Working with Death and Loss in Shiatsu Practice: A Guide to Holistic Bodywork in Palliative Care

This book considers death and loss within Chinese Medicine and related Taoist models, and offers practical advice and techniques, effective recommendations and appropriate exercises for those working in palliative care, with grieving, frail or dying clients. Grainger examines the different ways that practitioners might encounter death and loss - including working in end-of-life care, with those facing terminal illness, affected by bereavement, suicide or miscarriage - in the context of different ages, religious and cultural backgrounds, and offers a model for teaching. Working with Death and Loss in Shiatsu Practice is the go-to text for practitioners wishing to improve their expertise and confidence when working with people at a vulnerable time in a respectful, open-hearted and compassionate manner.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction PART ONE: OVERVIEW OF DEATH AND LOSS 2. Saying Death Out Loud 3. Fear of Death 4. What is Death? 5. Cycle of Life 6. Language and terminology 7. Touch, a Universal Language 8. What we Believe about death PART TWO - THEORY AND PRACTICAL SHIATSU 9. Ki (The One) 10. Yin Yang (The Two) 11. TCM (The 10,000 Things) 12. The Five Elements 13. Zen Shiatsu 14. Techniques Inspired by Movement Shiatsu 15. Other Shiatsu Styles (Integrating Non-Shiatsu Modalities, Sotai, Seiki, Working with the Light Bodies and Light Body Activation) 16. Chakras 17. Pain 18. Other (Temporal Scanning, Treating One Body Part Through Another, What You Can Do If You Do Not Know What To Do) 19. Working on a Table or Hospital Bed 20. Contraindications PART THREE 21. Terminal diagnosis 22. Grief 23. Loss 24. Shock 25. Trauma PART FOUR: THE CLIENT 26. Causes of Death 27. Where we Meet Clients Who are Facing Death or Grieving 28. End-of-life, Palliative Care and Attending a Death 29. The People We Work With 30. Mental Health, Medication and State of Mind 31. Suicide and Assisted Suicide 32. Clients with Different Faiths and Cultural Traditions PART FIVE: THE PRACTITIONER 33. Facing death 34. Support 35. Referrals and Team Work 36. Practicalities 37. Clients 38. Humanitarian and Voluntary Work 39. Practicing Shiatsu while Facing Death PART SIX: THE CLIENT-PRACTITIONER RELATIONSHIP 40. Expectations 41. What Obstructs Effective Understanding? 42. Does the Client Know? 43. Giving My Opinion 1 and 2 44. How Useful is it to be Given Advice? 45. Better, not right (text, video link with permission) 46. Reflecting on What we need in Times of Sorrow 47. Developing Inner Strength 48. Listening 49. Love 50. Forgiveness, thanks, apologies, goodbye PART SEVEN: FOR TEACHERS, STUDENTS AND POST GRADUATE PRACTITIONERS 51. For Teachers 52. For Students and Post Graduate Practitioners PART EIGHT: PRACTICAL EXERCISES 53. Exercises a. Qi gong i. Standing Like A Tree ii. Wu Chi iii. Qi gong for the Lungs iv. The Gathering of Essence and Shen b. Meditation i. Separating and refining Meditations A and B ii. The Lotus Blossom Opens iii. Loving Kindness meditation iv. When You Cannot Tell Someone Something Because They Have Died v. Walking Meditation 1-3 54. Some General Reflection Questions for Practitioners 55. Conclusion Glossary Further Reading References Appendix A Shiatsu is... Appendix B Appendix C Research

About the Author :
Tamsin Grainger has been a Zen Shiatsu practitioner since 1991 and is the co-founder of The Shiatsu School in Edinburgh. She has written articles for the Shiatsu Society Journal, and regularly presents workshops, including on loss, death and dying, internationally. She lives in Edinburgh, UK.

Review :
An invaluable resource for all touch therapists drawn to working at this edge of life. Weaving her own extensive experience together with guidance on every conceivable aspect of the subject, Tamsin Grainger balances poignant case studies with the discipline, self-reflection and professionalism that end-of-life care demands. A truly impressive achievement! This is a wonderful book, and a gift to any Shiatsu practitioner. In our practice we often encounter grief loss and death (in all its forms). Tamsin has comprehensively researched every conceivable aspect of the subject, from different Shiatsu ways of interpreting grieving behaviour to the differences the practitioner may encounter between working in a hospital or in a hospice. Many moving and memorable case histories illustrate her theme, some her own, some from other practitioners. I loved her use of tables to clarify and explain, in particular one table - how brave, bold and entirely appropriate in Shiatsu literature! - where she lists her experiences of feeling different kinds of Ki movement in receivers' diverse emotional responses to the prospect of death. Her voice is direct, compassionate and honest. I will be learning from and enjoying this book for years to come. Working With Death and Loss in Shiatsu Practice is invaluable for students of Shiatsu as well as for experienced practitioners, whether they work with very sick and dying clients or not. They will benefit from this book's deep insight into the nature of life, its deep challenges and its joy.