ZENSHIATSU
Layers of Touch
ABOUT ME
Julia Schmidt
Diploma Certified Zen Shiatsu Therapist
Educated by Graeme Docherty at the Center for Shiatsu
Movement, the body and nature have always played a special role throughout my life. However in the past 10 years, they have taken me in new directions and on a deeper journey of discovery. Exploring the body and the space we move was a crucial foundation to my many years as circus artist and passionate dancer. Likewise, the journey through childhood trauma, and constant discovery, release and learning through these.
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In recent years, my curiosity about the body's and nervous system's response to our experiences, and how they are expressed in the experience of ourselves and our lives, has come to the forefront.
Where in the big puzzle of life do we belong and what does it mean, have been recurring questions. Both my curiosity but also the necessity of these explorations in me, lie at the basis of my work as a Shiatsu therapist.
How can we create space to be? And what does that mean in our direct experience...?
The wish to feel and land in the depth of human existence is a driving force in my life, which makes me feel alive, and gives me a sense of meaning.
Shiatsu plays a great part in this. Because the presence with the body and everything it contains, (re-)-introduces consciousness into those parts that are hurting and that can be difficult to enter. As well as the places we simply had forgotten existed. Shiatsu creates space for us, and our inner Selves.
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A bit like the forest does. Like Nature - and her peaceful presence.
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I believe that it is crucial for our general well-being that we can land in our human circumstances and thus the body. That we know who we are (can sense ourselves, even though we may lack words), and what this means to us.
The journey here has certainly not been without difficulties and I keep growing. As we do now. Nor are any insights, realizations, or experiences the basis for a dogmatic way of life. Even the most significant, those that have had the greatest impact on me, may change at some point.
So does Shiatsu and how I reflect on it and my work.
But they lie as a bottom and a depth - a form of recurring memory and reminder of what is important to me. Which is the love for ourselves, the desire to listen to and to be here for us, and to see if we can find or create space for our being.
Naturen er den bedste underviser i min optik. Både til at åbne os, og genfinde os som en del af en større livsproces- og sammenhæng. I ét med os selv og livet. Træer kan ikke være andet end dem selv, og forsøger heller ej andet. Naturens stille tilstedevær står som søjler i en alt overskyggende eksistensberettelse der alene er fæstnet i at være hvordan end er. Som mennesker leder vi i stedet oftere efter at finde berettelsen i at være gode nok, gøre/føle ret, eller andet. Og glemmer nærvær i et hav af forpligtelser, gøremål, forventninger, OG os selv midt i det.
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Hvordan kan vi skabe plads til at være? Og hvad vil det sige - fornemmelsen af plads til at være... til at være os, uden at afføde en fornægtelse af naturlig bevægelse og sommetider endda nødvendig forandring?
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Shiatsu, Kunst og dans er i den sammenhæng meget lige hinanden, og tjener det samme formål.
En katalysator for at opdage udfoldelsen fra dybet i os. Fra stilheden og fra hvor hele historien har gået sin gang, men simulant tillader os at være frie som det. Og frie i den forstand at der er bevægelse i os. Rum og stilhed.
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Måske er det ikke uden grund at den læg-kyndige i nogle af de gamle kulturer spurgte
Hvornår stoppede du med at synge?
Hvornår stoppede du med danse?
Hvonår stoppede du med at lade dig fortrylle af historier?
Og hvornår stoppede du med at lade dig indhylde af din egen sødmefulde stilhed?
...når man havde det skidt.​
For vores almene trivsel er det altafgørende at i vi kan lande i os på trods af vores omstændighed, at kunne komme hjem til kroppen, til indre fred og ro, og at kunne lande i kærlighed til os selv, især hvis livet har givet os nogle voldsomme kår på hånden.
Igennem Shiatsu, Dans, Kunst og Natur kan vi åbne ind til dette naturlige indre rum.
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Og det er en kæmpe glæde for mig at følge dig lidt af ad vejen.
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