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PURPOSES OF RESEARCH.

We all do shiatsu because we love it and because we want to share it with others. The reason the E.S.F. exists is to protect and promote your legal right to do that, and to do that on the basis of (a) the integrity of our healing art in its' own terms, (b) of our confidence in it's value, it's safety and it's effectiveness and (c) of it's assured professional and ethical delivery to receivers. You may not even have thought of the relationship between us. We do not have any contract between us but we are inextricably linked in this way.

There is no reason for the existence of the E.S.F. without you. The E.S.F. has a crucial role to play in securing the best possible conditions for your continuation and progress. These are also the purposes of your national association, the GSD, but the E.S.F.'s brief is, of course, to work in the larger european domain. We all share the objectives of nurturing our art, of expanding our freedom to practice, of not compromising our unique healing touch, of sharing our love for and the benefits of shiatsu. You do this with your clients and students. The E.S.F. does it in the public arena of curriculum development, research and politics.

Our work to date has lead us in the E.S.F. to identify certain requirements to attain our objective of legal recognition, which, aside from combating the risk of prohibition or outside control, is bound to support the flourishing of our profession. These requirements, to which research is essential, are:

1. The advanced professionalisation of practitioners, teachers, and representative organisations. We are not known yet as a profession for many reasons. We are the least documented of all the widely practised complementary disciplines. Being recognised as a profession is the badge of admission to the world of recognised service providers in healthcare, as it is in other fields.
   
   
2. Training to a common European standard, which includes the creative differences of different styles and Schools, because to date the push for regulation has come from the European institutions. 3. Establishing the safety and effectiveness of Shiatsu for which there is only anecdotal evidence to date.
   
   
3. Establishment of Shiatsu’s unique niche.
   
   
4. Self-Regulation of the standards of training, of practice, of ethics and complaints which is externally verifiable and validated.
   
   
5. State Recognition of the right to practice according to the fundamental principles of Shiatsu, and subsequent negotiation of Shiatsu’s place within the State healthcare system.
   
   
6. E.U.Regulation. In countries where the practice of Shiatsu is legally compromised and politically disfavoured, E.U. regulation may be the most realistic option for official recognition and freedom to practice.
   
   
7. Public Awareness and Confidence. The public has to know who we are, what we do, where we fit in, and how good we are.