Why Shiatsu is so deeply relaxing and healing.
If you’ve ever had a shiatsu treatment, you know how deeply relaxing and healing it can be. Recently, one of my clients said: “I don’t know what you’re doing, but it works!” How is it that a touch can be so relaxing and healing?
In Eastern medicine we talk about Ki (life energy) and the physical body. Ki is the energy that causes us to do things: breathing, moving, talking, thinking. The body is what moves and functions through this energy. These two aspects together form our living body, just as yin (the body) and yang (theKiWhen they work well together, we feel healthy and vital. Our Ki is then well integrated with our body. Or as we, as Shiatsu therapists, say: the Ki is anchored and can rest in our body.
Our thoughts are a form of Ki. When our Ki When it is well integrated and anchored in our body, our thoughts can rest there. We are then calm and emotionally stable.
Our modern society relies heavily on our mental functions. We are constantly thinking and processing information continuously. When this form of activity is used excessively, it can lead to problems such as stress and anxiety. Ki, When we are constantly flooded with thoughts about what has happened and what is yet to come, we can no longer integrate well into our body. We become entangled in thoughts about what has happened and what is yet to come, and we feel less emotionally stable. This is not necessarily good or bad, but simply a reaction of our body to a one-sided strain on our mental abilities. When this persists for an extended period, it can even manifest in physical symptoms.
If you are mentally (over)stressed for a long time, it can be difficult to re-establish contact with your body. The Ki Then it cannot anchor itself automatically in the body. What shiatsu does is bring you back into contact with your body through an empathetic, deeply relaxing touch. The touch reminds your mind that it is allowed to rest in your body. If you haven’t felt that for a long time, it is a blessing—a kind of coming home to yourself.