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! Equine Shiatsu looks at the horse as a whole, embracing its personality, behaviour and physical and emotional stress on a day to day basis - rather than a specific area of concern. The reason for this is that Equine Shiatsu works on an energetic basis - all living things besides humans and equines are made up of energy. The body is made up of various different lines (meridians) of energy. Where there is an imbalance of the body’s energy this may manifest itself in numerous ways such as digestive problems, muscle tightness, emotional and behavioural problems. Equine Shiatsu assists by balancing the energy - moving it to areas where there is little energy and away from areas where there is too much, thereby initiating energetic balance. Equine Shiatsu can be helpful in assisting with a variety of physical (musculo-skeletal) or behavioural problems or indeed pure relaxation on an every day basis in the every day life of the horse.l. Rider Shiatsu - Relaxation Alongside Equine Shiatsu, I can also provide Relaxation Shiatsu for the rider. This complementary therapy has been shown to help with any areas of tightness, stiffness and tension that the rider may be experiencing which, as we all know, can be unknowingly transmitted to the horse. If the rider is relaxed and the horses energy is balanced it makes for a good start to the perfect partnership! Rider relaxation shiatsu is given over clothes and combines a series of stretches with palm, finger or thumb pressure.