home therapies shiatsu what happens during a treatment?

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Your first visit includes a consultation before the treatment session. This is to arrive at a specific diagnosis to provide a treatment plan from which the treatment sessions are based around.

If it is your second visit, then a brief questioning would be taken just prior to the treatment. When the treatment starts pressure is applied to various areas of the body. Arm, legs, hands, feet, torso, the head and neck can all be worked on  during the treatment. Which areas to be worked upon would be decided from the information gleaned during the consultation process.

Sometimes a specific area of complaint can dictate some of the areas that need to be worked, eg- if a person is suffering from neck restriction or stiffness/pain, then the neck would, most probably, be the focus of part of the treatment as well as the corresponding channels that pass through the area.

Pressure is applied along the course of a channel and to points that are sited along the channel. The points are called ‘TSUBOS’ and are the ‘ACUPUNCTURE POINTS’ used in Acupuncture.

This causes the ‘QI’ (vital energy) to flow throughout the body. The result of the ‘flow of Qi’ creates a relaxed feeling in the person. The relaxed feeling is the balancing effect on the body.

The treatment can also incorporate some stretches as well, which can help in stimulating the flow of Qi when it has become obstructed in a joint.

Traditionally Shiatsu was performed on a futon on the floor. However, today the treatments can be performed on a couch/bench or whilst the patient is seated in a chair. These options are selected when the practitioner is also trained in other practices and needs a couch/bench to incorporate other practices, or for the ease of the patient, as some can struggle to and from the floor.

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