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What's Shiatsu

Origins and techniques

Louise Armstrong used to say that if you need to ask what Jazz is, you will never understand it.

This phrase, which has gone down in history, contains the infinite essence of what cannot be defined.

Shiatsu like Jazz is listening, energy, emotions and practice.

To all newbies who ask me to explain what Shiatsu is, I ask what is the first instinctive action they perform when they have stomach pain, a migraine or simply hit their knee.

The answer is always the same, place your hands on the painful area and apply pressure to the area to give relief.

This is Shiatsu.

The origins of Shiatsu

Shiatsu is an ancient oriental discipline that draws its origins from Chinese manipulative practices aimed at rebalancing and maintaining the psychophysical well-being of the person.

In the 7th century some Buddhist monks brought this knowledge to Japan following the birth of a new technique based on the rich tradition of Chinese medicine but with a totally different approach.

According to traditional Chinese medicine and other oriental disciplines, our body is crossed by real channels associated with organs and viscera.

These channels are commonly called meridians and are charged and discharged with energy at specific times of the day (circadian circle).

The energy imbalance within  meridians can cause pathologies and discomfort.

In 2017, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to three American researchers who, with their studies, proved the existence in our body of a daily biological rhythm, the functioning of which is fundamental for our state of health.

It is precisely on the path of the meridians that the three great Japanese masters Tamai Tempaku, Tokujiro Namikoshi and Shizuto Masunaga, in years of study and through acupressure work, discovered that they could rebalance the energy flow within them and prevent the onset of pathologies.

Today, in Japan, Shiatsu is recognized as a therapeutic technique and it is in the National Health System.

In Italy, specifically for the Lombardy region where I studied, Shiatsu falls within the Bio-Natural Disciplines and does not have a health, aesthetic or sporting character but works with the aim of achieving the full expression of the person’s vitality, activating the capacity for energy rebalancing.

The Shiatsu technique

The Shiatsu technique is a non-invasive manual technique based on perpendicular and constant pressures along all the meridians that cross our body.

This pressure can be applied, as needed, with the thumbs, palms of the hands, elbows and in some cases with the knees or the sole of the foot.

The treatment does not require the recipient to be naked but on the contrary it is suggested to wear comfortable clothes, such as a track suit.

The intensity of the pressure varies depending on the area treated.

On the face it is advisable not to apply firm but more delicate pressure, as the meridians are more on the surface than the back or other parts of the body.

Some points may be more contracted and therefore more sensitive to pressure, but since Shiatsu is a non-invasive technique, the pressure intensity will take into account the needs of the recipient without the treatment losing its effectiveness.

The pressure, in fact, must not be too much but not too little.

Before carrying out the first treatment, a scrupulous evaluation of the recipient will be performed, in which a series of information will be requested on the previous pathologies, those in progress, the diagnostic tests carried out, the lifestyle and information on the diet adopted.

At the end of the anamnesis, a practical evaluation will be carried out, in which the Shiatsu operator will check the state of the meridians through stretching and pressure.

The evaluation of the state of a meridian can take place on the meridian itself or in reflex areas such as the abdomen and back.

As previously mentioned, an organ or a bowel is associated with each meridian, so it is not certain that an assessment of the kidney meridian is exclusively in the lower abdomen but can also be performed along the lower limbs.

Following this collection of information, it will be possible to study the best treatment and customize it for the recipient’s needs.

Shiatsu considers the whole person and his lifestyle in order to be able to work in depth and achieve not only a psycho-physical rebalancing but also to prevent the imbalance from recurring over time

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