The basic principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Physiology and Philosophy, allows us to be really connected and in harmony with our physical body. Shiatsu is a compound word: SHI and ATSU. It means finger and pressure. The pressure made on the body generates a reaction. The reaction is an energetic movement. This creates an effect. The foundation of Shiatsu is to create a controlled reaction from the body that will counteract the stagnation and restore the balance. This concept is the base of Traditional Chinese Medicine. All is energy and the energy can be influenced. There are several ways to interact with the body’s energy and restore balance, therefore health. Touch is one of these.
With massage, we can perform different techniques to obtain the result that we are looking for. Shiatsu rebalances the body principally by the pressure, stretching and manipulation. Additionally it uses Moxibustion, that is a heat treatment known for more than 7000 years. Moxa is very effective to release pain and to move lymph and blood. Shiatsu also contemplates a change of diet, thus restoring the bodily functions of organs and metabolism. Shiatsu also suggests changes of lifestyle. Promoting a healthy lifestyle is the foundation to counteract behaviours that over time lead the person toward illness. Shiatsu considers all these aspect at the same time as a diagnostic tool and therapeutic method. In so doing it is possible to recognize how the disease came into play and plan the strategy for the resolution of the disharmony that is presented to the therapist.
Shiatsu also considers the emotional aspect of the person. In case of strong emotional imbalances, THE METHOD.WORLD combines the bodywork with the Analogical-Emotional System performed by Dynamic Hypnosis, Coaching and NLP. The Methsu-Shiatsu carried out by The Method.World also embodies techniques from western bodywork’s discipline and the peculiar techniques discovered by the method’s creator, giving to this massage its originality and effectiveness.
The Shiatsu from The Method World is called METHSU, to distinguish it from other bodyworks. It comprehends a large variety of techniques. It treats acupuncture points and meridians. It realigns the body to make sure the movements are free from obstacles and all joints, from the spine to the limbs work smooth without stagnation or weight on them, ensuring a synergy throughout the body.
Also with the knowledge of the Chinese Medical Thinking and Philosophy it is possible to tailor the practice on a specific subject and come out with the appropriate diagnosis for that particular person. I give here two examples on how it works:
Example 1: Imagine a client come to see you with a long term knee problem. He or she didn’t have any injury and the knee is painful, swollen and don’t allow the bending movement. In a regular western practice the therapist will focus on the knee itself. This client has had this problem for long time and has seen many specialists that have suggested a knee replacement if the situation gets worse. Here is what I will do: Since there has been no injury, I will need to look for other possible causes. In my experience in a case like this is very likely that the hips or the arch of the feet are not even and not aligned. First of all, on a mechanistic aspect I will check and fix this problem. As soon as the 5 flats of the body (arch of the feet, knees, hips, shoulder girdle and jaw) are aligned the pain and the swell in the knee will disappear. This can take from one to several sessions according to how long the situation has presented itself, the general conditions of the person and the client’s use of the body that may require some changes.
At the same time I will look for the causes that put the body out of shape. It could be the large intestine (LI) that may be constipated and this creates a tension in the hip area resulting in a misaligment of the hip that will reflects in the knees. While fixing the LI I will look for what may have caused it: it could be the quality of food intake or other causes. Or I may notice that there is an imbalance in the liver; this also can be related to food. At this time I will ask some questions to understand if there is any emotional issues in the recipient’s life. It may come up that the patient has an emotional situation that stagnates and creates concern. Or the emotional upset may be due to an external situation created by stress and anger in the patient. (Anger and stress affect the Liver and the Liver reflects in the Large intestine blocking the energetic flow and creating a muscular tension on the hips area that reflects in the knees. This dynamic will create a difficulty in the person to move forward in life, or to bend and accept a situation in which the person is having trouble with).
At this point I have to realign the body, to unlock the LI and to understand the patient giving help to get rid of the emotional stagnation. Checking the situation that this person is living now, what is carried on from the past, and what is projected in the present situation as a pattern of behavior. Once I have established the causes, I will suggest the right therapy, that in that case will be physical, because the matter has already reached the body, and emotional through Dynamic hypnosis to remove the underline emotional unbalance. Usually it takes multiple body and emotional sessions to restore the health and to get the person to change the behaviour and to get over the problem once and for all.
Example 2: A client has a stomach ache. If he refer to allopathic medicine he will treat the symptoms through chemicals medicine, and do nothing about the causes; in a long run the person will be dependent from the chemicals and still have the original problem.
The Method.World will consider more the person than the problem, therefore I will ask questions to discover the underneath cause: if there is cold in the stomach, the stomach will not digest properly and the stomach valves (Cardiac and Pyloric) will not close properly, resulting in gastric reflux or intestine impairment or both. If the person has an emotional trauma and weakness, this can affect the stomach creating nausea or vomiting. If the person smokes or works in contact with chemicals such as paints or other smelly stuff can suffer of stomach weakness and have symptoms. If there is too much heat in the stomach there will be pain and mental problems. If there is too much dryness in the stomach there could be ulceration and sharp pain, and so on such as checking food, relations and different aspects of the person’s life. The diagnosis is very important to establish the causes, and the therapy will be to rebalance the person in every aspect. The stomach is also related to the other organs; in fact our body is an organism, and to eliminate the cause of the disharmony is the first step to good health .
Everything can be healed.
To see and interpret the reality in this way we must know the Chinese Medicine Theory and The Analogical Psychology in order to be able to formulate the right questions and to have a comprehensive holistic view of the body, mind and emotions altogether.
METHSU-SHIATSU performed by THE METHOD.WORLD will give a deep understanding of the energy flow in the body and the technical tools to carry out effective treatments according to the situation presented. In other words, these treatments are tailored for the recipients and it’s never the same nor it’s mechanistic.
