Equine Shiatsu - by Clare E Austin





				The word 'Shiatsu' is derived from 'Shi', meaning finger and 'Atsu' meaning pressure. An Equine Shiatsu session will involve pressure from the practitioners fingers, thumbs or palms of their hands on specific areas, along with various stretches and rotations. All of these techniques aim to stimulate the body’s natural healing process. Shiatsu is known as the Eastern form of Japanese Physiotherapy and may be simply described as acupuncture without the needles!


				Horses are my passion in life having given me great pleasure over the years. I have a good understanding and affinity with horses and relate to them well. A result of this is that I have always felt I wanted to give something back to the horse, so Equine Shiatsu seemed to be the way. To me horses are and always will be a great ‘therapy’ as they are always there for you whatever life maybe throwing at you. Shiatsu appealed to me as an alternative therapy as it is a non-invasive and extremely effective, being based on ancient traditional Chinese medicine. I qualified as an Equine Shiatsu Practitioner for Horse and Rider, in 2005, Distinction, at The School of Equine Shiatsu in West Sussex and then went on to do a year of Post-Graduate Study. I am a registered practitioner and member of tESA, the Equine Shiatsu Association. I have also spent two years teaching and assisting at The School of Equine Shiatsu, West Sussex.