Shiatsu Society

The aims of the European Shiatsu Federation are:

• To promote the development of professional education and standards of practice
• To promote research into the effectiveness and benefits of Shiatsu
• To promote educational, practical and social exchange between Shiatsu professionals in Europe
• To represent the interests of the Federation and its members to the European Union and all its relevant institutions
• To promote the establishment of National Professional Shiatsu Associations where these do not exist
• To support the activities of the National Professional Associations
• To establish good working relationships with other organisations that share these or other compatible aims.

Promotion is a big part of the on-going development of education, standards of practice and research into the effectiveness and benefits of Shiatsu. To this end the European Shiatsu Federation has encouraged all member societies to participate in a European Shiatsu Week and to turn it into an annual event with extra activity and promotion in September with the clarion call of "Shiatsu is happening all over Europe".

Representing Shiatsu in Europe

The Shiatsu community faces different challenges in different countries. Political action is sometimes necessary to bring an informed and appropriate perspective in the face of challenges from different authorities. This pressure is often encouraged by the rational and irrational fears of conventional medical practitioners.
Some examples of this are:

• In Barcelona, the regional government are proposing a minimum number of study hours for bodywork practitioners of between 1,500 and 3,000 hours. This included Shiatsu and the local practitioners had no choice but to be in discussion with the authorities in order to continue to be allowed to work (currently the minimum number of study hours in The Shiatsu Society core curriculum stands at 500 hours). It is hoped the minimum number of hours will be set at around 750 for a Shiatsu practitioner.
• In Sweden a Committee of Alternative Medicine has been introduced to oversee all complementary therapy practices. It seems almost certain that Shiatsu practitioners are going to have to study a minimum of 200 hours of western medicine to the level of a nursing assistant. This will come into force in 2006. Teachers there have been given an extra year to gain the necessary qualifications.

The promotion of Shiatsu in Brussels continues to move slowly due to the prohibitive cost of a lobbyist. However when an opportunity to be represented occurs it is crucial to take it up immediately: just one small step forward can suddenly result in large sums of money being put into research into complementary therapies (CAM). The European Shiatsu Federation representatives along with other CAM representatives attended an Open Health Forum in late 2005. see European Forum for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (EFCAM) or ESF for more information. Presenting themselves as an organised unified group they will have a better chance to put their points across. The forum regards health challenges at all levels throughout Europe and the future strategy.

Shiatsu Research

A Shiatsu practitioner may tell you that he or she knows from experience that Shiatsu can be effective for a wide range of health conditions. Nevertheless conventional Western health practitioners can be sceptical about the effectiveness of complementary therapies. Supportive scientific research results are needed to bridge the gap between empirically effective holistic healthcare and conventional Western medical theory and practice.

The Shiatsu Society has recently commissioned a Systematic Review of the Evidence around Shiatsu and Acupressure. This Review, which will be ready in Autumn 2006, will cover all English-language scientific research completed in the last 15 years and will be a valuable resource for those seeking the evidence for the efficacy of Shiatsu in particular conditions including lower back pain, anxiety, nausea and other problems. It will also provide the basis for future scientific research and investigation into Shiatsu.

Meanwhile, the qualitative effects of Shiatsu have been collected through a pan-European research study into Shiatsu led by Professor Long of Leeds University and supported by the European Shiatsu Federation. This research project has entered its second phase, and is centred on collating and summarising the experiences of those receiving Shiatsu. It is intended that results from the European Shiatsu Federation research project will be available in Spring 2007. Together, the Systematic Review and the pan-European study will provide health care professionals, researchers, regulatory bodies and funders with a valuable package of research information on the efficacy of Shiatsu across a wide range of conditions.

Training: Creating a European Baseline Curriculum/Syllabus

The European Shiatsu Federation is creating a ´European Baseline Curriculum or Syllabus´ modelled around the Shiatsu Society (UK)’s core curriculum. The intention behind this is that all the European Shiatsu Federation members can present a united front to Brussels and it can be seen that practitioners are working together to maintain and develop a European standard and are therefore mature enough to be self-regulating. A potential consequence of this could be that practitioners who are registered in one country would be able to register in another country.