Articles on Shiatsu appear regularly in Health and Happiness and Tree of Life magazines both published in the Midlands. These can be read on their websites:

Health and Happiness www.new-health.biz

Tree of Life www.treeoflifemagazine.com


The article below was published in the Winter Edition of the Shiatsu Society News.

How we can be happy.

In this article Suzi Caunce, Principal Teacher of the Heart of England Shiatsu School looks at how we live through the Element of Fire [experienced through the Heart] using the context of both Eastern and Western thought.
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Our Fire Element is strongest in the Summer when the sun is closest and helps us play. During the Winter when we have little sun, a focus on Fire can have amazing results!

Fire is associated with passion, transformation and creativity. It also has other connotations. We can create fire. Fire has brought people together since it was discovered. When the popularity of central heating took the hearth [a word not dissimilar to heart!] out of our homes, we took to burning candles!

The Season of Fire, summer, represents nature at its zenith. Too much fire can parch and dry out our environment and in warmer countries bush fires can start. Fire can also destroy. It therefore needs to be treated with respect. Fire is sacred to all the world's religions. Flames are burning, as you read this article on shrines, graves and on altars to celebrate the divine spark within. The stillness achieved by watching a flame is healing.

Desiderata, written in the 14th. Century, states 'With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy'. The traditional western view of happiness, however, is generally something that we seek from outside ourselves.

21st century life, however, poses a challenge to the spiritual seekers. In this technological age, striving for happiness with a confusing number of choices, deadlines to meet, people to see or to please, appearances to keep up for some the pursuit of happiness has become 'Can't Get no Satisfaction' as voiced by the Rolling Stones in the 1960's. Am I a better person if I wear the blue shirt or the orange one? Would Trinny and Susanna approve? Should I dress like a hippy or wear a suit? If I do enough growth work on myself will I meet the right person, earn loads of money and drive the right car? Is it more trendy to be a Buddhist or have a guru?

Oriental Medicine talks of a quiet joy that embraces everything, the true spirit or Shen that is all embracing. Shen is seen as being present in all the Elements of the bodymind, and is ruled by the Heart. Enabling happiness may simply be a choice to accept oneself or, to put it a slightly different way, a choice to be responsible for how one feels, accept and be happy. These processes can sometimes require health, strength and freedom from emotional trauma and tiredness. ' True joy, therefore rests on firmness and strength within, manifesting itself outwardly as yielding and gentle.' I Ching, Hexagram 58

Many people seem to be addicted to stress or to having a 'good time'. Care needs to be taken, as fire out of control can destroy. Real joy emanates when we are relaxed. Over-joy or excitement comes after a change for the better i.e. falling in love, a new job, even a happiness or growth training! This is a singular experience and is usually followed by a slump in mood or energy levels, unlike the quiet joy, which can always be felt.

'The Heart is the root of life and causes the versatility of the spiritual facilities. Thus when the Heart is joyful energy flows throughout the body and the organs are balanced. If, however joy becomes frenzied excitement, then the energy of the Heart
is exhausted and it affects all other functions.' Nei Ching

This quietness of the Heart is where listening comes from, and plays a big part in, healing, relationships and understanding. It is the starting place for compassion and wisdom. Oriental healing systems [tai chi/chi kung/yoga], prayer and meditation can enhance these qualities by cultivating inner silence.

My experience as a bodyworker has shown me that the body makes little distinction as to whether an experience is good or bad. Stress is simply stress and usually follows the ups and downs of life. We have capacity for adaptating and the energy we used is known in Oriental Medicine as Ching Chi. This is limited and exhaustion sets in. We all need an optimum level of stress to grow and develop as human beings, for all the Elements of Shen to function together to support the Heart. The last thing we need is to become oblivious to ourselves and burn ourselves out.

Psychologists observe that we are often not able to assess what makes us happy and things which should be great are not when we get there and often the things that we dread are not that bad. They also observe that happiness does not increase with life experience. Some relationships are forged in the fire of life while others disintegrate for no apparent reason.

Happiness or positive psychology has been taught in educational institutions in the United States for some time and is taken very seriously at the top universities both here and in the US. A useful focus for this has proved to be quiet reflection on the practise of gratitude: ' People who daily write down five things for which they are grateful each are happier, more optimistic and more likely to achieve their goals.'

In my element
like a fish breathes in water
my hands are busy and
my head is free,
A smile grows in my belly.

The above quote was part of an exhibition of craftwork from a summer school. It reflects the simple, embodied joy of doing practical tasks. Working with the hands which requires concentration clearly has a satisfaction apart from a task completed. Some of my Clients have sufficient inherited strength to feel happy regardless of stress and typically, their family has a long tradition of hard physical work. For our grandmother's generation, with no machines to do their work, happiness was doing the housework for those that they cared for.

Many of us have daily rituals; i.e. walking the dog, tai chi/yoga/meditation, a bowl of cereals in the morning, a bed-time cocoa etc. which make us feel content. The other suggestion from the circumstances of the above quote is that we have a need to express ourselves, to be doing something that is right for us and has meaning. Some philosophies, both Western and Eastern regard being on the 'right path' as beneficial to the spirit. What is your heart's desire to give humanity? What do you desire for yourself?

According to recent surveys we need a level of comfort to relax and sleep well and some good friends to share the things we enjoy with. Even so happiness can elude us:

Happiness is like a butterfly,
The more you chase it, the more it will elude you,
But if you turn your attention to other things,
It comes softly and sits on your shoulder. Robert Lessor

The serious pursuit of happiness does not guarantee fulfilment. In the classics, humour too has a place. It is the foundation of many relationships as it encourages a lightness of being.

Since everything is but an apparition,
Perfect in being what it is,
Having nothing to do with good or bad,
Acceptance or rejection,
One may well burst out in laughter Long Chen Pa

Humour plays a great part in helping us over life's trials and troubles, but only if its heartfelt and sympathetic. Sharing a good laugh is Fire energy used at its best.

There is no substitute for what is gained from having good friendships, the practise of the quiet mind and the practise of gratitude, but neither is there any fail safe mechanism! Equally there is no substitute for humour! Does life need to be taken so seriously? Put your best foot forward, step out into life, participate and enjoy yourself! You may well be pleasantly surprised by what you find! Go placidly midst the joy and haste Desiderata

With Thanks to Carola Beresford-Cooke, Iona Teeguarden, Gail Reichstein, Macrobiotic, Shiatsu, Meditation and Rebirthing trainings. Not to mention friends and Warwick Race Course where I walk the dogs!