A Shiatsu Practitioner’s experience of Shiatsu in the workplace since Covid 19 began
– by Patricia O’Hanlon, Shiatsu Practitioner
“The most common health challenges that I come across while working with individuals or groups are anxiety and stress. The anxiety is mainly related to the uncertainty about how the future will unfold since the pandemic began. How clients react to their anxiety can either increase it or decrease it. Some find themselves straying away from their usual healthy foods while others are drinking more alcohol as a way to cope with the extra stress.
How Shiatsu can help anxiety
For everyday anxiety, I find that gentle Shiatsu work on the head, along the Governing Vessel clears and relaxes the mind. We then do some focused breathing techniques and some movement exercises which can be used between sessions or classes. I also have a ‘to-do’ list for the month. There is a specific task for each day of the month and these repeat every month.
I have found that the stress that presents most often with my clients is with relationships. During Covid lockdowns, work, home and childcare arrangements have been disrupted and it can be very difficult to retain harmony or optimism within the family.
Where possible, individual Shiatsu bodywork treatments take the pressure off clients and relieves this built-up anxiety. Some clients are not open to bodywork, but love energising and relaxation exercises as well as guided visualisation and meditations.
In a group setting, it is possible to demonstrate how stress tightens the body and the joints, and I always like to include five element information, stretches, foods etc. I have a resource table with appropriate books and objects related to the topic of the day and participants love to browse and ask questions.
As Shiatsu practitioners, we have been forced to change our practices due to Covid, and many of these changes have been positive.”
About the Author
Patricia O’Hanlon is a qualified practitioner of Shiatsu, Rejuvenating Face & Head Massage and Health & Life Coaching.
She trained as a practitioner and teacher of Metamorphic Technique with Gaston Saint Pierre, the founder of the technique, and is an IIHS qualified Instructor of The Vimala Alphabet (International Institute of handwriting Studies).
Contact Patricia
Mobile: 087 632 4154 Email: patriciakinect@gmail.com
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