54 M A S S A G E & B O D Y WO R K O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 6 B y S h i r l e y V a n d e r b i l t Kathy Decker of
Colorado Springs,
Colorado, fine-
tunes her tech-
nique in a recent
PUSH class.
Photos by Rick Giase. O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 6 M A S S A G E & B O DY WO R K 55 T wenty-five years ago, Michael Takatsuno was a
tennis pro suffering the aches and pains custom-
ary to athletic endeavors. A debilitating injury and a chance encounter with a Zentherapy bodyworker set
him on a path that led, after many years of experimenta-
tion and study, to the development of a muscle therapy
system to reduce pain and chronic muscle tension. He
calls it PUSH, for power under soft hands, and its defi-
nitely a push in the right direction. According to
Takatsuno, the PUSH approach not only brings relief to
the client, its also gentle on the therapist. At the core of the PUSH system is the concept of Chronic Passive Tension. Takatsuno says this is a condi-
tion common to chronic pain in which muscles remain
tight and contracted even in a passive or resting state.
PUSH therapy utilizes a Soft Pressure Stimulation tech-
nique to release tension and increase range of motion,
and subsequently reduce pain. To sustain that change,
clients are instructed in self-treatment techniques and
posture exercises that can be quickly and easily incorpo-
rated into the daily routine. The PUSH therapy system, which also focuses in large part on client education and self-awareness, can
produce both immediate and long-term relief for a vari-
ety of common ailments, such as low-back pain, carpal
tunnel syndrome (CTS), headache, and tendinitis. But it
does more than that. Takatsuno says his approach has a
special payoff for the therapistno pain, strain, or
fatigue, even after hours of tablework. PUSH bodywork is applied with the
therapist in a loose,
relaxed state, with
pressure maintained
primarily through use
of elbows and finger
tools. The evolution of
Takatsunos approach
took many years and
many side roads, and
included a few inspir-
ing masters along the
way. From Zen
to Anatomy T akatsuno played
competitive tennis as early as age ten and
went on to instruct at
the college level while
participating in profes-
sional tournaments. Discipline was part of
the process and was
even more firmly
ingrained when he
added martial arts to
his athletic endeavors. An early association with a Zen temple and tai chi mas-
ter Benjamin Pang-jeng Lo, who Takatsuno describes as
otherworldly, was just one of several fortuitous factors
impacting the development of PUSH. As a tennis player, Takatsuno says he stretched seven days a week. One day something popped, his back start-
ed hurting, and the pain lingered for four years despite
his pursuit of a variety of alternative treatments. At a
friends suggestion, Takatsuno attended a seminar with
William S. Dub Leigh, the founder of Zentherapy. He
worked on me and afterward told me it might burn and
to rest for two weeks. It burned right away, but the pain
started to go away. Intrigued by the results of Zentherapy, Takatsuno embarked on a career change by attending Leighs semi-
nar at Esalen in Big Sur, California. Leigh was one of Ida
Rolfs first students, and the bodywork he developed
included his structural background, further training with
Moshe Feldenkrais, and energy work with Zen master
Tanouye Tenshin Rotaishi. Continuing coursework with Leigh, Takatsuno found he had a knack for healing and established himself as a
full-time practitioner. But the work was demanding and
took a toll on his body. In this form of structural work,
I used my hands to move tissue deeply. It was physically
hard. My knuckles were swelling, I couldnt close my
hands, and clients also found it difficult. The purpose of
that work was not really to address chronic pain. It
would come back. After taking more seminars, Michael Takatsuno, the creator of PUSH, keeps a watchful eye on his students. He empha-
sizes that they should feel better after giving a PUSH session. 56 M A S S A G E & B O D Y WO R K O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 6 Takatsuno was dissatisfied with the intensity of the
application and lack of long-term results. Most of what
was out there was a kind of technique. I saw them as
palliative, or if they worked they were hard to do. It
seemed like there wasnt anything easier to do or that
did it better. To deepen his understanding of the body, Takatsuno applied to a physical therapy program at San Francisco
State University with the intent of delving further into
anatomy and physiology. The anatomy lab had one of
the best cadaver programs in country, he says, and his
lab instructor forced us to learn and enjoy. Hired as
the instructors assistant, Takatsuno spent eighteen
months working in the lab every day. I literally got to
take the body apart from the most superficial to the
deepest layers. I got to see how it all interrelatedthe
connection. Using what he learned, he continued to
experiment with his bodywork clients and after much
practice, he says, I realized there were ways to get the
tissue to release. I started to get really good results. His
chronic pain clientele increased by word of mouth, but
his own pain issues began showing up again from the
strenuous work. It was Takatsunos tai chi practice that inspired a solution to the wear and tear on his body. Through the
years he had continued working with Lo who taught
an older form of tai chi. While Takatsuno had pro-
gressed in mastering the physically challenging tai chi
postures, learning to relax his body in the practice,
there was the mismatch of awkwardness and pain he
experienced in performing bodywork. With his light
frame and small hands and wrists, he knew his hands-
on career would be limited. One day in a practice ses-
sion Lo told him, You should be doing your work like
this, referring to the relaxed tai chi posture. I real-
ized he was right and I started to think, how could I
get my body relaxed and rooted and still get results?
It was an epiphany, he says, and as his tai chi practice
improved, he started to understand more fully how to
adapt that relaxed stance to his bodywork. Takatsuno raised the table height so he wouldnt have to lean over. He began experimenting with his elbow and
hand tools, and he focused on working from the core
muscles to the extremities. If it was too hard, I threw it
out, he says of his experimental techniques. Within
eight years the system was refined and the techniques
established. At this point we apply pressure but no mus-
cular force. The (therapists) body is in a completely
relaxed state. And the client notices, he says. If we
make ourselves feel relaxed, it doesnt feel invasive. The
trick is getting the therapist to completely relax. Chronic Passive Tension T akatsuno says the repetitive movements we engage
in daily, whether for athletics or accomplishing the simplest tasks, lead to Chronic Passive Tension. In his
bodywork, he was seeing clients with chronic systemic tension and pain in which attempts at stretching in the
active state did nothing to resolve the problem. In what
he calls the chronic tension cycle, Takatsuno says,
Muscles that begin to fatiguefrom overuse or repeti-
tive useneed rest. If you could stop and rest once the
muscles feel tired, they would rejuvenate and be fresh
(picture stopping to rest during a marathon). If fatiguing
muscles continue to work, they build up lactic acid and
begin to tighten. This tension begins to limit blood flow
to the tissue resulting in decreased oxygen intake.
Restricting oxygen cuts off the nutrients tissue needs to
maintain tonicity and have stamina. As the cycle con-
tinues, muscles become more rigid, further restricting
blood flow. Once youre in that negative loop of fatigue,
tension, constricted blood flow, and rigidity, it becomes a
chronic state, so the tissue is contracting all the time,
even while at rest. With the tissue chronically tight in the passive state, muscles are constantly contracting between attachment
points, either at joints or soft-tissue attachments. In a PUSH practitioners work with their body weight and posi-
tioning, instead of applying muscular force on the client. p u s h t h e r a p y