The CHR de la Citadelle’s Fondation brings together five separate projects: the Dogs visitors, Les P’tits Doudous de Liège, Grandpas’ and Grannys’ cuddle, Grandpa’s Gardeners and La Petite Maison.
The Shiatsu project is included in La Petite Maison, a healing centre for people suffering from cancer and treated at the Citadelle hospital, which offers aesthetic treatments, psychological support, dietary workshops and therapeutic yoga, as well as Shiatsu.
It is a great opportunity for patients to take care of themselves in another setting than in the hospital. The combination of all these healings offers holistic support and tips for daily life, for example, nutrition, make-up, use of colours, management of emotions, stress release, bodily relaxation and loving and accepting yourself despite physical changes. All activities are free.
Shiatsu is a great practical way to relax the mind and body, regain contact with the bruised, injured and changed body, de-stress, support and facilitate change in the body and in life.
In the Spotlight
Claire Meyer
claire@aucoeur-desoi.be
www.shiatsu-harmonie.be
A musician and musicology PhD, I have always been interested in preventive medicine, in particular, Traditional Chinese Medicine. My Shiatsu training, conducted in parallel with the last two years of my doctoral thesis, allowed me to find a balance between body and mind. I studied Shiatsu with Michel Odoul at L’Institut Français de Shiatsu et de Psychologie Corporelle Appliquée. It was a wonderful discovery and a very meaningful period of my life.
I began to practice Shiatsu just after my PhD, initially part time and gradually full time. In March 2023, I was contacted by the CHR de la Citadelle’s Fondation, the Foundation of one of the big hospitals in the neighborhood, to give Shiatsu sessions to the patients from the hospital’s oncology departments. It was a great opportunity to practice Shiatsu in this setting. Since then, I have met a lot of incredible people going through difficult periods of their lives and trying to carry on, changing some parts of their lives to be more in touch with the messages from their body.
Since January 2024, I have had the opportunity to teach at ODO Shiatsu School with Fabian Bastianelli, Stéphane De Cuyper and Sabine Nafziger.
Foreword
Most of the patients were women with breast cancer, many of them experiencing pain in their arms. All of them felt a clear improvement after the Shiatsu sessions.
One woman had severe pain and paresthaesia – feelings of tingling and numbness in her right arm – following an operation. She had a lot of trouble sleeping, because she had to constantly move her arm. When I worked on the meridians of the arm, she felt increased pain as the energy in the meridians began to circulate. The pain gradually disappeared and the feeling in her arm improved significantly for a longer period. After the first Shiatsu session, she was able to keep her arm in the same position all night and has been sleeping much better ever since.
Case Studies
A. Had kidney and urinary tract cancer and very bad cramps before and after going to the toilet. These cramps were present already a year and a half before the cancer diagnosis. At the end of our first session, she was relaxed and calm and said: “it’s good not to be afraid of the cramps”.
B. Had a large scar all over the front of her body. This scar tickled her a lot. When she returned for her second Shiatsu session, she had completely forgotten that her scar had been tickling her.
C. Had part of her labia removed from her vulva due to cancer. During the interview before the Shiatsu treatment, she confided that she had been sexually abused as a child. While getting up from the futon afterwards, she made the connection with her relationship with authority and the way in which she does not feel heard by authority figures. The next day, she had an appointment with a psychologist from the hospital with whom she was able to work on this issue. The day afterwards, she had an appointment with the mutual insurance company’s medical advisor, another authority figure whom she feared. This meeting went very well – she found the advisor to be caring and attentive, which was a completely new experience for her.
D. Was very anxious about the diagnosis of her illness and even more nervous than usual. A few days after the first Shiatsu session, her son asked her what new medicine she was taking to be feeling so calm.
E. Is good-natured. He has been informed that his entire stomach is going to be removed. Getting up from the futon after the Shiatsu session, he realized that he is in a process of mourning not only for his stomach but for the life he had before, which will never be the same again.
Most of my patients were women with breast cancer, many of them experiencing pain in their arms. All of them experienced clear improvement after the Shiatsu sessions.
CLAIRE MEYER
