A Christmas Health Care Wish List
by Steve Thompson
When Christmas approaches, people like to dream about what they would like to find under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning. In this case, let’s take a broader view and dream about things that would be useful to find under the health Christmas tree. There is one wish for each of the twelve days of Christmas. Unfortunately, the wishes can’t be sung to the Christmas song of the same name. Read the rest of this entry »
Too Many Physicians Feel Threatened By New Medical Developments
by Steve Thompson
It’s a good thing that cars and other consumer products don’t protest when the latest model with more advances and features are introduced. If that occurred, people would still be driving Model T Fords, riding steam trains instead of diesels, using incandescent bulbs instead of led Christmas lights, and use ice boxes instead of refrigerators. Since the Industrial Revolution began, there has been a competition among rivals to put a more improved product on the market first to increase sales and revenue. In today’s world, the most obvious example in the last twenty years is in the computer and communication industries, with new tablets, telephones, software, hardware, and chips being created within a year of each other. Read the rest of this entry »
Shiatsu Is Effective and Scientific
by Ross Oakes
Shiatsu is considered an alternative medicine meaning that it has not been cleared by the clinical trial system and formally recognized by government bodies like Health Canada and the FDA. This means if someone has problems that shiatsu can treat and asks their own doctor or another physician if they should try shiatsu (or another unrecognized treatment like acupuncture, aromatherapy, feldenkrais, etc.) the doctor will not mention it or even will oppose it Therefore in many instances, it is up to an individual to try shiatsu on their own, sometimes flying in the face of “established medicine” to “take a chance” on shiatsu or some other alternative medicines. Read the rest of this entry »
Shiatsu – A Very Valuable Discovery
by Ross Oakes
There is a story in the Christian Holy Writings that is used to teach young people about how valuable their faith is and the costs involved in developing and nurturing it. It is about a merchant who searches for fine pearls and when he finds a pearl of great price, he sells all that he has and buys it. The idea is that the cost of sustaining one’s faith is worth it in the long run. Read the rest of this entry »
Shiatsu Needs To Be Sold To North Americans
by Ross Oakes
Sometimes I feel like I’m working in a wilderness, trying to run a shiatsu school and support a shiatsu clinic in Toronto, to help our students develop their skills. It’s like a wilderness because so few people know what a positive difference shiatsu can make to someone’s health. Traditional Namikoshi shiatsu was recognized by the Ministry of Japan in 1955-56 and acknowledged by the World Health Organization in 2004 as traditional medicine. So shiatsu is known in the Orient but its benefits are virtually unknown in North America. Read the rest of this entry »
What Price Life?
by Steve Thompson
Since the first time man walked the earth, devaluing life has occurred without a second thought. Armies have marched, men have been considered expendable, murders have been committed as if a human being is without value. And from day one, man has been determining how much a life is worth. Now many people may never experience a war, or become involved in incidents directly dealing with violent crime, but from cradle to grave, everyone sooner or later has incidents where the restoration to full health becomes the main focus of life. Read the rest of this entry »
Stem Cells and Cancer Is A Murky Mystery Of Ethics
by Steve Thompson
It was reported yesterday that legendary heavyweight fighter, Smoking Joe Frasier died of cancer. In the late summer, NDP leader Jack Layton succumbed as well. But there was also an article about actress Lisa Ray getting fully recovered from cancer using a stem cell treatment at Toronto’s Princess Margaret Hospital. In these three statements lies a puzzle about stem cells and hospital ethics. Why was stem cells used successfully on Lisa Ray and not tried on Frasier and Layton? Granted Ray had cancer in a different location, but the desperate condition of Frasier and Layton at least merited an experiment. If the stem cells failed, how much worse off would they be? If they died, it would still be the same result. But Ray was on the way to death before stem cells and she made a full recovery. Read the rest of this entry »
Is “Occupy Health Care” Valid?
by Steve Thompson
The latest international protest is the “occupy” group that is a collective protest against their present economic situation. In my opinion, such a protest movement is long overdue. The repeated recessions/depressions/meltdowns, etc., since 1990 have left a lot of people out in the cold and unable to find their way back into the labor marketplace where they can earn a decent income again. These people have become lost, embittered, forgotten; in many cases talented people finding their skills, their experience, their education, belittled and declared valueless. In response they have tried to raise their voices against an economic, social, and political situation that has left them where they are.
The impact of such economic misery have left many of them spewing mindless rage; they have no clear targets or goals that they believe that if reformed, could bring them back into society again. Instead there is a general sentiment that they have been toyed with by some nameless “elite group” that has profited at their expense. They want this group punished and their own economic status restored. The lack of concrete aims and clear goals has led critics of the group to denounce them as a group of poor people merely wanting a handout from the rich. There are also a lot of sympathizers but there is no action being taken because no one has a plan to remedy unclear grievances. Read the rest of this entry »
Clinical Trial System Side Effect #2: Dangerous Drugs Still Flourish
by Steve Thompson
There is another bad side effect of the long, ponderous clinical trial system; drugs that are used to treat one problem, but cause problems elsewhere are still on the market. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the treatment of heart failure. Until recently, heart failure was considered an incurable disease, but in 2009, a doctor succeeded in repairing damaged heart tissue in pigs and mice with a genetic substance, NRG-1. Heart failure has also been successfully treated by “maverick” physicians in third world countries by stem cells. But while these “breakthroughs” are desperately welcomed by heart failure patients, they can expect no immediate relief because both kinds of treatment now have to enter the long clinical trial system which in some cases can take decades to complete.
When a new drug or surgical technique enters the clinical trial system, and awaits official approval, the old drugs still flourish. In the case of heart failure such drugs like ace inhibitors and beta blockers are still the types of medications a general practitioner or cardiologist might prescribe. Yet there have been books and articles written denouncing these drugs and implying that they can actually leave the heart in worse condition than before treatment. But many doctors mindlessly prescribe these drugs, some not bothering to read the articles about why these drugs don’t work or in many cases, having a direct financial interest in prescribing these drugs. Who knows how many other diseases are being treated by “medicine” that can leave someone worse than when they began treatment? Read the rest of this entry »
Sinus Sufferer Finds Relief With Shiatsu
by Joanne Latimer
At my wits’ end from serial sneezing, I decided to try Shiatsu Masters in Toronto. “It’s no quick fix,” warned Ross Oakes, who works at the affiliated Shiatsu Academy of Tokyo. “But the results speak for themselves.” Ross should know. He’s an ex-sneezer we met in an earlier post on my blog, Sinus Sister.
Arriving at the Broadview Street clinic, a sweetie named Mari ushered me into a cozy treatment room with a brick fireplace . There was a futon-cum-wrestling mat on the ground, and absolutely no clutter.
“I’m from Japan, but I didn’t know much about Shiatsu!” laughed Mari, her eyes twinkling. “I started here as receptionist. When I saw the look on everyone’s face after a treatment, I knew it worked and started my training.”
Mari arranged my limbs into the beginning position: lying on your side, bottom arm extended, top leg draped over and bent at the knee—the way pregnant women sleep. With the faint sound of rain outside, I was ready to doze off when she began pressing her thumbs into my neck and throat. It’s an odd sensation, but not unpleasant. Then she worked methodically down the entire body, leading with her two thumbs. Sometimes the pressure was a bit painful, but it was for the greater good. No pain, no gain. Mari asked me to tell her when to ease up (She isn’t into the pain-gain theory). An hour later, I was reborn, loosey goosey. Did I feel it in my sinuses? YES! When Mari did my head massage and stretch, I felt a pop and an easing of pressure. Was it miraculous? No, but I suspect the bigger impact will be long term, from a stimulated immune system. Ross is right, there’s no quick fix. If you’re also a sneezer or get frequent colds, please check out my blog, Sinus Sister and join my quest to breathe easy.
Self Shiatsu
By Anton Komar
There’s nothing more relaxing and beneficial to your health than a well performed Shiatsu treatment delivered by a skilled Shiatsupractor, but did you know that it is possible to do a shiatsu treatment on yourself! The students at the Shiatsu Academy of Tokyo learn how as part of their Shiatsu Practitioner program. You can also learn!
Clinical Trial System Side Effect: Waste Of Money
by Steve Thompson
I have written many times about the long, ponderous clinical trial system which is good for preventing bad medicine from reaching the public, but no help for people needing immediate relief from suffering. The long process which can take decades before a much needed new product is available to the public also has a negative side effect: waste of money. Once again the best example of this is the chelation remedy which has been in the clinical trial system for eight years and won’t have a report made on the results until next year. It had better get complete and unequivocal approval or more waste of large sums of money can be expected. Read the rest of this entry »
Medicine On The Edge Of Restoration
by Steve Thompson
Many people are wondering what the medicine of tomorrow will be like. Having experienced some futuristic medicine with the chelation remedy, and trying to get some brand new therapy for my heart failure, I think the key word for the medicine of the immediate future is “restoration”, which can be interpreted as returning someone to a younger state. In other words, medicine will be taking up the quest of explorer, Ponce de Leon, only it won’t be looking for a Fountain of Youth, but making flanking attacks on the aging process. If it succeeds, people will live longer and enjoy a higher quality of health for most of their lives.
Shiatsu Can Deal With The Flu
by Ross Oakes
One of the really great benefits that I have experienced since I tried shiatsu treatments is that the severity of colds and the flu has been reduced. I remember when a cold would virtually immobilize me for nearly three weeks, and also how vulnerable I was to any “bug” like a cold or the flu that turned up in my area. Once a fellow employee caught a virus, I knew my days were numbered before I would catch it as well. I hoped that by eating the right foods, doing the right exercise, and living a healthy lifestyle would be enough to ward off the rampaging viruses, but it seemed I would always succumb, and I always hated the amount of pills and medications I would have to take to recover. Read the rest of this entry »
Shiatsu Good for Weight loss
by Joe Figliola
He was in his early 50’s, the Lead Custodian for a large Mississauga High school when he began to receive regular shiatsu treatments in his life. At the time he packed 280 lbs. on a 5-10 frame. He believed that he would go through the rest of his life at the same weight, but after 2 ½ years at once a week treatments, he dropped over 40 pounds and continues to go down pound by pound. All the therapist asked of him was that he would work with him to control how much he ate per sitting. His hope was to get back to 200 pounds, the weight of his early 20s. The only variables in his life which accounted for his weight loss were regular shiatsu treatments and a concerted effort to watch how much he ate. He came to believe that in some way Shiatsu had accelerated his metabolic rate which over time has slowly meant a steady weight loss. His therapist remembers the special moment in the treatments when he was able to actually touch his spine which before had been covered with tissue. He remembers swollen areas in his body disappearing over time. He remembers when his pudgy fingers began to lose the extra tissue. He remembers when his calves began to lose tissue. His therapist was the first to notice many things which only lately were apparent to family and friends. Read the rest of this entry »
Shiatsu Can Treat A Variety Of Ailments
by Ross Oakes
Many people resort to the Shiatsu Academy of Tokyo to find relief from a long list of ailments. When people come to the clinics for whatever reasons, our practitioners use a hands-on approach to the problems. Shiatsu is a therapy that uses its thumbs, fingers, and palms to assess a client’s problems and then relieve them. A practitioner’s hands are a shiatsu therapist’s “eyes” that find a problem and resolve it. After the end of a treatment, or after a few days, a client is asked if they noticed any difference. A positive response means that a shiatsu practitioner has done their work well, and that a client has been relieved of pain and suffering or at least is on the way to being restored to full health. More treatments may be required. Read the rest of this entry »
Shiatsu Is Just Right For The Hay Fever Season
by Ross Oakes
Several years ago, I got very sick near the end of the summer. I sneezed often, had a constant runny nose, sore, itchy eyes, headaches, and a sore throat. When I was diagnosed, I found out that I had hay fever and I had to go through six weeks of misery before cold weather finally arrived to relieve my symptoms. I was hoping that this would be just a one-year occurrence, but each new summer found me going through the same miserable problem.
Coping With Heart Failure
by Steve Thompson
Since I was diagnosed with heart failure, I discovered that there was very little information about how to cope with the disease. It seems that very little has been done to study or understand what the disease is about and how to cope with it to make life easier and more energetic. Heart failure has always been overshadowed by the more common coronary heart disease which causes heart attacks and strokes. Just to clarify things, coronary heart disease is a disease of the passageways of the circulatory system, specifically arteries and capillaries, which get clogged over time with heart plaque and prevent enough oxygen from reaching the heart and the brain. Heart failure is a disease of the heart itself, specifically damage to the heart tissue muscles. In my case, heart plaque (since completely removed) strained the muscles of my heart forcing it to pump harder and causing tissue and muscle damage in my left ventricle. Read the rest of this entry »
Shiatsu Brings Instant Relief
by Donna MacDonald
I am someone who enjoys walking. Daily walks are my therapy and I recently found myself unable to even walk even a short distance. My sister referred me to Shiatsu Masters in Toronto. I had the privilege of meeting Kensen who is a master therapist.
After a 45 minute treatment I was able to walk home and within 3 days my leg was back to normal. I was so impressed that I started receiving treatments on a monthly basis. I feel as if I have discovered the Fountain of Youth. I am 62 years old and feel as if I am 40.
I can honestly say that my health has seen a dramatic improvement since I began Shiatsu treatments.
It is as if my entire system has learned how to breathe deeply and is undergoing a healing process.
My energy level has increased significantly. I am sleeping more soundly and thus wake up energized instead of sleep deprived.
My leg injury was a blessing in disguise because it led me to Shiatsu Masters and their healing touch. I only wish I had discovered Shiatsu years ago.
Shiatsu Takes The Stage
by Ross Oakes
Did you know that most of the top actors in North America employ health professionals to help them maintain high physical and mental conditioning so that they can push themselves to excellence on the stage? In almost every area where high performance is expected, people turn to health professionals like Shiatsu Therapists. A stage actor who may have to give up to seven shows a week is no exception. An exhausting performance can make an actor’s body feel tired and run down and therefore some kind of rejuvenation is needed so that a similar performance can be given the following day. The actor has to be firing on all cylinders, both mentally and physically. show after show, especially if the performer has a leading role and has to take center stage most of the time. Read the rest of this entry »
Shiatsu Can Help Heal Sports Injuries
by Ross Oakes
Sometimes during recreational and sports activities, injuries can occur. A shiatsu treatment is one way of speeding up recovery. A full-body shiatsu treatment is an excellent choice for rehabilitation because it doesn’t just focus on the injured area but extends to cover the overall functioning of the entire body. A good shiatsu treatment realigns and rebalances the whole body while giving special attention to an injury. Some of the athletes we have treated told us how much shiatsu helped them to return to full health much faster than the remedies they were previously taking. In 1973, the founder of Namikoshi Shiatsu, Tokujiro Namikoshi gave therapy treatments to Muhammed Ali.
In 1988, the founder of the Shiatsu Academy of Tokyo, Kensen Saito, accompanied the Canadian Olympic team to Seoul, Korea and treated many of them so that they could compete more effectively. Shiatsu can limber up the key areas of an athlete’s body beforehand, so that when a competition starts, an athlete is ready to give their best performance. Shiatsu can be part of any athlete’s daily training, so that they are ready to compete and recover quickly once the competition is over.
So if you play sports and want to get a better performance, check out what shiatsu can do for you.
Shiatsu Can Take The Pain Out Of Computers
by Ross Oakes
In today’s workplace most white collar workers (and some blue ones) have to work with computers, sometimes many hours at a time. These seem like undemanding physical jobs, but over time subtle changes can occur. Long periods in front of a computer can lead to stiff necks, tired eyes, and other muscles “locked” into set positions. Many people with these problems turn to shiatsu for help to loosen locked muscles and get the blood flowing again to provide energy once more.
Shiatsu can bring relief to computer overwork. It can prevent long term problems from occurring. It is a great insurance policy to have around. Many of our clients express the relief they feel from a shiatsu treatment after long days staring at a computer screen. A shiatsu treatment recharges their bodies so they can face the grind of the next day completely refreshed and be at their productive best. Read the rest of this entry »
Shiatsu Can Relieve Occupational Stiffness
by Ross Oakes
A painter/landscaper was consistently getting sore and tired muscles from his job and turned to shiatsu for relief. He booked a full-body floor shiatsu treatment at the Shiatsu Academy of Tokyo’s professional clinic on Broadview Avenue in Toronto. Immediately during the treatment, he felt the tired stiffness he was burdened with loosening its grip. It was like a huge weight had been lifted from his body and next day he could not believe the overall ease and flexibility present in his muscles. He realized that he was on to something and now he books an appointment every two weeks and wonders how he lasted this long without those amazing shiatsu treatments. Now he has nothing to fear from occupational stiffness because he knows shiatsu treatments will release his tired muscles from their stiffness.
Shiatsu Student’s Treatment Reduces Neurological Disorder
by Ted Piliouras
I am a second year student here at the Shiatsu Academy of Tokyo and I must say that it’s been an extremely rewarding experience. The knowledge that Master Kensen Saito possesses is truly invaluable. Kensen sensei and the entire faculty at the school have given me great insight into the workings of the body and how to help facilitate healing through the art of Shiatsu. Every day with the help of my teachers, my knowledge and abilities are increasing, and this is starting to show itself in the treatments that I am giving in the student clinic. Just a few days ago I was treating a regular client that comes in to help manage some of the symptoms associated with her medical condition. She was diagnosed about 8 years ago with a condition called cervical dystonia. Read the rest of this entry »
Sherri’s Shiatsu Experience
by Sherri Noble
My experience with the Shiatsu Academy of Tokyo was positive right from the start. As soon as I arrived I felt this was the place for me. Ross, our principal, was very helpful with information and support even before the classroom time started. I liked being able to pay by installments, and to choose from a variety of courses that are offered on both a part-time and full-time basis.
My Shiatsu Journey
By Ross Oakes
I remember the “November Blahs Party” in the staffroom at Philip Pocock Catholic High School in Mississauga in 1992. Every member of our staff who attended won a prize which had been donated by neighbouring community businesses. My prize was a 15 minute shiatsu treatment at a nearby Chinese Center in Mississauga. That was the beginning of a long and memorable journey for me into the very heart of Namikoshi Shiatsu in Toronto. That treatment led to an eight year regular student status at a local Chinese clinic. Subsequently, after reading a fascinating article in the Toronto Star about Kensen Saito, his clinic, and his Shiatsu School, the Shiatsu Academy of Tokyo, I entered another phase of my journey.
There’s More To You Than Meets The Eye
by Ross Oakes
Getting healthy involves more than good nutrition. It involves more than listening to your body and mind/body harmony. Antonio Machado, a great Spanish poet once put it this way: “Find the you that’s not you and can never be.” He also summarized all of Jesus’ teachings into the short phrase, “Wake up!”
Spiritual masters from every age have always argued that too many of us over-identify with our physical, financial, and social needs so much that our spirits (the spiritual component to who we are as people), gets bogged down in survival matters. They argue that to over-identify with this side of ourselves is to do a great injustice to the higher side of our nature as human beings; our spiritual component. At a simple level, it means that there is more to life than being employed in a meaningful job. There is more to life than a successful marriage and having all your basic needs satisfied. Read the rest of this entry »
The Fountain Of Youth Is Coming
by Steve Thompson
Many people wonder where medicine is heading to in the next decades. Perhaps it can be summed up by the phrase, live longer, live healthier, and live younger. Restoration may be the key word. There was an article in a Toronto newspaper about recent experiments with stem cells and predictions that they will be used to regenerate damaged organs and cells. In most cases, regenerative therapy is in its infancy, experimented with in places like China. A few years ago, two sisters who had become quadriplegics because of an automobile accident went to China and received some stem cell therapy. They can now move a little more than they could before. But it’s obvious that much more has to be discovered before spinal cord injuries can be fully overcome.
Why Not Home Clinics?
By Steve Thompson
Since the establishment of the Internet as a basic necessity for modern life, one of the trends in the new information society is the establishment of home offices. Because communication is so much better, it is now possible to get, complete, and send assignments to a head office or directly to a client without ever leaving one’s home. This also saves transportation costs and time spent travelling as well. A home office probably has a computer for communicating and an all-in-one printer/fax/copier. In most cases, that is sufficient to get assignments done. Read the rest of this entry »
It Takes Courage To Choose To Eat Healthy
By Ross Oakes
The title sounds wrong, doesn’t it. Why would someone insist I eat unhealthy food? The answer is there is a prevailing social pressure which states “when in Rome, do what the Romans do.” So if my family want to spoil me with what they think is a good breakfast and the bacon and eggs are dripping in fat, do have the guts to say “no thank you?” My own mother gave me grief when I passed on the high cholesterol breakfasts she loved to prepare. There are times when I go to a restaurant and I have to look hard for a healthy and nutritious meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Read the rest of this entry »
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