Taken from an article in the NCT Wharfdale & District Newsletter:

I am a mother of 2 young children, I have been a practising midwife for 19 years, and 
 qualified as a shiatsu practitioner in 2003.
 

My experience:

I first encountered this wonderful, Japanese, hands-on therapy when I was pregnant
with my first child, and it has become part of my life through pregnancies, labour, and
motherhood. It has contributed to healthy pregnancies, good labours, recovery

afterwards, and to changes in my lifestyle and my life.

In my first pregnancy (when I had the opportunity!) I would come home, sleep, and
then feel great! I had a car accident towards the end of that pregnancy, and
coincidentally had a shiatsu treatment the following day, when I was still shocked.
Again I came home afterwards, slept, and then felt completely recovered.

My children love me giving them shiatsu and tell me where to work, although my 3
year-old usually only wants 5 minutes before he wriggles off!
 

Labour and shiatsu:

In my first labour when all the contractions stopped, my supporters worked the
points to stimulate labour, and active labour then took off. It also gave me pain
relief, in conjunction with other forms of pain relief.
Recently a friend who was just overdue had her first contractions following a
treatment, and went into labour 48hrs later.
One of the aspects I like about shiatsu is that it works with the body, to help it
heal/re-balance itself.
 

Your partners:

My partner is now addicted to shiatsu, and particularly finds the treatments help him
de-stress, and I have seen a number of dramatic results (such as back-pain
healed/stress-symptoms resolved), as well as longer-term changes to people’s
health.
 

 Janet Attwood Nov. 2004

Taken from  'Traditional Acupuncture: The Law of the Five Elements' by
Diannne M. Connelly:

'Though   Yin Yang gives us a facility for working and thinking about vital Ch'i Energy,
it is the Five Elements which give us a framework more closely connected with daily
life. The Five elements are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water...

Like YinYang, the Five Elements are further descriptions of the Ch'i Energy as it
goes through cyclic transformations. Everything in life is concordant with these
Elements, and so not just philosophical and agricultural thought was based on them,
but also medical  thought. The cause of illness is diagnosed through an examination
based on the Law of the Five Elements. Health is maintained only when the Energy
flowing through each of these Elements is clear and lifegiving.

The human being is a microcosm of the universe, and so the description of the
Energy that activates the cosmos is the same description for the human being. We
are YinYang. We are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. Each of our organs is
assigned to one of these Elements. The pathways of energy within our bodies
correspond to an Element. As I describe the Elements you will begin to see, as the
Chinese saw, how we human beings are a totality.    Chinese medicine  is based on
a system of correspondences that brings life together for everyone, not just the
suffering individual and the student of Chinese medicine.

The very core of these correspondences is the Five Elements. To understand them
it is necessary to at least be familiar with the concept of Bodymindspirit.

This concept of Bodymindspirit is the Chinese belief in the unity and integrity of the
human person: though there may be different aspects of the self to consider, these
aspects can never be isolated from the context of the individual as she is and as
she experiences life. The skin is not separate from the emotions, or the emotions
separate from the back, or the back separate from the Kidneys, or the Kidneys
separate from will and ambition, or will and ambition separate from the Spleen...it is
 important to stretch our minds beyond what seems to be disconnected
 compartments of life, so that we can begin to see the connections and flow of
 the whole people that we are....'    

Taken from 'Zen Shiatsu: How to Harmonize Yin and Yang for Better
Health' by Shizuto Masanaga with Wataru Ohashi

'Today there are so many people who are midway between healthy and sick. We
may call them 'half-healthy' people. There is no positive way for helping them until
they become ill in the western sense.

In oriental medicine, we can immediately begin  treatment to these half-healthy
people before naming the disease ...

What Shiatsu Does for You 

I consider shiatsu to be one of the best health care methods in daily life that can not
only treat but prevent disease. Conventional medical treatment is employed only
when you have become ill. No medicine can guarantee that you will never be ill with
its usage...

It is important for us to keep in mind that incorporation of shiatsu and a balanced
diet into our daily life will keep us healthy. Diet is the root of good health, for it is
 food that nourishes life. In order for the body to benefit from a balanced diet, it is
important that the food is consumed under relaxing conditions that will promote
proper digestion. The way we eat and digest our foods is greatly influenced by our
 social  environment. So, to a great extent our health relies on and reflects healthy
human relationships.

Basic human relationships are 'skin-ships' -that is, skin to skin. In our stress-filled
environment, this relationship is constantly being threatened. As a result, a great
deal of tension is carried in the skin.

This in turn causes cutaneous distortions that eventually affect the functioning of the
 internal organs...

When we are healthy, our body responds to the external environment in a natural,
positive manner. In shiatsu, the giver and receiver create a warm and understanding
relationship through touch and body pressure and become sensitive to each other....
Thus discomfort and abnormal functioning of the mind and body can be transmitted
between practitioner and client through shiatsu. In some instances this discomfort
is not felt until a later time.

Discomfort produced by external stimulation in the form of pressure can make us
aware of our natural self-healing power...'

link: www.shiatsusociety.org  
        www.wellmother.org
 book: Suzanne Yates - ‘Shiatsu for Midwives’   

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