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The History of Shiatsu
If we consider our own experience with pain and discomfort, the natural reaction to rub and press the area that hurts we can understand how this process gradually evolved over time to an established method of healing such as Shiatsu.
Shiatsu's historical roots can be traced back to ancient China circa 530 BC, when a monk named Bodhidharma introduced a system of self exercises for health known as Tao - Yinn which incorporated self massage and pressure point therapy. Tao - Yinn became an integral part of health practices and was exported throughout south Asia with all the healing arts.
By the tenth century AD, Chinese medicine had been introduced into Japan where Massage and pressure point therapy combined with Tao - Yinn became known as
Anma. Around three hundred years ago doctors were required to study Anma to familiarise themselves with the structure of the body, pressure points and energy channels to enable them to diagnose and treat disease with
herbs, acupuncture or physical therapy.
Over time Anma was gradually reduced to treating aches and pains and by the twentieth century it became licensed only to promote relaxation and comfort. Many Anma therapists however still worked with the original
theories and they coined the term Shiatsu which literally means finger pressure to avoid the restrictions that applied to
Anma.
In 1919 a book entitled Shiatsu Ho was released by Tamai Tempaku a
practitioner of Anma who had made considerable study of Western anatomy, physiology and massage. This book proved instrumental in stimulating further research and influenced several practitioners who advanced the development of Shiatsu in the form we know today, notable amongst these were Namikoshi and
Masunaga.
Tokujiro namikoshi established the Shiatsu Institute of Therapy in 1925,Namikoshi - style Shiatsu aligned Shiatsu with Western medicine and emphasised the body's natural self-curative abilities but makes no mention of
traditional oriental medical theory. His style applies pressure to specific reflex points that relate to the central and
autonomic nervous system.
Shizuto Masunaga placed Shiatsu firmly back into the realms of oriental medical theory and his style is characterised by sensitivity to the energy
channels, he also developed an extended meridian system combined with a specific theory of energy balancing known as
kyo-(deficiency) and jitsu-(excess) and a form of diagnosis using the abdomen - Hara diagnosis.
Shiatsu was eventually recognised as a therapy in its own right by the Japanese
government in the 1950s and to date has been officially defined by the Japanese ministry of Health and Welfare as the following:
"Shiatsu therapy is a form of manipulation administered by the thumbs, fingers and palms, without the use of any instrument, mechanical or otherwise, to apply pressure to the human skin, to correct internal malfunctioning, promote and maintain health and treat specific diseases."
Shiatsu the Japanese art of acupuncture without needles
Like Acupuncture, Shiatsu performed skillfully can relieve many aches, pains and other chronic health problems, and as method of therapy it allows us to receive care and healing in a non intrusive way.
Techniques of Shiatsu
Acupressure: Massage of the soft tissues, meridians and pressure points.
Sei-tai: Correction of postural imbalances and restoration of normal movement with gentle joint and ligament balancing.
So-tai: Reverse motion treatment, taking the body into the direction of ease and comfort to release tension and pain on the opposite side.
Dietary advice: Food as medicine, what foods to eat and avoid to improve individual health according to oriental medical theory.
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