which a local suction is created on the skin; practitioners believe this mobilizes blood flow in order to promote healing.^[1] Suction is created using heat (fire) or mechanical devices (hand or electrical pumps).

Fire Cupping: The air inside the cup is heated and the rim is then applied to the skin, forming an airtight seal. As the air inside the cup cools, it contracts, forming a partial vacuum and enabling the cup to suck the skin, pulling in soft tissue, and drawing blood to that area.

In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) cupping is a method of applying acupressure by creating a vacuum on the patient’s skin to dispel stagnation—stagnant blood and lymph, thereby improving qi flow—to treat respiratory diseases such as the common cold, pneumonia and bronchitis. Cupping also is used on back, neck, shoulder and other musculoskeletal conditions. Its advocates say it has other applications, as well^.