Your Circulation and You!

One of the hardest tasks in performing this style of Shiatsu is trying to explain to everyone that I work on, especially any new clients, that your tension and your pain throughout your body, especially in your muscles, is all due to the circulatory congestion in OTHER parts of your body.

We, as a culture, almost 100% could agree that muscle tension is because the muscle is "tight". Everyone who comes in to see me usually have their own theories why they hurt here and there, and in most cases they all originate from a backward perspective. I have mentioned many times that there are multiple factors that combine to create a poor circulatory system, but none of those factors are ever mentioned by clients as they come in. It's not a surprise, either. You don't hear it anywhere, especially from doctors, other massage therapists, the internet, or other sources of information. When I was trained in Swedish Massage, they made it very clear that we could not affect the arterial flow of circulation and could only affect the venous flow. With that belief system, you are only and always going to target symptoms, not problems. For years I used that formula, and while my clients would feel relaxed and would get a little relief, it wasn't for any real length of time. This was extremely frustrating for me. I wasn't in this business to cheat people from their money. I wanted to get people better and KEEP them better. With these results it left me with many questions that I could never answer nor find anyone who could answer them for me. Once I met my Shiatsu Master, though, it was like opening a door to a bright room when I was surrounded in utter darkness.

Like I said, most come in with tension and only want that area really worked on. They believe that something they do on a regular basis is causing their muscle to be "tight". With that belief though, it still doesn't explain anything. You feel the tension, but you are not sure physiologically where it stems from. You can't show that the muscle is "tight" structurally, as if something was not allowing the muscle to retract anymore. All you can do is feel the muscle, see its decreased range of motion, feel its structural tension, and guess that there is something structurally wrong with it. This is where the Shiatsu breaks through conventional Western thinking.

I explain to everyone that the muscles expand thus creating tension and decreased range of motion when your overall circulation is impeded in other areas. Just like a clogged sink, where the water backs up into the tub of your sink. You don't eliminate the symptom which is the backed up water by focusing on the water. You eliminate the symptom by eliminating the problem... the clog. Once the clog is gone, the symptom goes away all on its own.

Think, for a moment, that at the center of your circulatory system you have your heart, which simply is a pump that has one job and one job only: To squeeze blood to your entire body. NOW, think about going to areas of your body and start to limit the amount of fluid that passes through. Think about the ramifications of doing so and how, in basic fluid mechanics, consequences will ensue. Now you're not stopping all the blood, just decreasing the volume that moves through it. Basic fluid mechanics will state that if something impedes normal flow, then the excess volume will find alternate routes. Simply put it is "The path of least resistance". You slow the blood as it passes the shoulder joint, then the elbow joint, then the wrist, and you get circulation that builds up in the muscles around your shoulder, neck, and over time in your other arm. You'll feel the pain in these built up areas throughout your day, due to the fact that the muscles have expanded and the flexibility has greatly decreased causing constant tension, but you don't realize that they are just the symptom of problems in other areas.

Areas of concern that build up stagnant blood are small, very specific areas around your jaw, suboccipitals, shoulders, elbows, wrists, fingers, abdomen, knees, and feet... just to name a few. What you might notice is that most of these areas are dealing with joints and bends in the body. For when we move and have muscle contraction, those muscles can temporarily slow your bloods movement. This wouldn't be a big deal except that with lactic acid not being neutralized in your blood, due to its unnatural pH (because it is acidic rather than alkalized), those areas build up congestion, very similar to a beaver damn.

If you talked to 1,000 random people, you'd probably get 97% of them to admit they have tension in their neck, back, and shoulders on a regular basis. It is all because with the spots mentioned earlier your heart ends up pumping more volume to those areas simply because as it squeezes, it is not moving efficiently to the rest of the body. Fluid will go where there is least resistance.

The coolest thing about performing this style of Shiatsu is the before and after affect. Not only will my clients feel a massive difference in muscles that hold the backed up circulation, but I can also see the subtle physical changes in my clients body. For example, the gluteus maximus, minimus, and medius (Muscles in your hip) are literally blown up like a water balloon with the excess of circulation that is impeded in your feet and lower calf. So when I release the built up circulation, those muscles literally shrink like taking water out of the balloon. They can drop in height up to around an inch. It is subtle and most don't feel it happen. But if you ever watched it being done, it would be quiet surprising. With the excess of internal pressure, it makes the sensitivity of the muscle greater. When I push the muscle before I work the feet and calves, you'll either get pain, a sensation of tickling, or a weird combination of the two. When I perform the Shiatsu and go back to the same muscle, I can push harder and most of the time there isn't any of those feelings. If the sensitivity isn't completely gone, it is massively decreased.

If you can understand this philosophy and put it to use throughout your life, you'll be able to PREVENT tension, migraines, joint problems, slipped discs, bad digestive issues, and on and on and on. You can actually start to put the puzzle pieces of your life together and answer why you have such tension on a regular basis. Now, it is a process, like I have stated before. A quick fix doesn't exist. This will put you in a path of optimal health, but it takes some work. Getting your circulation intact should be the most important job to being healthy. Your entire body requires blood and all that blood brings to it. Without your blood, your body will start to break down, wear down, and slow down. Our body's ability to heal itself is amazing, but it can't do it with poor circulation.

If you have questions on what you can do to help, send me an email and I'll be happy to explain to the best of my ability what you can do to help yourself. I don't have all the answers, nor will I ever. But the knowledge I have been given has changed my life in such a way that I can't keep it to myself and I want to try and help as many as I can. At the same time I can only help those who want help. If that is you, than I can't wait to hear from you.

Stay Happy, Healthy, and Ready for Anything.