Shiatsu with Hannah Mackay
What is Shiatsu?
Shiatsu is a type of bodywork. Like western massage, it uses pressure, stretches, holding, joint mobilizations and rocking, to affect the physical structures of the body. In addition, shiatsu works with the body's Qi (Chi) - energy. Shiatsu treatment has positive effects on the body's physical structures and the internal organs, and it can also help to change and heal our emotional and mental processes. Shiatsu is a therapy that addresses all aspects of our being: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Shiatsu is a very versatile treatment, and can be tailored to the needs of each individual.
What is Qi?
Qi (sometimes spelled 'Chi' or 'Ki') is our life-force. Qi provides the energy for all our life processes. It gives our organs their transformative abilities, holds everything in place and supplies our vitality. It is also the organising force which enables our innumerable component parts to act harmoniously and in concert.
Our mental, emotional and physical aspects are all manifestations of Qi. Working with the Qi to release blockages, stimulate or balance it, can help with mental and emotional problems as well as physical conditions.
How Shiatsu works
According to the Oriental view, the Qi flowing in each of the meridians has different qualities and functions. Health and wellbeing can be positively affected by working with these different energies. For example, the Lung energy may manifest physically as the quality of the breathing and the skin; emotionally as sadness; mentally as the ability to have good boundaries and to allow in new experiences.
The relationship between the shiatsu practitioner and receiver allows the practioner to tune in to the receiver's energy to assess and diagnose what needs to change. Sometimes, the overall level of Qi may be depleted, through illness, coping with difficult life events or inherited problems. Shiatsu will then focus on boosting levels of Qi using specific points, and allowing the Qi to move more freely by balancing different meridians.
More commonly, the overall levels of Qi are not depleted, but there are imbalances between the different energies. Shiatsu aims to bring better balance and alignment between the different meridian functions. For example, helping the client to feel more secure, self-confident and well-nurtured by supporting the Spleen meridian, may also help to bring balance to the Liver meridian, which will help to reduce headaches and stress.
The Western scientific approach acknowledges that Shiatsu will tend to sedate the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and promote the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). The SNS is associated with the 'fight or flight' response. In our society, this is activated far too much of the time by all the various stresses to which we are subject. The PNS relates to what we might broadly describe as the nourishing and healing functions (digestion, deepened breathing, blood circulation, etc). These are suppressed when the SNS is more highly activated.
