Shiatsu

Shiatsu is a therapeutic practice that can support individuals in moving towards greater health and well-being.

It is a traditional hands-on Japanese healing art which can help in a wide range of conditions - from specific injuries to more general symptoms of poor health. Shiatsu is a deeply relaxing experience and regular Shiatsu sessions help to prevent the build up of stress in our daily lives.

The Meaning of Shiatsu

Shiatsu is a Japanese word meaning “finger pressure”. It is a new name for the oldest form of medicine - healing with hands. Everybody has the healing power of touch and responds to touch. It is a natural ability that people are now beginning to recognise again. Shiatsu uses hand pressure and manipulative techniques to adjust the body's physical structure and its natural inner energies, to help ward off illness, and maintain good health.

Shiatsu is Simplicity

Shiatsu is characterised by its great simplicity. It grew from earlier forms of massage, called Anma in Japan (Anmo or Tuina in China) which use rubbing, stroking, squeezing, tapping, pushing, and pulling to influence the muscles and circulatory systems of the body. Shiatsu, by contrast, uses few techniques and to an observer it would appear that little is happening - merely a still, relaxed pressure at various points on the body with the hand or thumb, an easy leaning of the elbows or a simple rotation of a limb. It almost seems a lazy activity and, to the extent that it conserves one's energy, it is. But underneath the uncomplicated movements much is happening internally to the body's energy on a subtle level.

Working with Subtle Energy

The Oriental tradition describes the world in terms of energy. All things are considered to be manifestations of a vital universal force, called “Ki" by the Japanese, ''Chi", or " Qi", in China. Because of the Japanese origins of shiatsu therapy, the Japanese word Ki is used in preference to the Chinese word, Chi. Ki is the primary substance and motive force of life. It is most often described as "energy", but Ki is also synonymous with breath in the Japanese and Chinese languages. In Oriental medicine, harmony of Ki within the human body is conceived as being essential to health. All its endeavours are addressed to this end.

Styles of Shiatsu

Many early shiatsu practitioners developed their own style and some, including Tokojiro Namikoshi and Shizuto Masunaga, founded schools that helped establish shiatsu as a therapy. There are many different styles of shiatsu today. Some concentrate on "acupressure (acupuncture) points". Some emphasise more general work on the body or along the pathways of energy to influence the Ki that flows in them. Others high­light diagnostic systems, such as the "Five Element'' system or the macro-biotic approach. But all of these are based on traditional Chinese-medicine.

Zen Shiatsu

Masunaga incorporated his experience of shiatsu into his studies of Western psychology and Chinese medicine; he also refined the existing methods of diagnosis. His extended system incorporated special exercises, known as "Makko Ho', to stimulate the flow of Ki, and he developed a set of guiding principles to make the techniques more effective. He called his system "Zen Shiatsu" after the simple and direct approach to spirituality of the Zen Buddhist monks in Japan.