Here follows a few frequently asked questions, common concerns and often asked queries. In no particular order. First up is the short version AI prompted me to write

What should I wear?

Yoga outfit or similar

Is it painful?

Nope, odds on you’ll be so relaxed you’ll doze off

How many sessions will I need?

Typically 3, possibly more. I’d like to see you once every 3 to 4 weeks to make sure your new patterns are holding

Is it evidence-based?

Nope, it’s a complementary therapy. Aspects of Amatsu do have medical evidence and merit behind them but what we do is more colloquial and less formal than typical Western medicine. 

Can it replace medical treatment?

Heck no, it’s aimed at speeding up your recovery and keeping you as you would prefer to find yourself

How does consent work?

Primary consent is implied through booking, and additional consent if required, is discussed as we proceed through treatment

What if I feel worse after?

I reckon you probably will actually. Arnica will help with any aches and pains. Drink water, get to bed reasonably early and avoid heavy lifting. It is recommended that you avoid stressful people as best possible, at all times. A short stoll is often helpful. In all likelihood, you’ll feel dreadful for about 24 hours and then start feeling better. This is normal. 

Can children attend?

Absolutely. All under 18s should be accompanied by an adult. Older teenagers (16+) can attend by themselves with written parental consent after their third session.

Do you treat neurodivergent clients?

Yes, all the time. I’m ND myself so I’m aware of your needs.

Is it covered by insurance?

Not yet, but I am working on that

And now the long version with far too many words and far too few pictures.

What is Amatsu?

Amatsu is us trying to help you feel better. It’s a low-pressure touch therapy, a little bit like acupressure, designed and developed to help release tension and balance the body. It’s not just me working on you – it’s us working together. If you have a sore knee for example, Amatsu treats it by evening out the tension throughout the various parts of the joint. We also help optimise pathways and positioning for the various tissue types that make up the joint, including nerve feed, fascia, blood flow, lymphatic drainage and synovial functionality to name a few. Because Amatsu is low-pressure, we can avoid causing injuries or exacerbating existing injuries and pain. It is therefore ideally suited for people of all ages and backgrounds, regardless of medical conditions. Amatsu works by aligning muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments and fascia (among others) so that they can operate in an optimal manner.

Is Amatsu ever naked?

No. I started my training in 2o18, and in all the years before and since, we have only ever heard of maybe one anecdotal case of massage of any type that involved nudity. I’d know a little bit about the . Apparently, it’s not unusual in parts of France, but for you coming to see me, no, the dress code is yoga class or comfort-wear. Naked massage isn’t something I do. I don’t use oil either, unless you’d like a bit on your feet of course. I think I might have some jojoba oil around here somewhere. Actually, I’ve probably run out. Forget I said anything. Clean socks appreciated.

How does consent work?

Primary verbal consent covers the common areas of your body I’ll need to work on to resolve the majority of issues you may be experiencing. In general, primary consent covers all areas except those directly medial to the inferior aspect of To address hip and pelvic issues for instance, I work on feet, knees, back, buttcheeks (or glutes) and of course the pesky piriformis. That muscle actually lives underneath your glute. Interestingly nough it’s one of the only horizontal muscles in your body. I usually start with the feet and work up. If you have any areas you’d prefer to avoid, let me know, and I’ll work around them. It might take a little bit longer to mend those areas, but it’s entirely possible to mend a body without directly touching the affected area. Primary consent is inferred when you make a booking. In certain specific cases, secondary additional consent will be sought and discussed for the treatment of muscles in or around sensitive areas such as erogenous zones or the pectoralis muscle in females, since this muscle typically resides under adipose tissue found in the female breast.

There is one specific manoeuvre inside the mouth called the paletine technique/manoeuvre used to ease jaw pain and headache issues, typically seen in migraine, TMJ  or dental case. Some conditions require specific access to the hard palate and gums, though this is one I’ve only needed to do maybe 5 or 6 times in as many years. You only need it if nothing else is working. And if you do need it, I’ll let you know. It rarely takes much more than 90 seconds to do a release there, and it has been demonsrated to be very effective. It helps me a lot with my MS. Anecdotal reports suggest its really rather useful for overcoming jetlag. I have a blog post about that too. Have a look, it might be helpful.

People recovering from various injuries or trauma should advise me of areas with sensitivities or trigger associations. I can work around any areas you’d rather avoid. In instances where triggering does occur, it’s worth mentioning that I am trained to help people overcome difficult experiences. I’m an autistic MS advocate, so I know a few things about mental health. Here in New You, you are welcome to be yourself. I would like you to think of New You Amatsu as a safe space. I also have a unique skill – if you ever ask me to forget something, I won’t remember you even asking me to forget. Many people might expect MS is all downsides, but I’ve been able to find the silver lining

Is this covered by health insurance?

Sadly not. At least not yet. Amatsu is an alternative therapy. I only know of 1 practictioner who fought tooth and nail to get health insurance recognition, and he broke his heart in the process. My poor classmate went completely grey from the effort. I’ve never been a fan of paperwork, so the plan there is to apply a workaround. As time goes on, I’m hoping to provide people with private health insurace some reimbursement, but I can tell you now that it might take a while. Working with a disability as I do tends to make things complicated, though I would say it does grant me a greater understand of the machiniations of the world.

I came to see you, but now I feel worse. What gives?

That’ll actually happen more often than you think. Amatsu typically makes you feel like you’ve run up a steep hill and fought a bear after treatment. Adjustments made during treatment can take up to 5 days to fully integrate. Subsequent treatments integrate more quickly. Initially, you’ll very probably feel worse for wear, but if you’re willing to be patient and trust the process, the rewards are well worth the trouble. A typical Amatsu session rebalances every part of you in relation to every other part of you. Deep Purple once said, “everything louder than everything else”. In Amatsu, we say everything is hanging off everything else. You’ve probably heard the phrase hanging together, or hanging out. I don’t feel like these phrases are coincidental in any way. Quite insightful actually.

But yeah, I can almost guarantee you that your first session will leave you feeling like you’ve been in a washing machine without a life jacket fighting off rabid teletubbies. Subsequent sessions will see you recover more quickly each time. It’s important to be patient. Your body is recovering. I always recommend you take a day off after treatment if you can. Avoid exertion, heavy lifting, hydrate (please!) and be gentle with yourself. You’ll be invariably tender on the physical side. If your released trauma was mental or emotional, expect some lability for 48 hours after treatment. This is not unusual. You might notice yourself becoming more reactive to other humans and situations as integration progresses. This is normal and will begin to subside as your body learns to move in its newly balanced state

How long will this take?

That depends on you. If you have a sore knee for example, 3-5 hour-long sessions will typically begin to demonstrate improvement. I’ll be working on every injury and trauma you’ve ever had, including the ones you can’t remember with your head brain. Your body remembers. We won’t necessarily need words to explain and understand. Part of learning Amatsu includes non-verbal communication of various types. For my part, I learned Amatsu to try to understand human emotional states better. It helps with the Autism. Amatsu is not a one-and-done treatment or solution. It never has been. If you ask a doctor for an injection, you’ll probably spend some time in pain and on a waiting list, but it’ll work when you get it. I wouldn’t discourage you from it. Amatsu is just another tool in your wellness toolkit. The choice is yours of course. You can wait in pain, or we can start mending you gradually in a natural fashion over time. The injection or surgery will very probably work very well for a long time, despite however long you’ll have to wait for it, but I’ll be here to keep you well and maintain the improvements we make together.

Is this going to hurt?

No, treatment will typically be a relaxing experience. Many of my clients doze off. I don’t mind snoring. Actually, in some ways I think of it as a compliment. I might try to tell you a lot of Christmas cracker-grade Dad jokes, but that’ll be the worst of it. You’ll likely feel very heavy after about 20 minutes, as if glued to the table. This is because I’ll be releasing a lot of tension from various parts of your body. You might feel a bit tired and achy afterwards, but that’ll be about the worst of it. Acute muscle cramps aren’t unusual, but they can be easily addressed and resolved quickly. Foot cramps are relatively common due to the reflexology components of treatment. Don’t be surprised if you get a lot of aches and pains during treatment. Pulling out all the old pains and strains from your body can be a little uncomfortable, but whatever you’re going through will pass in a matter of minutes. Whatever you’re dealing with is something I’ll treat. Don’t worry about being bossy. This is your session. I’m here to help you.

What should I expect in session 1?

Session 1 is usually a bit like going to see a friend or relative you haven’t seen for ages. It’ll very probably be a little bit awkward at first. You’ll walk in to what is essentially a small apartment with a cluttered/loved kitchen space. There’s a kitchen table, a few chairs that a dog has tried to eat and plenty of domestic detritus scattered about. Very domestic. Expect bits of paper scattered about. The place will possibly smell faintly of either lemons or incense. It was always said that dull people have immaculate homes. Please let me know ahead of time if you don’t like any particular smells. If you don’t spot the fridge first, covered in magnets from all over the world, you’ll probably notice the fancy Ikea lampshades. After we get you through the door, we’ll get you a glass of water from the 5 stage reverse osmosis water  filter, then we’ll kick off your shoes and sit up on the table. That’s when we’ll go through how you’re feeling, what you can’t do, what you’d like to be able to do, what’s happened in recent memory and then an overview of your medical history, medications, conditions and of course your favourite flavour of ice cream. Mine’s cookies and cream.

We might have a heated discussion about mango pizza but otherwise, I’d say we’ll probably get along swimmingly. If you’re not in a chatty mood, I’ll usually just be quiet and work away while we listen to some nice ambient Brian Eno. Or whatever you like yourself. Pressure used during treatment is really very light in general. If you’re AuDHD this might not suit you, and I completely understand why. Half the apartment is covered in stim toys.

During session 1 we’ll put together a treatment plan and outcome goals for you for the first 3 sessions. I recommend 3 sessions for everyone, because the benefits of Amatsu are cumulative. Therafter, we’ll be wanting to see each other every 3 weeks or so depending on how your pattern corrections are holding for tune ups and maintenance. Only you can decide how wonderful you feel. Amatsu is part of getting you there and keeping you in your ideal state

You’ll be lying down on a massage table, so it’s shoes off and I’ll throw a blanket over you if you get cold at all. Let me know if you’d prefer cotton, polyester, or wool. I typically use cotton. And don’t worry about your outfit. You can turn up in your PJs if we’re well acquainted and I’ll do my best for you, but we’ve found lycra and cotton to be most amenable to treatment

I have some small person(s) to look after – can I bring them along?

Of course! I find that children actually enjoy learning about anatomy and physiology, and my parents were teachers, so what I usually do in that situation is teach your child how to help look after you and what you’re dealing with. I find youngsters to be very resourceful. If you tell them anything useful, they tend to remember. Including them in your recovery journey is a great way to get them interested in Anatomy and Physiology, and indeed science in general. These days of course I tend to notice a lot of them are just as happy to curl up on the sofa with a phone and a blanket. Sessions only take an hour, and I can be quicker if needed. Children are welcome to a short taster session if you think they’d benefit from it. It’s no trouble. I enjoy instructing. This can be most useful if they fallen and broken some part of themselves during the course of their days. It’s always a good idea to address any injury before it becomes a long term problem.

Autism? ADHD? What do you think?

Well, as an AuDHDer myself, I understand the situation well. I treat everyone who comes to me (within reason of course). In Irish there’s a fine old phrase ‘athníon cíaróg cíaróg eile’ which essentially means it takes one to know one. So I generally get along very well with ND types. If you do feel like you’d like to dive under the table for a while afterwards, feel free to do so. I can also prepare stim toys ahead of time as required. If you’re looking to treat a nonverbal child or relative (or anyone else for that matter) give me a call and we’ll figure it out. I can reliably treat all types of people with all types of conditions. If you have a non-verbal child in need of help, we can discuss specifics ahead of time and prepare accordingly

How did you learn all this stuff?

Well, it was a dark stormy night. Kidding. After the Irish Press closed back in 1995 (I think I was going on 11 at the time), Dad found freelance work in various places, working with various people. One of these people was Helen Clarke. Years went by, stories were told and forgotten, and Helen began learning Amatsu therapy from William Doolin (Billy to his acquaintances). Billy would have known Denis Bartram who would have known Chris Roworth, and they’d all have met Hatsumi himself, out in Japan. He learned Amatsu from Takamatsu. And so Helen learned Amatsu, Dad knew Helen from work and after I did my inital training out in Citywest with Daghda (who I probably mention elsewhere on the site), I started doing my monthly CPDs with Helen. I learn something new every time I visit. I think of her like my Auntie. She hilariously derides my tea-making abilities, claiming that I don’t make tea as much as ‘pish frightened water’ but you get the idea. My dad and I have been seeing Helen for years.

Every client teaches me something new because every client is unique. Certainly, human beings have a broad set of anatomical commonalities, but I treat everyone I meet in an individual manner. My initial 2 years of formal training began a path of lifelong learning about how to treat and improve the myriad conditions and ailments people present with. And while you’ll probably find me a bit informal and colloquial at times, you can be sure that we’ll get your issues addressed. Some long-term issues may take 2 or 3 sessions, but if you trust the process with me, I reckon we’ll get you ironed out in no time. You have to keep in mind that I need to learn how you move, how you’d prefer to be able to move and how we’re going to get you there. Amatsu is a team effort, make no mistake. I can’t mend you if you don’t want to get better.

Can you cure me?

I wish I could. I can certainly help you, but outright cures are rare. Best we can hope for is long-term amelioration, to the point that you don’t even notice your condition or injury anymore. And I can keep you in that state as long as you’re willing to keep coming back to me every few weeks. Amatsu is very helpful if you’re recovering from an injury or surgical procedure .I’d love to be able to cure you absolutely. I’d love to be able to cure myself and my MS too, but here we are. We do the best we can to try to make a difference rather than change the world. Let’s start with making you feel better.

If your GP has ideas, I’d say they’re good ideas. Scans don’t do much to help, doctors are short on time, and I’d challenge you to remember the last time they gave you much more than a chat and a handshake. If you get a neurologist they might hit you with a hammer. Their healing tools are a prescription pad and a referral form. I will actually literally try to help you in a very hands-on way. It’s a bit different, but it works.

Is Amatsu evidence based?

Nope, not really. There are bits and pieces that science will stand behind but it’s really more of a colloquial individualistic therapy designed for you as and when we find each other. There’s bits and pieces floating around but research is a rich mans hobby, so Amatsu won’t easily afford journals and certifications. Certainly, we use a fair bit of evidence and science to treat people and in the ways and means in which we train, but every practitioner has a different style and we all have a particular way of moving. Amatsu is a complementary therapy, and not just because I think you look nice today. Some day, far in the future, Amatsu and biotensegrity might become part of mainstream medicine. I’m hoping for the best, but for the time being, I’m in beside hyperbaric oxygen therapy and reflexology.

Cancellation Policy?

Don’t worry about it. I’d hope you’d reschedule of course, but I understand that life being what it is means scheduling can get messy. So if the dog or cat needs the vet, or the psychic’s convention has been cancelled due to unforsen circumstances,  don’t worry, I understand. If you have to cancel and I never see you again, be aware that I’ll be a very sad panda, and I’ll miss you, because I hate losing people. I much prefer being useful. I might send you a text to suggest you come back for a refresher treatment but Helen always told me not to go chasing clients. It’s not a great look. I much prefer being asked to help whenever I’m able