I've often referred to myself as a bodyworker. Which sometimes has had the effect of giving the impression that I work on cars.
That confusion aside, there has also been the reference made to shiatsu as energy work, I suppose because the primary intention is on the meridians and therefore, ki flow, and therefore, energy flow throughout the body.
But, unlike say, Reiki, shiatsu often does require applying pressure to the body as well as using other physical techniques.
So, which is it?
Well, if you want to get technical, some would say that our bodies are energy. And that we actually have other, more etheric bodies that extend out far beyond our physical boundaries. It is in these bodies that our 'stuff' develops, and only when those issues aren't addressed, do they manifest in the denser physical body as illness.
One piece of writing I came across referred to our physical bodies as the 'energetic trash can' for our spiritual, mental and emotional layers. It also notes, as I've written about before, that our central nervous system is the interface between the denser physical and lighter outer bodies. If you can visualize the CNS as an antenna of sorts... bringing in vibratory information from the 'external' world to affect the tissues, organs, muscles and bodily functions, as well as sending out vibrations like a tuning fork, you can get a sense of the intention of the shin tai work I do, which is to clear any restrictions and stuckness from around the spine, within which the spinal cord and the CNS signals travel (as well as one of the main trunks of the meridian system, the Governing Vesel).
So, I guess, long story short, the body really is energy, and what we do to the body affects the energy. (And likewise, what we do to the energy affects the body..)
(But first, a small confession. I did buy one of these for my husband... actually a cushion that is placed on a chair with little whirling thingys that dig into the back muscles. I did this so he could get some degree of relief, without relying on me to have time to work on him. Just wanted to mention that to show I'm not TOTALLY at odds with machinery.)
It slices, it dices, it juliennes, whatever that is..Ahem. Back to my rant.
Thanks to the wonders of Google alerts, I come across many MANY reviews, ads, testimonials for shiatsu massage chairs. Almost all of them will tell you that a massage chair does everything an actual shiatsu practitioner can do, and, as one ad states:
"It's like having a live-in massage therapist who doesn't bill by the hour!"
Indeed.
I suppose some chairs are way better than others, and I will concede that it's really nice to be able to relieve some serious stuckness and pain just by relaxing into a piece of furniture in your own home.
I guess I'm just taking some small personal offense at the suggestion that a chair can be just as good as caring human touch.
Is it all about the convenience and money-savings?
Shiatsu, as I understand it, is more about the connection between people. The communication. The listening part, especially. The part where I take in your story, both the words and the vibrations, and I hold it gently, offering back what I hear, so you can be clearly aware of where you are.
Shiatsu is about reading the body like a well-loved book... dog-eared, and worn around the edges, but full of intrigue and drama, love and loss, pain and delight.
Shiatsu is about finding those places where you carry your wordly 'stuff', and those places that you keep locked away and hidden, all the while inviting your body to make peace and balance between them. Even if just for today. To remind you what it feels like to be really in your body. To breathe. To feel. To let go.
Shiatsu is about challenging your boundaries, just a little, and with respect... encouraging movement just beyond what you believe to be your limits, opening up new possibilities. It's about illuminating a different perspective on how to view your life situation, and learning a new language to describe it.
If a chair can do all that, then by all means, go for it. (And please, do be sure to give me the number of the company who makes it.)
I know massage chairs do have their place. In fact, I wouldn't mind seeing them in more situations: long airline flights, passenger seats of teen drivers, hair salons, dentist offices, the DMV... anyplace where people are subjected to sitting anxiously for long periods of time.
And I also understand that with ever-improving innovations, chairs can replicate a lot of the releasing and massaging techniques that a practitioner's hands can employ... offering immense and immediate relief from muscle aches and pains, stress... improving circulation, lymph flow, skin tone, and more.
At least on the back side of your body. (Yay! Score another one for the humans!)
I guess I really don't expect to be replaced by machinery, no matter how efficient or computerized ... I mean, would you really want a robot digging into your hara?
(Otherwise known as, "My head hurts, so why the heck are you pressing on my foot?")
A very, VERY general definition of shiatsu goes something like this:
"Shiatsu, a Japanese word that literally means 'finger pressure', is a modality in which the practitioner uses pressure on the receiver's body in order to restore balance."
Doesn't this just so make you want to run right out and get a shiatsu treatment?
Don't you wake up in the morning after a fitful night of sleep, feeling groggy and with a crick in your neck, and think to yourself, 'Wow, I could really use to have my balance restored today'....?
When finding yourself taken to bed with insane menstrual cramps, teetering on the edge of a self-induced hysterectomy, aren't you wishing to god someone would come and just balance your energy???
Hmmm, I'm guessing no.
Am I implying that a balance of chi flow in the meridians isn't a good thing to aspire to, or that from an Asian perspective, it isn't an explanation of what contributes to vibrant health?
No, I'm just saying that maybe it's not shiatsu's strongest selling point. Not to those of us who aren't used to thinking along these lines anyway.
So, I'm a visual person. Maybe this'll work for you.
Picture the meridians in the body as a highway system. When traffic is flowing, all is well. People getting where they need to be, goods picked up and delivered on time, everybody's happy. The flow is balanced.
Uh oh. Fender bender along the Stomach meridian. Traffic is slowing down, maybe even stagnating. (And in the body, symptoms related to the stomach functions will arise.)
Depending on how this situation is handled, flow may be easily restored again, or it may start backing up into connecting roadways, causing dysfunction and symptoms in other areas. Just great.
One thing to do would be to redirect the traffic to a route that is totally clear. (Ah... balancing!)
This is the idea behind kyo/jitsu in Zen shiatsu. The jitsu (traffic jam) is what we notice, and are most inclined to address. However, a funny thing about energy is that is follows our attention/intention. Putting pressure on something like, say, tight shoulders gives some relief, but really we are just adding more energy to an already excessive situation.
Finding the empty area in the body, and placing pressure/attention there redirects the traffic from a jammed place into an empty one.
Everything gets flowing again, pain is relieved, symptoms diminish and all is happy is Body-land again.
Okay, so that is a pretty simplistic scenario, but still, I hope this helps you gain a little clearer idea of what you would be paying me for.
(As to that subhead... now that you've been schooled in energy balancing... some headaches are described as "Liver yang rising". Meaning that the chi flow of the Liver meridian is going to the head causing pain and pressure, especially as in migraines. There are key points in the feet that bring that energy back down, away from the head, and restore overall energy balancing, like the master traffic light control system. Cool, right? I know!)
Okay, slight identity crisis here. (But one, I'm told, is astrologically appropriate for a few more weeks. Nonetheless, I'm struggling a little.)
I came across a site in the works yesterday... one whose mission is to make shiatsu understandable and accessible to the world at large. And I thought, Hot damn! Cool! and immediately emailed this person to offer my kudos, support, and link to my site, as I considered myself to be doing that very thing.
I did explain that my 'descriptions' were a little bit off the cuff... more of a function of how I feel comfortable writing, as well as more targeted to my American audience (as opposed to his European one). His reply was grateful and nice enough, and then he wrote... wait, let me go get it..
"I like the look of your site and I think the blog musings are a very helpful part. They bring the site to life and make it personal."
I'm sure this is a good thing, and I don't know what I'm railing against, except maybe my own deep-seated fear that I've not been presenting this very respectable and worthy holistic modality in enough of a serious and dignified light. I think the word "musings" set off some kind of "not totally legit" trigger in my psyche. And I tend to think that the Euro standards for shiatsu practitioners is a little more stringent than in the US. About which I am a little insecure at times.
But then I went back and read one of his previous paragraphs:
"We hope to offer a site which unites Shiatsu Practitioners from all styles and all countries, without promoting any person, organisation or style above any other. Simply to promote Shiatsu and explain it in non-flaky language."
Yes! 'Non-flaky language'!! That's exactly what I had been thinking! That so many shiatsu sites, while well-written and packed with information, really don't say a whole lot about what shiatsu actually does for you, how it rocks, why you should not only love it, but run right out and hunt down a shiatsu therapist this instant... and WHY ARE YOU STILL READING THIS? GET GOING...!
So, the question is, without all the 'flaky language' - about flowing chi, and Liver Heat Rising, and blabbity blah (well, I do talk about that, but hopefully in a 'break it down' kinda way), am I making sense to you? Am I getting the point across while still seeming like I'm knowing what I'm talking about? If you were within reach, would you totally come see me because I have made you see the shiatsu light as it were, and you would be perfectly comfortable under my care, because my writing has assured you of my level of professionalism and expertise in spite of its casual colloquialisms????
Should I be a little more boring and informative?
(And now, has this post negated any other previous sense of professionalism I may have otherwise displayed?)
Ok, I'm done.Thanks for listening.
(And I'll be posting more about that other site soon.. it's very cool! Yippee!)
I've been meaning to do this for the last few years, and Yay! This year, I'm finally getting to it!
ABMP (Associated Bodyworker and Massage Professionals).. the association I belong to, is sponsoring their 10th annual "EveryBody Deserves a Massage Week"; this year, from July 19th to the 25th.
This is a week where all ABMP members are encouraged to get out there, raise awareness for their work and give back to the community.
So, I'm teaming up with my friends and office neighbors at the Lionville Holistic Center: Bill Bryan, Hilary Sohn (both massage therapists) and Cindy Ayton (reflexologist) to do just that.
If you're in the Chester County, PA area, we'd love for you to come by.
Here are the details:
Where: Lionville Holistic Health Center, 311 & 312 Gordon Drive, Exton, PA 19341
When: Saturday, July 25th, 9am-3pm (with a lower key version between 11 and 3 on Tuesday, July 21st, just at #312)
What: 15-minute chair massage for you in exchange for a canned good or two (to benefit the Lord's Pantry in Downingtown), with either Bill Bryan, Hilary Sohn, or me (Gina Marks) (or Cindy Ayton, and me, if you come on Tuesday); a chance to win a full session with the therapist of your choice; free healthy snacks; balloons!!! (I know, right? how exciting!); an opportunity to meet your friendly neighborhood bodyworkers!
(And quite possibly, a few minutes of fame.. I'm working on getting the Daily Local to come.. whee!)
Why: Why not? Sounds like fun, right? And it just might be one of four days this summer that it doesn't rain! (Hey, we can always hope...)
Bring a friend.. bring all your friends... just come! And don't forget your canned goods!
*A phrase used with the practice of shin tai referring to the course a shiatsu session will take depending on what presents itself as priority in the receiver's body.*
I bring this up because there's something in me, and maybe you as well, that resists structure. Hate it. Even self-imposed. Okay, especially self-imposed.
I can make award-winning to-do lists, I can prioritize till the cows come home, but there are very few days when I can devote my time easily to each item of my list, and check them all off. Or even three of those items.
Attention and focusing issues? Yeah, probably. I blame chronic baby-brain (even though my youngest 'baby' is eight years old.) Lack of self-discipline and motivation? More than likely. But someone wise once wrote (and I should find this person again to profusely thank her) something to the effect of that you have to start out with motivation to get motivated. Or something similarly conundrum-sounding. I just remember going, yeah, exactly.
Another wise and insightful person suggested that we naturally move more rhythmically than what conventional productivity wisdom tells us, and in fact, she helps women find and make the best of their unique groove.
I like that. But I also lose sight of it. And then I came to see the parallels between time management and priority of treatment.
When following the P of T, a shiatsu practitioner recognizes that there are a number of levels of energetic manifestation in a human body: the dense physical structure, the meridians, the fascia, the chakras, the etheric bodies. And it seems that our core energy system can be better accessed through some levels better than other. Also, this access level can change throughout the course of a session. Depends on the person, depends on the practitioner, and a whole host of other factors. It's our job to find the way in on each unique body, to find that button that shifts the whole tone of the session. For example, sometimes meridian work may not be doing a whole lot, but turn the attention to the fascia, and (ahhhh!) the whole body just melts and relaxes. Instant connection.
So, this is what I'm noticing about my to-do list. The multitude of activities on it engage different parts of my brain, or in some cases, like housework, none at all. There are days when I can't write a blog post to save my life, other days when I can do nothing else. (And many days when Quicken incites me to fantasies about laptop-flinging...I have to be really attentive to those openings, and maybe even use a little force on myself to hunker down with budget spreadsheets.)
I'm thinking the key is to look over the tasks at hand for the day and notice where is the most accessible way in. It's hard when certain items seem urgent, but even so, pushing against them, like trying to get a muscle to relax with an ineffective technique, just spins my mental wheels and makes me feel frustrated.
Also, certain days and times of day have an effect on the openings. Like trying to write when the whole house is still asleep obviously goes much easier.
It's like a dance. And it requires a certain level of awareness and listening.. a kind of panning out to see the whole picture of the day, and a honing back in on the details. For me, I like to mix it up, between cerebral work, like budgeting stuff, and more physical grounding housework or pulling weeds.
Everything needs to get done, and somehow it all does. At least the most important things.
How about you? How do you work best and get through your workday?
PS... I should tell you though, sometimes it's about finding the right structure, as in one that reflects the way you most effectively work. Setting up the dance floor in such a way that you don't keep banging your shins on the furniture....know what I mean?
PPS... Thank you again, Lisa Hunter, for setting me on this path, and showing me that there was another way to see productivity. And for the dance floor metaphor...
PPPS ... More on how you can apply P of T to your life coming soon.
Sunday, October 4, 2009 at 08:04PM 
