What is Shiatsu?

Shiatsu is a massage method and it is developed in Japan. In Shiatsu, the focus is placed on a holistic approach for rebalancing or helping maintaining a well-balanced health. The focus of Shiatsu massages is to boost the ability of maintaining health of clients. It is the clients who are in the focus.

"Shi" means "a finger/fingers" (in Japanese: 指) and "atsu" means "pressure" (in Japanese: 圧)

In Shiatsu, meridians are considered to run through our body which help maintain the well-balanced flow of the energy in our body. If there is an imbalance in the flow of the energy in meridians, it is considered that such imbalances "express themselves" in forms of physical or mental appearances or symptoms.

With the help of the own gravity of the Shiatsu practitioner, meridians as well as trigger points are stimulated by a variety of Shiatsu techniques (by using thumbs, hand palms, elbows or knees) in order to re-balance the imbalance.

Shiatsu und "Zeit"

Shiatsu and "time"

To be "here and now"

Have you recently had a relaxed time to sit down or laid down without doing anything - for 30 minuets or for an hour?

In our lifestyle nowadays, our daily schedule is packed with many tasks and events. It is not easy to feel ourselves and our body. It is not easy to feel relaxed both in body and mind.

Like in Japanese Zen meditation, silence is an essential part of Japanese culture. Where there is enough space given - in time, in your mind, for instance - it can boost our consciousness about our body and our being as well as the innate potential for the vitality of each clients.

One Shiatsu session is generally 60 minutes long. It allows you to have enough time to feel yourself and let go of daily stress.

A variety of thoughts can come up in your mind - thoughts regarding your job, worries, daily tasks, past memories etc.

I neither judge you nor label you who you are. Shiatsu sessions offer you "time" for you to be able to "be as you are" and feel as you feel.

What is special in my practice?

I use traditional Japanese hand towels during Shiatsu sessions in my practice. You can choose your favourite colour or design just for yourself.

Getting to know Far Eastern, Japanese wisdom and its way of thinking

In our multicultural society, you as a client have more and more opportunities to experience or get to know Far Eastern or Japanese culture.

In our lives in Western societies, we tend to clearly define who we are. Sometimes we define ourselves so narrowly that we cannot break free of it. Sometimes we may try to think too logically.

It's not about thinking black and white. There are many grayscale levels and a variety of different colours, including in yourself and in your life.

In Shiatsu we view humans as constantly and continuously changing beings, just as living beings in nature and nature itself are constantly and continually changing.

If you learn the Far Eastern wisdom that everything is constantly changing - including us humans - you may be able to gain a different perspective on yourself and your health.

Why futon mattresses are generally used in Shiatsu sessions?

For many Westerners, laying down on a futon mattress might be something new and an unfamiliar thing.

But please don't worry - you get used to lay down on futon mattresses - for some people, they like it just from the first Shiatsu session, for some it might take a little bit more time.

Maybe you have seen in some Japanese movie that people in Japan sleep on futons. I myself grew up in an old wooden house which was surrounded by rice fields in Japan. My ancestors has lived in the place where I grew up for at least 400 years.

At home, I literally grew up on Tatami mattresses and slept on futon every night in my childhood and youth, for almost 20 years - every single day.

Even though more and more Japanese use beds and mattresses nowadays in Japan, futons are still used.

If you lay down on a futon mattress relaxedly, it gives you the feeling and consciousness that you have a clearer contact with the floor or the ground. This feeling of being connected to the earth, is something we seldom feel in our everyday life.

Futon mattress in my praxis is ca. several centimetre thick and it is neither too soft nor too stiff. The size of it is ca. 200 cm x 140 cm.

Such characteristics of the futon allows you to be aware of your body and yourself during Shiatsu sessions, while as a Shiatsu practitioner it allows me to give you a Shiatsu session and use a variety of Shiatsu techniques in different positions ( e.g. on the side / back / stomach) in a natural way.

If you wish, I can of course give you a Shiatsu treatment on a massage chair or a massage table.

„silence“, „space“ and „less“ in Japanese mindset

Learning to see our life from perspectives of other culture can help you have a more balanced way of thinking. Though some aspects of such other cultural value can sounds or seem to be contradictory of that of your own, differences or opposite ways of thinking can enrich your life.

"Silence"

For instance, silence is a part of Japanese culture. When you talk with Japanese people, you realise that there are moments of silence in between conversations.

Listeners give the speaker enough time to consider and wait until the speaker start to talk, both at working environments or at home. They take enough time for contemplating before expressing verbally. It is widely known that Japanese people generally don´t express their opinions or feeling straightforwardly and choose words carefully.

Giving a little bit of moments of silence in conversations - relaxedly waiting for the speaker to contemplate in stead of expecting the speaker to answer immediately and clearly - might open up a new aspect of "enjoying silence".

"Space"

In addition, in Japanese there is a word or a concept called Ma (間) which can be translated into “space”, "gap", "pause" or “absence of something (sound, movement etc.)”

For instance in Art, especially in Japanese ink painting or Japanese calligraphy, "space" - that is, the spots on the painting or paper where it remains empty - is an essential part of beauty and contribute to maintain a good balance of harmony of the "whole". “Space” on a paper is just as important as where the artists have painted.

Similarly, “space” in life or in the head (in our thoughts) can also mean that it is just as important as aspects such as work or daily tasks.

Our lives can also be viewed from such a perspective.

„Less“

A similar aspect is the aspect of „less“ in Japanese culture and mindset. With „less“ words, people can express as good as with 1000 words.

Japanese traditional poem style „Haiku“is composed of merely 5, 7 and 5 verses.

It is just this length - OOOOO OOOOOOOO OOOOO (5 – 7 -5).

In such a short and limited numbers of words, poets depicts their thoughts, emotions or feelings that are projected on the natural phenomenon or daily banal scenery or clearances. With that, Haiku poems express not only about life, but also nature and the universe.

A poem style with just such a limited number of words can as meaningful as hundreds of words and get to the essence of our life.

Every culture develops based on many factors (e.g. geographical, climatic, linguistic, cultural and historical factors). There is nothing right or wrong, it is not about what is better or not.

Such different ways of perspectives can help us find a good balance in our contemporary lifestyles in Western societies nowadays.

Shiatsu can help you get to know such a perspective and deepen it.

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