Shiatsu

What is Shiatsu?

Shiatsu is a form of hands-on healing which, along with massage, Acupuncture and Herbalism, has been an integral part of traditional Japanese and Chinese medicine for centuries. Learn about what Shiatsu is here.

What can Shiatsu do for you?

Picture of woman feeling more energised after having Shiatsu treatment
Feel more energised with regular Shiatsu treatments

Shiatsu aids a wide range of physical and emotional conditions. It can help speed up the body’s natural healing process, promote sleep, reduce muscle tension and aid relaxation. Because of its benefits to the immune system and nervous system, Shiatsu is an excellent preventative treatment, and is very useful in stress management. It is also a useful complement to conventional medical treatments for more serious diseases.

To find out how Shiatsu can help you, or to book a free 15-minute consultation in Bath, Corsham or Tetbury, please call me on 07940 022 851.

Prevention is better than cure

Many healthy people receive regular top-up treatments every 4-5 weeks to enhance their well-being and help reduce their chances of getting ill in the future. Regular treatments can become an important aspect of your health-care regime.

Beating pain

Shiatsu can increase circulation in places of tightness, weakness, and pain. Tissue congestion can be relieved by the increased movement of bodily fluids, blood, lymph and the nervous system.

How does Shiatsu work?

Based on the same system as Acupuncture, Shiatsu incorporates acupressure, massage and manipulation techniques using Chinese and Japanese Medicine principles to diagnose and treat patterns of imbalance in your body. Treatments aim to address the root of your condition as well as your main symptoms. The focus is on the individual, not the illness, and the diagnosis is unique to each individual. Treatments may be gentle and restorative or dynamic and reviving, according to what you most need at the time.

The philosophy underlying Acupuncture and Shiatsu is that vital energy (known as Ki in Japanese and qi in Chinese) flows throughout the body in a series of channels or pathways. For many different reasons qi can stop flowing freely and this produces a symptom or pain. Qi moves throughout the whole body, but in certain defined channels it flows in a more concentrated manner. The aim of Shiatsu is to determine where the qi or energy is blocked in the body or not flowing correctly. I will work with your body’s energy to help restore balance.

Most Acupuncture points lie on meridians, and I will sometimes hold specific points. Shiatsu differs from Acupuncture (and Acupressure) in that it is more usual to work on the channel as a whole rather than isolated points. During treatment you may experience a range of techniques similar to those used in massage, Osteopathy, Chiropractic and Physiotherapy. These will be combined with work on the Acupuncture points.

About the channels

The channels form a continuous circuit of energy all over the body. Each one is named after and is linked to a physical organ:-

  • The Metal Element: Lung and Large Intestine channels
  • The Earth Element: Spleen and Stomach channels
  • The Fire Element: Heart and Small Intestine channels and Pericardium and Triple Burner channels
  • The Water Element: Kidney and Urinary Bladder channels
  • The Wood Element: Liver and Gall Bladder channels