Postnatal shiatsu with refugees

Suzanne Yates a partagé avec nous les travaux de Ségolène Cadet sur les shiatsus qu'elle pratique sur les migrantes enceintes ou jeunes mamans. Vous pouvez retrouver l'article en intégralité en line ici : https://wellmother.wordpress.com/2015/07/08/postnatal-shiatsu-with-refugees/
et en voici un extrait :

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What happens in the shiatsu session?

During these shiatsu sessions, the women lie on their front and present their back to me. They suffer from all kinds of back pain, including the neck and shoulder because they are always carrying their baby and because of all their anxieties and accumulated tension. The women always breastfeed their babies and there are often problems of milk flow and engorgement.
Their energy is often quite dispersed, especially in their legs and feet. The African women have a lot of tension in their back, shoulders, neck and legs.

I always starting working with their Qi and include Bladder and Gall Bladder. I include some GB stretches and then one or two deeper connections to enable them to come into connection with their Jing (Essence). The women like shiatsu or oil massage on their back, shoulder and neck as it helps them release some of their tension.

I find the work on their legs and feet is difficult because it is here that I find the energy most dispersed. I relate this to their connection with the Earth, the land they left behind which was insecure and often violent and the land that has welcome them but is still insecure, uneasy and emotional. I always work here with care and sometimes I only make a light connection such as 26 GB with GB41 or the sacrum with Kidney 1.

The Extraordinary Vessels

The energy of the Extraordinary Vessels for these exiled women is often very scattered. They do not always allow me to connect with it. I have to prepare well with work on the level of the Qi and by gaining the woman’s trust. When the woman is ready, I can work in certain areas of the Extraordinary Vessels, like Girdle Vessel (Dai Mai) or Governing Vessel (Du Mai). Work with the Penetrating Vessel (Chong Mai) and Conception Vessel (Ren Mai) is often hard to access. I think because it is linked with the Land, but also with Blood, Xing their core identity and their breath.

I think this is the heart of their issues of Exile and why they often have Caesareans. I often work with Dai Mai to gather their energy to their centre, to their hara to give it a sense of direction.
Dai Mai work also helps to reduce the backache and tonifies the energy of the pelvis, which is often weak. The Kidney Uterus connection also supports the Dai Mai and the mother when she is tired.
I have just begun to include the Heart Uterus connection with HC6. I work a little with Chong Mai around the breasts, but sometimes this is too much for the women. I think that the women are beginning to get to know me now and trust me but this has taken time. Now they speak more openly about their homeland and the violence they have suffered. I am more able to work with the Yin and I can include a little more the Chong Mai in the postnatal period. I do not always find it is appropriate to include the branch of the Chong Mai in the legs because their connection to the earth is not very stable. I prefer to work Spleen and Stomach and include Spleen 6 and Stomach 36.

The women do not always come that regularly. I do not always offer them massages but let them know about the Shiatsu space. I allow things to unfold as I see the base is the relationship they build in the open space and when they are ready then they chose to come for a massage.

I often work with the babies and they enjoy this time with their infant. I ask them to show me how their mothers, grandmothers and women in their family massaged their babies when I feel they are open to talk about this. This way they can connect more with their culture, remember these members of their family connect with their identity, their culture, and regain confidence in themselves.

In this space, I think they find some comfort and support, well-being, relief from pain and tension in their body, due to constantly carrying their children.

Sometimes they trust me enough to talk about their family and culture but it is rare. They like to show me their newborn. I feel that maternity shiatsu helps support this mother child link even in these difficult and uncertain conditions.
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