WARNING: If you think there’s nothing wrong in the shiatsu world today, if you think that promoting your practice should involve proselytizing about shiatsu as a spiritual practice and you don’t want to be offended PLEASE don’t read this post.
I’ve been a body worker on a full time professional basis for well over 20 years. I am still fascinated by the body’s reaction to human touch. The training I received was in shiatsu and this still remains the foundation of all my bodywork.
Over the years there have been many attempts to promote the effectiveness of shiatsu. In my opinion they have all failed. I think that what needs to happen in the “shiatsu” world is to come to the realisation that the word shiatsu is far too foreign to be easily and well accepted by the general public.
I want to see the end to the wearing of T-shirts saying “Shiatsu is great” and the giving away of hard earned, expensive training and expertise in cut-price events in village halls and even stalls at car boot sales.
New clients, when they come to me do not ask “what do you do?”. They ask whether or not I think I can Make A Difference (MAD). I would like to see practitioners communicating the benefits and results they have achieved in their work rather than hiding behind their therapy. By this I mean, feeling the need to explain what shiatsu is. In my experience this is almost impossible.
How many times have you had the question “Is shiatsu a dog or a bowel condition?”
This ability to degrade something you’ve spent time and money studying needs to be stopped. I’m not advocating changing the name of the therapy, nor am I ashamed of it, as some have claimed. What I do say is that when you are qualified call yourself a specialist in your field of greatest interest. This could be pregnancy, trauma, sports injuries etc. If questioned, say that the basis of your treatment is in shiatsu Chinese/Japanese concepts of energy work.
When you are trying to convey the benefits of shiatsu, do you feel “hog tied” by what you can and can’t say about it? By talking about their condition and the results you have achieved for past clients, in relation to their condition, you will hold their attention and demonstrate your expertise better than any “what is shiatsu” script could.
When it comes to your practice make sure you can USE the processes and theories of shiatsu rather than just giving shiatsu…
..and Make A Difference(MAD)!