In this meditation, you become aware of your body as a space. Immersing yourself in these body spaces quickly fosters a sense of deep calm. This makes the meditation an ideal starting point for anyone wishing to learn to meditate but struggling to sit still for long periods. However, it is equally suitable for experienced practitioners who wish to leave behind the tension and hectic pace of daily life – by moving through the 12 body spaces – and enter into a longer meditation session.
Not only beginners put a lot of effort into meditative sitting. Tension in the lumbar region weakens or disrupts the connection to the floor. As a result, it is difficult for the back, diaphragm, and shoulders to relax.Feeling the smile of our lumbar vertebrae will reduce the tension and effort, especially if it can spread upwards along the entire spine, and perhaps even conjure up a smile in our faces.Becoming familiar with our body’s vertical axis will help us to relax and our demeanour will be more natural and confident. Being thus present is further supported by our dwelling in the four spaces. It strengthens our self-assurance, our resting within ourselves. This is not only helpful for meditation; our everyday and professional lives will become more natural and easier.
What Are Internal Techniques?
Internal Techniques involve the conscious and deliberate use of the practitioner’s focused attention as a specific method within a Shiatsu treatment. (In contrast, I would classify the manual work involved in Shiatsu as “External Techniques.”) Practitioners apply this focused attention in the form of images or mental visualizations.
The Internal Technique of the Free Field of Ki
The Free Ki Field technique is remarkably simple: one visualizes Ki oscillating completely freely beneath the working thumb (or fingers, palm, elbow, etc.)
Internal techniques offer the possibility of directing our attention – and thus our Ki – in a targeted manner within Shiatsu. Internal techniques are an important complement to the physical, hands-on Shiatsu techniques, which might also be referred to as external techniques. The effects of Internal Techniques are based on the phenomenon that our thoughts are a manifestation of Ki, and that Ki follows our attention. In other words: wherever my thoughts go, that is where the field of my directed energy extends; the conscious mind is able to direct our Ki field to any point where it can take effect.
The open presence you can cultivate within yourself always affects the body you touch and where your attention rests. It is highly beneficial to harness this effect to create a spatial connection between two points of contact. This reveals the true significance of working with both hands in Shiatsu.
Beginners in Shiatsu often believe that working with the elbow is relatively rough and—more so than other techniques—carries a risk of injury. They are often hesitant to use the elbow and tend to make contact tentatively.
To support our students, we have recorded an introductory video on the topic of the “diagnostic process in Shiatsu.”
Here you can see how to use Shiatsu to relax the neck and head mindfully and sensitively, and how to support the connection extending from the torso’s three “burning chambers” up through and beyond the head.
Working between the shoulder blades can be highly rewarding in Shiatsu. For instance, when emotional crises create protective tension in this area, releasing that tension liberates stored energy associated with emotional experiences—a process that can bring a profound sense of relief. Similarly, specific energetic states within the energetic organs of heart, pericardium, or lungs can give rise to such Jitsu or Kyo patterns in this region. Furthermore, imbalances in the body’s physical and energetic structure frequently lead to blockages in the upper back and shoulders, which can be addressed through mindful, localized work in that area.
What does “deep contact” mean in Shiatsu?
Deep contact applied perpendicular to the body’s surface is specific to Shiatsu; it is the technique that distinguishes Shiatsu from other forms of bodywork. Moreover, deep contact is one of the key factors behind Shiatsu’s effectiveness. Deep contact means touching the other person in a way that makes them feel truly seen and acknowledged, allowing them to entrust themselves to the treatment and open up to deep touch. This video demonstrates how it is done.
A prerequisite for the deep rhythm in Shiatsu is discovering the depth one wishes to reach and touch, and being present there with one’s attention—see the previous video on deep contact. When the depth is touched mindfully in this way, the treatment rhythm shifts, and the phase of relaxed holding becomes the most important of the deep rhythm’s four phases. Sinking in, moving out, and moving on exist solely to enable the maintenance of contact at that depth; this is what justifies their existence. If the practitioner’s attention lingers in the depth for a moment in a relaxed state, they can enter the energetic space—the energetic reality—of the meridian and the person as a whole.
In meridian-free Shiatsu, the meridian structure – which, in cases of doubt, can provide beginners in particular with a sense of security and guidance – is replaced by attentive awareness, a practice-oriented theory, clear diagnosis and a feel for the effects of the techniques used.
