Essential Components of Sotai Therapy

By Stephen Brown,L.Ac.

Sotai Therapy is a system of structural integration developed by Keizo Hashimoto M.D., who gained a large following in the natural healing community of Japan in the last quarter of the 20th century. Although a medical doctor, Dr. Hashimoto was known more his techniques of exercise and structural adjustment than the Western medical treatments widespread in Japan. In his long years of clinical practice Dr. Hashimoto experimented with various traditional healing methods in Japan, and he arrived at the conclusion that there was a common thread which runs through all of these methods. Most of them rely on some form of physical stimulation to adjust the body's function or structure. In all methods applying various forms of stimulus to the body, first a localized abnormal area is located, and then attempts are made to alleviate or correct the misalignment by releasing the abnormal tension, reducing the myofascial restriction, and resolving distortions in the musculoskeletal system. Many of these methods correct distortions in an indirect way to facilitate the natural healing process.

Dr. Hashimoto's philosophy on health is founded on regulating the four components of human life - breathing, movement, eating, and thinking. He held that health is a natural result of right living, and that its improvement and maintenance is the responsibility of each individual. To this end, he advocated a unique form of „exercise‰ for restoring the structural integrity of the body, which are unlike conventional exercises. All strenuous and painful movements are not to be repeated because pain is a signal from the body that it is out of balance and susceptible to further injury. What is called for is movements that restore balance and structural integrity. Thus all Sotai movements and exercises are directed toward finding and moving in the direction of greatest ease.

Concerning breathing, the first of the four components of human life, Dr. Hashimoto advised abdominal breathing. Breathing is the most vital function in our life, which cannot be interrupted for more than a few minutes. It follows that the healthier one is, the deeper one's breathing. To this end, Dr. Hashimoto advocated abdominal massage and abdominal breathing every night before going to sleep. As for the last component of thinking, Dr. Hashimoto regarded positive thinking to be no less essential to health than breathing. This is achieved by preeminently directing our thoughts towards those things that are pleasant, beautiful, and delightful. And further, by being grateful for all the good things in our life and verbalizing our appreciation and joy. One need not pay any attention to depressing things and events which cannot be changed. Our minds and heart turn in the direction of the words we hear and speak. By speaking to highlight the positive aspects of our life, we naturally notice and attract more of the same. Dr. Hashimoto said "Our thoughts are the steering wheel of our destiny".

As to the component of eating, or diet, Dr. Hashimoto advocated a simple macrobiotic diet. Nevertheless, he cautioned against being too strict about one's diet. One must find out what foods were most nourishing and what was best for one's own health. The most important factor in diet, Dr. Hashimo maintained, was not what or how much food was eaten, but how well the food that was eaten was chewed and digested. Among the four essential components of life, Sotai Therapy works with the aspects of breathing and movement. The aim is to get the body to release abnormal tension, which eventually leads to functional and structural problems. All interventions, be they small or large, are aimed at facilitating the body's recovery of functional and structural integrity. This is accomplished not by force, but by inviting the body to relax, breathe, and move in the direction of ease. Basically all that is required is to find the least comfortable direction of movement and to do this movement in reverse. This technique of backtracking a painful or uncomfortable movement to move in the comfortable direction was first developed in the 1920's by Michio Takahashi, the founder of the Seitai School. Minor distortions and physical problems can be corrected simply by taking some time out during the day to check one's own body and doing a few Sotai exercises. More chronic and troublesome problems are best addressed with the help of a Sotai therapist, whose job it is to facilitate release and realignment by identifying and assisting with corrective movements. With the assistance of an experienced therapist, the position, breathing, and quality of Sotai movements can be fine tuned to obtain the best results with the least effort.