Fran Robinson - Shiatsu for Wellbeing
What is Shiatsu?
Shiatsu is a is a style of bodywork, using pressure, holding, gentle stretching and joint mobilisations to assist the physical structures and alignment of the body.
Unlike western massage it also works with the body's Ki (Chi) energy. Balancing Ki has a positive effect on the internal organs as well as touching the emotions. Some physical problems are the result of stress or other emotional issues and these too can be helped to heal. So, Shiatsu assists structural integration as well as addressing mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of well-being.
I do Shiatsu on a massage table or on the floor with the client lying on a futon. It is traditional for shiatsu to be done on the floor as the images represent.
What is Ki?
Ki (sometimes spelled 'Chi' or 'Qi') is our life-force. Ki provides the energy for all our life processes. It gives our organs their transformative abilities, holds everything in place and supplies our vitality. It is also the organising force which enables our innumerable component parts to work together harmoniously.
Ki moves along Meridians or channels beneath the skin. Acu-points or tsubos are found along these Meridians and can be affected by pressure (or needles in Acupuncture). Working with acu-points creates changes in the the system.
How Shiatsu works
To help understand the principle of Chinese/Oriental medicine, we can use the example of digestion. The food we eat gets chewed-up, broken down, and the various components absorbed by the intestines. But consider what happens after this basic process. There is some unfathomable alchemy whereby this food is transformed and so thoroughly integrated that it actually becomes you. Western science cannot explain aspects of our life force such as this. Chinese wisdom does, and the understandings the ancient Chinese developed allow us to work with these subtle energies. This is one of the reasons why Oriental therapies can so often help when Western medicine has not been able to.
The Oriental approach has a completely different rationale from that of Western medicine. One particular aspect is that it does not separate our mental, emotional and physical aspects. These are all seen as manifestations of Ki. The emotional and mental components are Ki in a more rarified form than for the physical body — but just as real and present, nonetheless. Therefore, working with the Ki (to release blockages, stimulate or balance it, etc) can help with mental and emotional problems as well as physical conditions.
According to the Oriental view, the Ki flowing in each of the meridians has different qualities and functions. Health and wellbeing can be positively affected by working with these different energies. The Shiatsu practitioner is able to tune-in and resonate his/her own energy field and to offer, at a sub-conscious level, some possibilities for change - both physical and emotional.
There are some very interesting questions as to whether our physical body creates our Ki field (‘etheric body’, ‘energy-body’, ‘aura’, etc) or whether the energy-body creates the physical one. It is increasingly widely believed that much illness first occurs as a distortion in the energy field which then, because that field provides our ongoing template, introduces the distorted pattern of illness into our physical body.
Tsubos (points) are commonly situated in connective tissue between muscles groups. It is believed that this is why they can help alleviate muscular pain. Many of these are also "trigger" points used in physiotherapy for the same purpose.
The Western scientific approach acknowledges that Shiatsu will tend to calm the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and promote the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS).
The SNS is associated with the 'fight or flight' response. Our busy lives tend to activate the SNS too much of the time and create stress. The PNS relates might be described as the nourishing and healing functions. It facilitatesdeepened breathing, relaxed muscles, good digestion, steady heart rate and blood circulation. All this leads to a peaceful mind. These things are suppressed when the SNS is more highly activated. Shiatsu helps to release the tension in the SNS.
"A quiet mind cureth all."
Each morning, we are born again.
What we do today is what matters most.
