A Monthly Series of Advanced Classes for Shiatsu Therapists

The Going Deeper Class Series consists of one 6 or 12-hour class approximately once per month, designed to specifically meet the needs of advanced students, open only to graduates or advanced students of Zen Shiatsu Chicago or other Asian Bodywork Therapy schools  It is recommended that current students complete at least Zen Shiatsu IV before taking Going Deeper classes, but some classes have earlier prerequisites, check the class descriptions!

In these classes, you can Go Deeper with your teachers.  These classes give instructors the opportunity to share their very specific refinements of shiatsu practice, in ways that are beyond the scope of our main licensure-track training.  We also explore advanced communication and qi cultivation skills!

Zen Shiatsu Chicago graduates may inquire at 847-864-1130 about our Student For Life subscription program, covering these and almost all other CE classes for $95/month.

Prerequisite: None!

Join us as we dive in to the wild world of animal movement! Learn to flex your imagination, move with fluid integration, and cultivate a rockin’ bod along the way.

This class will introduce the basic animal forms of daoyin, an ancient Daoist movement practice. You’ll hop and crawl through the five phases of water, wood, fire, earth, and metal. These expressive exercises are designed to tonify and release different parts of the body. When you cultivate whole-body unity, your bodywork becomes balanced, spontaneous, and effortless.

In this class, expect to:

• Meet new friends like the rabbit, the bear, the phoenix, and the sleepy immortal
  
• Jump into the natural flow of yin and yang and the five elements (wuxing)
  
• Have a direct experience of jing, qi, and shen
  
• Workshop standing meditation posture and practice
  
• Learn how imagination can make your touch go deeper (and bigger)
  
• Connect your bodywork back to the larger picture of being alive 

Friday September 5, 10am-5pm – EXPLORING AUTHENTICITY – Justin Zelinski

If you as the practitioner become more authentic then this influences other people. They will take off their armour, which they didn’t notice before. This happens through seeing clearly, without judgement.  -Akinobu Kishi (Seiki: Life in Resonance)

In this class we will learn to shift our focus for treatment. In treatment we often are presented with different goals by our clients. In this class we will explore different ways in which we can focus our attention and notice how each of these approaches present different feelings in our receiver and us. 

We will explore four distinct ways to focus our awareness

• Feeling the wholeness or touching the heart
  
• Feeling the meridians as the movement presented in the Huang Di Nei Jing Ling Shu
  
• Allowing spontaneous movement to manifest
  
• Observing and feeling the breath throughout the body
  

With each shift in awareness I present ideas of why I have used each one. It can be nice to learn to shift what you focus on in treatment to better fit you and your clients needs in the moment. I have found each approach offers something different. I think that this allows you to have more tools to use with each client, but also gives you the tools to also meet your clients in the spaces that you are most comfortable working with that day too. 

This class is presented to allow practitioners to break free of some of the models of treatment we get stuck in and offers new ways for you to think about the work that might allow you to develop a more authentic version of your individual work. It is my hope that these ideas might ignite some creativity in your personal approaches.

Tuesday December 2, 10am-5pm – 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE QI – Nathan Torrence

Prerequisite: Currently enrolled in or having completed Zen Shiatsu II  

Dive deeper into the essence of Zen Shiatsu that makes it elegant, powerful and beautiful. In this course we will review and refine Zen Shiatsu’s most basic techniques, which can be honed year after year to become more potent and versatile. We will delve into the “Five Principles” and how they make your movement effortless, spontaneous, and unique to you.

Masunaga’s fourth principle “two-handed connectedness” was originally “concentration,” meaning every ounce of your being is concentrated into each moment of giving shiatsu. Your intuition and sensitivity pique and you begin to respond spontaneously to what is really happening in your client moment-to-moment. In my experience students are naturally pulled into “concentration” through the refinement done in this course. 

To bring forward your spontaneity and authenticity we will practice Katsugen. Katsugen is a cleansing practice that comes from Shinto, the indigenous spirituality of Japan. Sometimes referred to as “soul polishing,” Katsugen shakes off anything that is not-you, leaving behind a clearer version of yourself that is more sensitive and more responsive — in this case, more responsive to your client and your spirit’s desire to help them. 

Because the Five Principles can and should be perpetually refined and explored, it is encouraged to repeat this course as many times as you wish.