Shiatsu back massage. Learn how to give a Shiatsu back massage, prone position in Namikoshi style. Basics Shiatsu Techniques: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd7UfIGOQoU Shiatsu (Kanji: 指圧 Hiragana: しあつ) in Japanese means "finger pressure"; it is a type of alternative medicine consisting of finger and palm pressure, stretches, and other massage techniques. Shiatsu practitioners believe in a purported type of vital energy called qi that flows through the body, and that their manual manipulations can help to unblock it and so help the body heal itself.