Basic shiatsu principles

Shiatsu is a Japanese discipline that is based on a sequence of pressures, performed by the thumb, the palm of the hand and the elbows along the path of the meridians of the body.

The pressure on these meridians, typical of traditional Chinese acupuncture, serves to restore the psychophysical balance.

The pressure applied by the shiatsu operator (called “Torì”) on the body of the receiver (“Ukè”) must follow some simple but important rules, and always be:

• perpendicular
• constant
• relaxed

The pressure is therefore not a matter of strength, but of weight, carried and channeled on the thumb so that it can be transferred to the body of the recipient.

This ensures, in addition to greater control over the pressure applied along the energy meridians, even less fatigue for whom performs the treatment.

What makes shiatsu special compared to a simple massage is the concentration of touch on acupuncture points and along the path of energy meridians, rather than on the whole body surface.

To determine which of these points will be treated is indirectly the recipient itself, thanks to the energetic evaluation that is performed before starting the actual treatment.

According to the dictates of the philosophy on which traditional Chinese medicine is based upon, an energetic system of meridians in good condition is that in which energy flows freely and smoothly, a sign of good health.

One of the objectives of shiatsu treatment is to make this energy fluid, as well as dissolve those energy blocks that prevent the body from taking advantage of its natural self-healing capacities.

Try the benefits of these techniques by booking a session at the Ukiyo studio in Verbania