In a massage school in Maui , Hawaii , a group of students are gathered around their teacher as he performs the steps in shiatsu massage. The teacher executes several movements that are basic in a shiatsu massage. These include pressing, tapping, squeezing, and rubbing some of the patient's body parts. To the untrained eye, it would seem that the teacher just randomly touches or squeezes here and there, when in truth, these actions were planned beforehand. As he is doing this, he is also telling his students the history of shiatsu massage and how it became one of the most effective and popular massage therapy styles or techniques known today.

The technique being taught in a massage school in Maui, Hawaii actually originated in oriental Japan . Shiatsu is a Japanese traditional hands-on technique of therapy. The accepted founder is said to be Tokujiro Namikoshi. When Namikoshi was but a boy, he found out that by applying pressure on his mother's joints and then rubbing them, he was able to alleviate the pain she felt caused by arthritis.

This encouraged Namikoshi to pursue the study of the technique he discovered. He called it "Shiatsu" because in the Japanese language, "shi" means "finger" while "atsu" means pressure. Because of his perseverance, he was able to build the Shiatsu Institute of Therapy in Hokkaido in 1925, and later on, the Japan Shiatsu School after the technique became accepted and licensed. In Japan, shiatsu is widely promoted and supported by the government. Because of this, many people were encouraged to study shiatsu.

The graduates of the Japan Shiatsu School are responsible for the spread of the technique all over the world. Not only that, shiatsu gained popularity when Namikoshi himself treated important or famous personages such as Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida, Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe, and champion boxer Muhammad Ali.

Shiatsu as a technique is one that needs careful and dedicated studying. Shiatsu is done by using one's fingers, palms, and especially the thumbs, to find irregularities in the patient's body and heal or correct them. The benefits that shiatsu has been known to induce include the relaxation of muscles, the reduction of stress, and the improvement of blood circulation, among others. Aside from these, shiatsu has also been known to heal specific illnesses such as arthritis.

The effectiveness of the shiatsu technique coupled with its illustrious and much documented history has gained it many followers until today. It is no wonder that shiatsu is taught not only in a massage school in Maui , Hawaii , but also in other massage schools in the world.

Once you learn shiatsu massage, it would mean that you now have the skills to make people around you feel better. You can even give use your knowledge as a source of income. Many people have healed family members and friends, or started booming massage therapy businesses just because they had knowledge in shiatsu. This might work for you as well. Study shiatsu now and enjoy the benefits that this time-tested massage therapy technique can give you.