Interview with Miriam Evers – author of Ma’s Japanese wisdom
“The Shiatsu training became a life-school for me”
Sometimes you only realize years later what an experience really meant.
Our former student Miriam signed up in 2006 quite impulsively for the training to become a Shiatsu therapist. The plan was simple: try it for a year and then see what happens.
That year, there were ultimately four of them.
After graduating, she worked as a shiatsu therapist for a while and further developed her path towards yin yoga. In the summer of 2025, her book was published. The Japanese wisdom of Ma, in which they use the Japanese term Today; the meaningful space, examines.
While writing her book, she realized how much of that search had already begun during her shiatsu training.
In this article, Miriam shares her experience.
Shortly after I had received a shiatsu treatment for the first time myself, I signed up for the training. Something happened in that touch that I couldn’t quite explain, but I knew immediately: I wanted to know more about it.
It was initially also primarily intended for myself, not with the intention of making it my work.
That one year, there were two. And before I knew it, I completed the entire four-year degree program.
What struck me from the very beginning was the attitude within the training: that you are never really ‘finished’. That you always remain a student. I remember how the teachers looked at me and wrote down what I was doing when the Sensei was giving a lesson, just as we students were. That sense of equality in curiosity and learning attitude has deeply shaped me.
Some terms, such as Ki (life energy), I found it difficult at first. I wanted to understand it, to be able to describe it, to grasp it. Gradually, I discovered that some things cannot be explained, but can only be experienced by working with them. By feeling, practicing, failing, and starting over.
The structure of the training is carefully and thoughtfully designed. You learn to give treatment relatively quickly, which gives you confidence. In the years that follow, you become increasingly skilled at going deeper: you learn to perceive better, to see and feel connections where something is out of balance, and what is needed at that moment.
It became increasingly clear to me that there was no one size fits all-solutions exist. Each treatment requires a renewed open mind and the observation of the whole person.
What I learned there, and what would later become a recurring theme in my life, is the value of emptiness. The emptiness as a place from which you provide treatment. Without a preconceived plan, without judgment. Being present, listening with your hands, and leaving space for whatever arises.
After graduating, I worked for a time as a Shiatsu therapist. Later, my path evolved towards Yin Yoga, which once again sparked a deep recognition of the connection with traditional Chinese medicine and the meridian system.
In the summer of 2025, my book appeared The Japanese wisdom of Ma. In it, I explore the Japanese concept. Today: the meaningful space in between.
Ma is not an empty void, but a living pause. The silence between two notes that makes music possible. The space between two people in which real contact can be established.
It wasn’t until I was writing my book that I realized how strong the foundation for my search for Ma had already been laid during my shiatsu training. It was there, in that exercise of emptiness and attention, that it actually began.
Looking back, I can say that the shiatsu training for me was not only a vocational training course, but also a life school.
A foundation that still resonates.