University lecturer Dennis Kerckhoffs (28) doesn’t want to just be busy with his head. The Iokai Shiatsu course seems to be the perfect balance for him. “When I had my first treatment, so much happened in my body. I really thought: Wow, this is fantastic, I want to be able to do this too.”
Dennis is in his second year of the Iokai Shiatsu program and works three days a week as an associate professor at Utrecht University, teaching interdisciplinary subjects. That means he teaches his students to investigate complex problems from different disciplines. This way of thinking fits well with his own holistic view of life.
After his degree in Humanities, there was a strong need to learn a ‘skill’ where he could use his hands. A visit to a shiatsu therapist put him on the path of Iokai Shiatsu. Dennis says: “During that treatment, I felt so much happen in my body. I really thought: Wow, this is fantastic, I want to be able to do this too.”
Dennis Iokai Shiatsu Professional Training was looking for a ‘course.’ He couldn’t have imagined that he would end up taking the four-year course in advance. “I went to the introductory weekend and decided afterwards to go for it. What appealed to me was that after the first year you get a certificate that, while you’re not a therapist, you can still give massages. That option fit well with my own plans.”
After a year, Dennis quit the training and quit his job as a teacher to travel. Traveling is in his blood. He has already been away for an indefinite period before. “Leaving everything behind and coming back teaches you to look at yourself and your life in a completely different way. Planning and having to do things disappear when you are traveling for a long time. You go out of your mind. Something I really need.”
After his ‘break’, he picked up the thread again. The university wanted him back and he was more than welcome in the second year of the course. “We started with a seminar right away. It was quite exciting to join an existing group with its own dynamics. But the group immediately accepted me. Very nice.” With his move to Rotterdam, a change is now coming: Dennis is moving to Delft. Apart from finding a new practice group, not much will change for him. He already knows everyone from the seminars from his second year.
Dennis is doing well in his training. “Theoretically, I’m very strong. I can easily remember things. But others may be better at feeling things. I’m still very much exploring: what should I be feeling, what does it mean? But everyone feels differently. Some feel whole meridians light up or vibrate. I don’t experience that at all. But that doesn’t mean that nothing is happening.” He finds the teachers“ approach in the training very pleasant. ”The way they teach is gentle and personal. There is complete understanding and space for personal circumstances that affect the learning process.”
Dennis’s future plans are not yet fully defined in all respects. However, he would very much like to travel again in the next few years. Dennis explains: “Shiatsu is for me a means of being able to travel. It’s work that I can take with me anywhere I go. You don’t need to speak the language, because body language is a universal language.” It’s important to him to listen carefully to what he wants and needs. This is linked to avoiding too much stress. “I want to spend less time on my head and develop my sensitive side more.” In the long run, he sees himself giving yoga classes and shiatsu treatments, preferably from his own studio. Because yoga is also something he loves and has been doing for many years.
Dennis has one final piece of advice for new students: “It’s important to stay close to your feelings in the choices you make. This applies to the choice of a degree, but also throughout the course of the degree.” For him, this course is primarily a wonderful adventure. His encounter with the Japanese master Sasaki Sensei made a big impression on him. “I love the Eastern philosophy and this way of teaching. It requires a little more of yourself, because the answer is always somewhere in between. I was really lost for a few days after the seminar ended. Sensei is a particularly inspiring person.”