The Hidden Benefits of Shiatsu: Why It's About So Much More Than Pain Relief

How my aching back led me to discover the extraordinary connection between the body, the nervous system and a lifetime of curiosity. The hidden benefits of shiatsu.

When I first went for a physical therapy over thirty years ago, I wasn't looking for anything profound. I certainly wasn't searching for a different way of thinking or hoping to discover a deeper understanding of myself; I simply wanted somebody to sort out my lower back. I'd been recommended a cranial osteopath and, if I'm honest, I hadn't got the faintest idea what cranial osteopathy even was. I wasn't interested in the theory; I just wanted the pain to go away.

Looking back now, I realise that first appointment was the beginning of a journey I never expected to take.

Years later, life nudged me in another direction. My back was much better, but emotionally I wasn't. My dad had died, I was asking all those big questions that many of us ask at some point in life and I remember thinking, I need some help... but what sort of help?

Google wasn't available back then but I typed something along the lines of therapeutic massage into one of those early search engines and, thankfully, shiatsu appeared.

I booked an appointment knowing almost nothing about it; but excited that it was linked to Chinese medicine. I’d already had a fascination about how acupoints and meridians worked but didn’t realise it could be divorced from needles (Acupuncture).

I couldn't tell you exactly what happened during that first treatment. I don't remember leaving thinking, "Ah yes, my Liver meridian was definitely out of balance!" I simply remember feeling different; more settled somehow.

I couldn't explain it, but I didn't really need to. Something had shifted and that was enough to make me curious. I wanted more of it and I wanted it regularly. I just felt better.

Within 6 months of my first shiatsu, I was booked into training to be a practitioner; I wanted to understand why something had helped me so profoundly. The more I learnt, the more questions I had, and the more questions I had, the more fascinated I became. When I look back now, I think curiosity has been one of the greatest gifts shiatsu has ever given me.

A lesson from my Physics teacher

At school I had an A level Physics teacher called Mr Herbert. One day he said something that has stayed with me ever since: "Don't believe everything you're taught. Science changes all the time."

At the time I thought he was simply talking about physics but maybe he was giving me permission to stay curious?

That curiosity has shaped my whole career.

I've never been someone who blindly accepts an idea because it's written in a book. Equally, I've never dismissed something simply because science hasn't quite caught up with it yet. I like asking questions. I like observing. I like noticing patterns. Perhaps that's why shiatsu and Chinese medicine resonated with me so much.

I think many of us spend our lives living from the neck up

We're taught to think our way through life.

We solve problems, analyse situations and keep going even when we're exhausted. We push through headaches, ignore stiff shoulders and tell ourselves we'll slow down when life becomes less busy. I don't know about you, but that day never seemed to arrive for me!

I know I spent years listening to what my mind was telling me while paying very little attention to what my body was trying to say. If something hurt, I’d pop a pain killer and carry on. If I was tired, I'd have more caffeine. I wasn’t even allowed to feel stressed; my mindset was strong and I ignored any physical signs.

It never occurred to me that perhaps my body wasn't working against me at all. Perhaps it was trying to communicate with me. That has probably been the greatest lesson Shiatsu has taught me.

Shiatsu didn't just change how my body felt; it changed how I listened to it

Most people come to see me because they have a bad back, neck pain, aching shoulders or they've reached the point where stress has become impossible to ignore. Pain is often what gets us through the door. But it’s rarely why people continue having Shiatsu.

Over time something else begins to happen. People start sleeping better. They notice they're calmer in situations that would once have overwhelmed them.  They recognise when they're doing too much before they reach the point of burnout. They begin noticing the subtle messages their body has been sending them for years.

It's almost as though someone has turned the volume back up on the conversation between the body and the mind. I don't think we're very good at listening to ourselves anymore; and life is noisy.

We're constantly looking outwards; at our phones, our responsibilities, our families and everyone else's needs. Shiatsu gently invites us to spend an hour looking inwards instead and sometimes that's where the real healing begins.

The hidden benefits of Shiatsu

One treatment taught me something I'll never forget.

During the years I was receiving cranial osteopathy, something happened that completely took me by surprise. Half way through a treatment I violently burst into tears. Not elegant little tears; big slobbery blubbing and hiccupping!

My practitioner looked absolutely horrified! I think he genuinely believed he'd somehow broken me.

Through the tears, I managed to reassure him: "I' don't know what's happening but it actually feels... good."

Neither of us really understood what had happened that day. Looking back now, I wonder whether my body had simply found a safe place to let go of something it had been carrying for far too long. That experience stayed with me; not because I understood it, but because I didn't. It made me even more curious.

Why did I always feel different after a Shiatsu treatment?

For years I honestly couldn't answer that question.

People would ask me what Shiatsu did and I'd find myself saying, "I don't really know... I just know I always feel better afterwards."  Then I didn’t have the words but I knew I was calmer and more comfortable in my own body. I was able to handle more at work and in life and in time tension headaches and sore throats didn’t happen anymore. That was enough for me to keep going back, but I've always been curious about why.

Over the years, and particularly since training as a practitioner myself, I've come to realise that Shiatsu isn't simply about easing tight muscles, although that's certainly part of it. It's also about helping the body move away from that constant state of tension that so many of us live in without even realising.

Life has a habit of keeping our nervous system on high alert. We rush around, juggle work and family, worry about things we can't control and rarely give ourselves permission to properly switch off. Before long, our shoulders are somewhere near our ears, our jaw is clenched and we're breathing from the top of our chest instead of deeply into our belly. It gradually becomes our normal.

I've become fascinated by the role that fascia plays in all of this.

When I first trained, fascia wasn’t even mentioned. It was thought of as little more than the wrapping around our muscles. Today it's one of the most exciting areas of research. Scientists are discovering that fascia forms a remarkable web throughout the entire body; surrounding muscles, organs and joints, rich in nerves and constantly communicating with the nervous system.

Fascia is lubricated and Chinese medicine relies on body fluids to relay messages, keeping the body temperate and ‘creamed’  - a dry body is a poorly one.

When we're under prolonged stress the fascial web becomes tighter and less able to glide freely. Muscles have to work harder; movement becomes less fluid and little aches and pains begin to appear. Fascia needs to be juicy and elastic to keep you pain free.

One of the things I love about shiatsu is that it doesn't just focus on one sore muscle. Through sustained pressure, gentle stretches and working with the body's meridians, the fascia softens, muscles begin to let go and, perhaps most importantly, the nervous system is gently reminded that it no longer needs to stay on constant alert.

I find it fascinating that modern research is beginning to ask some of the same questions that complementary therapies have quietly explored for centuries. Scientists working in fascia research and the emerging field of quantum biology are opening up entirely new conversations about how the body communicates with itself. We certainly don't have all the answers yet, but I find that exciting rather than frustrating.

After all, Mr Herbert was right: Science changes all the time!

What I do know, both from my own treatments and from working with clients, is that when the body begins to soften physically, something often changes emotionally too. People tell me they feel lighter. More grounded. Clear-minded, calmer and deeply relaxed in a way they're not used to.

As though they've finally been able to take a proper breath.

Is that the fascia releasing? The nervous system switching to a calmer state? Or the simple act of giving themselves an hour of peace permission to let go and just be?

Perhaps it's all of those things working together. Maybe it doesn’t matter exactly what it is as long as you feel the benefits but it continues to make me wonderfully curious!

The greatest lesson Shiatsu ever taught me

People often assume the biggest thing I learnt during my training was where all the acupuncture points are or how to diagnose someone's energy. It wasn't.

The greatest lesson was learning how to let go. I didn't really understand what that meant at the time.

Twenty years later, I have a clear and powerful understanding of this message and why it is so incredibly important for your health in mind and body.

Holding on isn't always obvious. It isn't just anger or grief.

Sometimes it's constantly feeling responsible for everyone else; believing you have to keep going because everyone else depends on you.  Sometimes it's living with stress for so long that you forget what relaxed actually feels like.

I've come to realise that our bodies are incredibly loyal. They'll carry whatever we ask them to carry, often without complaint, until one day they simply can't anymore.

Shiatsu hasn't taught me to ignore life's difficulties. It's taught me to stop asking my body to carry them all on its own.

Why I still have shiatsu today

People often ask me whether I still have regular treatments myself.

Absolutely – monthly!

Not because something is definitely wrong but because life still happens and I know I feel better with receiving it. Shiatsu is about prevention and keeping yourself in balance to face life’s challenges without then getting an ailment or ache.

I still get busy; I spend too much time sitting at a computer. I get overly involved and too emotionally attached. I still catch myself holding my breath when I'm concentrating. The list goes on…

Shiatsu reminds me to notice: to breathe, pause and listen to my body. To reconnect before life quietly runs away with me again.

So, is Shiatsu more than pain relief?

Without question! People often come because they want someone to help with a painful shoulder, a stiff neck or an aching back. Many continue because they discover something they weren't expecting; a deeper understanding of themselves through what their body is saying.

If you'd told the younger version of me, who was desperate to resolve a lower back issue, that one day I'd be writing about fascia, the nervous system and learning to listen to my body, I would have been astounded as at school I didn’t give a fig about biology; but maybe that was because it wasn’t my brand of biology! Cutting bodies open isn’t my thing but understanding how to help a person feel better without being intrusive is.

Chinese medicine makes sense to me: keep the body balanced to prevent ill health.

That's exactly what shiatsu has given me. Not just relief from pain; but a completely different way of understanding my health which has been more than beneficial; it’s been life changing.

One of the reasons I still love Chinese medicine is that it encourages us to look for patterns rather than isolated symptoms. Western medicine is brilliant at asking 'Where does it hurt?' Chinese medicine often asks 'What else is happening?' I don't think those two approaches compete with each other; they compliment.

Science will continue to evolve, just as Mr Herbert promised it would. I suspect that in another twenty years we'll understand even more about the remarkable conversations taking place between our brain, nervous system, fascia, emotions, body and soul.

Until then, I'll carry on asking questions, observing, learning and remaining intently curious. Because, when I look back over the last thirty years, I've realised something rather lovely.

I didn't go looking for Shiatsu. I went looking for somebody to fix my back but what I found instead was a lifetime of curiosity; and I wouldn't change that journey for the world.

Shiatsu for your abundant health – Are you curious to try?

Even now, after twenty years of practising shiatsu, and over 30 in the realm of energetic physical therapies I still have a treatment and think:  "Well... I wasn't expecting that!" There is always something new.

For me, shiatsu has become the major missing piece in understanding my own health. I think that's why I find it so rewarding to share it with other people. It brings together mind body and spirit. Once your body starts to feel that it is in a safe environment that’s when the real change begins.

Come along for your first shiatsu for a bad back or a joint issue and stay because shiatsu starts to align you with your body again. Your body has been talking  - Now is your chance to listen. One thing I've learnt is never to assume I know exactly what a treatment is going to do. The body has a habit of surprising us.

If there's one thing I'd love you to take away from this blog is that you don’t need to believe everything I've written. Quite the opposite - Be curious!

Curiosity took me to my first appointment over thirty years ago. It led me to train as a Shiatsu practitioner, and it still inspires me every day I step into my clinic.

Who knows where your curiosity might lead you?

Book a shiatsu treatment here.

About  Andrea at  Shiatsu  Bodyworks Cheltenham

Andrea is a qualified zen shiatsu and Chinese medicine practitioner with over 20 years immersed in holistic therapies and the energetics of mind and body. Based in Cheltenham, UK she offers in house clinic and online shiatsu sessions to help people with midlife health issues and also offers online consultations for helping you resolve health issues and regain your vitality. She is a menopause specialist too, find out more at cotswoldmenopause.co.uk

 Shiatsu ~ Gentle bodywork to make your body work better