Site Map
Home - What is Shiatsu? - The Motherhand Society
Current Class and Workshop Schedule - Membership Information - The Meridian Newsletter
Annual Retreat - About Us: Instructors
Volunteers Program - Photo Galleries - E-mail Us
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
| What is Shiatsu? | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shiatsu is an age old form of healing that was practiced within the families of Japan. While its roots are shared with the practice of acupuncture, dating all the way back to Taoist China, shiatsu was really formalized and cultivated by the Japanese and thus reflects an influence of Zen Buddhism as well. Based on the principles of yin/yang and the Five Elements from traditional Chinese practices, shiatsu is a layman's practice of maintaining health , happiness and peace in the world by tending to one's own inner serenity and by sharing this with the people around them. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
| Giving and receiving at the Motherhand Society Studio | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Both shiatsu and acupuncture are based on the concept of energy patterns, called meridians, that run through our bodies from head to foot, i.e. heaven and earth, keeping us integrated with the larger, Natural Order, the Tao. These meridians channel energy between heaven and earth constantly nourishing our bodies and souls with the spiritual wisdom of heaven and the material wisdom of earth. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
| There is a pair of meridians for each of the five elements, Metal, Earth, Fire, Water , and Wood, with an extra pair called Supplemental Fire, resulting in six pairs of meridians altogether. Supplemental Fire Energy has been largely ignored in the transition from East to West as the practice changed from a layman's practice to the more sterile, clinical approach of modern Western medicine. It is exactly this element of healing, however, that integrates our spiritual consciousness into the realm of health. The Taoist definition of health included happiness and a spiritual joy in life, not just a lack of physical symptoms as we have become so accustomed to. It is in addressing this part of our human nature that separates the older, Eastern healing practices from our modern Western ones, and it is exactly this aspect of healing that The Motherhand Society has sought to clarify and make available to everyone who wishes to practice. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
Site Map Home - What is Shiatsu? - The Motherhand Society Current Class and Workshop Schedule - Membership Information - The Meridian Newsletter Annual Retreat - About Us: Instructors Volunteers Program - Photo Galleries - E-mail Us |
|||||||||||||||||||||||