an extraordinary treatment – treating kyo to remove jitsu discomfort

So, today I had a shiatsu treatment – I was rather looking forward to it, though was distracted by increasing discomfort in my poor old shoulder.  I broke the clavicle last year, and after lots of work and various miracles thought I’d pretty much cracked it, or rather got to a point where I could worry about another aspect of my life.

I’ve been playing a bit more tennis in recent weeks, and think that this may have worked into slight imbalances in the new position of my shoulder as a result of the break.  My consultant calmly told me a while back that it would probably be a centimetre of two shorter as a result – I was horrified – that’s about an inch cut off my shoulder. 

anyway, I slithered in rather miserably for my shiatsu treatment and summarised my present feeling – rawness really all in that shoulder area, though pain/ discomfort running along the clavicle, and also in the infraspinatus (lower back shoulder blade area) – apparently this muscle may be not holding the shoulder back properly, such that is what they call ‘dropped’ which actually seems to mean that the shoulder is more forward than it should be.

 

anyway, somewhat to my surprise, even though I’m a shiatsu practitioner myself, my shiatsu practitioner today started off with slow, calm, palming bodywork of my left back area.  I realised that it felt like my right shoulder was calming itself somehow as a result.

I realised that I was experiencing what I often explain to people about chi/ ki/ energy – that we as shiatsu practitioners will often work on the kyo (low energy) areas first, which brings energy into these areas, so that the high energy (jitsu – often noticeably uncomfortable) areas may ease.

wow – I do this stuff all the time, but I was still blown away at the feeling of ease at the end of the treatment.

My practitioner and I had also been talking about how we distinguish conventional treatment (eg physiotherapy) from ‘un’ conventional treatment such as shiatsu.  They both can be amazing and clever and skilful – but this treatment was a reminder of the ‘holistic’ ness of shiatsu.  Wow (again).

the interface between beauty and health treatments...

Following the break of my clavicle in May last year, I had this feeling of wanting a compress on the area to feel better.  This led me to ask a few herbalists for help – the ones that replied made me think they were likely to offer me a tincture to drink, or pills / supplements to take, which wasn’t quite what I was after.

Rather by chance I had my first Dr Haushka facial today, and to my surprise they gave me a foot and hand massage, as well as some work on my shoulders, along with the expected facial treatment.  I must admit I wasn’t quite sure what to expect; don’t remember ever having had a ‘facial’ before, because I’m not so sure of the benefit of creams on the face. 

However, it was a really good experience; one thing that stood out was the hot towels placed on my shoulders.  (I was lying down on a massage couch at this point – I hadn’t realised a facial happened lying down – a lot to learn it would seem in this area!).  Following the treatment, my injured clavicle area felt better, and my shoulders felt more relaxed in a way that feels nourishing for this injury.

I mentioned this to the staff, who were interested and sympathetic.  But when I said if I were to have rung up with a broken clavicle, they immediately said they would have sent me to my GP.  It seems to me there is a lack of awareness somewhere here, in that I would imagine this kind of treatment would have been great at a much earlier stage of my injury.  I can imagine weekly treatments being beneficial.

Similarly, I mentioned my wish for massage-type bodywork to a local colleague, and she immediately said she wouldn’t work with me until the injury was completely healed, which seemed to somehow be defeating the object of my enquiry.

So, my point is, how can we bring all appropriate nourishing treatments to everyone’s awareness, whether patient/ service user, and practitioners and health/social care managers of all types.

Do post comments below if you have any thoughts to build on these observations.

regards,

Catherine.