Shiatsu investigation?

[Chris]

Without the concept of Qi, would shiatsu still be different from western massage therapy? As someone seeking body based therapy, what are your thoughts about weighing the different options. Why would you choose one over another?

 

[SmartAss]

It depends on the qualities of the practitioner.

Qi is not only a concept.

Awareness is important (and qi is awareness-related).
One could try to define a law as follows :
When all other things are constant,
and awareness is higher,
the massage will be better.

Which is of course just a concept (for one cannot keep things constant)

Shiatsu has some nice diagnostic tools, and some tricks to work with after diagnosis.

Apart from that,
diploms are b u l l s h i t.
most differentiation is b u l l s h i t when it comes to effectiveness.