Shiatsu touch

The more I practice shiatsu the more deeply I become aware of the potential power and depth of “shiatsu touch”

Shiatsu is a bodywork therapy from Japan that supports our natural ability to heal and find balance. Shiatsu means ‘finger pressure’ but I may use my thumbs, palms, knees, elbows and even feet, to work on the body and meridian energy system.

When I first learnt shiatsu I filled my head with information, I learnt the meridians, acupressure points and the five element theory of Chinese medicine. I learnt that if I press Kidney 1 it will help to ease lower back pain, holding Large Intestine 4 would release a headache and working on the lung meridian would help to deepen the breath, relax the lungs and ease congestion in the chest.

But there is so much more to shiatsu than theory and points, it is about really meeting another human being in the moment through the power of touch.

The Japanese have a word “sesshin” meaning open heartedness. When you practice “sesshin” you forget-self and practice self-and-other-as-one. When I’m working in this way it allows space for there to be a connection, a resonance between myself and my client a sense of melting together. There is no rush, I notice the breath and something softens, a peace enters the space, an openness, I follow moment to moment allowing my hands to move to where they are needed in the next moment, it becomes a flow. In this slowing down I am able to experience life just the way it is and from here healing can spontaneously arise.

I feel very blessed that this is my “work”, a playful, grounded, healing meditation in which i benefit almost as much as my client. It’s deeply relaxing as well as being physically, emotionally and spiritually healing.