I have just read Thea Bailey's article in the Winter Shiatsu Society newsletter and it prompts me to upload some old text from one of my first leaflets.
Shiatsu IS difficult to define and so perhaps rather than define it for someone else we should invite them to find out what it is:
Shiatsu uses stretching, rocking, acupressure and holding but that is not what it is. All of these statements describe a tool or a method that may be used. So what is it? Shiatsu is an opportunity; it is time for yourself but shared with a fellow human being; it is a place of peace; calm and quiet, but energising and refreshing. It is an education.
Shiatsu is truly beyond words. It is different for each individual and for each practitioner. The quality of touch and the range of movement used depends on what the body/mind is tacitly asking for. On an emotional plane it is the unconditional touch which allows the body to release stuck energy and come to harmonious flow again.
My favorite descriptions of shiatsu are from Shizuto Masunaga, who says it is a 'skin-ship'. And a heart-to-heart connection... a form of 'giving advice' in the way we (the practitioners) by means of touching the receiver, bring their awareness to their own bodies, the attention to which leads their ki.
ReplyDeleteEven after five years of practice I still find myself stumped when asked what it is... simple definitions fail me when my experience has proven it to be so much more.