Moving, singing, dancing with the river and the waterfalls, I am reminded of my experiences on Vision Quest on Dartmoor with the School of Movement Medicine. Moving through the landscape in a linear way is different from moving with the landscape from one place.
There is plenty of water flowing through Knoydart, lacing through and under the earth, meandering between tussocks and filling up the boggy places. It collects in rivulets and streams, rushes madly over rocky edges, creating rainbows in the droplets released into the air. The calm tides of the loch are not far away, downstream, small waves (during our stay at least) in this protected part of the sea.
Moving with the water, on our walk into the middle valley, I experienced the joy of being in a three-dimensional, natural environment. A slight turn of the body changes the soundscape reaching my ears. As I turn, I respond with my body to what I hear. I know where I am, as I move. This supports the integration of my sensory world, and deepens my connection to what is around me.
The living world is very rich in things to see, hear and feel - I can focus on what is close-by, or feel the great expanse of the sky and the hills. In movement, I can bring my primary response to the uneven, complexity of the ground, how this feels in my feet, ankles, and legs; or the sounds of different parts of the river, upstream, downstream, small sounds of whirling and trickling in the burn and the bigger rushing of the waterfall; or the play of light reflecting off the water and wet stones, moving across hills and valley.
This engagement with the complexity of the living world is happening in my shiatsu treatments too. The focus is on the person I am with, in the context in which we find ourselves. This natural complexity can occasionally be overwhelming, but is usually a source of richness and curiosity for me.
In shiatsu, we develop our two-handed connection as a key skill. We hold two different parts of the body at the same time - perhaps one of my hands is on the receiver's hip, and the other on their knee. Connecting with both places at once starts the process of opening up to complexity. What can I feel at the hip with my left hand? What can I feel at the knee with my right hand? Then, what does my left hand know about the knee, and my right hand about the hip? Am I aware of differences? Do I have a sense of communication between the two areas, love, or antagonism, or a division of labour? Maybe I have a strong sense of both areas connecting to another part of the body - the foot, or the lower back, the neck, or the other knee. Perhaps the knee wants to empty out and the hip wants to fill up.
I can still remember learning shiatsu as a beginner with Kate Burford, and really finding it difficult to feel both of my hands at once. Paying attention to the hand that was moving around the receiver's body was much easier than paying attention to the hand that was still - I would sometimes forget it was there! Paying attention to both hands at once creates something like the three-dimensional attentional environment that I felt in that stream in Knoydart.
From this two-hand connection we can really develop our holistic practice. We can sense and imagine our receiver's energetic system, the physical, biological processes of the body, their emotional condition, and the ways in which they are supported or challenged by their environment, on many levels. In shiatsu, we connect with these experiences of the receiver through our bodies, from our own centre. This deep witnessing of the receiver is coupled with a moving, relational response to what we feel, through the shiatsu treatment we are offering. This witnessing with movement can bring new opportunities for change and connection within the receiver, holistically - in the body or emotional state, in the thoughts and feelings, in their sense of meaning in life or the ways in which the person interacts with their environment.
#shiatsuwithoutborders #shiatsuawarenessmonth #shiatsu #shiatsusociety #shiatsucollege ESF - European Shiatsu Federation Shiatsu College, Manchester Yaacov Darling Khan Ya'Acov & Susannah Darling Khan - Creators of Movement Medicine Essential Shiatsu
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