First of all, when I was studying acupuncture in Tokyo, I used to often make house calls. It was like ordering pizza for delivery. You didn’t have to be rich to request a house call for Shiatsu Anma therapy. Shiatsu therapists visited their patients regularly to take care of their general well-being, not necessarily to take care of certain health issues. Many people have varying degrees of stress-related syndrome and nonspecific complaints like lethargy, fatigue, unstable blood pressure, blood sugar, and body temperature, high cholesterol, irregular menstrual periods, neck-shoulder tension, dizziness, headaches, fear, anxiety, depression, etc. Whole body Shiatsu and Anma is an excellent healing modality to take care of these conditions. I will explain why.
Long-form Anma or short-form Shiatsu provides amazing effects not only on the physical level, but also on the mind and emotions. Stress has been researched and studied by the physiologists Claude Bernard and Walter Cannon and Austria-Hungary endocrinologist, Hans Selye, the founder of the stress theory. Walter Cannon first identified the fight-or-flight response, the nervous system’s sympathetic response to a significant stressor. Hans Selye observed that a variety of stimulus events (e.g., heat, cold, toxic agents, fear, anxiety and hunger) applied intensely and long enough are capable of producing common effects, meaning not specific to either stimulus event.
It is wise to direct therapy to take care of the whole interrelated energetic system. A full body treatment maintains healthy metabolism and homeostasis, therefore improving stress management, immune system, anti-aging, and local peripheral symptoms. As we improve the immune system, we can prevent disease. As the aging pace slows down so does the pace of degenerative tissues. As whole body sequence therapy succeeds to shift their patients’ tension to relaxation, their physical condition should also improve sooner or later.
Indeed, we face many psychosomatic conditions. We say in Japanese, “Yamai Wa Ki Kara” means if you are not happy, sooner or later you will have sickness. Of course, we need to integrate other health aspects like nutritious meals, qi-enhancing exercises, and meditation with abdominal breathing as mentioned in my lectures.
We specialize in the long form of Anma therapy and the short form of Shiatsu for the entire body using about 1/3 of 365 acupuncture points in 3 positions with not only pressure technique but also dozens of other techniques. As a matter of fact, when you complete my 1 hour kata program, you will be able to take care of common complaints in areas like the neck-shoulder, lower back, hips, arms, hands, wrist, fingers, legs, knee, ankle, and feet as well as major organs functions. This is the outstanding beauty of my long-form Anma therapy.
According to the Stress theory and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) I list the possible following benefits of practicing Shiatsu Anma Therapy.
a. A relaxed stage for the body and mind by shifting to the dominance of the parasympathetic nervous system from the tension stage of the sympathetic nervous system.
b. This shift brings a better function in the following systems
i. A healthier functioning reproductive system that promotes prenatal energy (genetic factor of the Kidney energy), growth hormone, adrenal glands and brain chemistry.
ii. A healthier functioning of the gastrointestinal energetic system that promotes postnatal energy that supports nutritional strength.
iii. A healthier functioning detoxifying system of the large intestine, liver and gall bladder. My conclusion is that we should treat patients as a whole especially when they are suffering from psychosomatic, stress-related disorders, chronic, constitutional, and degenerative conditions before they are caught by local symptoms treatment. There’s an old saying that taught us there is no such thing as a quick fix, and this is true when we focus on one single local symptom and don’t realize it can be part of multiple manifestations of a whole lifeforce condition with invisible causes.
Your abdomen or Hara in Japanese, determines the success of healing, as the soil defines the life of the tree. (Of course, this theory doesn’t apply to local injuries caused by accidents.) For this reason, it’s important to take good care of your lifestyle and environment. We are here to help and guide you on your healing journey.
Best wishes, with love, peace, and unconditional happiness.
Dr. Kaneko
NCBTMB Provider #1514
