Balance and Tranquility

I am a fully qualified shiatsu practitioner having completed a three year diploma in shiatsu with Shiatsu College, London.  I've been interested in the ideas of traditional Chinese medicine and later shiatsu for the past twenty-five years.

'The free movement of energy and achievement of balance are the goals of Shiatsu treatment. A Shiatsu giver will use these to diagnose, interpret and to plan your treatment and they do this by a multisensory engagement with the client'(Shiatsu Society)

My training at Shiatsu College, London (UK) examined the concepts of traditional Chinese Medicine (such as are used in acupuncture), and also followed the ideas of what has come to be known as 'Zen Shiatsu' (originally called Iokai). This was developed by a key Japanese Shiatsu figure: Shizuto Masunaga, and it emphasises the use of  a 'two hand technique' of the 'mother and child' - or calm and active hands, to promote the flow of Ki ('energy') in the body of the person receiving shiatsu. 

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 I've benefited from teaching by Jane Lyons (FwSS), Annie Cryar (FwSS), Clare Gilliver (FwSS), Sebastian Deans (FwSS), Cat Westwood (MrSS), and Debbie Collins (FwSS) Netherlands. I've also been lucky to experience teaching from Carola Beresford-Cooke (FwSS) (internet class), Nicola Pooley (FwSS) (day workshop, London) and Clifford Andrews (internet class), who founded Shiatsu College following their learning with Pauline Suzaki, who was herself taught by Shizuto Masunaga in Japan.
 

I've also  completed an online course in Ampuku with Philippe Vandenabeele (Hara/Abdominal Shiatsu) from the Shinzui Institutute in Japan, and I have qualified in a Japanese foot massage, taught by Anne Parry at the S.E.E.D Institute in Surrey. 

I am fully insured via the Shiatsu Society UK and I am a qualified member of the society: MrSS, as of September 2024. I qualified in Holistic Acupressure Massage, after an initial year's training in June 2020.

I've enjoyed widening my practice of shiatsu with volunteering at the 'Women and Health Centre' in London and from September 2025 at University College Hospital, London

A quote from Carola Beresford Cooke (author of 'Shiatsu Theory and Practice and co-founder of Shiatsu College,UK) about her practice of shiatsu (from an interview with practitioner Ulli Schmidt on her website): 

Ulli: "What do you think after more than thirty years experience with Shiatsu, is the biggest gain for people?"

Carola: "That is hard to say. To be honest, Shiatsu is not for everyone and it is not a cure-all. But I personally love it, and I speak for myself. Nothing else other than good Shiatsu gives me a pleasurable and relaxing experience that also makes me feel different, more alive, fresher, free of aches and pains, more balanced……. It also gives me a profound reassurance about my inner life, so that I feel deeply at home in my existence, no longer alienated and adrift. And I know that many other people feel the same way. But not everyone."

 Learning about Shiatsu and Chinese Medicine has been a wonderful and inspiring experience which has enriched my appreciation and understanding of life and our connection to one another and the natural world.  -   

The ideas of Chinese medicine which are used in the Japanese practice of Shiatsu, for me, bring Western psychology and physiological knowledge into  context with a more whole understanding of the mind, body and emotions which is both simple and of great depth. 

I've found these ideas very helpful in understanding my own responses and motivations to life  and this philosophy also links into my work as an artist.

I've set up Quiet Stream Shiatsu for the love of shiatsu and sharing this experience with others to aid health and well being