The torso and back can be divided up into three areas corresponding to the Three Burning Spaces (see p. 118), and any disharmony within one of the Burning Spaces, broadly speaking, is likely to resonate with the relevant area of the back. We can therefore expect the upper back to reflect the functions of respiration and circulation, and the narrow band at the level of the bottom of the shoulder blades corresponds with the diaphragm. Below this, the mid-back is linked to the digestive function, while from the waist downwards the corresponding functions are those of reproduction and elimination. In the Chinese tradition, the lower back and the Hara (lower abdomen) together hold the Essence, the foundation of our constitution, and it is considered important to keep the lower back warm, strong and supple.

Since communication and cooperation between the Burning Spaces is essential for health, the back meridians can be useful in smoothing, connecting and creating balance, for example in bringing Ki down to an empty Lower Burner or releasing blockage between the Upper and Middle Burners. Because the back feels less vulnerable than the front of the body it may be advisable to use it for this purpose in preference to the front, even if the problem seems to originate, for example, in the chest or abdomen.

Techniques for working on the back are many and varied.

Working on the back in the prone position

Palm pressure is particularly well suited to the mid-thoracic and sacral areas, though it may be too much for the lumbar region, which is only supported by the soft abdominal contents, so check with your receiver how it feels as you gradually lean your weight in.

This palm pressure can be applied in the form of ‘crawling’, which is very relaxing for both giver and receiver and is an ideal way to get acquainted with the back. Don’t use knees for crawling on your receiver, but crawl with your hands relaxed on your receiver’s back and your knees on the floor, moving you where you want to go. You can cover the whole back in this way if you keep your pressure perpendicular to the slopes and curves of the sides of the back and behind the shoulders.

You can also apply palm pressure to both sides of the back at once, leaning in then moving both hands down and leaning your weight forward once again, covering the whole back in this way (Fig. 9.1). For some receivers this is a great way of increasing the breath capacity, if you encourage them to breathe out as you bring your weight forward. It may be too heavy for some, however, and should rarely be applied with full weight on the lumbar area by any but the lightest of givers.

Fig. 9.1 Bilateral palming of the back.

You can also keep a ‘mother’ hand at the top of the back, lightly spanning the spine, while you palm down the near side of the back (Fig. 9.2), or the ‘mother’ hand can be on the sacrum while you move up the back. Either of these methods is useful in different circumstances, so it is a good idea to practice till you are equally proficient in both.

Fig. 9.2 Unilateral palming of the back.

This is a good Zen Shiatsu way of working on the longitudinal meridians of the back, Bladder, Kidney and Small Intestine.

It is far easier to get the right angle of pressure when working on the side of the back nearest to you. If this makes you feel constricted, you have come in too close and need to move your knees further away from your receiver.

Elbow pressure feels wonderful on the back. Please remind yourself of the tips on using the elbow in the previous chapter.

You can use your elbows ‘free-style’, as if crawling with them, finding comfortable places to rest the weight of your upper body. Let yourself relax and take your time, aware of the different degrees of comfort and well-being that different places on the receiver’s back offer you. This is delightful and healing to receive in proportion to the comfort and delight of the giver and it is very easy to do, a good technique for when you are tired.

You can use a ‘mother elbow’ on a particularly empty-feeling spot, or one where you yourself enjoy resting, while the other elbow either applies pressure up a relevant meridian or explores for places which feel related to the ‘mother elbow’ (Fig. 9.3).

Fig. 9.3 Double elbow technique.

You can support your weight on a ‘mother hand’, perhaps on the sacrum or the back of the shoulder, while you apply your body weight to a meridian through your elbow (Fig. 9.4).

Fig. 9.4 Mother hand and elbow.

If you face your receiver’s head and kneel seiza, you can support yourself with a ‘mother hand’ on a comfortable handhold such as the shoulder blade. This makes it easy to recline sideways on to your nearside elbow, having made sure that it is nestling in a hollow and not balanced on a bone or tight muscle. Alternatively, by angling your elbow backwards you can penetrate and release the area between the iliac crest and the small of the back. Both techniques are best performed on the side of the back nearest to you (Fig. 9.5).

Fig. 9.5 Elbow down one side of the back.

Working on the upper back in the prone position

The upper back in most receivers is a sloping surface, and you will therefore usually achieve a better penetration by working on it from behind your receiver’s head. This is also one of the few places where you can achieve a relaxed and deep penetration without rising into the ‘crawl’ position, simply kneeling in seiza and employing the weight of the upper body only.

Palming over the whole of the upper back and shoulder area is a wonderful technique to relax the receiver and enable you to acquaint yourself with the ‘feel’ of the area. Keep your hands really relaxed for maximum effect, and allow your whole hand to mold itself gently to the contours under it while carrying the relaxed weight of your own upper body.

Thumbing is a technique best used to focus on certain points on the back, such as the points next to the spine or the Yu points (see p. 176), which may require precise pressure into a specifically angled tsubo. You can use your thumbs on one side of the spine with a mother hand, as shown (Fig. 9.6), or with both thumbs at once down both sides of the spine.

Fig. 9.6 Thumbing one side of upper back area.

Apart from the upper back area, the back is not one of the best places for thumbing along the path of a meridian, since many receivers require deeper pressure here than on other parts of the body, and often the musculature is tense or knotted, two factors which make it easy to over-strain the thumbs; elbow pressure is usually better suited to the back, unless the receiver is small or frail.

Elbows are ideal for working on the area between the shoulder blades. You can use both elbows together, ‘walking’ down either side of the spine with them, or use one elbow at a time, supporting yourself with a mother hand on the other side of the receiver’s upper back, so that your elbow pressure can be as light or deep as is comfortable for the receiver (Figs 9.7 & 9.8).

Fig. 9.7 Unilateral elbowing of the upper back.

Fig. 9.8 Bilateral elbowing of the upper back,

Before beginning to use any elbow technique described, please read the section on ‘Using the elbows’ in Ch. 8, p. 58.

Working on the back in the side position

The side position is ideal for pregnant women, as well as receivers with stiff necks, abdominal tenderness or some other reason why lying prone is uncomfortable. It is also relaxing for receivers who sleep on their sides.

On the minus side, some receivers are unstable in this position and need propping up. Traditionally, the body is stabilized via the leg position. Either of the two methods shown below (Figs 9.9 & 9.10) will work with most receivers, but some may require extra support from pillows and bolsters.

Fig. 9.9 Method 1 for side lying.

Fig. 9.10 Method 2 for side lying.

We are unable to use the standard ‘crawl’ position when working on the back of a receiver in side position; instead we must lean our weight in horizontally, which is why the support and stability of the receiver’s position is paramount.

Palm pressure can be applied from two positions. In the simplest, facing the receiver’s back, we must keep our center of gravity low and the receiver must be in a stable enough position that we do not push them over with our pressure. The mother hand can be either on the upper back or the sacrum, depending on whether we want to take Ki up or down (or on how we ourselves are most comfortable, always an important consideration); it can be lying just above the spinal column or across it (but should not be exerting pressure directly on the spine, cup the palm slightly to avoid direct pressure on the vertebrae). The other hand palms along the back, starting beside the mother hand and moving away from it (Fig. 9.11). You can cover the traditional Bladder meridian with the Yu points, or Masunaga’s Bladder, Kidney, Small Intestine and Triple Heater meridians in this way.

Fig. 9.11 Palming the back in side, keyboard style, with mother hand.

Sit seiza to keep your body low down, spreading your knees apart to lower you further if you need it. Try not to sit cross-legged for this technique as, unless your receiver is a lot smaller than you, it will keep you anchored in one spot so that you cannot cover the whole back easily.

In the second method we adopt the classical Japanese posture for treating in side position; namely, kneeling in seiza facing the receiver’s head, thus supporting the receiver’s torso with the side of our hip and thigh as in Fig. 9.14. This is not as immobile a position as it seems, since with only moderate flexibility one can rise up into the lunge position to work on the receiver’s head, neck and arms (Fig. 9.12). Shifting our weight even further allows us to angle our pressure in from behind the receiver’s head or to stretch the arm (Fig. 9.13).

Fig. 9.12 Seiza lunge.

Fig. 9.13 Wide lunge for side position.

Sitting in this position, therefore, we are able to palm up or down the spine, or any of the meridians of the back, with our nearside arm curled under the receiver’s armpit to rest on the top of her shoulder, which supports and braces her body against our pressure (Fig. 9.14).

Fig. 9.14 Palming back from seiza, hand under arm.

We can also use our fingertips to penetrate into the chest while the fingertips of the other hand explore to find connecting places in the upper back (Fig. 9.15). This is a very penetrative technique if we choose spots which resonate together and imagine our fingers going right through the receiver’s torso to meet in the middle. If preferred, a palm can support the chest, but some of the penetrative effect is lost.

Fig. 9.15 Fingertips on front and back, side position.

Fig. 9.16 Dragons Mouth up back (side position).

You can also use a fingertip to penetrate the points between the vertebrae, while you keep a ‘mother hand’ gently supporting the front of the receiver’s body or curled around the shoulder (Fig. 9.17). Make sure that the pressure is enough to be felt by the receiver, yet not forceful. This is where Ki penetration, rather than surface pressure, is important.

Fig. 9.17 Fingertips between vertebrae, hand supporting the Hara.

For all these techniques, the motive force is body weight coming from our Hara, as we lean in sideways towards the receiver. An upright knee can provide support for our working hand.

Techniques are useful, but only if we can perform them without thinking about them. After sufficient practice we should be able to do any of these while focusing on the sensations of connection between our two hands, rather than on the technique itself.

Fingertip pressure down the back in side position

This technique allows for maximum Ki projection and is very useful when seeking out grooves between tight ridges of muscle along the spine. It unifies the sensations along the spine and evens out tension in the back, and is thus very relaxing.

Kneeling in seiza, facing your receiver’s back like a piano keyboard, find a comfortable place near the top end of the receiver’s back where you can nestle your fingertips in to the groove just alongside the spine. Stay on the side of the spine furthest from the ground, as you should not be crouching too low for this, but keeping your alignment between Heaven and Earth.

Use your fingertips as if you were playing an imaginary chord on the keyboard of the receiver’s back; the fingertips are separate, not clumped together, each fingertip feeling for a place where it can penetrate and contact the Ki of the line next to the spine. Usually the middle finger will have to bend slightly in order to keep level with your index finger, but otherwise your fingers are straight, and the receiver should feel a good penetration (Fig. 9.18).

Fig. 9.18 Fingertips.

With the fingertips of your other hand, work down the groove next to the spine, finding places where you feel a connection with the mother hand at the top. It is important to keep your fingertips aligned with your hand and arm, and to use your body weight and Hara. In order not to push the receiver off balance, use your imagination and intention to send your fingertips through to the front of the body. When you have completed one trip down the spine, move your mother hand down to another comfortable place further down the back and repeat the process (Fig. 9.19).

Fig. 9.19 Fingertips down back technique.

Working on the back in sitting position

Few of our clients will be happy receiving this work in the traditional Japanese seiza position on the mat, and we will mostly be adapting these techniques to use with the receiver in a chair. The challenge in either case is to achieve a good pressure and penetration without pushing the unsupported receiver forward.

We can achieve this by allowing the receiver to lean her elbows on a table in front of her, or if she is flexible enough, to drop her body forward to lie over her own knees so that we can apply body weight to her back (Fig. 9.20).

Fig. 9.20 Back, sitting receiver bending forward.

It is a shame, though, to limit the flexibility of the sitting position in this way, and we should allow at least some time to work with the receiver unsupported, except for a steadying hand on one shoulder while our other hand works down the back with palm, thumb, knuckle or modified Dragon’s Mouth either side of the spine (Fig. 9.21).

Fig. 9.21 Sitting position, back work supporting shoulder.

It is a good opportunity to practice penetration as opposed to pressure. Physical pressure will push the receiver forward; if using penetration, we direct our touch through the receiver’s body towards the front.

Fingertips into back and chest together

The sitting position also allows us to penetrate the receiver’s back and front at the same time for greater effectiveness (Fig. 9.22). If we stand or kneel at the receiver’s side we can place the fingertips of one hand into the intercostal spaces along one of the back meridians, such as Bladder, and those of the other along one of the meridians of the front such as Kidney. Via the natural relationship between the two hands, we are able to direct our fingertips towards each other without force but with good penetration and depth, as if in imagination our fingertips were meeting deep inside the receiver.

Fig. 9.22 Working front and back together (sitting position).

When working like this, keep both your arms, hands and fingers in a natural and continuous curve, with no sharp angles or compressions. It is a little like the Qi Gong position of ‘holding the ball’. Only your middle finger needs to bend, the others can penetrate straight in.

Working on the back in the supine position

The supine position is not the best one for working on the back, for obvious reasons. It can, however, be useful to slide one hand under your receiver’s back in order to find key points to penetrate to connect (through the receiver’s body) to the work your other hand is doing on the front of the torso. The technique works best in the upper back, where you can connect with work on the chest, and often lifting or moving the shoulder blade from below can be helpful here.

The other area is the lower back, where finding points of deepest penetration with a hand under the receiver’s body can complete a connection with the upper hand as it penetrates empty points on the Hara, or lower abdomen. This technique can be very useful for lower backache due to Kidney deficiency (Fig. 9.23).

Fig. 9.23 Working on lower back and penetrating points on the Hara.

The Sacrum

Structure, function and significance of the sacrum

The sacrum is the foundation of the upright posture of the back, and connects the spinal column with the pivotal hinge of the hips. It was the strength of the sacrum which first enabled primeval man to stand upright and enjoy the free use of his hands, an evolutionary leap which started human history.

Through the sacrum we connect directly with the Hara and the Essence/Source Ki, the origin of Yin and Yang in the body, the source of life. To re-connect the body with its consciousness of itself, its own natural drives and needs, think first of the sacrum as the epicenter for your work. It can be a good place to hold a Yin hand while the Yang hand works up the meridians of the back, or down the meridians of the legs.

It should not be too much of a stretch to keep one hand on the sacrum while the other works down the backs of the legs, unless you are very small or your receiver is very tall. It helps if you keep your body half-way between your two hands and lower your center of gravity by moving your knees further apart.

It is not always possible to work with the sacrum in this way, however. Whether through injury or an inability to follow the body’s wishes and find our own natural alignment with the current of life, some of us may experience problems with the sacrum – it feels cut off and cannot easily be connected with the rest of the body; compression of any kind causes pain.

When a receiver seems to be experiencing pain, we should work directly with the Hara, with Ampuku (see p. 86), rather than attempting deep work on the sacrum. The fronts and sides of the hips can also be useful places to address.

Working on the sacrum in the prone position

Thumb pressure

If pressure on the sacrum does not cause your receiver pain, you can penetrate with your thumbs in a way which is often not suitable for the muscular ridges of the back. There are two ways of doing this:

1. Working unilaterally (Fig. 9.24), first on one side of the sacrum and then on the other, as a continuation of the work down one side of the spine. (The best place for the mother hand when you work this way is in the lumbar area of the back.) This can be particularly useful in correcting a rotated sacrum if you concentrate on the ‘empty’ side of the sacrum first. (Remember to ask for feedback from your receiver and work with a degree of pressure that feels comfortable to him/her, as a misaligned sacrum can feel tender and fragile.)

2. Working bilaterally, in other words with both thumbs at once, one on each side of the sacrum. This can be a good technique for the constant dull ache of deficient Kidney/Bladder Ki, as it stimulates the Yu points in the hollows of the sacrum. This technique is illustrated on p. 183. Once again, however, it is a technique which needs to be sensitively used, as it can have an analgesic effect and your receiver may ask for very deep pressure for the temporary pain relief; pressure which may in the long run make the situation worse by inflaming the tissues. Make sure, therefore, that you remain aware, penetrate the points gradually and ‘listen’ to whether you are encountering the Ki and it feels good to you (see p. 42).

Fig. 9.24 Unitlateral thumbing on sacrum, mother hand.

Elbowing the sacrum

When you are familiar and skilful with the use of your elbows, it is possible to use the elbow into the sacral hollows to good effect, if your receiver has some natural padding there. A mother hand on the lumbar area is a good support. The same cautions apply as when using your thumbs (see above).

The Hips

Structure, function and significance of the hips

The hips and buttocks are the foundation of our physical being: the movement of the hip joint is crucial to our survival – whether in running away from danger, kicking an attacker, or moving in the sexual/reproductive act which ensures the survival of our genes. The hips contain powerful physical energy and they need to move in order to activate the impetus which the survival drive gives to our whole being.

The musculature of the hips connects via fascial links with the pelvic floor, so that the whole area is involved with supporting the reproductive, urinary and intestinal systems. The pelvic floor also has a reflex relationship with the diaphragm, and should move and respond to the movement of the breath. The pelvic floor is the gateway of the Lower Burner which ‘has an exit but no entrance’ according to the texts. It should be able to relax and let go, as well as tighten deliberately to support and contain, but is often held tense, unable to move fully in either action.

Our sedentary lifestyle restricts the movement of this area as we experience life more and more in the virtual world than in the physical one, and our survival drive becomes transferred to our head and upper limbs. In Shiatsu, therefore, treatment of the hips and buttocks can be a vitally grounding and energizing part of the session. Yet the hips and buttocks can also be an area associated with shame and guilt, whether through early sexual experiences or received attitudes about bodily functions which can be instilled during toilet training. In such a situation the hips can be unresponsive and wooden, blocking connection between the torso and the legs. We have to work sensitively in these cases, without trying to force the receiver to let go, concentrating on meridian connections across the blocked area and using small, subtle hip rotations rather than insisting on a large physical movement.

Working on the hips in the prone position

Palming and elbowing the meridian lines down the hips with a mother hand on the lumbar area is a universally acceptable way to treat the hips and buttocks, if we lean comfortably, with the elbow carrying the weight only of the upper body (Fig. 9.25). A mother hand on the lumbar area allows us to connect the hips with the central ‘treasure-house’ of the Ming-Men area (see p. 121). When addressing the point GB30 in the depression in the center of the hip, we can try different angles until our elbow sinks in to the most comfortable one.

Fig. 9.25 Elbowing hip meridians, mother hand on lumbar area, prone position.

Thumbing the hips in the prone position is often needlessly uncomfortable for the receiver, as the point of your thumb can dig in to the tense muscles, causing pain and with little effect. It can also strain your thumbs. If you are going to thumb along a meridian in this area, make sure that it is one that ‘lets you in’.

Working on the hips in the side position

You can use any of the meridian lines from your Hara diagnosis and treat them with palm, thumb or elbow. Thumbing the hips is easier in side than in prone position, since the muscles are stretched thinner by the position of the receiver’s leg and thus require less pressure. Your mother hand can be listening on the side of the waist, the lumbar area or the sacrum.

Fingertips can be used to great effect in the side position, not for treating the meridians of the buttocks but for penetrating into the soft tissue in front of the hip bone, while your mother hand rests on the receiver’s sacrum (Fig. 9.26). This area makes potent connections with the internal musculature of the pelvis, and is effective in the treatment of a variety of disorders relating to the lower back, abdomen and hips.

Fig. 9.26 Treating hips in side position.

In many people this area is protected by muscular armoring, and you will need to explore, gently testing in front of the whole length of the hip bone in order to find points that can be penetrated. Do not touch tentatively, however, as well-protected receivers are often extremely ticklish here!

Note: Please read ‘Using the fingertips’ in Chapter 8. Keep your palm raised – watch out for the ‘crab’ hand!

Working on the hips in the supine position

This same area mentioned above, the front of the hips, can also be treated effectively by palm pressure in the supine position. Leaning on the front of the hips, even down to the front of the thigh, addresses several important meridians and can be very beneficial for gynecological as well as hip and lower back problems. Try letting your thumbs seek out the soft tissue area in front of the hip bone while your palms apply pressure to the bone itself (Fig. 9.27).

Fig. 9.27 Palming front of hips with thumbs in GB28.

Hip rotations

This is a good preliminary before working on the receiver’s legs. With a mother hand on the Hara, place a hand under the knee of the leg nearest to you and raise it to a bent position. Facing the receiver’s upper body, move your own body forward to support her bent knee with the front of your shoulder, keeping your arm loosely around the knee. (Because your shoulder is supporting the knee, you don’t need to clutch it.) Now, by circling your own body around you will be taking the receiver’s bent leg in a circle, rotating the hip joint (Fig. 9.28). Keep listening to the mother hand on the Hara, and tuning in to the smoothness or otherwise of the joint rotation. Your movements can be relatively small, so don’t tire yourself with a big rotation. The more you tune in, the more powerful the movement will be.

Fig. 9.28 Hip rotation.

The Sides of the Torso

We normally work on the sides of the torso mainly in the side position, but as they are so important it seems a shame to limit the work on the sides of the body in this way. It is easy to work on them in both prone and supine positions, where they are valuable for connecting the energies of the upper and lower torso.

Structure, function and significance of the sides

The sides of the body carry out the actions of turning and rotating, which means that they embody the energies of choice, letting go and adaptation. (In the classical meridian system these functions are all carried out by the zigzag path of the Gall-Bladder (GB) meridian; in the Zen Shiatsu system they manifest in the extended pathways of the Large Intestine and Triple Heater meridians on either side of the GB.) In the physical structure they make up part of the cross-patterned connection between the center and the extremities, allowing not only a side-to- side bend but also a twisting movement. In the action of walking or running, the sides must keep the torso upright when one side of the body is temporarily unsupported as the foot leaves the ground: and they transmit impetus from the spine so that the arms pump in synchronicity when we run. The sides of the torso are thus essential to our functioning as two-legged, two-armed beings.

Working on the sides of the torso in the prone position

Knees can be used on the side aspects of the torso and the ‘corner area’ where the side joins the back (the border of the latissimus dorsi, Masunaga’s Triple Heater meridian).

Balancing yourself with both hands on your receiver’s back, squat on your haunches and tip forward on to the balls of your feet. Move closer or further away from your receiver, depending on your leg length, until your knees can nudge gently into the side of your receiver’s torso while you remain comfortably upright (Fig. 9.29). Do not kneel on your receiver; your entire weight is on the balls of your feet at all times. Tipping your weight just a little further forward will increase the pressure – keep it steady by means of your hands on the back.

Fig. 9.29 Double knee technique.

This technique works best if you are of small to average height and have flexible feet and ankles. Only use this knee technique if it feels comfortable and natural; palming would be another good way to approach this area.

Palm pressure is also useful on the sides of the torso (Fig. 9.30). With a mother hand on the lumbar area or sacrum, palm up the side of the body nearest you. Remember to mold your hand to the contours under it, and try not to compress the body; imagine space under the ribs and allow yourself to feel the resilience of the movement of your receiver’s breath.

Fig. 9.30 Palming up side in prone.

Thumb pressure can be used on the meridians of the side accessible in the prone position –GB and the Triple Heater extension (Fig. 9.31). Facing your receiver like a pianist at the keyboard, keep a mother hand either on the shoulder or hip area, and feel for the spaces between the ribs before you lean in, in order to avoid pressing directly on a rib. You will need to keep your center of gravity low by spreading your knees apart and ‘keeping weight underside’.