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Dear shiatsu friends........a short `hello’ is in order.

I’ve been inspired to write, as lately my thoughts have turned towards women, health and lower backs!

Why highlight lower backs?

Recently I received a very challenging shiatsu treatment and recognised the importance of understanding more of what lies below our lower backs; the source of so much tension and pain in treatment.

In oriental medicine the body is divided into 3 burners; lower, middle and upper. For me the lower burner is of major interest.

In the lower burner, which essentially covers the whole of the lower abdomen, we find all the major organs of the body plus our reproductive organs. In fact the only organs not in this burner are the lungs, heart, heart protector and spleen. This already tells us that we have much happening here both physiologically and emotionally. It is the emotional side that I want to look at as, from my clinical experience, this is where so many issues lie for women....and some men.

In our culture the pressures on women are to become, and remain self-absorbed. We are encouraged to excerpt ever more control over our bodies and maintain a constant interest in self-improvement. Restraint and control are words often very familiar to us and it is when we enter the arena of treatment that our conscious desire to control gets challenged by the good practitioner. When expert hands touch us, our ability to maintain tight boundaries flounders and in its place emerges a truer picture of where we are in our lives.

Under the lower back and nestled below our navels are our kidneys, our greatest source of drive and energy...the very seat of our ability to move forward in the world. The pain in our lower backs and congestion in our digestion points to the clash of our desire to really stride out into the world coupled with the strongest of messages not to believe in our ability to do so.

I say fearfulness be damned! Really, this is not a dress rehearsal.

Take a deep breath, get treated and get out there and truly live!

Happy summer wishes to you all..

Karen