Shiatsu for Anxiety and Mental Health in Bristol: Supporting the Nervous System

I don’t need to tell you about how overwhelming the world is at the moment. We are bombarded by information about the chaos that surrounds us, and our mindstate inevitably mirrors that chaos back. For many people, talking therapy is an essential part of mental health care. But for others, there comes a point where insight alone doesn’t lead to change. You may understand why you feel anxious, overwhelmed, or stuck — yet your body continues to react as if it isn’t safe.

This is where bodywork and somatic approaches are increasingly recognised as valuable complements to talking therapy.

Trauma, chronic stress, and anxiety are not held only in the mind, they live in the body: in muscle tension, breathing patterns, posture, and unconscious protective responses. When these patterns are active, it can be difficult for change to happen through words alone.

Shiatsu as a Trauma-Informed, Somatic Therapy

Shiatsu is a form of somatic bodywork, meaning it works with the body as the primary entry point to healing. Rather than analysing experiences, shiatsu supports the body to feel safe enough to begin letting go. Safety is in the eye of the beholder. I can’t promise to make you safe, but as a trauma-informed practitioner I can offer you the space to explore safety for yourself.

Trauma-informed shiatsu focuses on:

• Creating a sense of safety and choice

• Working slowly and respectfully with the nervous system

• Supporting regulation before release

• Listening to the body’s signals rather than forcing change

By using gentle, grounded touch, shiatsu helps signal to the nervous system that it is safe to move out of fight, flight, or freeze. As the body begins to settle, thoughts and emotions often become easier to access, process, and move through.

Nervous system regulation

When the body is stuck in survival mode, the mind often follows, with racing thoughts, anxiety, hypervigilance, or emotional shutdown/fawning.

As the nervous system becomes more regulated, there is the potential for:

• Greater emotional capacity

• Reduced reactivity to stress and triggers

• Less pain

• Thoughts and emotions moving freely rather than looping

In Shiatsu we don’t force emotional release as in more activating therapeutic models. Instead, we create the conditions in which change can happen at the body’s own pace.

Somatic Therapy and the Growing Interest in Body-Based Healing

Somatic approaches to mental health are becoming increasingly popular as the West catches up with a holistic understanding of the mind-body connection long practiced in Eastern medicine. Practices that support nervous system regulation, embodiment, and a somatic sense of safety are now widely used alongside psychotherapy.

Shiatsu offers a gentle, body-led approach for those who feel stuck, overwhelmed, or disconnected from their bodies, and can be used alongside other modalities for a truly holistic approach to physical and mental wellbeing.