Maps are a good thing. Knowing where we are is helpful for our own orientation. Here is a kind of map, more a representational diagram, that you won’t find through Google (yet), that can help us locate ourselves within the whole field of East Asian Traditional Medicine.

Understanding our position in relation to the whole scene allows us to decide our prefered direction and emphasis. I developed this “map” as a tool when I began to realise that most Shiatsu training is limited and partial with respect to the long history of Eastern medicine, from Chinese Classical origins through its later development in Japan to present-day tendencies in the West. We are often unaware of the context of our contemporary training, its possibilities, range and purpose. There may be some incompatibilities between the type of training we are following and our personal inclinations and interests. Different levels of training are on offer in Shiatsu and related therapies. Less well-known methods are sometimes taught as auxiliary studies, but many questions remain as to what we want to do and what we are offered. Better if these are brought into the light .