The most important underlying principle of
macrobiotic shiatsu is that everyone has the power
to heal him- or herself. Additionally, beyond the
formal training and martial arts exposure, intuition
and common sense blend into the technique to
make it what it is today. Practitioners claim its prin-
cipal beauty is that it has a large sense of caring for
others in a very practical way.
Principles of macrobiotic shiatsu
- Health is the natural condition of human beings.
- Illness and unhappiness are unnatural conditions.
- Health or sickness is not an accident or some-
thing without explanation. - Sickness arises from how we live because of our
own actions and thoughts. - Food is one of the more important factors in
determining health or sickness. - We should eat foods that grow in our environment.
- The strong will naturally help the weak.
- People will naturally help themselves.
- Through interaction with others, you naturally
develop beyond your limitations of body, mind,
and spirit. - Purpose of treatment is to stimulate people to go
beyond their previous limitations.
Source: http://www.itppeople.com/macrobio.htm
Macrobiotic shiatsu as a holistic treatment, or
“whole health shiatsu,” is not limited to acupres-
sure, massage, or bodywork. It has been developed
from attempting to understand the underlying rea-
sons for ill health, such as the patient’s breathing
patterns, emotional changes, exercise and dietary
preferences, and lifestyle.
See also MASSAGE; SHIATSU; YIN-YANG.
magnetic field therapy A type of alternative
medicine practice based on the idea that magnetic
fields have healing powers, named after the leg-
endary Greek shepherd Magnes, who noticed that
the iron nails of his sandals were pulled by an
invisible force to a large rock (now known as the
Magnes stone, or lodestone). After he disengaged
from the rock, Magnes also noticed that he could
walk longer if he placed fragments of the rock in
his sandals. Other ancient cultures, including the
those of Chinese, Eastern Indians, Arabs, Hebrews,
and early Egyptians, used magnets as healing
devices. The 16th-century physician Paracelsus
believed the entire Earth is a huge magnet, and he
advocated use of magnets as healing devices for
certain disorders. Other proponents of magnetism
as therapy were the French Royal Society of Medi-
cine in 1777; Franz Anton Mesmer, who catalyzed
the use of hypnosis and “animal magnetism” in
mind-body medicine; the French chemist Louis
Pasteur, who claimed that magnets accelerated the
fermentation process; and Dr. C.J. Thacher, of the
Chicago Magnet Company, who thought that using
magnets on the body and in clothing and shoes
helped ease disease-related pain in the extremities.
Samuel Hahnemann, the father of modern home-
opathy, also experimented with and advocated the
use of therapeutic magnets.
Contemporary theory says magnetic fields can
influence the function of the human body. In his
book A Practical Guide to Vibrational Medicine (New
York: Quill, 2000, p. 266), Richard Gerber, M.D.,
wrote: “There are a variety of different types and
characters of magnetism that exist in the spectrum
of natural and man-made magnetic fields. Each of
these types of magnetic fields has the potential to
overtly or silently influence human biology. It
seems that north-versus south-pole fields, static
versus pulsed magnetic fields, weak versus strong
magnetic fields, and slow versus fast magnetic
fields all produce different biological effects upon
individual cells as well as upon whole living
organisms.”
Both internal and external fields of magnetic
energy are necessary for human survival. In Magnet
Therapy: An Alternative Medicine Definitive Guide
(AlternativeMedicine.com Books, 2000), coau-
thored by Dwight K. Kalita, Ph.D., and Burton
Goldberg William H. Philpott, M.D., wrote that neg-
ative magnetic fields normalize pH; oxygenate cells;
resolve cellular edema; usually reduce symptoms;
inhibit microorganism replication and slow down
infection; reduce pain and inflammation; govern
rest, relaxation, and sleep; evoke anabolic hormone
production (melatonin and growth hormone); clear
metabolically produced toxins from the body; elim-80 magnetic field therapy