Shiatsu

Shiatsu came into his life in 2004 and was expanded and deepened through many training courses. In 2016, René took over the European Shiatsu Institute in Heidelberg, where he himself had completed his training. A new field and a new potential opened up. Today, this school is called kiCollege, stands on completely new foundations and pursues a new path of learning and growth with a very open concept. René's great curiosity about the movements of life and his passionate interest in nature have remained with him since childhood. After studying forestry, this led him to work as a forest mapper, which enabled him to spend a lot of time in nature and experience it up close.

Chris encountered Oriental medicine while extremely sick in East Asia in 1986. Sessions with practitioners from Tibetan, Ayurvedic, Homeopathic and finally Chinese medicine showed him the immediate and long-term benefits of traditional, holistic practices. He began his formal Shiatsu studies in the UK, studying at two different schools simultaneously, and continued during a five year stay in Japan with Takeo Suzuki, a close student of Masunaga’s final years. He is currently President of the ESF, the European Shiatsu Federation.

In her day job, Barbara Murakami worked for 40 years as a special school teacher for children with behavioural problems. She has been a Shiatsu practitioner since 1997 and a Shiatsu teacher since 2007. In 2008, she completed training in psychosynthesis, which is a form of psychotherapy based on depth psychology. The experience gained from this and from numerous other further training courses in Focusing, Clean Language, Seiki and Qigong are incorporated into her shiatsu, working with Qi in its various forms at body and mind levels. Shiatsu with difficult children and adults with severe multiple disabilities in particular has opened her eyes to what Shiatsu is essentially about: meeting and being with what is.

Bill Palmer is the Director of the School for Experiential Education and has been studying Shiatsu since 1973. He was one of the pioneers of Shiatsu in Europe and created and edited the Journal of Shiatsu and Oriental Body Therapy. He is the originator of Movement Shiatsu, a highly interactive form of Shiatsu, focused on helping people to be aware of themselves through the body which he teaches worldwide with his wife Teresa Hadland.

Nick Pole integrates language, mindfulness and bodywork into his work. Nick- studied history and political science and then worked as a film-maker for 10 years. Following an illness, he discovered acupuncture and shortly afterwards began studying Shiatsu at the Shiatsu College in London. He has been teaching Shiatsu since 1992. He also trained in NLP and in Seiki with Akinobu Kishi. Whilst trying to integrate the different approaches he came across Clean Language, a wonderfully simple and effective way of helping clients to listen to themselves in a deep, body-centred and authentic way. He has written a book about it and is increasingly incorporating Clean Language into his teaching. He has also been teaching Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy since 2012.

GP, founder and for 30 years director of the School for Shiatsu Hamburg, Germany. For many years director of the International School of Shiatsu (ISS) Kiental, and the European Shiatsu Conferences Kiental, Switzerland. He is co-founder of the Shiatsu Society Germany (GSD) and author, co-author or editor of seven books on Shiatsu as well as numerous articles.

After studying sports science at the Cologne Sports University, he became interested in Zen meditation and the connections between body and mind, movement and consciousness. During a two-year research scholarship at the Tokyo Sports University, he learnt Shiatsu from Shizuto Masunaga, Taiji from Yang Ming Shi and practised Zen with Yamada Kōun Rōshi, and later with his successor, Kōun-An Rōshi. In the early 1990s, he studied Qigong with Prof Jiao Guorui. Meditation, Qigong and Shiatsu are the foundations of his energetic work, in which he has been combining and practising Eastern wisdom and Western knowledge for over 40 years.

Heidy began practising shiatsu in 2009. A student of Joyce Vlaarkamp, she runs a practice as well as teaching at the Zen Shiatsu School in Amsterdam. She was actively involved in the organisation of the International Shiatsu Congress in Amsterdam 2020. “She says about the focus of her work: "The quality of contact during shiatsu is something that inspires me and at the same time sparks my curiosity. This in itself can be a lifelong study.

Rami practices and teaches Shiatsu an Qigong in Israel and Germany He is the former director of “Maga” School of Shiatsu in Jerusalem. In his practice and teaching, he emphasises qualities of touch and movement: Paying “Gentle Attention” to inner Qi and the way it meets outside Qi, through touch and movement. He is inspired by Zen-Buddhism, Psychoanalytical thinking, Art in general and literature and poetry in particular.