From the Editor Winter 2006 Issue 100 by Hilary Totah
This year’s winter newsletter is the one hundredth edition of the Shiatsu Society newsletter. A great achievement if you consider that this represents 25 years of publishing history! The first newsletter was just a small black and white A5 pamphlet made from a double-sided sheet of A4 – that was in autumn 1981 – when the Shiatsu Society was founded with a grand total of seven practitioners. Elaine Liechti was the first editor, producing the typewritten/photocopied newsletter until 1990, still in the A5 format. In 1997 the newsletter changed to its present A4 style and it was only last year that it became the full colour glossy magazine we have today. We have come a long way since those early days and it is a tribute to the shiatsu community and the development of The Shiatsu Society that we now have a practitioner list of over six hundred.
The lead article for this edition is an article from Chris McAlister ‘Shiatsu in the moment’, a carefully thought out and well-written article encouraging us to be in the ‘now’. Chris evokes the meditative quality of shiatsu, discussing how we can stay in the moment and be attentive to the reactions of our receiver. He gives some valuable insight into interpreting those subtle reactions that we may otherwise ignore.
Deborah Valentine Smith shows how to work effectively with musculoskeletal problems in part one of her article on tendinomuscular meridians (TMM) or ‘sinew channels’. Originally published in the AOBTA Pulse magazine. I am sure that practitioners and students will find this article of interest. She shows how to access the fascial system through the qi flow of the TMM, making parallels with craniosacral therapy and looking at points which can be used to add to the effectiveness of the work. The second part will be in the next newsletter.
In the director’s reports professionalism in shiatsu is seen to be an important subject that has been discussed both at our own EGM and throughout Europe and this will be on the agenda in next year’s European Shiatsu Congress (see page 28 for details). How do we lift the status of shiatsu, make sure our training is of the best quality so that students develop into confident practitioners, encourage the public to recognise the worth of shiatsu and show professional bodies like the NHS that shiatsu as an effective therapy?
We also have a very current article on why you should have a website – take a look at the Shiatsu Society’s website for help in setting up and designing your own website. A hearty recipe from Katharine Hall for chicken soup is highly appropriate in this the season of colds and flu and Suzi Caunce explores how we can be happy. Susan Crawshaw’s letter on the letters page tells how she used the European Shiatsu Week to promote her shiatsu practise with excellent results.
When I was considering what image to use for the winter newsletter I was looking at snow and frost scenes and I realised that these are becoming less and less an image of out winters in this era of climate change. I have recently become a keen gardener and I have noticed how the seasons are changing. This year the leaves have stayed on the trees longer and my garden was infested by slugs which love the damp but also the lack of frost in this warm autumn and winter. My choice of a picture of a Coneflower or Echinacea felt appropriate – Echinacea with its healing qualities is not a native of England but is a particularly drought resistant plant, becoming more common and adapting easily to our warmer and dryer climate. I long for the crisp cold weather – the first frosts needed to start the bulbs and to kill the summer bugs, wrapping up warm on frosty mornings crunching ice underfoot, snuggling in front of a warm fire, waiting for the days to lengthen and buds and optimism to blossom, to complete the cycles of dying, decay and re-growth.
Have a happy and prosperous New Year
Shiatsu
Society (UK). PO Box 4580,
Rugby,
Warwickshire. CV21 9EL tel: 0845 130 4560 fax: 01788 555052