There are three lines of training in any healing system. One is teaching the principles behind the healing. In Oriental healing (and most ancient healing systems) this is called, "The Teaching of the Elements". The second line of training is the techniques. The third, and most neglected line is developing your feeling and awareness. In massage, for example, this would involve developing your sense of the flow of energy ("chi") through the client's body. Awareness of energy is a sense that has degenerated in modern times, so much so that it is not even recognized as a legitimate sense.
This awareness tells you what you must do to unravel the knots and kinks in this flow of energy. The techniques you learn are only of value in relationship to being able to diagnose the problems. Developing the sense of energy is often not taught in a massage school and so massage becomes solely a question of applying a pre-set series of techniques. This obviates the need to be aware of your client and allows you to be oblivious to everything but the tension in the muscles.
I believe that this is a metaphor for the modern way of life. We become oblivious to what is going on inside of us and inside of other people so that we can see people more as objects to be used or discarded. The sense of chi requires a more intimate connection to your client and to other people in general. This sense shows you how each part of the body communicates (or fails to communicate) with the rest of the body. It shows us how each of us is connected to the natural environment. It is a sense of connection.
A culture based on building community feeling would emphasize this sense. Once the sense of chi is gone we feel isolated. It is a shame that even the schools of healing, such as massage, have abandoned this sense as part of their training.