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[H131]Healing Touch For Animals

by Rebecca Prescott, Reb

All types of shiatsu stimulate blood circulation directly, like western style massage such as Swedish. In doing so, both of these systems help release poorly flowing blood in the skin and muscles, and hence help ease tension and stiffness that arise from that congestion.

But there are important differences, both in the way shiatsu is practised, and its other effects. Unlike western style massages, shiatsu uses the meridian system, which can be pictured as like the arteries of our physically embodied energetic system. Consequently, the effects of shiatsu go much deeper, and can help the organs themselves, our autonomic nervous system, and our hormones, as well as our joints, tendons and muscles.

There are actually at least 6 different styles of shiatsu practised in the West today, though some practitioners combine the different approaches in one treatment session. Zen shiatsu was developed by Shizuto Masunaga, and came out of a time in Japan when the most popular style of shiatsu, taught by Namikoshi's schools, had a strong alignment with western medicine. Masunaga sought to bring back the traditional Oriental medical approach and philosophy, as well as maintaining the advances in physiology that had been developed in the West.

In developing zen shiatsu, Masunaga facilitated a more complete understanding of the meridian system. He taught how to use the meridians to balance a person's psychological and physical systems so that the body was in a greater position to heal itself.

Zen shiatsu is generally less painful than Namikoshi's style, in the hands of a skilled practitioner. The reason is that both hands are kept on the body, and the object is to find the most 'kyo' and most 'jitsu' meridians, and work on these together. Kyo refers to an 'empty' meridian - that is, one with the least amount of energy. And jitsu in this context means a meridian with an excessive amount of energy. So, by working on the two together, the body achieves a state of balance.

When a zen shiatsu practitioner is diagnosing for kyo and jitsu, the awareness is on the relationship of meridians to each other. They define each other. If a person's body was in a complete state of balance, there would be no kyo or jitsu. But if one meridian becomes kyo or jitsu, it causes an imbalance in another. So the key is to assess the meridians in relation to each other to find the 'match', that when treated, will balance out.

Shiatsu can be practised at home, on oneself, on family and friends. But a professional shiatsu involves the practitioner having both a good grasp of treatment and diagnosis. Diagnosis, in shiatsu and Oriental medicine, is quite different to the western medical approach. Shiatsu takes a very individualized approach - it doesn't look for a disease with a set criteria of symptoms. Rather, it assesses the energetic and physical balance - or imbalance- within the conditions the individual is presenting, and treats accordingly. So even though two people may come in with headaches, the treatment, the choice of meridians, the combination of stretches, would be different.

Shiatsu is very effective at preventing disease by addressing imbalances before they manifest as illnesses. Another difference between it and a western approach, is the integration of the responsibility of the individual to maintain their own health, through choices that support their own health. These choices may be dietary, lifestyle, or more fundamental choices about the direction their life is taking.

References:
1. Chris Jarmey and Gabriel Mojay, Shiatsu
2. Shizuto Masunaga and Wataru Ohashi, Zen Shiatsu

The financial stories remain similar over the months and the years. With debts becoming a nuisance, people make resolutions and resolve to stand by these resolutions. But, once on a spending spree, little do they care for the resolutions that they made with so much efforts. Debts once again begin their run. And so do the resolutions.

How many months do you intend to continue this way? With the mounting debts, repayment becomes difficult. Bankruptcy suits are filed against the debtor and he loses his belongings to the creditors. If this is not what you plan to mirror in your life, then debt counselling will be strictly recommended.

Debt counselling is a help in the settlement of debts from a friend, relative, or an outside agency. Through debt counselling, individuals are educated about the disadvantages of debts, means to lessen the occurrence of debts, and methods of settlement of debts already incurred.

The underlying assumption in debt counselling is that if an individual wants he can surely improve his debt status. The contention of most people is that they do not know how they contract debts at the very first instance. Nevertheless, there is little to this argument other than an excuse. A proper management of the income can surely lead people out of debts.

Debt counselling requires the debtor and the counsellor to sit together for a counselling session. All matters related to the debts and the other aspects of the finances like the income that one receives, the expenditures- expected and unexpected, those requiring to be satisfied with priority, standard of living, etc. are discussed during the counselling session.

The counselling session may be undertaken in about two to three sessions. This is however dependant on the individual case factors and the counsellor chosen. Borrowers must be frank while describing their case to the counsellors because subjective elements are important in forming a conclusion.

There are basically five functions of debt counselling. In the following section we describe the functions in detail.

• One-to-one counselling
Borrowers get resources on debt management from books, self-help guides, and seminars and conferences. However, these prove of little help. With the methods described having a more generalised feel, borrowers are unable to use them to their specific case. One to one counselling sessions are arranged with experts acting as counsellors. Most of the raw material in their forming a conclusion for the case comes from the individual's account of his financial condition.

• Self-help packs
As discussed earlier, borrowers cannot completely free themselves of their responsibilities towards the debts. Nor can they resort to outside help every time when a debt comes up for repayment. The borrower will have to take certain steps on his own. A judicious use of income is always preferred. While spending, the necessities must always come first. Try as much as possible to curb the unnecessary expenses. No debts must be ever ignored. If debts do occur, then steps to fix them must start from the beginning. Such tips will be advanced to debtors under the self-help packs.

• Debt repayment plans
Debt counselling also offers to help with the debts already incurred. Debt counselling agencies study the case of the individual and suggest debt repayment method out of the various debt repayment methods available. Borrowers are made aware of the advantages and disadvantages of each method. A genuine debt counselling agency will make a suggestion and not an offer. Many lenders try to sell off their debt repayment products in the garb of offering debt counselling. Borrowers must be able to distinguish between the genuine and the fake debt counsellors. Though the scope has widened because of the internet making more and more lenders available, it will be unwise to associate with any lender without making the necessary enquiries about their trustworthiness and reliability.

• Negotiations with creditors
Making the payments to the various creditors can be a gruelling task. With creditors not lessening their demands, the debtor is in a fix as to how he is going to repay to the other creditors. Proper negotiation will be required to compel the creditors to lessen their demands. Debt consolidation agencies represent the debtors during the debt settlement process. Lump-sum payment on the debtors account acts as an inducement in the negotiation process. The amount remaining after the debts have been repaid can be used by the debtor in the manner he desires.

• Continuous help and advice
Debtors are not left to fend for themselves after the counselling ends. It is normally seen that people face difficulties in implementing the advice gained in the debt counselling session to the real life. Counsellors conduct a study of the factors that might be preventing the implementation. New suggestions or modifications to the old suggestions are made according to the demands of the case.

Some people would laugh at the suggestion of taking debt counselling as being hyper-sensitive to a triviality like debt. But debts are not trivialities. They can attain dangerous proportions if they grow unhindered. Though individual attempts of the debtors will be always welcome, these can go haywire in the absence of expert help from counsellors. With experts filling up for counsellors, debtors can rest assured that they will be fully rid of the debts.

Article Source : Pg. 8

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Both Rebecca Prescott & Aditya Thakur are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Rebecca Prescott has sinced written about articles on various topics from Pets, Yoga Practice and Woman Menopause. Rebecca Prescott runs the website Learn more about. Rebecca Prescott's top article generates over 22200 views. to your Favourites.

Aditya Thakur has sinced written about articles on various topics from Energy Healing, Finances. . Aditya Thakur's top article generates over 590 views. to your Favourites.