Why I love Shiatsu Shin Tai – Liz Arundel MRSS T

 My personal and professional experience of receiving and giving Shin Tai is it empowers, transforms and nourishes me on many levels.

 I discovered Shiatsu 30 years ago in the East West Centre in London. From my first lesson, sitting on chairs in a circle learning a basic neck and shoulder treatment, I realised I had found ‘home’. I left my job a few months and it has been my vocation ever since.

I became one of the youngest teachers in the Shiatsu Society in the 1980s and as the EW Centre became a magnet for world-class Shiatsu teachers, I learnt from the best: Ohashi, Pauline Sasaki, Yamamoto and many Macrobiotic teachers including Saul Goodman. He became my mentor and I still receive regular instruction from him.

I started my training with Saul in 1986 after just 2 years of Shiatsu study at the British School of Shiatsu-Do in London. I have found Shin Tai to be constant source of inspiration and fascination for my practice. As someone who gets bored quickly I would have quit Shiatsu long ago if I hadn’t discovered this evolutionary material and way of treating the body and mind.

For 13 years I didn’t see Saul while I raised my family in the Highlands and taught at the Glasgow School of Shiatsu. But I kept reading his books, my class notes and practicing Shin Tai until he returned to teach in the UK in 2006.

Through those isolated years my clients continued to give me positive feedback that the treatments were working for them on many levels. Symptoms cleared up quite quickly and many felt the treatments were working in much deeper ways. This expressed itself in them feeling they had more space and ease in their body, they were getting ‘back on their path’, were able to express how they wanted to be in the world or felt more fulfilled and creative in different areas of life.

 Since 2010 I have undergone intense training with other European Teachers to pass on Saul’s work. I am the most experienced Shin Tai teacher in the UK and the only one in Scotland. I wish to share my love and passion for this work with others. I am currently teaching in Edinburgh, London and Budapest.

Liz, Kindy and Petra holding the contacts for Stage5/6

There are several courses that the Shin Tai (‘Source Body’) programme covers: GV and Spine, CV and Hara, Light Body Activation, Chakras, Fascia, Structural and               The Central Channel.They all have at their heart the same aim – to restore life force that has been trapped or compressed through our experiences and return motion and alignment in the body.

Shin Tai also naturally dove-tails into any other form of body work, especially Shiatsu because they are both get Chi moving.

For me the masterpiece of Shiatsu Shin Tai is the Central Channel training because it is the most effective and the most elusive in which to excel. All our classes include Proprioceptive exercises to enhance our awareness in our own bodies and to improve our sensitivity to the condition of our receivers. I find these exercise give me confidence in what I’m feeling and sensing in my client- very helpful for CC work.

There are six stages or patterns of stress that we learn in The Central Channel and they all have a correspondence to the attachments of the meninges and the relationship between the parasympathetic and sympathetic nerves. The touch is very light and non-intrusive. As the receiver’s energy system starts to relax and open, the giver takes their hands off to let the body process the contact before going to treat the next stress pattern that is emerging. There are clear signs and patterns that we can see and feel in the body to identify each stage.

Stage 1 is  Stuck in the Past. The occiput is the main area of contact which is interesting as it is the origin, along with the sacrum, of the GV channel. In the foetus it’s the beginning of the spinal column forming.

Stage 2 is Fear of the Future and involves the Atlas, Cervical 1, C4, 5 6. The origin of this stage is Osteopathic and how the occiput and C1 and C5 interact using a head turning test.

Stage 3 is about Identity and Sexuality. The areas of contact are around the pelvis and thigh.

Stage 4 relates to our Beliefs and how we relate to the world. C2, the axis, and C3 are treated.

Stage 5 is Integration and Synthesis of the all the other stages and involves several contacts at the neck and sacral areas.

Stage 6 treats the Structure with soft tissue releases of the spine, pelvis and cranium. This is often an area which is overlooked by Shiatsu practitioners and can have a profound effect on the body when integrated with energy work.

Stage 5 contact

All or some of these stages can come up in a treatment, in any order and that is the fascinating aspect of Central Channel. I’m sure you are familiar with these stages in yourself and your clients’ experiences. The stages are a conglomeration from other bodywork that Saul added to, expanded upon, and adapted to an energetic orientation.  He later created the Advanced CC work and also the 3 phases of motion which provide a framework for how to move through the stages with other Shin Tai techniques that are appropriate during each part of a treatment.  Saul expanded the stages by listening carefully to his clients’ responses to where he was contacting their energy and by their comments afterwards. Often clients reported a sense of ease and relief on many levels and he noticed that they were regaining their will to deal with past trauma and future anxieties and so be more in present time. When life force streams into the present time, we start to appreciate small things as well as the big things. Eg. Seeing the extraordinary in the mundane, feeling immense gratitude for small gestures.

‘I feel 3 inches taller and 10 years younger after today’s treatment.  You’ve helped me a great deal over the years – especially through recovery from radio therapy and hormone therapy, which was a depressing time for me. All your treatments have reflected my mood and physical condition. Thank you for all you’ve done.’ Keith.

‘I feel soft as if I have no bones. I have a warm glow in my upper body.’ Christine.          (This lady had acute sciatica, brought on by lifting, which went after 3 treatments.)

‘I feel invigorated and warm, especially in my upper body.’ Linda                                      (This lady has arthritis in her hands and wrists.)

‘Almost 20 years ago I was told I would need a new hip as my groin pain was coming from my pelvis. Thanks to Liz’s treatments over the years I did not need a hip replacement. I take no medication and still enjoy my golf and tai chi. I cannot recommend Liz and Shiatsu highly enough.’                                                                                                                            Isobel McIntosh, past Captain of the Scottish International Ladies Golf Team.

Liz will be taking the  5 day Structural course to Budapest 20-25 October & 

2 day review of the Central Channel 26-27 October 2014.

‘Central Channel work is powerful and there’s a lot of theory and practice to absorb. Liz eases you through it with her sense of humour and passion. Not only is this work improving my practice, it’s changing my life.’ Caroline Bozkurt, Shiatsu practitioner for 16 years.

Dates and venue to be confirmed. The Structural course is open to ALL body workers.

See ‘courses’ for details and application form

Central Channel course in Bath.

7-9- & 28-30 March 2014

with Liz Arundel and Rachel Boase

‘Restoring motion, alignment and vitality’ –

Saul Goodman’s masterpiece contribution to body work

£450, non-fundable and non-transferrable

deposit of £100.

Early bird £425 by 5th Jan,

balance by 1st Feb

STRUCTURAL ALIGNMENT BATH 2013

with  Liz Arundel MRSS T & Rachel Boase MRSS T

  14th June 2-9pm, 15 & 16 June, 10-5pm

 28th June 2-9pm, 29 & 30 June, 10-5pm 

New Oriel Hall, Brookleaze Buildings, Larkhall, Bath, BA1 6RA

Have you ever wondered why some clients’ conditions don’t improve much or keep recurring? Working on the most dense energetic part of the body, the structure, may hold the clues.

 This course will give you the tools to:

Practice simple proprioceptive exercises to help align your own body, improve your energetic awareness, sensitivity and palpation skills.

Learn a series of simple yet highly effective muscle energy techniques for the hips to practice with your clients.

Learn precise and safe hip and sacral evaluations and passive corrections for the ileum, sacro-iliac joint, pubis bone, lumber vertebrae, ASIS/PSIS and sacrum.

Be a more effective practitioner and increase your clients’ confidence in your ability.

Liz Arundel has studied with and assisted Saul Goodman, the pioneer of Shiatsu Shin Tai, for 25 years and is the only trained Shin Tai teacher in Scotland. She is a former senior teacher of the British School of Shiatsu-Do, London, and a current Director of The Glasgow School of Shiatsu.

She has also received teachings from Ohashi, Pauline Sasaki and Shizuto Yamamoto over several years. She studied Craniosacral Therapy with one of the leading teachers in the UK, Thomas Attlee, at the College of CST.

Rachel Boase is a Shin Tai Central Channel Teacher & CST practitioner in the Salisbury area, and an Equine Bodyworker working to enhance proprioceptive awareness in horses.

Cost £500, non-refundable deposit of £100 to reserve a place.

Early Bird discount £450 paid by 1^st April

Cheques to Liz Arundel, 1, Bridge St, Dornoch, Sutherland, IV25 3SQ

Or pay via digital banking. Please phone for details.

Liz:  0794 004 1114/ 01862 811423                       liz@shiatsu-shintai.co.uk

This course is the core of the Shiatsu-Shintai approach to releasing deeply held patterns and habits in the body and mind. I am still curious and fascinated how it works after practicing it for 25 years! Through receiving treatments in class, students become more attuned when they work on each other which improves the quality of their treatments.

The course deposit of £100 is due on 1st March and the balance of £300 on 1st April.

I hope you will join me on these 2 weekends for a memorable experience. Please view past students comments on Courses page.

Best wishes, Liz