"Awaken the healing power of your hands."

The Shiatsu Practitioner exerts firm rhythmic pressure to the body using thumbs or fingers on a sequence of points designed to awaken the meridians. Shiatsu incorporates creative use of the whole body and includes stretching and leverage.

Tension is viewed as a stagnation of the bodily flows along the nerves, meridians, lymphatic ducts and blood vessels. Lack of exercise, poor diet, alcohol, drugs and stress all contribute significantly to this stagnation. These physical tensions or blocked emotions lock the homeostatic mechanism of the body, restricting proper functioning. Blockages or distortions can cause either an overflow of energy, "Jitsu" (excess) or an underactive condition "Kyo" (empty).

The pressure points or "tsubos" are reflections of the internal functioning of the body systems, and are used for diagnostic as well as treatment purposes. Treatment focuses not only on relieving pain and discomfort but also on responding to tensions and toxicities in the body before they develop into illnesses.