Advanced Zen Shiatsu Skills Training In Chicago

Zen Shiatsu Massage School In Chicago
Advanced Zen Shiatsu Skills: Professional and Self-Development for Dedicated Practitioners
Grandmother WinterJade

Advanced Zen Shiatsu Skills: Professional and Self-Development for Dedicated Practitioners

Taught by Grandmother WinterJade Forest

Since 1975, shiatsu has been my full-time occupation – consuming both my mind and my professional career. I have had some amazing teachers along the way, and, in my teaching, I’ve always tried to be conscientious about representing their work authentically and giving credit where credit is due.

But I have recently been asked to say what I feel my own contributions are to the evolution of this living medicine, as well as mentioning other teachers’ names. I responded that I have never felt the urge to claim anything as my own, even though I acknowledge [to myself, at least] that I have made some further original and valuable additions for western people. Be that as it may, there is a quote from Jon Batiste, referring to his album Beethoven Blues, in which he put his own spin on the classical masterpieces. It goes like this: “But, you know what? It’s been 256 years, and it’s due for an update. You mold it, you add to it, and it won’t revoke anything that exists; it’s only adding to the continuum of human creativity.” So, hopefully, I’ve done my part to add to the continuum of human creativity.

For instance….

In the course of studying with Masunaga and Kishi, and memorizing Masunaga’s meridian functions and extended meridian chart, it became clear to me that:

  1. Joints were very important, simply because of the concentration of acupoints included on the chart in those areas.
    • So, over the period of five years, I found several chiropractors and osteopaths whom I could impress with my knowledge and skills, and with whom I could understudy. As I became skillful, I “shiatsu-fied” the adjustments they taught me to make the techniques conform to my scope of practice.
  2. Although Masunaga, himself, did very concentrated work on the Hara, students in America, Canada and Europe use the Hara almost exclusively to get a Kyo/Jitsu meridian diagnosis.
    • Since Masunaga did not speak much English and was not locally available for tutoring, I again identified two osteopaths with whom I could study organ manipulation. And, again, I shiatsu- fied” the techniques to make them relevant to my shiatsu treatments.
  3. Both Masunaga and Kishi were extremely psychic, and often spoke of making space.
    • So, I trained with shamans of four cultural traditions to develop those abilities. I
      studied long enough and deeply enough with each of them to be endorsed to carry on their teachings. They were: Kishi (Shinto priest); Grandmother River (Cherokee Medicine Woman); El Herington (Kahuna); and Master Gregory (Russian Shaman). From these mentors I learned to:
      • work with energies, totems and guides
      • consult the Akashic Records
      • do quantum soul retrievals
      • activate DNA and chakras
      • command energy
      • facilitate healing on all levels
      • strengthen my own etheric field
      • …and more

Introduction to the Diagnosis and Treatment Skillset Courses

These trainings gave me a deeper understanding of vibrational energy inherent in Asian medicine and how it manifests in the physical body. That understanding gave me the insight to create the “shiatsu-fied” techniques I developed for joints, Hara, neck, etc. They may be my creations, but they are completely consistent with Masunaga’s and Kishi’s concepts of “from the center out” and “making space.” Another aspect of their teaching that I believe I have developed to a higher degree of understanding for our western culture is the idea of being natural in the performance of shiatsu. After all, Masunaga’s first rule is “Be Natural.”

As I enter my 50th year of practicing and teaching this beautiful healing art, I’m feeling that the time has come to take the challenge laid down for me. It’s time to present my accumulated knowledge from the point of view of my acquired expertise gained over thousands of hours of practicing and teaching Zen Shiatsu.

So, I would like to put out as much of it as I possibly can before retiring in mid-2026. Below are the remaining classes:

  • Fall 2025 – a “Diagnosis and Treatment” series
  • Winter/Spring 2026 – a series of Shamanic Healing trainings

Winter Jade speaks about how to reach the client’s heart through interpreting the kyo/jitsu diagnosis.

Advanced Zen Shiatsu Skills – Diagnosis And Treatment Skillset

This module zeros in on skillfully combining knowledge, intuition and technique for the purpose of interpreting both theory and practical application . . . for yourself and for your clients:
  • for yourself – confidence in identifying the best course of treatment for your client, both in the individual treatment you are now performing, and in the course of treatments you may want to recommend
  • for your clients – incorporating attitudes and languaging that encourages, uplifts, dignifies and elevates them
The goal of Level 2 is to enhance all your skills – knowledge, intuition (or “psychic” skills), hands- on treatment skills, and communication skills. The hope is that you will feel empowered to offer peace, beauty and healing to those you touch.

Quotes from Tales of 100 Treatments – Dr. Shizuto Masunaga

“There are many people who think ‘We cannot trust things which have not been proven scientifically,’ but these are the people belonging to a group at the lowest level. Regardless of whether or not modern medicine acknowledges the fact, people who can believe that “human medicine” teaches what is best for health through one’s own experience, belong to a high-level group of people, even if there are only few of them.“Those who actually practice this method, stay healthy, and live a long life are even fewer. This is due not only to an excellent constitution of the person concerned. But, from the perspective of fate/destiny, one can say that it is someone who receives spiritual protection. I believe it is also necessary to reflect in depth on this matter.”

and

“Among the causes of illness, apart from the physical and mental factors, there are those which involve fate.”

When I had the great good fortune to study with Dr. Shizuto Masunaga and Shinto priest Akinobu Kishi in the1970s and -80s, it was clear to me that they were operating on a level far beyond the words they were able to speak. This realization put me on a path of inquiry that opened the door to indigenous spirituality and invited me in. I enthusiastically accepted the invitation and have not once needed to look back.The shamanic practices I learned gave me precisely what I needed to gain access to those levels “beyond” that I observed in Masunaga and Kishi. I want to honor the inspiration and enthusiasm they instilled in me. I still find the aura of healing to be a powerful force that magnetizes me to it.And so, this is my prayer . . .I do acknowledge the forces of Light, Wisdom, Knowledge and Healing. I ask for guidance, direction, courage and protection from all forms of self- centeredness as I endeavor to pass along what I’ve learned about the miraculous nature of healing from my teachers and personal experiences.

Winter Jade speaks about the need for solid physical support from the Mother Hand.

body Image Chart

Advanced Zen Shiatsu Skills
DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT SKILLSET

The DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT SKILLSET series will demand a lot of you . . . but no more than you already demand of yourself because you want to excel. In recognition of that yearning, which I so appreciate in you, my desire is to contribute attention, guidance and encouragement to your efforts. And I wholeheartedly believe that our combined efforts will bring you a lot of personal and professional reward and satisfaction. A LOT!

This series is for the
PERSONAL, SPIRITUAL and PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
of the practitioner who wants to:

  • Tune-in to your inner wisdom
  • Explore and expand your intuitive knowing
  • Amplify your psychic sense(s)
  • Cleanse and strengthen your energetic field
  • Install protections for your energetic field
  • Help your clients to assist in their own healing
  • Gain new wisdom, depth and clarity
  • Learn to alter your vibrational speed and strength as needed
  • Bring about personal and professional growth at the deepest levels

As the second of three modules, the DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT SKILLS workshops comprise a true master class for professional shiatsu
practitioners. Originally designed as a 90-hr course, the series has been
distilled down into three 15-hour weekend workshops for a total of 45 hours
of advanced professional training. The reason for this is twofold:

  1. Although I love and respect this amazing and beautiful healing art so
    much, I plan to stop teaching shiatsu in mid-2026. Before then, I
    would love to pass along as much of the knowledge, experience and
    wisdom I’ve received from decades of study and practice to as many
    dedicated practitioners as possible. I’d like to get it all out to everyone
    who has a passion and hunger for this incredible work.
  2. I’m hoping that the financial savings of a condensed curriculum
    makes it more affordable and accessible. I have such strong hopes
    that many practitioners will be able to take advantage of this
    opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of hand-healing through
    Masunaga’s magical method of shiatsu, as well as increase their
    knowledge and hone their skills. Basically, I want to pay forward all 3
    I’ve received and be of service to any of you who want to be a
    master at your craft!

The series is designed to enhance your knowledge, psychic skills, communication skills and
treatment skills. Together, these three weekend workshops comprise one complete body of learning.

In the spirit of making sure this teaching reaches as many therapists as possible, the previous prerequisites are being waived.  These classes may be taken by any graduate of Zen Shiatsu Chicago.

You can approach these Advanced Skills in two ways:

  1. Attend Your Diagnostic Skillset as a stand-alone workshop. [See
    Prerequisites above.]
  2. Attend additional workshops in sequence — Your Treatment
    Skillset: Parts 1 & 2     — recognizing that each preceding workshop
    serves as the prerequisite for the next.

Below are some of my goals for providing a training in the DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT SKILLSETS:

  • Elevating your perception
  • Training your psychic soft gaze
  • Adjusting the frequency and amplitude of your vibration to integrate a new
    paradigm of energies for your client
  • Offering techniques in alignment with the new energy
  • Helping you re-create your manual skills to align with the new energy
  • Rethinking how to interpret and work with a meridian diagnosis
  • Expanding your mindset in regards to treatment goals
  • Discussing treatment strategies for various types of clients

YOUR DIAGNOSTIC SKILLSET
Aug 8-10, Fri-Sun 12-5pm - $525

This training doubles down on the foundational mindset necessary for a powerfully healing treatment (that won’t exhaust you!).

  • Hara diagnosis refinement
    • 1-handed
    • 2-handed
    • Off the body
  • Differences in what you learn from each of the three types of
    hara palpation

     

    • What you can do
    • What you want to do and what you want your client to do
    • How to empower them to do it
  • Questions for a deeper understanding of your client
    • Tuning-in to who they are at their core
    • Tuning-in to what they didn’t say (because they weren’t aware
      of it, or didn’t know how to say it, or didn’t want to disclose it)
    • Tuning-in to how they need to feel
    • Adapting the quality of your touch (hands & heart) to provide
      that feeling
  • Getting out of your own way
    • Challenging your mental models
    • Building your own mental models
  • Interpretation
    • How your hara diagnosis informs your treatment strategy,
      beyond knowing which meridians to prioritize
  • Deeper meridian knowledge
    • What you can infer beyond definitions and explanations
    • Deducing what your client hasn’t said

YOUR TREATMENT SKILLSET — Part 1:
Sep 19-21, Fri-Sun, 12-5pm

Before greeting your client, create a healing atmosphere by setting your own internal environment In a mindset of positivity and preparedness.

  • The first touch
    • Instilling confidence in your client while gathering more information
    • Focused concentration
  • The first 1/3 of your treatment
    • What to always do
    • How to do it
  • The second 1/3 of your treatment
    • Switching from level to level [physical to emotional symptoms; physical/emotional/mental/spiritual bodies; etc.] without losing focus on the main goal
    • Areas of complaint
    • Bring about the needed changes
Prerequisite: YOUR DIAGNOSTIC SKILLSET

YOUR TREATMENT SKILLSET — Part 2:
Oct 24-26, Fri-Sun 12-5pm
$1050 total for Treatment Skillset 1-2

Your senses have recorded much more input than you are conscious of. Your brain has translated it all as electrical impulses. You are now vibrating to that frequency. While you may not need to name (or even be aware of) the sensory input you have received, you do want to have some sense of it and acknowledge to yourself that you feel it. That’s necessary because you need to interact with it wisely and purposefully in the treatment.

Prerequisite: Your Diagnostic Skillset

  • Revisit and refine Part 1
  • The last 1/3 of your treatment
    • Harmonize, align, and set-in the new healthy energetic matrix
    • Get your client to take over and continue their healing process
  • The closing conversation
    • Asking questions for getting answers that will indicate your next
      steps for the treatment plan at the following visit
    • Making suggestions to keep your client involved in their own
      healing process
  • Clearing your mind, heart and energy field
    • Letting go between clients
    • Taking only your own energy home with you

BOTH PARTS OF YOUR TREATMENT SKILLSET MUST BE ATTENDED.  ATTENDING JUST PART 1 IS NOT POSSIBLE.

PACKAGE PRICING FOR ALL FALL COURSES - $1440
(save $135)
Or see the Level 2/3/4 combo payment at end

Advanced Zen Shiatsu Skills – Level 3 HEALING THE HEALER SKILLSET
Dates in 1st half 2026, TBA

This series of trainings empowers you to embrace the wisdom of HEALER, HEAL THYSELF. Rather than working on others, you will receive shamanic healings to develop your “personal power.” Personal power is the Native American term used to signify all the gifts you’ve been given by Creator for the purpose of contributing to the good of all. This means conducting your life “in a good way,” – in peace and harmony with nature, with Mother Earth and Father Sky, with body and spirit, and with all beings (called “all my relations”). It means using your gifts to make a better world in the now, and especially for the upcoming generations who will follow.

These shamanic healings serve to upgrade, strengthen, clear and harmonize all your bodies – mental, emotional, spiritual and physical. They are great for your health and well-being on a personal level. Additionally, they prepare you for performing the next series of workshops, the Shamanic Healing Protocols.

The healings given in the Healing the Healer series are:

  • SHAMANIC JOURNEYING – 3 Days, $525
    This is a 3-day introduction to the art of entering into non-ordinary states of awareness in order to engage with specific events and/or accomplish specific missions. One such traditional Journey we will take is called Traveling On The River of Time. Other Journeys will be chosen in the moment by my team of Guides according to their wisdom and sense of what is needed by the group at that time.
  • WHOLE PRESENCE QUANTUM SOUL RETRIEVAL – 2 Days $500
    This 2-day WPQSR session brings back and integrates parts of your soul energy that have been lost, given away, or taken. You will be guided in separate Journeys across the Continuum of Time, the Continuum of Space, and the Continuum of Dimensions to restore 100% of your soul fragments, whether from this lifetime or any of your incarnations. The great advantage of this process is that you retrieve and reunify all aspects of your energetic Self—your “Presence.”
    QUANTUM SOUL RETRIEVAL IS A FIRST-COME-FIRST-SERVED 2-DAY HEALING SESSION THAT IS LIMITED TO 12 PARTICIPANTS. IF THERE IS AN OVERFLOW, A SECOND SESSION WILL BE OFFERED (DATES TO BE DETERMINED).
  • DNA ACTIVATION – 3 Days $525
    DNA holds the Divine Blueprint of perfection within us. DNA Activation returns purity and health to every cell in your body. It restores cellular communication and induces youth, vitality, rejuvenation and the cell’s ability to generate its own light energy. In this 3-day healing, we will add etheric strands of DNA to the physical double helix, and activate strands of Rejuvenation and Archetypal Chromosomes.
  • CHAKRA DEVELOPMENT – 3 Days $525
    Master Gregory’s way of empowering the strength and function of chakras offers some of the most profound self-development and self-healing effects I have experienced. If you have any desire for more self-actualization and would like more control over your emotional state, this practice will definitely move you toward your goals. This 3-day empowerment includes: a perspective different to India’s; the Crystal Mountain; 12 aspects of yin and yang; and Chakra QiGong.
    CHAKRA DEVELOPMENT WAS OFFERED IN JAN 2025. THIS CLASS IS OFFERED FOR PEOPLE WHO WERE NOT ABLE TO TAKE IT THE FIRST TIME AND FOR REPEATERS, WHO ARE ELIGIBLE TO TAKE IT FOR $260.00 (A DISCOUNT OF MORE THAN 50%.)

Prerequisites for Level 3: HEALING THE HEALER SKILLSET

There are no prerequisites for these healing weekends. They are available to all students of all levels of the program, and to their family and friends. Each one stands alone and is complete within itself. However . . .

To be eligible to take Level 4: SHAMANIC HEALING PROTOCOLS, you must have received ALL the healings listed in Level 3: HEALING THE HEALER – yes, that’s right, ALL of them. 🙂

COMBINED PRICE FOR ALL LEVEL 3 TRAININGS - $2075
See Combo Pricing for all Levels 2/3/4 at end

Advanced Zen Shiatsu Skills – Level 4 SHAMANIC HEALING PROTOCOLS - 2nd Half 2026, Dates TBA

Shamanism is practiced with techniques, philosophies, healings and meditations to help you connect to the Great Mystery of us all, the Great
Spirit of Creation Source that moves through all things.

This series of trainings empowers each individual participant to learn and practice ancient healing protocols from a Cherokee lineage. You will be
able to apply them to your own self-healing, as well as to family, friends, co-workers and colleagues. Once you’ve practiced and memorized the format for any given healing sequence, you can add it to your professional practice for your clients.

  • THE JOURNEY TO MEET YOUR PERSONAL POWER ANIMAL – 3 Days $600
    During this 3-day intensive, we will cover:
    • The Sacred Circle
    • The Four Directions
    • The Shaman’s Tree
    • Journey to your Sacred Space
    • Journey to become your power animal
    • Journey to meet your Personal Totem

Prerequisite: completions of Level 3

(the following healing protocols involve working with your Totem)

  • LAYING-ON OF HANDS + TRANSFORMING UNCONSCIOUS EMOTIONS – 2 Days $425
    The Laying-On of Hands grounds the body, connects its physical parts, clears and charges the energy field, and coordinates the body with the chakras. Transforming Unconscious Emotions releases negative attitudes about oneself and creates positive ones.

    Prerequisite: The Journey To Meet Your Personal Power Animal

  • REMOVING SELF-DEFEATING BELIEFS + CORD CUTTING – 2 Days $425
    You will work intimately with your Power Animal both for Removing Self- Defeating Beliefs, which is a kind of psychic surgery that removes the core negative beliefs that all other negative thoughts branch out from (it’s not the kind where you pull out blood and guts).
    Cord Cutting addresses current situations in which we have either controlled, manipulated and/or dominated others, or allowed ourselves to
    be controlled, manipulated and/or dominated. These dynamics develop cords of guilt, pity, disapproval, intimidation, anger, fear and dumping on another. They show up as hooks in the back. You’ll learn to remove them.

    Prerequisite: The Journey To Meet Your Personal Power Animal

PACKAGE PRICING FOR ALL LEVEL 4 TRAININGS - $1275
(save $175)

Combined Payment Plans for Multiple Levels

Combined cost of Levels 2, 3 and 4 including package pricing: $4790

If you would like a payment plan for ALL available classes, the $4790 total can be paid in two ways:

  • 17 payments of $281.76 ($0 interest) August 2025 – December 2026
  • 30 payments of $176.70 (8% APR) July 2025 – December 2027
Contact the Zen Shiatsu office at [email protected] to set up a payment plan, or to pay the package price for Level 2 classes.  
Individual Level 2 classes are available for registration below, and individual Level 3 classes will be posted as they are scheduled.

Combined cost of ONLY Shamanic Training (parts 3 & 4) including package pricing: $3350

If you would like a payment plan for ONLY the Shamanic Training classes in 2026, the $3350 total can be paid in two ways:

  • 12 payments of $279.17 ($0 interest) January 2026 – December 2026
  • 24 payments of $151.51 (8% APR) January 2026 – December 2027
Contact the Zen Shiatsu office at [email protected] to set up a payment plan, or to pay the package price for Level 2 classes.  

Individual Level 2 classes are available for registration below, and individual Level 3 classes will be posted as they are scheduled.

Advanced Zen Shiatsu Skills: How To Register

How To Register:

  • Use the registration links below to pay online
  • If you don’t see an available registration link, contact us here to be added to our notification list.  Our classes generally repeat every six months.  July-Dec classes are listed by May 15, Jan-Jun classes are listed by Nov 15.  By being on our notification list you’ll be the first to hear about the new dates via email.
  • To pay by phone, call 847-864-1130
  • To pay online, check the box next to the associated start date below and  select the “NEXT STEPS ” button.
  • By registering online, you agree to our registration policies

Register for Advanced Zen Shiatsu Skills:

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