What Is Shiatsu? How Does It Works?
Abstract
Massage Therapy is one of the oldest healing techniques which was practiced by ancient people such as Ancient Greeks, Chinese, Indians, Egyptians, etc. All were convinced with this practice and used it to manage various kinds of ailments. Massage therapy is the practice of rubbing, kneading, pressing and manipulating the muscles, ligaments, tendons or vital points to heal various ailments. This therapy includes various types of massage and in this article we are going to discuss one of the massage therapy – Shiatsu Massage and its Ayurvedic Aspect.
Introduction
Shiatsu Massage is a type of massage therapy which originated in Japan. It merges the manual therapies of Japan that are anma and acupuncture. Healthcare professionals describe this therapy as a redesigned form of acupressure. Acupressure is a massage therapy which includes pressing of specific points of the body to reduce fatigue and tension by improving the lymphatic and blood circulation. The roots of shiatsu is in the concept of Qi – a vital life force which is responsible to derive the activity of life. It is believed that a person remains healthy when this life force flows unobstructed. If this life force becomes obstructed or depleted, issues like headaches, body pains and digestive problems arise. A Shiatsu therapist used to apply pressure on the body’s meridians (those parts of the body that are believed to be the energy channels) which unblock or balance the energy flow (Qi). In this therapy use of fingers, elbows, palms and feet is done to apply pressure.
Things During Shiatsu Massage
Before beginning the session, the practitioner evaluates the patient’s Qi states and plans the session. The procedure varies on the basis of the state of Qi in every patient. If the levels of energy are deficient, practitioners use techniques to stimulate or reactivate the blood and Qi circulation. The manual techniques like holding, tapping, stretching, kneading, pressure and soothing are done with the help of fingers, thumbs, knees and palms. Time to time the practitioner asks the patient to move their body so that they can apply pressure on other points of the meridians.
Benefits Of Shiatsu Massage
Shiatsu Massage is a therapy which comes under a holistic method of healing and aids in overall health of the person by stimulating the internal system of energy. This massage therapy helps with the following:
- Poor Posture
- Painful Muscles
- Joint problems
- Digestive issues
- Bowel Disorders
- Asthma
- Sports injuries
- Constant cold
- Hay fever
- Muscle tension
- Skin conditions
- Sciatica
- Fatigue
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Bronchitis
- Sinusitis
- Insomnia
- Low libido
- PMS
Risks Factors
This therapy is generally considered as safe but some people should avoid this. Following are the persons who must avoid this therapy:
- Osteoporosis
- Acute illness
- Fever
- High Blood Pressure
- Undergoing Chemotherapy
- Bone fractures
- Uncontrolled diabetes
- Arrhythmia
- Recent scars
- Areas of inflammation
- Active skin lesions
- Blood cancer
- Varicose veins
- Herniated Disc
- Ankylosing Spondylitis
- Flu
- Chicken pox
Styles Of Shiatsu
Many Shiatsu practitioners develop their own style and some of them found their own schools that help teaching Shiatsu therapy such as Shizuto masunaga and Tokojiro Namikoshi. Today this therapy has a number of various styles, some of them concentrates on acupressure points and various others focuses along the pathway of Qi. Following are one of the most common styles of Shiatsu, let’s have a look!!!
- Zen Shiatsu: This is the popular name for the style invented by Shizuto Masunaga (1925-1981). He believed that Shiatsu is the king of bodywork so he named this style as IOKAI which means king. It works deeply, penetrates comfortably, has a detoxifying and balancing effect and develops alongside that of herbal medicine and Acupuncture. The publishers changed its name to Zen in a book published in 1977.
- Five Element Shiatsu: In this type of Shiatsu model of five elements along with four pillars of examination is used to identify the disharmony in a person’s body, mind and spirit and these are balanced with the help of this type of Shiatsu. In this type of Shiatsu practitioners take help of the verbal history with that of back and abdominal palpation and the pulse assessment. This type of Shiatsu is worthwhile in acute as well as chronic problems.
- Movement Shiatsu: This style of Shiatsu was founded by Bill Palmer in 1980’s. This Shiatsu is developed on the basis of pathways by which children learn to walk in their first year of life. So the movement Shiatsu helps the person to develop by exploring these movements. A shiatsu movement is more interactive from other forms of Shiatsu.
- Healing Shiatsu: This approach is developed by Sonia Moriceau, founder of Orchard Dharma Centre. She invented this type of Shiatsu on the basis of non-invasive touch, deep listening and meditation. With this approach, a person practicing shiatsu enters into a deep relaxation state and creates a state where healing occurs on psychological as well as physical levels.
Ayurvedic Approach Of Shiatsu
Marma points are the vital points in Ayurvedic science like that of the points mentioned in Shiatsu. Marma point is the junction of five things that are vessels, ligaments, bones, muscles and joints with four kinds of vessels that are arteries, veins, nerves and lymph. By gentle circular motion on the Marma with the help of the middle finger or the forefinger the toxins should be eliminated from the body. Many of these vital points are used to correspond to the Japanese Shiatsu but the total vital points in the body are 107. The therapy practice by manipulating Marma points for healing is known as Marma Therapy. The founder of Marma Therapy is Sage Agasthya and the classical text which includes the information about Marma therapy is Agasthya Marma Shastra.
What is Marma Shastra and its basic Principle?
Basically Marma is the site of prana that is the vital force of the body and when prana vitiates the problem occurs in those vital points and the disease may occur. So Marma Therapy is basically practiced to keep these Prana sites in a balanced state and make the body disease free. Vata is considered as pradhana dosha as it is responsible for all the activities occurring in the body. There is a beautiful shloka mentioned in Shadhangdhara Samhita which reflects the pradhanta (priority) of Vata dosha.
“पित्तं पङ्गु कफः पङ्गु पङ्गवो मलधातवः। वायुना यत्र नीयन्ते तत्र गच्छन्ति मेघवत्।।”
Which means Pitta and Kapha both are lame or incapable of independent movements, mala (waste products of the body such as urine, stool, etc) are also incapable of independent movement. As air carries clouds to various places and it leads to rain there only, likely Vata carries the other dosha, mala and various constituents of our body to different sites. This property of Vata is known as yogavahi property. So if there is obstruction in the pathway of Vata it leads to various diseases by restricting all the movements in the body. As Vata is also responsible to carry Prana in the body thus Marma Therapy is done to regulate the Prana in the body by releasing obstruction from the pathway of the Vata dosha.
Indications of Marma Therapy
Basically the Marma Therapy is done to eliminate the diseases reciting in Marma (Vital points of the body), Asthi (Bones), Snayu (Muscle tendons) and Sandhi (Bone joints). Which means this therapy is effective in the neuromuscular, nervous system, locomotor system and the blood circulatory system.
Planning Before Marma Therapy
In Marma Therapy there are two types of conditions which include Sudden injury and Neuro-muscular disorders and various others. In case of sudden injury if the injury is blunt and minor then the condition is corrected by the external stimulation on the pressure points. On the other hand in case of severe injury oral medications, bandaging and various other techniques are adopted. If we talk about neuromuscular disorders like tennis elbow, carpal tunnel syndrome, sciatica, cervical spondylosis, etc. In these conditions not only the problematic site is treated but the site of origin is also treated. Like in case of Cervical spondylosis there is a pain in the hand but the root cause is situated in the neck so we have to look after that also.
In these cases firstly deepana and pachana is done (promoting digestive fire and digesting the undigested food). This procedure helps in reducing swelling and inflammation in the affected area. When the inflammation and swelling comes under control then the massage therapy is done. After this according to the need, bandaging and medicine administration is done.
Types of applying pressure
With the help of the thumb we can apply pressure by five different types. These five types of pressure application includes deep pressure with the thumb tip, sliding or kneading with the help of white thumb surface, pressure with sides of the thumb tip and vertical pressure. While practicing Marma Therapy position of the patient is very important like when we have to treat the right arm marma point the right arm must be in flexed position and the respective hand must be at rest on the other side shoulder. As we discussed earlier if the flow of Prana obstructed in the body it leads to various diseases. So this therapy is to be adopted to regulate the flow of Prana in the body and to prevent various kinds of diseases. So here we are ending with some brief discussion about Marma Therapy.
Benefits Of Marma Therapy
Following are various benefits of marma therapy:
- Helps in eliminating toxins from the body.
- Improves mental health.
- Improves digestion by increasing metabolism.
- Aids in weight loss as it boosts up the metabolism which in turn also prevents the person from diabetes.
- Manages various neuromuscular conditions.
You can also apply Nirgundi Oil or Dhanwantharam Oil by Planet Ayurveda if there is more tenderness or pain in that specific Marma area which helps in easing the pressure application.
Conclusion
Shiatsu Massage is a type of massage therapy which originated in Japan. It merges the manual therapies of Japan that are anma and acupuncture. Marma points are the vital points in Ayurvedic science like that of the points mentioned in Shiatsu. Vata is considered as pradhana dosha as it is responsible for all the activities occurring in the body. Vata dosha consists of Yogavahi property which is responsible for each and every movement in the body. In this article we learn that regulated flow of Prana is very important for preventing various kinds of diseases. As the site of prana is the Marma point so to regulate the prana flow in the body Marma Therapy is to be acquired.
