English Disease, Winter Blues, Backache and Cancer
A client recently asked me if shiatsu could cure an arm lymphodoema. She inherited the swelling in the wake of a malignancy.
I hesitated….somehow it was the wrong question! Curing, you may be disappointed to hear, isn’t what we do. Shiatsu taps in to Universal Energy or Chi which runs throughout the body and gives motive force to every vital process in the organs, blood, immune system, reproduction and so on.
Blocked Chi in the liver may be caused by toxic overload and give rise to cirrhosis; stagnation in the blood could cause period pain, clots or even leukaemia; in the large intestine sluggishness manifests as constipation and an over energised (jitsu) bowel may indicate diarrhoea or if chronic, cancer.
Before the onset of degenerative disease, shiatsu can help to unblock stagnant chi in any of the vital processes. Through its facility to promote deep relaxation it aids the body to re-balance and self-repair. It works on the lymph by releasing and draining the nodes at the joint, in this case the shoulder, thus freeing up the lymph in the axillae (armpits). Not so much cure as homeostasis, the body’s natural balance mechanism.
….. It’s Midwinter and our kidneys are storing energy and hopefully recuperating. The element of WATER, with its midnight blues reflected in the cold depths of icy rivers.
Our long-suffering English temperament has endured inadequate social responses to the freezing of our pipes and highways, grumbled dispassionately at a VAT hike and shrugged at the obscene bonuses dished out to bankers. Our stiff upper lips curl as we knuckle down to a cold wet sun-starved January. Yet something drives us from the back to achieve, reach goals, a workaholic tendency, and then…..oops there goes that nagging lumbar pain again!
This syndrome is the English Disease. Homeopaths call the remedy picture NatMur. In shiatsu we are alerted to the longest meridian in the body, urinary bladder (BL). Running from the inner canthus of the eyes over the head and down either side of the spine like skunk’s stripes, it causes tightness in the hamstrings, a tendency to workaholism and lower back pain.
Try explaining to the earthy, self-made building contractor with a score of projects on the go that his aching back localised at a kidney-related point is due to feeling unsupported by those around him. Better to lie him down on my futon and access the ‘Gate of Life (ming meng), pulsing chi into the spine at the level of the kidneys, stretching the back and releasing it using hip-opening rotations.
Accessing Yu points on the BL meridian triggers the plexus’ (concentration of nervous bundles) which supply, in turn, the heart, lungs, stomach, kidneys and intestines by giving them the electrical impulses needed to fire their responses at the right time. In shiatsu this feels like the thumbs working gently alongside the vertebrae, releasing and energising.
If you would benefit from a mid-winter energy boost, a chance to recoup from fatigue and an energetic approach to alleviating backache, I am offering a buy-one-get-one-half-price shiatsu 
treatment until end Feb. Tel: 07835522582
Alan Warr MSc DipShiatsu MRSS DipYoga uses a unique approach to treatment informed by the Medicine Buddha. He has over 20 years bodywork experience and specialises in chronic injuries and pathology. He works with mother and baby through wellmother.org and treats sub-fertility.
www.seriallifegiver.wordpress.com www.glastonburyshiatsu.co.uk
