More on the microbiome, pre and pro biotics and other fun gut stuff

I'm being a little lazy and a little, I told you so here 

In 2015 I posted about gut bacteria and its possible benefits to health 

Since then there has been a huge interest in the subject (I'm not saying it was just my post)! and I wanted to signpost you to some other really interesting programmes 

Three from the briliant Food Programme on the BBC 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08wmmwq Hunting with the Hadza

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08x4s4v Hunting with the Hadza 2

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08xxfz5 Sandor Katz and the art of Fermentation 

Sandor also features  in these great YouTube short films 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4elw9rIs9Y   No 1 Mrs Dings Pickles 


See the original post below 



I have often spoken to my Shiatsu Clients; and any one else who will listen,  about our second (I think first, as in earliest) brain in the gut

This fascinating BBC program about  digestion features this; (around 37:08 in)

I think really worth a look

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01kpt6c/guts-the-strange-and-mysterious-world-of-the-human-stomach

The section on fecal transplant is interesting, this was recorded in 2011 and my understanding is that many people have been treated with great success. 

Our understanding of our own Eco system is so small, its role in both physical and emotional life is just starting to be understood my western science. Traditional Chinese Medicine has been looking into this for a couple of thousand years and has some fascinating ideas in this area. 

Wikipedia has this
The concept of treating fecal diseases with fecal matter originated in China millennia ago. Fourth century Chinese medical literature mentions it to treat food poisoning and severe diarrhea. 1200 years later Li Shizhen used yellow soup aka golden syrup which contained fresh dry or fermented stool to treat abdominal diseases. 'Yellow soup' was made of fecal matter and water, which was drunk by the patient

‘So am I at ease right now!’

Sometimes after a good massage/Shiatsu one can feel quite euphoric. 
This state can feel alien or other worldly, it can seem like something has been added or changed. . But I would suggest that what we are experience in these moments is a (our) natural state; just free of pain, stress, worry etc. It’s the absence of something rather than an addition 

We can layer lots of levels of discomfort onto ourselves and do so most days. Life seems to have a way of doing it. Physical pain, discomfort, unease, little niggles, rubbing, chaffing, pinching, pulling. Emotional pain, discomfort, anger, pulling away, irritation, wanting, desire,  
Some of these are quite big and we might need help to deal with, but others we can tackle ourselves. It can be about making simple little choices; How we sit, what shoes we wear, which clothes we put on, where we put our attention, what bag we use, they are small things that can contribute either to a sense of unease or ease. The trick is to keep making the more skilful choices, over and over again. 

A trick to make this possible is to keep a bit for awareness in reserve for  our body as often as we can. So in any given situation we can ask, am I at ease now? If the answer is ‘I don’t know’, then you can ask a purely physical question. Is my body at ease now? 

If the answer is no, then do the thing that makes you at ease; shift your position, change the shoes, go for a different bag, take a break, walk away, pause the conversation, stand up on the bus, sit on the floor not the sofa, really listen to the other person, change your underwear, take a deep breath. Just do the little things that increase a feeling of ease.

Over time the results can be really radical, but start small and practice, regularly 

‘So am I at ease right now!’ 

Grasping with the eyes

Grasping with the eyes

I believe that it was a shared idea in many different cultures that the process of seeing was one of grasping. That the eyes would reach out and grasp what they were seeing. 

Of course this is not the modern way of thinking;  we now have the idea that the eyes are simple receptors and take in whatever they see in a neutral way. That light travels from the world and hits the back of the eyes. 

The idea that the eyes reach out and grasp seems odd, old fashioned, when coming across the idea its easy to think of those simple pre-science folks, did they know nothing?

On the bus the other day I became aware of my eyes grasping, I was actively looking, reaching out, searching. It felt exactly like my eyes were indeed grasping. 

So is what previous thinkers were reflecting on, the feeling of the process of seeing, did they really not understand or did they see the bigger picture? 

I realised that I was compulsively seeking out things to see, I suppose I was looking for stimulus. It was an urgent and compulsive feeling. There seemed to be a strong desire for stimulus but also a feeling of not wanting to miss out. 

I realised that it was taking quite a lot of energy to do all this grasping. It was also making my mind quite agitated 

So I thought I’d stop, after all I’d become aware of the feeling/action/behaviour and normally when I become aware of a mental process I can change it quite well (if only for a short time)

And I found it really difficult. I tried lowering my eyes, I tried not lowering my eyes but not grasping, I tried softening my eyes and just allowing what came to come. It was really difficult. 

So no conclusion, I just thought I would share and let you into what goes through my mind on the bus sometimes 

Our second brain and fecal transplant (maybe don't read this over breakfast)

I'm being a little lazy and a little, I told you so here 

In 2015 I posted about gut bacteria and its possible benefits to health 

Since then there has been a huge interest in the subject (I'm not saying it was just my post)! and I wanted to signpost you to some other really interesting programmes 

Three from the briliant Food Programme on the BBC 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08wmmwq Hunting with the Hadza

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08x4s4v Hunting with the Hadza 2

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08xxfz5 Sandor Katz and the art of Fermentation 

Sandor also features  in these great YouTube short films 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4elw9rIs9Y No 1 Mrs Dings Pickles 


See the original post below 



I have often spoken to my Shiatsu Clients; and any one else who will listen,  about our second (I think first, as in earliest) brain in the gut

This fascinating BBC program about  digestion features this; (around 37:08 in)


I think really worth a look

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01kpt6c/guts-the-strange-and-mysterious-world-of-the-human-stomach

The section on fecal transplant is interesting, this was filmed in 2011 and my understanding is that many people have been treated with great success. 

Our understanding of our own Eco system is so small, its role in both physical and emotional life is just starting to be understood my western science. Traditional Chinese Medicine has been looking into this for a couple of thousand years and has some fascinating ideas in this area. 

Wikipedia has this
The concept of treating fecal diseases with fecal matter originated in China millennia ago. Fourth century Chinese medical literature mentions it to treat food poisoning and severe diarrhea. 1200 years later Li Shizhen used yellow soup aka golden syrup which contained fresh dry or fermented stool to treat abdominal diseases. 'Yellow soup' was made of fecal matter and water, which was drunk by the patient

Relax, NO RELAX!

It’s a word I don’t use with clients as it tends to generate tension

I prefer the idea of letting go, as holding is something we do a lot of

I have just returned from a 9 day meditation retreat; held in silence with no stimulus what so ever, I had lots of opportunity to let go. And it’s not easy. I found that I hold onto many things; ideas of who I am, ideas of what my body is, opinions, thoughts, the breath, muscle tension, memories oh just lots and lots and lots

Letting go is something that I aim for my clients to do, when I first treat them it’s often a good indication for me of how the session and the relationship is going. As we gain experience together letting go or the lack of it is a great diagnostic tool

I want clients to let go within the session because it’s so good for them on lots of levels, but my main reason is so they can experience the letting go and take it into their ever day life.

So much suffering is caused by holding onto things we do not need to. We then suffer what Jack Kornfield calls ‘mental rope burn’, a lovely way of describing the suffering  that comes from holding or clinging.

If we can take the feeling of letting go that we have on the futon and practice it when we are angry for being cut up in our car, when we are bored at work, when in an argument with our children/relative/friend, then we can change the situation in a really radical way.

It seems that letting go is a transferable skill, if we can let go of muscle tension then it feels very similar to letting go of our fixed opinion of ourselves and other. You have to see the holding but once we do the letting go feels very similar.

Like most transformative things it’s a simple process that needs applying over and over and it’s the application which is difficult. 

Is sitting going to kill you?

Is sitting going to kill you?

If you Google sitting at the moment you will be swamped by articles proclaiming that ‘sitting is the new smoking’, ‘sitting will wreck your life’ and ‘sitting will kill you’.

Is it the latest fad, daily mail ‘polishing your shoes will give you cancer’ scare story, or is there something in the claims?

There is some compelling looking evidence out there, in a 2012 study publish in the British Journal of Sports Medicine it claimed that every hour spent sitting (well watching TV, which we assume is done sitting) cuts 22 minutes from your life span, whilst every cigarette cuts 11, shocking stuff!

However if you really look into the studies it’s clear that it is nearly impossible to distinguish the sitting from lots of other factors. So is it ok to sit all day?

My short answer would no. But it’s not a yes or no answer, as always it’s more complex than it appears.

Modern western people do sit for too long, office workers in America sit on average for 28hrs each week during the working week. That does not include travel to and from work and time on the sofa.

Desk bound people (most working people now) spend way too much time sitting and yes it does have lots of issues. Workers need choices; they need to be able to stand at their desks when they wish to.  And the improvements to physical and mental health are many, elevating mood, increasing productivity (whatever) lowering blood pressure and lots more. So what’s not simple about this.

There is a Buddhist idea of the ‘suffering of change’. One example of this is sitting and standing. We have to stand for hours and we so wish to sit down, we sit down for hours and we should really wish to stand up. My point is that humans are supposed to move, to move!

If we really get in touch with our bodies we can feel when it’s a good time to stand and when to sit. At the moment I seem to be cycling around 10-15 mins for each, with it being shorter when I’m tired. We get into trouble with sitting when we learn to ignore our bodies and ignore the messages that we send ourselves. I have written plenty about how this happens elsewhere. But just standing and then ignoring the bodies’ messages about this is also not the answer.

For me the answer is to get in touch with our bodies, listen to what they/we tell us and act on it.

It’s important to realise that both sitting and standing are skills. And they are skills that we are not taught in school, so many of us have to learn them as adults. 

There are lots of models to use and lots of very intelligent folks working on this. I would refer you to Kelly Starrett and Kit Laughlin as good starting places. You can attend a good Yoga class, learn to sit well in meditation or if you are in the Rowhedge area come and see me.

The BBC have broadcast a quite interesting programme on sitting; you can find it here 

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0415hbv

The cost of treatment

I have written about the cost in money of Shiatsu and other alternative treatments and I’m sure I will return to that. This post is about other possible costs.

One of my main desires in treating people is to allow them closer, more immediate access to their bodies and therefore themselves. I strongly believe that the more we are aware of our bodies and the subtle shifts in energy or flow the better we understand ourselves.

This access to understanding does not have to be all hippy and out there, (although I did just write both energy and flow)! It can simply be by understanding that ‘when I am tense I hold the muscles in my jaw firm’, or ‘I've noticed that I tense my forearm’, ‘I think it’s when I’m worried’.

Simple little bits of understanding can lead to some powerful discoveries about how we are feeling and doing.  Part of the magic is that it can bring us into the now, it allows greater understanding of how we are really doing, now.

But there is a cost; one of the coping mechanisms we have is to learn to ignore just these signs. We are all inherently capable of being aware on the most deep level but for many, many individual reasons we learn that one way of anaesthetising our lives is to turn off these messages. In this way we are able to continue with the crappy job, the rubbish housing and the less than satisfying relationships.

In my experience when we turn back on these understandings we also can cause ourselves pain and difficulties as we experience in detail what we have been hiding from. Now I feel that the ultimate outcome is an authentic life lived well. And as we have been fortunate enough to be born into these strange bodies, in this strange place we must grasp the opportunity while we can. Sometimes the process is not pretty but the results can be. 

Your perfect therapist

Some years ago I looked into the handbag of my therapist; I saw a packet of cigarettes and some support stockings.

I'm not proud of what I thought; ‘who is this person who claims to be able to heal me, who needs support stocking and can’t quit smoking’. It was a shocking realisation but, she was human!

I sometimes feel that within some of the alternative world there is a desire/need for the therapist to be supper human. If they get a cold, are fat, grumpy sometimes or express other human traits that they can’t be a good healer/therapist.

This need for others to be better than us, leads to the ultra-shiny, grinning, white teeth flashing portrait pictures we see on websites and promotional materials.

So it’s time for me to come clean, I’m human, there I said it! I have all the human frailties that everyone else has, and some I made up just for me. And that’s how it should be.

I have an adductor strain at the moment which is limiting my movement. I could be embarrassed about this when with clients. But my conviction is that I would rather see a therapist who has lived a bit, who understands what it is to live with pain. Who gets tied and does not always eat the perfect diet, who has been in the trenches and knows what it is to be human.

Seeing a blessed person who has not had to struggle is no use to me at all. So I apologise to my ex therapist for thinking those thoughts and I celebrate all the imperfections that make us the fascinating humans we are. 

The mind secrets thoughts

The mind secrets thoughts
In the same way that the
Salivary Glands secretes saliva

So why do we take them quite so seriously? 
They can be really useful but maybe we don't have to believe all of them.
And of those we do believe in, it may be useful not to hold on to them quite so tightly.

When we do grasp them tightly, we often experience mental rope burn, a painful condition which often seems to have the affect of making us hold on even tighter. 

Thoughts are so often in the past or the future, very seldom in the present. The body however is always in the present. And if attended to closely can give clear indications of where we are and what we are feeling in a really clear and open way.

"My life has been filled with terrible misfortune; most of which never happened".

                                                               Michel de Montaigne

The Cost of treatment, what can be done?

The Cost of treatment, what can be done?

Shiatsu treatment in the UK can be quite high, around £45-60 is normal. 

This price means that a lot of Shiatsu practitioners charge clients for treatments they can not afford themselves! A very strange situation indeed.

Shiatsu is of course not alone in this, in fact its one of the cheaper 1:1 alternative treatments available.

We are in a place with Shiatsu where the middle class can afford treatment, the very poor with 'issues' often get treatment for free through schemes but that the 'working poor' who make up most of the population (including most Shiatsu practitioners) can only afford treatments on rare occasions, as a treat or in serious crisis. 

If you can afford the price, then I suppose its OK, but I love Shiatsu, I feel its fantastically effective, can make huge changes to people lives. So I have a strong feeling that Shiatsu should be for everyone and everyone should be able to afford it as often as needed.   

But how do we make this happen? 

There has been a quite revolution happening in acupuncture which I think the Shiatsu community could learn from. Starting with Working Class Acupuncture in Portland Oregon, USA

a movement of multi bed affordable clinics has sprung up.  This movement has spread to the UK with the The Association of Community and Multibed Acupuncture Clinics spreading the word in Europe and the UK.  

The model is that patients get treated in a shared environment at the same time, that chat is kept to a minimum, but that professional effective treatment is retained. 
In this way the clinics can charge much less, typically £15-40 on a sliding scale. 
So one acupuncturist can  treat many people at the same time, which is not an option with Shiatsu. 

So how can we (Shiatsu folk) take elements of this approach, or at least the spirit and make it work for us? Two things come to mind; 

Room rental, many Shiatsu therapist do not treat at home, so have to rent a space, we are then  forced to pass on the cost to the client. I get around this at the moment by treating in a friends room, she gets a free treatment and I get to offer low cost treatments. 

Another way of doing this would be the idea of many practitioners treating more than one client in the same room at the same time, and splitting the cost of room hire. 

One of the features of the multi bed model is that a very quick but accurate diagnosis is made, then root treatment is given on the most pressing and underlying imbalance. So is this possible with Shiatsu, to offer a stripped down treatment where only the most underlying/pressing issues are treated in a shorter time. I feel it should be, and it's something I am going to offer to clients who really can't afford a full hour treatment and see how the feedback goes. 


We have a long way to go before Shiatsu does become affordable but the debate needs to happen. Its such a fantastic treatment, its a shame to exclude the 'working poor'.