Iokai Shiatsu
Iokai Shiatsu – Japanese massage therapy
Iokai Shiatsu is an Eastern medical practice that you practice using your hands. At the heart of it is the concept of ‘Ki’, or life energy. Eastern medicine sees our health, our thoughts, and how we feel as a form of energy (Ki). With Shiatsu massage, you work directly on this life energy (Ki) and ensure that it can flow properly again.
We all have blockages in our bodies. This is caused by external influences, experiences from the past, or the way we have lived our lives. This results in a less efficient flow of Ki. This can manifest in various complaints such as:
- little energy
• headache
• excessive thinking
• not feeling comfortable in your own skin
If Ki does not circulate properly over a long period of time, it can cause serious health problems. With this Shiatsu training, you will learn to give a massage that ensures Ki flows again and improves the symptoms.
With Shiatsu, you help improve your clients’ Ki circulation. But you also learn to improve your own Ki circulation. You gain more energy, become healthier and more stable.
European Iokai Shiatsu Association
The European Iokai Shiatsu Association (EISA), Based in Geneva, the national associations of Iokai Shiatsu schools in seven European countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
All affiliated schools offer the same education, with a shared curriculum, shared values, and a common vision of the subject. Kazunori Sasaki Sensei, a student of Masunaga and chairman of the EISA, still teaches classes at the affiliated schools.
Iokai Shiatsu – also known as Iokai Meridian Shiatsu® – is thus the only shiatsu training program that is offered in a uniform and coordinated manner in multiple locations across Europe.
The history of Iokai Shiatsu
Iokai Shiatsu was developed in the 1970s by Shizuto Masunaga, a Japanese psychologist and Shiatsu therapist. His mission was to bring shiatsu back to the original principles of traditional Eastern medicine, in which the body and mind form a whole and are constantly interacting with each other and their environment.
Masunaga combined classical meridian theory with a deep understanding of Western psychology, and brought this renewed approach to Europe. His book Zen Shiatsu It was enthusiastically received in the late 1970s and marked the breakthrough of Iokai Shiatsu in the West.
After his death in 1981, his work was continued by his apprentice and close assistant, Kazunori Sasaki. Under his leadership, Iokai Shiatsu grew into an international network of schools. Currently, the training is offered in more than twenty cities across various European countries – including in the Netherlands, in Amsterdam, Amersfoort, and Delft.
‘The most important thing I learned from Masunaga sensei was an understanding of the traditional approach, which sees each energy function as a potential. For this reason, meridians are not just material lines. They are the living source of bodily and mental energy, the network of animation throughout the body, linking the internal to the external. It is through them that patients and practitioners can understand their lives more intimately.’
Kazunori Sasaki
Get acquainted with Shiatsu in a Trial Module
Are you curious about the Shiatsu training or would you like to try it out first to see what it’s like to study Shiatsu? Now you have the chance to complete a practical basic-level katamodule as a trial.
Do you enjoy working with your hands and are looking to expand your knowledge in your field while developing yourself both professionally and personally? Then please take part in this trial module.
