There is a lot to process..

Our bodies bear the weight of our lives. The unavoidable physical ailments and accidents, personal burdens, grief and traumatic events; everything we have been through.  Every joy and every shock, every difficult and every tender moment has been registered by our body. There is a lot to process. Collectively, individually; I often think enough has happened already and I could happily spend the rest of my life reflecting and making sense of it all - but life just keeps on happening! Highs and lows, complexifying and simplifying, making sense and losing it again.  I don’t really want it to stop; it’s too interesting, but I can feel the need to catch up with myself, from time to time.

A Zen Shiatsu session can offer a time and place for you to land and connect with your body – with support.  Attending to feelings and physical tensions that benefit from being resonated with and calmed; listened to and offered movement in response.  It is a kind of dialogue that runs beneath language; as we work we feel ki moving and/or register emotional and physical tensions, supporting movement and release without needing to know the origin.  This can be really supportive for people engaging in self-development of any kind; talking therapy, yoga, breath work, qigong, dance and for people who are new to a holistic way of looking and self-care.

Many people ask me what I felt after a session, which can be useful information to share, but I’m much more interested in what you felt. As a therapist I want to be careful not to put my words onto your experience and imagine I know your truth. A Shiatsu session can be a time to to let go and allow yourself to be fully supported; it can also be a way to deepen in body awareness and self-knowledge. I really appreciate the alongside-ness of Zen Shiatsu; I’m not above you with all the answers, but I will walk with you, be curious with you, offer you the Zen Shiatsu theory lens if you are interested, and support you in your process.

Shiatsu approaches each person with respectful awareness of their complexity and unfathomability, simply offering connection and movement of life energy, through the Eastern channel and element system.  Gently shining a light on parts of us that have been ignored, so more of us can live and shine in the present. This inclusion is restorative for our system which starts to re-balance and relax. 

Another beautiful way to bring more of ourselves into the present and release tension in our lives is an online session with incredible yoga teacher Dr Arielle Schwartz, each one of her classes is an incredible gift. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cqTxbhNjj4

You can also join one of my Movement Medicine classes which I offer two Sunday mornings a month at Rose Hill Community Centre. www.movementmedicineoxford.co.uk