Positive Health Online

Nestling high in the mountains of the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland is the beautiful village of Kiental, and Kientalerhof, a 'Centre for Wellbeing'.



In 2007 The Centre was host to the second European Shiatsu Conference with lecturers from Europe, and participation by teachers, practitioners and students of shiatsu throughout the whole of the world. Those who took part were from different organizations, from different countries with different opinions, styles, methodology and approaches to Shiatsu. I was delighted to be invited as guest teacher, as my feeling was that the aim of the Conference was not only about bringing shiatsu people together, but a starting point for bringing UNITY to the discipline.

Organizations
Over the last 10-11 years I have watched with growing concern as the survival of individual CAM organizations which are created for the benefit of therapists have, in some cases become more important than the people that they claim to protect and serve. Rules are replacing values; and books, tradition, theory, 'tools' and dogma are replacing direct energetic experience. Directors are being made to sign contracts that bar them from joining or creating an organization within five years of leaving the present one, for one which may be classed as 'competition'.

When the behaviour of an organization starts to resemble sectarianism it is time to question where their real interests lie. This was one of the reasons why I resigned as a director of one large therapy organization, and ultimately gave up teaching and practising my chosen therapy.

The Need for Objective, Scientific Proof
One would think that with the requirement of 'Regulation' for Complementary Medicine, and the demands of the Committee of Advertising Practice for 'objective scientific proof' of the substance known as Ki, Chi, Prana etc. and a therapist's ability to influence this in order to improve health and well being, would promote serious research into the nature of this illusive substance, however it seems that debate about theories, no matter how unproven, are much preferred to serious objective research.

Within the world of CAM, vast amounts of money are still being spent on providing statistics, even though the results of these continue to be ignored; clear guidelines have already been given as to what constitutes objective proof of the effectiveness of CAM. This head-in-the-sand approach only confirms to those opposed to Complementary Medicine that CAM has no idea of what it is that it claims to be working with. It is certainly not able to provide objective proof of what this 'substance' is and how it can promote health.

One would think that CAM would be fully in support of any organization that could provide the 'objective proof' that the House of Lords, the Science and Medical community and the Committee of Advertising Practice have been asking for, but my experience is that CAM, in general, prefers to keep its head below the parapet with regard to this difficult subject, perhaps in the hope that it will go away (which it won't).

It appears that even so called 'research' groups and organizations prefer to take this course of action rather than take the time and spend the money required to tackle the real subject head on. We were advised that £4.5m had been donated to 'research' into Complementary therapies; however neither the organization that advised us, or anyone else was prepared to say who had the money, and what it is being spent on.

Regulation
Some of us hoped that Regulation would provide a means of uniting Therapies and organizations in a common cause. I also hoped that obtaining the required, 'objective proof' would become a focus for the future.  I and many others were to be very disappointed. Much of what was intimated did not materialize, and no-where within the process was there a tick box for energetic awareness and ability.

We now have divisions where there were none before, because regulation does not sort out the 'wheat' from the 'chaff', nor does the stamp of approval guarantee the client will have access to the very best of practitioners. Both sides of the 'approved' line will have both excellent and not so excellent practitioners, as the difference is always down to energetic ability and application for which there is no 'Regulation' tick box.

Many organizations left during the early stages as they believed that what Regulation offered was not an improvement on what they, as an organization offered their members and the public. Under the banner of 'Inclusiveness', some smaller organizations felt they were elbowed out of the way in their attempts to be 'equally' heard. The stamp of approval does not necessarily make a better practitioner, nor is it an acknowledgement of energetic prowess. This division has created wounds within disciplines that will take a long time to heal; that is if they ever do heal.

The focus on unity and the importance of energetic ability has it seems, been lost in a sea of rivalries and internal politics.

Energetic Awareness and Spirituality
Expertise in accessing and working with the energy field is not the same as development in Spirituality. Although interconnected, they are different aspects of universal understanding, and perhaps this is where part of the problem lies. So much time is spent in developing what to 'do', that how to 'be' has somehow been forgotten. How to 'be' contains the guiding principles that enable us to work in Unity with our fellow practitioners and human beings, and rise above the scramble to be 'approved' (whatever that may mean) at all cost.

Becoming more aware of the energetic matrix not only creates opportunities for continuing energetic development, but also contains the seeds of recognition of ourselves as universal beings, our spiritual selves. These opportunities are in front of us always; we just need to be able to recognize them for what they are. Expanding spiritual awareness changes our perception of life and enables us to apply our energetic skills with increasing ease. Spiritual awareness also reminds us of what is important - our integrity as energetic and spiritual beings, who do not require 'approval' from a non energetic, non spiritual standpoint.
                                   
Kiental - A Step towards Unity
In October 2011 Kiental will be hosting a Third European Shiatsu Conference, and I have been honoured once again to be invited as a guest teacher by Dr Wilfried Rappenecker, who is the driving force behind the Congress.

The author, former Shiatsu practitioner

I will be involved in a debate, and also providing a workshop on 'What is Energetic Awareness?'
Although I no longer practise shiatsu I was proud to accept Wilfried's invitation, as the seeds of unity are being sown here, high up in the Swiss mountains. There will be many teachers, practitioners and students who have travelled from many different countries to attend this conference. My hope is that they will return home with the knowledge that steps have been taken to inspire and create unity within the Shiatsu profession, and that these steps will provide a beacon for other CAM professions to follow.