Samurai Shiatsu activities in primary schools
‘O genki desu ka?’ / ‘How are you’ ‘how is your Ki?
Since 2022, we collaborated with the French section at the ESH (The Hague), by introducing Shiatsu in the class (primary 2 to primary 4).
Shiatsu is very intuitive and therefore constitutes a great tool for the kids and the teachers in the class environment, to learn respect, for the kids to assess how they feel and what they can do to either, relax, wake up (…); to take care of themselves and each others.
The amounts and length of the sessions were discussed with the teachers beforehand, in general, 3 sessions of 45min each took place per group class.
Alike all Shiatsu Practice, the Children are fully clothed and learn to carry out a sequence of Shiatsu ‘moves’ on each other.
The various Shiatsu “moves” and sequences also included meridian based movement exercises (Do-In) and breathing practices. Some of the exercises are called: Warms up in the Sun; Bear and Tiger meet . Children are invited to use ‘strong, firm bear paw touch’ as well as ‘gentle, light tiger paws’ to go up and down the spine. These are taught in a playful way as part of a story about two Japanese children, a boy called Kooko and a girl called Hanako.
As with Shiatsu, an important aspect is to respect each individual and not to super-impose exercises and touch where it is not wanted or when the person is not ready for it yet. At the start of each session, children ask each other’s permission before engaging in physical touch. Gentle, respectful touch is taught, and children are given the chance to give and receive positive touch. As well as learning skills to help themselves in class, children also enjoyed giving some shiatsu at home (parents loved it ;D).
With younger children (second primary, third primary), we focused on respect and kata from the Samurai method, repeating and adding sequences from one year to the next one. We also learn to go and visit our emperor (our Heart) and to listen to her/him, be centered, welcome, feel and move our emotions in our bodies.
With older children (primary four), we also discussed about emotions and how to move from up on the ladder (from the polyvagal theory), how do you fell, what can you do to feel more relax….
This project is a practical exercise project which promotes health and wellbeing, improves concentration, respect and can help with stress and anxiety. The children learned a series of bodywork exercises and breathing practices which are simple to learn and can be used independently after the program. This is designed so that through different qualities of touch various sensory systems are encouraged and activated.
The sessions are based on the work of Karin Kalbanter-Wernicke “samurai Shiatsu” and the polyvagal theory.
The word ‘Samurai’ means ‘servant, companion, guardian’ – and it aims to convey how children can nurture others as well as themselves. Showing respect and becoming aware of one’s own and other people’s boundaries are important principles of Shiatsu and the project actively works to develop this awareness, nurturing class cohesion and creating greater health awareness for both teachers and pupils which in turn will have a positive effect on the classroom atmosphere.
We use the ladder from the polyvagal theory to learn to do a self-check , become an emotion detective and find what we can use to climb up the ladder (high/low arousal tools (Do-In stretches, Samurais learned practices and breathing practices))