Shiatsu Talk: By Popular Demand

What’s it like to give Shiatsu, you ask? What a difficult question to answer.

In Zen Shiatsu we look for a kyo and a jitsu meridian. Kyo means empty or deficient; jitsu means excess or full. (The jitsu meridian is trying to fill a need for a kyo meridian, or substituting for it. It’s important to tonify the kyo meridian and disperse the jitsu one.) We find these two meridians by palpating the hara, or abdomen. Certain hara areas correspond to certain meridians.

A kyo quality in a meridian or diagnostic area is often described as feeling empty or hollow. It can feel too soft, allowing the fingers to sink in too far; shy, cold; flaccid; and occasionally doughy and slightly tough. Sometimes a kyo area will feel like it has a thin layer of ki on top and is hollow below, like a bubble covering a hole. Those can be tricky to spot. Lung is an unusual case in that it sometimes feels very hard when it’s weak, in account of overworking. A good rule of thumb (ha!) is that, when it feels like the receiver wants your hand to stay in an area, it’s kyo. Needy. For an example, place your hand on your lower back around the kidney area. How does it feel?Almost everyone is kyo there.

Jitsu qualities are stuck; hard; pushing back on the giver; sometimes it feels like a big jolt. I’ve noticed that Large Intestine meridian often feels zingy when excess. Jitsu areas tend to be tender. Ticklish areas are usually jitsu. Try this: press the area just below your greater trochanter (hip bone on the side of upper thigh). Tender? Hard? It usually is.

Most meridians, even if overall kyo or jitsu, will have blocked jitsu areas and empty kyo areas. We try not only to balance out the meridians with each other, but also within themselves. Last weekend I practiced on a woman with sinus bloakage. Well no wonder--her meridians were very tight and stopped all around her shoulders, keeping ki stuffed up in her head. (I suspect she thinks too much. She also talks probably too much. She talks...a lot.) The forearms were soft and sinking. I worked down the chosen meridians with intent to bring the ki down to her forearms and hands. The best results came when I held an especially blocked upper arm point with one thumb and an empty forearm point with my other thumb. After a moment or two---sliiiiide went the ki, all nice and smooth. A second after I felt this, her whole arm relaxed, the shoulder point softened, and the forearm point filled up to a healthy level, gaining tone. After the treatment, her sinus headache went away for at least a couple of days. It's probably back now, what with all the thinking, talking, and dairy-eating she does. :)

Properly flowing ki feels like tingling warmth sliding between points, like a river of silver, or maybe like magnetic attraction. Try this: rub your palms together 9 times, pause, 9 times more, pause, and then nine times more. Then hold your hands, palms facing each other, maybe 6” to a foot apart. Feel anything? Play with moving your palms closer and farther apart. Relax your shoulders. I see you holding them up by your ears. Harder to feel ki that way...

Some people, of course, are generally so weak that it’s difficult to find a jitsu (excess), or generally so tense that it’s (literally) hard to find a kyo (deficiency).

And then, different meridians feel different. For example, Liver (LV) and Gallbladder (GB) tend to be somewhat hard regardless of kyo/jitsu status: they are wood, after all. Bladder (BL) and Kidney (KD), in balance, feel like rivers, being water energy. (But they’re seldom in balance because the very act of living depletes the KD ki. When KD runs out of ki, you die. Everyone’s born with an allotment of Source Ki or Jing, which is stored in the kidneys. Proper, moderate living, exercises such as qi gong, breathing well, etc., can add to your ki such that the Jing isn’t tapped. Poor living—poor diet, no exercise, excess exercise, not enough sleep, too much stress—and things like serious illness deplete the Jing.)

I’m starting to pick things up from the meridians, too, like poor sleep or excess caffeinated beverages. It’s cool.

SO…hope that answered your question, Carla. Feel free to ask more and I’ll do the best I can with ‘em.