Movement Shiatsu

Movement Shiatsu was developed by Bill Palmer during the 1980s as a specialist approach for dealing with difficult chronic conditions and developmental problems through Shiatsu.

In a typical session, normal Shiatsu is alternated with exercises and experiments, which help the client to feel their own strengths and weaknesses and to sense directly the effect that the bodywork is having on them. This makes Movement Shiatsu more interactive than the other approaches and, in some cases, it takes the form of the client being taught a remedial exercise system. Many clients use this approach as a path of self development rather than a therapy for a particular ailment.

Bill Palmer's published research into child development suggests that the primitive actions through which infants learn to move and coordinate their body develop along the lines of the Six Divisions, which are traditional combinations of upper body and lower body meridians in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

This forms the theoretical basis of Movement Shiatsu. The exercises and experiments which are prescribed for the client are derived from the developmental movements of infants and, although there is no published evidence for this, practitioners of Movement Shiatsu have observed that these exercises help clients become aware of and strengthen chronic weak points in their posture, musculature and movement.

There is some published evidence that Movement Shiatsu can be helpful to young infants with cerebral palsy and several practitioners specialize in working with children.