Introduction

I once learned this self-massage routine at an early morning Aikido class, where we performed it as a warming up exercise. I found it helps to warm you up when it is cold, to relax when you are tense, to help you calm your mind before you go to sleep and to wake you up in the early morning. Supposedly it also makes you extremely beautiful and filthy rich, but let me know when that happens.

Once you know how to do the exercise a little bit, it takes 10-15 minutes to perform the whole routine (YMMV). It is important to stay as relaxed as possible and do the movements gently. You may want to loosen your belt, so that your belly gets enough room to breathe deeply.

In shiatsu massage, there is a general WARNING: If a person has high blood pressure or epilepsy, do not treat the head. I suppose the same advice applies here, so in that case, skip the section about the head (steps 2 - 12).