Literally Shiatsu means ‘pressure with the fingers’. Its origins lie in China (2500-3000BC), then later Japan. It is a traditional hands-on therapy which exerts pressure on specific points on the body.
Shiatsu uses the energy meridians in the body (like Acupuncture), but uses the medium of touch instead of nails . The practitioner gauges the responses of the recipient and responds to them, initiating a kind of uninterrupted pressure dialogue between the two, and taking the recipient to a state of extreme wellbeing.
Shiatsu is not massage or medicine. It can be likened (and has been by great Masters) to a mother’s embrace. It combines harmony, vitality and intense relaxation – making it the perfect cure to combat the stresses of modern life, and helping strengthen the body’s natural defence mechanisms.
Francesca is a qualified Shiatsu therapist. To find out more about Shiatsu, Wikipedia has a comprehensive description.