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 Many secrets are hidden in the East. The Eastern air is
fragrant, the people are hospitable, and the tales are full of wonders. But
there's much more. Asia possesses plenty of unique health-improvement systems
with basic principles totally different to our traditional European
eat-the-pill-and-back-on-feet approach. In the East they interact with
energies, talk to unattainable spheres, and listen to the flow of time, -
always in an unhurried but very effective manner.
A great amount of efficient health-improvement systems originate from the East,
and one of the most honored and significant method is the massage, with its
uncountable varieties, the most widespread of which is shiatsu. It was invented
in Japan, and you'll hardly find Japanese who has never taken benefit of it. Japanese
would turn to the shiatsu expert when suffering from any kind of pain or
indisposition.
Some call shiatsu the japanese pointillage. But they are mistaken. In the
Japanese language shi means a thumb, and atsu stands for pressure. «The
pressing fingers therapy» is the original definition from its founder, the
Japanese doctor Tokujiro Namikoshi.
He was the very man whose curiosity focused on the methods of treatment that
had been invented by Japanese instructors of martial arts and transferred from
generation to generation. Those methods had been used to heal injuries,
stimulate the students' capabilities, and cure pain in joints and spine.
Namikoshi was struck by both efficiency of the methods and the rapid recovery.
He had united separated methods into one system and named it shiatsu.
What is the essence of shiatsu? Oriental sages believe that
Nature is controlled by energy that has the power to create and destroy. The
same energy circulates in every human being. If nothing disorganizes this
process, the energy does create, and the man is healthy. When the circulation
is disrupted, the energy becomes destructive, evil, and senseless, and the man
falls ill.
The energy circulates through 14 special channels (usually translated as meridians,
which seems to be rather inappropriate). Those channels have areas (let us name
them points, but in Japan they are called tsubo, and in China - sue), where the
energy can stagnate or weaken. By affecting those very areas we can restore the
circulation of energy.
The principal difference of shiatsu (compared to other methods) is the
finger-pressing. The body should be pressed hard with the largest possible
surface area of a thumb, at right angle, and without any massaging strokes.
Usually one group of points is pressed repeatedly. The pressings should be performed
until the changes in «rigidity» of the tissues become notable. By eventually
hardening the pressure we reach the deeper layers of tissue. There the fingers
should stop for some seconds, and then return slowly to the starting position.
In case of slight indisposition one minute of pressings is usually enough, if
the weakness is bad you may need 2 or 3 minutes.
For the efficient massage you must locate the point precisely. There's no good
in affecting surrounding points which you actually might not need to affect.
All other ways of manipulating with the points require specific knowledge of
medicine, studying them takes a great deal of time, and their application
without proper training may cause serious health troubles. Shiatsu is the only
method which can be used freely providing some simplest rules are being
followed.
Contraindications:
- acute infectious diseases;
- oncology;
- extensive skin injuries;
- schizophrenia.
And something that might be of great importance for women of all ages: The face
is crossed by eight meridians, which form a very thick net that provides energy
for face and head. Shiatsu is an effective way to correct the tone of muscles.
As a result, «regulation» of wrinkles - nosolabial, above the upper lip and
round the eyes, - face-lifting, reshaping of face contours without surgical
intervention, radiant complexion, treatment of acne and enlarged pores become
real.
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