Marion Freijsen A blog about Sports, Fitness & Health

Massage – Shiatsu

In my massage series, here’s the second of 14 types…Shiatsu.

I had never had a Shiatsu massage myself  as I tend to stick to Deep Tissue Massages to relieve strains and release kinks in my muscles. But a friend had been talking about it, so finally I decided to experience this for myself. It was a true revelation.

Shiatsu ((指圧 Japanese stemming from shi, meaning finger, and atsu, meaning pressure) is performed by a therapist using her/his thumbs, elbows and even feet to press down on various points on your body. Originally it was developed by Tokujiro Namikoshi, as a way of relieving his mother’s arthritis aches and pains but involves many ancient techniques and has since also developed further in various methods based on the original Shiatsu so you will find differences between various therapists depending on where they studied (a question worth asking!).

To give you the non-historic, abreviated version – it worked wonders for me. Because of all the sports I do, I tend to have real kinks, and very taught muscles. Looks good (or so I am told ) but it can be a nuisance if you find you cannot even turn your neck because your shoulders and back are so tight! But after only one Shiatsu session, I could almost swivel my neck full-circle! Whoopee. What a difference! And after only two sessions, my running improved because I could stretch my legs out further… so I am a definite fan of this massage technique and will go back for sessions on a regular basis, just to keep my body nice and loose.

Recommendations:
I can definitely highly recommend Sachi at the Spa at the Healdsburg Hotel, CA, USA.
Or check out your local Shiatsu School via the internet and ask them for qualified Shiatsu therapists.
And lastly, I am told that (again in California) www.learnwatsu.com ioffers water based Shiatsu (or Watsu for short) in the Harbin Hot Springs. Sounds delicious!