ACUPRESSURE
"The body should ideally act as a finely-tuned receiver and transmitter of thoughts and feelings." Michio Kushi Acupressure (known as shiatsu in Japanese ) is a hands-on therapy. Trained acupressurists perform acupressure by pressing with their thumbs, fingers and palms on about 660 acupoints throughout the body. Acupressure relieves stress and promotes deep relaxation and energizing of the mind and body. The Acupressure at Emerald Waves can be applied to numerous areas of life, including healing, stress management, conditioning for sports players & movement artists, and help with the manifestation of a life dream. The Acupressure at Emerald Waves Healing is performed using only thumbs, fingers and palms. Because the knuckles, elbows, knees and such lack sensitivity, they are not used by when giving an acupressure session. Check out my new "Acupressure Q&A" page for more info about Acupressure. Some common benefits reported after Acupressure :
Acupressure and Flow With acupressure we are endeavoring to help the body restore its inherent flow. If we observe nature we can see that many things flow - the air, ocean currents, waves, rivers, sunlight, the seasons, day and night, time etc. It's the same with the body : Blood flow Lymph flow Muscular movement flow of contraction and expansion Flow of digestive contents (peristaltic smooth muscle movement) Nerve flow - autonomic, sensory and motor Bio-Energy (Qi) flow - dc current in perineural nerve sheaths surrounding nerves Air flow to and from lungs Flow of intuition between you and universal intelligence Thought flow - 40 000 to 70 000 thoughts a day When any of these flows are restricted for a period of time then we experience health problems, pain, weakness, reduced levels of awareness etc. In other words, limitation. Receiving acupressure helps the body to return to its natural state of dynamic flow and thereby restores health and transcends the limitation. Interactive Acupressure - How to enhance an acupressure session to gain maximum benefit from it : 1. The Power of Awareness During a session you can gently concentrate on the feelings and thoughts that arise in your body and mind. People are often surprised at feeling pain or tension in areas of their bodies that they had no conscious awareness of before the session. They are also often surprised at the amount of mental pressure they are holding in their minds. This practice of being aware of what is happening in your body and mind at any given moment can be extended into your daily life, thus starting a mindfulness practice, the basis of all spiritual systems. 2. The Power of Appreciation Try appreciating your body - its mobility, its sensitivity, and its intelligence. Remember that you cannot translate any desire into action without the cooperation of your body. Also try appreciating the wonderful opportunity you have to experience acupressure, an experience that was beyond the reach and even the imagination of almost everybody in the West until recent times. Appreciate the founder of Shiatsu, Tokujiro Namikoshi and all the teachers and therapists who are carrying on his work. This practice of appreciation can be extended to many different areas of your life, such as you work, your home, the food on your plate, your parents, your vision, your hearing, the earth, the sun.....the list is endless. 3. The Power of Curiosity Asking questions about acupressure, your body, health etc. raises the level of your consciousness in several ways : You might learn something new. You might be inspired to try something new. The answer to your question creates more questions. You have to get your opinions out of the way in order to listen clearly to the answers. You have to pay attention (mindfulness) to listen to the answers. Between sessions try asking yourself questions about the cause of whatever is troubling you. If you can get to the root cause then this is where the real healing can take place. 4. The Power of Story What stories are you telling yourself regarding your health, your body and the world around you ? See if you can make a connection between these stories and the circumstances and conditions of your life. How many of the stories are destructive ? If we continually run a story in our mind then it becomes a habitual state of consciousness. It becomes our reality. "The universe is made of stories, not atoms." Muriel Rukeyser 5. The Power of Patience If you have a chronic condition then it's unlikely you'll find a "quick fix." And which will raise your level of consciousness to a higher degree, being "fixed" by a doctor, a healer or whoever without having any idea what state of mind caused the condition to trouble you for so long, or finding out for yourself why the condition continues to trouble you ? It may take a while to get to the root cause, but you'll develop patience which, in turn, develops character. Impatience develops nothing except more of the same. And in your daily life instead of rushing around all the time try slowing down a little and see how your mind reacts to this different way of being. You might be surprised at how impatient you are in many situations. "Through patience we gain our souls." Edgar Cayce 6. The Power of Feedback During a session try giving feedback to the therapist regarding what you are feeling in your body as the acupressure is applied. This helps you to pay more attention to what is happening in your body and also gives the therapist more information to work with. In effect, you get to participate more in the session and guide it to a greater degree. Not bad when considering you'll also experience relief from pain, stress reduction, greater flexibility, more ease with movement, enhanced levels of vitality, improved functioning of body systems etc..... The Story of the Birth of Acupressure in Japan Tokujiro Namikoshi, the originator of Namikoshi Shiatsu therapy, was born on November 3rd, 1905 in Shikoku in the south of Japan. When he was seven years old his family moved from the warm climate of Shikoku to the colder northern island of Hokkaido with its severe winters. Back then, a journey this long was intensely gruelling. On the day after they finally arrived, Tokujiro's mother began to complain of pain in her knees. At first everybody thought it must have been due to the long, unaccustomed travel. However, as time ticked on by, the pain intensified and spread its warning to her ankles, wrists, elbows and shoulders to become multiple rheumatism of the joints. There was no doctor in the small, isolated village where they lived and no medicine was available. The children in the Namikoshi family began to try and massage their mother to make her feel better. As they continued to do this their mother told Tokujiro that his hands felt best. This praise encouraged the young Tokujiro to work harder in treating his mother. He had no real knowledge of anatomy or physiology, but his sensitive hands were able to sense differences in stiffness, heat and skin condition of his mother's body. A first Tokujiro used more rubbing motions and less pressing motions with his hands, but he soon found that reversing these techniques and using mostly pressing was more effective. He concentrated on the places that were stiffest and coldest, and soon his mother's condition took a turn for the better. He had been pressing on both sides of the middle region of the spine, and had, unknowingly, been stimulating the adrenal glands to secrete the steroid called cortisone, which reduces joint inflammation and eases joint pain. Eventually he brought about a complete cure and this process of experimentation taught him about the powers of self-cure inherent in the human body. He had been able to stimulate, through the pressure directed into his hands, those self-healing powers into activity and this was the birth of Shiatsu. Emerald Waves Healing 080-4673-6885 E-mail: [email protected] |