Chris McAlister

The Poetry of Touch by Chris McAlister is a fascinating look into the perspective of a practitioner who has spent most of his life exploring the ins and outs of East Asian Medicine. Given his grounding in shiatsu, he naturally comes from a place of highly valuing the art of touch in the practice of traditional medicine. From this book you really get the sense of how Chris keeps digging for the roots of this medicine, which are embedded in the experience of being embodied and exploring what it means to be fully alive and human - a creature with a rational mind suspended briefly in time between Heaven and Earth. Chris shares anecdotes and wisdom he has picked up along his long and circuitous journey in East Asian Medicine. He references the classics, especially the Yijing the "Book of Changes" the primary source for Chinese philosophy and worldview. Unraveling the symbols and images that are foreign to westerners, but imbedded in the collective unconscious, he lays out the implications of this foundational text in the practice of medicine. What comes across is not just Chris's deep scholarship but how he continually practices to dig deeper, always trying to make sense and connect the dots. Tradition is always a recreation of past practices. Never the same, the river keeps flowing, fresh water keeps coming from upstream to carve out the sides and bottom of the river. In the same way, Chris unpacks the healing arts of Oriental Medicine with respect and a genuine feeling for what is essential, and in so doing refreshes it and paves the way for the next generation of practitioners. In this book, Chris honors the diversity and full depth of East Asian medicine. Not just as a monolith of ancient knowledge, but as a living breathing truth that has to be rediscovered in each practitioner's life and practice. This is a brilliant example of the path of mastery, which we are all on every time we consciously choose to cultivate this living tradition. The Author: Chris McAlister has over 30 years of experience in Shiatsu, Acupuncture and Herbal medicine. He has been a practitioner of Taiji chuan, Qigong and meditation since the mid-1980's. Chris was head teacher in the Shiatsu department of Axelsons school of bodywork in Stockholm for ten years. He has taught Shiatsu and Acupuncture at his own academy and in schools around the world. He is a knowledgeable, experienced and very much appreciated teacher in the global communities of Shiatsu and energy medicine.

Three experienced Shiatsu practitioners share knowledge and insights gained over thirty years of clinical practice and teaching to create a book they themselves would have wanted to provide practical guidance and philosophical perspective on this healing art. The book's central themes are awareness, intuition and intention in the practice of Shiatsu and how this body-mind perspective can influence the wider health debate. A modern rendering of the ancient wisdom underpinning Shiatsu and Oriental medicine, this book goes beyond the technical details of Shiatsu as a specific therapy to the universal principles underlying it. Presenting Shiatsu from different perspectives, ranging from its philosophical underpinnings to the realities of daily practice, this text represents the fruit of the knowledge we apply and continually re-evaluate in our ongoing clinical work. The question and answer format is based upon classical tradition - the most famous text within traditional Oriental medicine, Huang Di Nei Jing, uses this method to illustrate complex ideas in an easy to read manner. The text is organically formed through questions formulated by our student and fellow practitioner Filippa Freed. These questions, stemming from her training and practice, facilitate a broad discussion that roams freely between technical principles, case studies and informal anecdotes.