Issue 25: Clarity & Communication — Adler Clinic Newsletter

In this issue:

Welcome to October, and to the lovely crisp days we have been having. I find this time of year quite delightful.

This month, I want to talk about clear communication by starting with two questions:

I have been reflecting on my own practice lately. More than once, I have looked at the clock after a session and realized that our 60 minutes have, quietly, become 75 minutes. This is a nice thing to offer, of course. But it is not always the most skilful thing for me to do, and it makes the rest of my clinic day rather difficult to manage.

So what is going on here?

When I was first learning Shiatsu, the full-body treatment was an essential part of the training. It taught us how to see the body as a whole: back, legs, arms, neck, head, feet and, where appropriate, the abdomen.

This is still a beautiful and valuable way to work. For many of you, especially when the goal is relaxation, stress reduction, general maintenance, or a little more vitality, it may be exactly what you need.

But experience has also taught me that not every treatment needs to look the same.

Some of you come in with a particular concern: a painful shoulder, a low back that will not settle, abdominal discomfort, a headache, or something else that is asking for more focused attention. In these sessions, I am often working not only with the chief complaint itself, but also with the related patterns elsewhere in the body.

Treatment can require a more targeted, almost laser-like approach. I may spend a significant part of our hour working carefully with the main area and following its connections through the body.

When that is the work in front of us, I may not get to every part of a “classic” full-body treatment. Your neck and head may receive less time. Your feet, arms, or another area may not be included that day. This is not because those areas are unimportant, or because I am giving you less care. It is because I am using the session to work more deeply and efficiently with the thing that brought you in.

I have sometimes felt that I should make up for this by extending the session, which is when that 60 minutes turns to 75.

But I am realizing that the better answer is to trust my skill, stay within our agreed 60 minutes, and communicate more clearly with you.

At your next session, before we begin, I will be asking more directly:

What would you like to work with today?

That question is simple, but it matters. If you come in with abdominal discomfort, my thinking will naturally orient around a focused treatment plan for that. But perhaps you also really need some time spent on your hands, your feet, or your neck.

I will not necessarily know that unless you tell me.

Please do tell me.

Together, we can decide what needs the most attention and make room for what matters to you within the hour we have. Sometimes that will mean a full-body treatment. Sometimes it will mean a focused treatment. Often, it will be a thoughtful combination of both.

At the end of our session, I will also ask:

Were your expectations met? How are you feeling?

You are welcome to be completely honest in the moment. If something felt especially helpful, I want to know. If you had hoped we would spend more time somewhere, or if something did not feel quite right, I want to know that too. That feedback helps us adjust, refocus, and re-calibrate for the next session.

If you need a little time to reflect, that is fine as well. You can always email me afterwards.

My goal is simple: to make our sessions as skilful, efficient, and useful for you as possible. I know that you are choosing to spend precious time and money with me. I do not take that lightly.

I want to offer you the best of my attention, experience, and care—not by trying to do everything in every session, but by doing the most appropriate work for you on that day.

So please do not take my new directness as an affront! It is my attempt to be warmly efficient, and to make sure that our work together is clear, collaborative, and genuinely helpful.

For now I would like to leave you with this question:

What would make our next 60 minutes together most valuable to you?

Enjoy your fall. I am looking forward to seeing you on the mat.

Stay golden,

Daniel (T’agyol) Adler