How to Give a Shiatsu Massage

Transcript Shiatsu is done on the floor, on a futon, and the reason for this is that it’s so important that the practitioner’s body is involved while giving a session. So not just the hands, but actually the whole weight of the body. So it’s really important that the practitioner is comfortable on the floor, …

Transcript So this is a way that you can use feet in giving a Shiatsu session. I’m going to demonstrate, using my feet, to work on the receiver’s feet as well. So, turning away from her, I’m going to place the arch of one of my feet across her arch, and use the chair here …

Transcript Some reasons for not having a shiatsu session might be if someone is elderly and they have a hard time getting down onto the floor. Most practitioners can adapt their technique and work with someone in that situation either on a bed or on a massage table. So it would just be a different …

Transcript I’m going to demonstrate how to use elbows while giving Shiatsu. So the advantage to using an elbow as opposed to hands is that it’s a sharper, more directed surface area to apply pressure into the body. So it’s great if there’s a place that feels really stuck or very tight. It’s important not …

Transcript There are many ways to finish a shiatsu session. Depending on the work that we did during the session, what’s called for to end and leave the receiver with a nice completion depends. Some things that I like to do to end a shiatsu session, one is to place your hand on the hara, …

Transcript So, I’m going to show you how to use thumbs in shiatsu. So shiatsu actually means in Japanese, finger pressure. So, creating pressure from the thumb is a technique we use a lot, as it’s a very defined area, surface area, to send pressure into the body. Smaller and more condensed than using the …

Transcript So the jaw is one of the strongest muscles in the body and it’s a place that we often hold tension and stress or clench while we’re sleeping. So to release the jaw, I’m just going to take her head and rotate it gently to the side so that my bottom hand is really …

Transcript Shiatsu for the face is a really important part of the session. A lot of the energy pathways start and begin in the face. As well, it’s our outer mask to the world, so we hold a lot of tension in all of the various small muscles within the face. To release the face, …

Transcript In shiatsu we often use the palm of the hand as a surface area to send pressure down into the body. Basically what I’m going to do is place my palms on areas that I want to work on, and then send my weight forward into the whole palm of the hand. It’s really …

Transcript A unique aspect of shiatsu is that we use the forearm. So I’m going to show some techniques by placing the forearms on either side of the spine. I’m going to use them like they’re rolling pins. So placing one still, the other one is just going to flip over and then turn over. …

Transcript Shiatsu for the scalp is a really great way to stimulate energy pathways that run right over the skull and down the back of the body. So to start off, it’s very intuitive. It’s just a gentle circular motion. And I like to use the tips of my fingers, kind of like a bit …

Transcript The hands are one of the most important parts of our bodies. We use them every day in pretty much everything we do, so they get very tight and need a lot of work. To work on the hands, we have three yin meridians that run up the front of the arm, all the …

Transcript I am going to start by talking about what the hip actually is. Often we think about the hips being on the side here, or maybe even here where we bend from, but our true hip joint is right at the top of the leg. Right in here, right where we have that crease. …

Transcript So one of the things that makes Shiatsu very unique compared to other bodywork methods is that we use the knees, and this is a great way to use my body weight into the receiver without using my hands, so my hands can take a little break. One thing to be aware is that, …

Transcript With any major joint in the body, it’s really important for the health of the joint that the energy is passing through that with a really great alignment and ease. So for the knee, we’re just going to do a little bit of a rocking motion. I’m just tapping my foot. It’s a really …

Transcript I’m going to demonstrate how to use the feet to release the shoulders. I’m going to start by just covering up the eyes of the receiver. Then I’m going to place one foot using the arch of my foot right over her shoulder. It kind of just molds right over that. Then I’m going …

Transcript To give shiatsu for the shoulders, while the person is laying face-down prone, I’m going to sit above her head, making sure that I have nice alignment in my own back before I start. And this is a really great position to work in where I’m kneeling. And I’m going to hinge forward from …

Transcript To strive for greatest balance, we are looking to be symmetrical. And often the case is that one side of the body is more tense than the other, and we move off of balance. A great way to work on that is to do diagonal stretches, because it’s basically looking at the four quadrants, …

Transcript To open up the front of the shoulders, I’m going to bring both my palms together and sit parallel to the receiver so that our navels are in alignment here. I’m going to travel one hand up the midline of the body and let it land right in that soft place on the front …

Transcript Shiatsu is great for the lower back, as it is for the whole spine. But in particular, the lower back is an area of the spine that we have to be really careful not to use as a joint. It’s the area of the spine that is shaped like a C-curve here, and we …

Transcript Rotating the shoulder blade with shiatsu. First you want to find a really comfortable position with your own body right next to the receiver. I’m just going to scoop one palm underneath the front of her shoulder blade and then place the other palm on the back. It’s really sandwiching with my hands her …

Transcript We use side position in shiatsu in a couple of instances. It’s great if the receiver is pregnant. They would be laying this way unobstructing their belly. Another great reason to work in side position is if somebody has neck difficulties and they can’t lay face down. This gives a really great surface space …

Transcript The neck is one of these areas in the body that is so fascinating to me. It’s this small channel between the head and the rest of the body, and every breath we take travels through the neck, as well as food that we eat and speech. It’s such an important area, and it’s …

Transcript The Hara is extremely important in Shiatsu. In a lot of other body works, this whole area of the body is neglected. And in Shiatsu it’s looked at really as an important diagnostic tool to see where the energy is balanced throughout the body. But also as the seat of a lot of vital …

Transcript So this is spinal shiatsu work. The spine, as we all know, is such a fundamental part of the skeleton, traveling the midline of the body, and what’s really important to pay attention to is the alignment of the spine as we work on it. So much of balancing the meridians, the energy pathways, …

Transcript So shiatsu is done fully clothed and this is for the reason that we’re not working with oil so we don’t really need skin access. It’s a great form for people who don’t feel comfortable getting undressed when they go for body work. So when you come for a shiatsu session we’ll literally work …

Transcript These are some basic shiatsu techniques. The first one is called kembiki. It’s a gentle rocking motion. It’s a great way for the nervous system to release and to start a session by letting the whole body become weighted into the floor. It’s just a very gentle rocking, and it can be used all …

Transcript Meridians are energy pathways that run throughout the body. In shiatsu what we’re doing is balancing the two flows of energy, yin and yang, to find that balance. Coming up the front of the body are the yin meridians. There are six of them running from the inside of the leg, front of the …

Transcript The best way to prepare for a shiatsu session is to bring loose, comfortable clothing. There’s no oil involved so it’s good to wear loose comfy pants, a T-shirt, kind of yoga clothing. And it’s important not to eat for about a half an hour before so that you’re comfortable laying down for about …

Transcript Shiatsu for the lumbar spine. First of all, to just talk a little bit about what the lumbar spine is. That is the curve in the low back that balances the upper back, which curves the opposite way, as well as the tailbone, which curves that way. So when someone says “sit up straight”, …

Transcript So this is how to give Shiatsu for the back. As we all know, that is one of the most common areas of the body that needs some attention. What I’ve done is just placed some small bolsters underneath the front of the ankle. That just makes it really comfortable to lay prone on …

Transcript I often hear people when I talk about shiatsu, they say, “Oh is that the painful body work?” It has this connotation of being painful or deep and what I really love about shiatsu is that it can be extremely deep but it can also be very subtle and light. And why that is, …

Transcript There’s a number if differences between shiatsu and other body work techniques. First and foremost Shiatsu is done on the floor on a futon and the receiver is fully clothed. There is no oil so it’s not necessary for the receiver to be unclothed. We work on top of the clothing using pressure points, …

Transcript Even though shiatsu is a physical modality, it’s a bodywork form, the unique thing about it is that it really helps a spectrum of health complaints that you, pretty much anything you could think of. So, often people like to try this alternative, holistic route before going to a western doctor, or to support …

Transcript Shiatsu is an ancient healing art that we borrow from Japan. It’s based on the meridian system of energy. So these are pathways that run throughout the body similar to acupuncture. It’s older than acupuncture and came before needles were invented. Shiatsu actually means “finger pressure” in Japanese and finger pressure is a big …