Beautiful Minds and Challenging situations
Posted by tfootitt on October 19, 2006
The Inspiration 24 event that took place last Saturday was a highly rewarding day. Myself and Clare treated 14 people between us who were very positive and open to Shiatsu. They had all been learning about Accupressure, meridians and their related elements through the day, which was a little daunting to start with, but as soon as the first treatment started it was soon forgotten. They all responded well and the organiser commented that he had received nothing but praise for the Shiatsu. It’s great to get feedback that confirms what you feel or think.
It is also good to get feedback or reactions that we may find uncomfortable or take us out of our comfort zones. I did a Shiatsu treatment one evening this week where the client didn’t give me much information to go on and was very quiet. However, as soon as he got on the futon and I made contact he started asking questions ten to the dozen, wanting to know exactly what I was doing, feeling and if I could make a diagnosis. Then as I started working the meridians and came to a Jitsu area he started laughing and giggling. This brought up quite a few insecurities and questions for me. Things like: Do I continue with the treatment? Does he find it amusing? How do I respond? What would be appropriate for me to do? ( if only I could have called a friend). In the end I decided to ask him why he was laughing and he stated that he found it painful. This was another sign to help with my diagnosis and nothing more. I can say that now that I have completed the treatment and had time to reflect. If you had had the option to pause my treatment at that point and ask me how I felt it was going, you would have got a completely different response.
I’m glad that I persevered with the treatment and would definitely treat this situation differently with hindsight. It would be great to hear about challenging situations that clients have presented to you and how you worked with them.
tfootitt said
Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2006 13:42:10 +0100
Just a short note to say the net figure we have raised for Age Concern is £800
I am so pleased with our efforts and a BIG THANK YOU to you all.
Michael
tfootitt said
Hi Tony,
It’s great to hear from you.
I was also working in the clients home and have learn’t that I am great with setting the ground rules and boundaries at home but seem to loose that when I work in the clients environment.
I guess my lesson is either to work from home more (which is the preference) or be definate with boundaries in other settings.
Tracy
Tony Brown said
Tracy,
I have one client that I treat occasionally. The problem I have is that he needs to remain in control and has difficulty in feeding anything back to me. As I visit him at home he often has his family present and is trying to direct them while on the Futon!
I must admit that the last treatment was so difficult that I stopped before completing everything that I had intended to do. He did not notice that I had stopped. In a way this was wrong thing to do but I was not happy with the situation and so probably was not able to give my best Shiatsu.
Although this is a trying situation it is a valuable lesson. The more I think about it the lack of responsiveness is symptom; a jitsu condition hiding his real need. I am only now starting to learn about Kyo and Jitsu so I hope that the next time I treat him I will start to get a better picture and maybe find a way in.
Tony