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Shiatsu: A Holistic Path to Healing
Shiatsu: A Holistic Path to Healing
a unique combination of Shiatsu, Energy Healing and Sound
Originating in Japan, Shiatsu goes beyond massage—it's a comprehensive healing system for both the physical and emotional body. Performed fully clothed on a futon mattress (or massage table), Shiatsu offers a deep yet gentle and soothing treatment. It draws from traditional Chinese medicine and Western physiology, harmonizing the flow of energy throughout the body.
This evolving form of bodywork uses pressure points and meridians (similar to acupuncture) to release tension and promote balance. Techniques include gentle holding, pressing with palms, thumbs, and fingers along meridian lines, or simply following the resonance of energy with light touch.
Through sensitive, mindful touch, Shiatsu helps regulate the nervous system, promoting a profound sense of relaxation and well-being.
Regular sessions can help:
Relax deeply
Calm anxiety and improve sleep
Reduce pain and tension
Boost concentration and mental clarity
Enhance the body’s natural healing abilities
Trauma-Informed Shiatsu: A Gentle Path
With over 20 years of practice, I have developed a unique approach to Shiatsu that integrates the ancient wisdom of Eastern medicine with modern somatic trauma-awareness (read more about trauma below).
My work goes beyond physical touch, caring for the interconnected layers of body, mind, emotions, and energy. I often also use energy healing, reiki and tuning forks therapy (sound healing) to respond to my clients unique needs.
Shiatsu sessions with me are gentle, sensitive, and deeply attuned to your individual needs. I focus on creating a safe and compassionate space where you can be yourself, just as you are, with whatever arises in the moment. Confidentiality and safety are the foundations of this work.
What Makes My Shiatsu Unique?
What Makes My Shiatsu Unique?
I specialize in working with highly sensitive individuals and use gentle yet profound pressure that does not cause pain. My touch is deep in its effect but soft in application, allowing you to feel deeply relaxed and safe.
If you prefer very hard pressure, this may not be the right style for you, and I recommend seeking another therapist.
However, if you're seeking a trauma-informed approach that respects your boundaries and helps you access a deeper connection to yourself, my sessions might be exactly what you need.
Who Can Benefit?
Who Can Benefit?
I work with individuals on many paths:
Highly sensitive individuals seeking relaxation, deeper understanding of their sensitivity, and support in establishing healthy boundaries.
People on spiritual journeys who want support in releasing old patterns and integration of mystical experiences.
Survivors of trauma looking to reconnect with themselves and regain a sense of wholeness.
Individuals experiencing high stress, life transitions, or physical pain who wish to explore deeper emotional layers beneath the surface.
Anyone who finds it difficult to relax and 'switch off' and need deep relaxation of mind and body
Some clients come seeking relief from physical tension or pain and are surprised by the emotional and energetic transformations they experience.
Whether you’re on a journey of self-discovery, healing from past wounds, or simply seeking peace in a challenging time, this work is here to support you.
What to expect in a session?
You will be fully dressed in comfortable clothes and often covered with a thin blanket or a Japanese cotton cloth. Traditionally practised on a futon at floor level, Shiatsu can also be received on a treatment table or special ergonomic chair. Nowadays I work mostly on massage table.
A typical Shiatsu treatment may start on the neck and back, using several techniques to disperse tension, such as slow pressure, co-ordinated with breathing, pressing along meridians and points. I also treat the legs, feet, head, face, arms and the hara (belly).
However depending on your condition and needs the treatment will be different. Each session is always unique, as I remain present with what arises, physically and energetically.
A Holistic Healing Experience
A Holistic Healing Experience
Each session is unique and guided by intuition, blending Shiatsu techniques with a wide range of healing modalities to make it as effective as possible.
Depending on your needs, I may integrate:
Pressure point work
Somatic trauma healing practices
Breathwork
Energy healing (Reiki)
Sound healing with tuning forks
Duration: Sessions are 60 minutes
Price: £125 per session
For best results I recommend a set of 6 sessions.
"Thank you for such a beautiful Shiatsu session. I did feel reborn and regenerated after your treatment. You emanate calm energy and have wonderful healing hands.
"Thank you for such a beautiful Shiatsu session. I did feel reborn and regenerated after your treatment. You emanate calm energy and have wonderful healing hands.
After the third treatment, my energy feels more balanced, my back problem is under control and my body has felt generally less tense. I am so grateful to continue to work with you!"
After the third treatment, my energy feels more balanced, my back problem is under control and my body has felt generally less tense. I am so grateful to continue to work with you!"
Iris Tomlinson | dance & qigong teacher, UK
More about
More about
Trauma-Informed Shiatsu & Healing
Trauma-Informed Shiatsu & Healing
What is trauma?
Trauma is the inner response within an individual or a collective when facing a situation which is utterly overwhelming.
Often people do not recognize trauma in them selves and think that trauma is something that happens. Instead trauma lives in the body. It might relate with life events or childhood wounding and often creates long lasting effects in the body and biology, often going unrecognized.
Trauma is a universal experience to some degree; we all carry it in a world shaped by personal, ancestral, and collective wounds. As Gabor Maté describes, we live in a "myth of normal," where trauma is deeply embedded in everyday life. My work is part of the healing needed for humanity to integrate these layers and elevate consciousness.
The fight, flight or freeze are some of the trauma responses and reaction mechanisms that often are simply called stress. All these reactions, which appear in many different forms, are an attempt of our body to keep us safe.
Feeling safe
Most defensive mechanisms and stress responses are actually a response to the basic human need of safety. For this reason I make sure that people can feel safe during the treatments.
I take extra care in making the space peaceful, often using ambient soothing music, soft lighting, creating a safe and sacred space for the healing, while remaining attentive of any signs of triggers and finding ways to address those if they happen by allowing time to recover and respond in gentle compassionate manner.
How can trauma manifest?
Experiencing overwhelm impacts the body and the effects of chronic stress are stored in the body memory. This can manifest in many ways such as a feeling of un-safety, not belonging, difficult relationships, anxiety, sleep issues, insecurity, hormone unbalance, chronic fatigue and pain.
A somatic approach
I understand trauma as energy that was not safely expressed or integrated. In my sessions, I take a somatic approach—working through the body with gentleness, care, and compassion.
E-motion, not talking therapy
This is not talk therapy, and we don’t need to delve into your trauma story. Instead, I focus on helping you identify and release stuck emotions, navigate trauma symptoms, and connect with your inner wholeness, your Soul and Essence.
Your body is intelligent; it holds somatic memories. Shiatsu will support ‘e-motion, in the sense of energy in-motion, focusing on a felt sense of the emotion wave moving through your body. This is honouring your emotions in right balance.’ (John Beaulieu)
Releasing the flow of your inner river
Some times emotions get stuck and need to be released. Like a river, the water needs to flow gracefully; if the river gets blocked with stones the water stops running or if it overflows it might create floods. Shiatsu can help with balancing the flow of your inner river.
Please note: I am not a psychotherapist. In case you are experiencing recent trauma, Complex trauma and / or severe PTSD,
I recommend that you have a therapist to help you unpack and process whatever may come up through the Shiatsu & Healing sessions.
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