Advanced Zen Shiatsu Skills Training In Chicago
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- So, I trained with shamans of four cultural traditions to develop those abilities. I
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 in the next 18 months before retiring in mid-2026. I have planned a series of modules to be taught in 2- to 4-day workshops:
- 1st – a 5-part “How To” Level 1 series (see below)
- 2nd – a “Diagnosis and Treatment” Level 2 series
- 3rd – a Level 3 series designed around the needs of the participants of Levels 1 & 2
The first module runs January through July (no June workshop)
Two of the How To workshops place strong focus on self-development. This is the aspect of the work that is so inherent in the Japanese mindset that it was barely ever mentioned (never by Masunaga, and rarely by Kishi), but was always clearly evident. And, clearly expected.
You will benefit from these two workshops even if you are not practicing shiatsu at this time because people like us . . . those drawn toward the call of the truth and beauty of the soul . . . love self-development, even if it’s scary or painful in the beginning. We crave getting beyond self-limiting thoughts and emotions and clearing out our hearts, minds and energy fields. This is an aspect of the training that often has to get left out of entry level programs simply because of time constraints. This advanced program offers the opportunity to recover it.
The other three are more technique oriented. They will evolve and enhance your proficiency. You will learn how to preserve your own energy while improving your technique and raising your client’s energy.
These five weekends, taken together, result in a complete Advanced Zen Shiatsu Skills – Level 1. Taken individually, each “How To” workshop provides a whole and complete training within itself. You may take any one of them independently for the insight, wisdom, skills and benefits they offer.
However, to continue on to Advanced Zen Shiatsu Skills – Level 2 – Diagnosis And Treatment, you must attend at least three of the five workshops in Level 1.
Advanced Zen Shiatsu Skills – Level 1 How To . . .
This module lays a new and substantial foundation on which graduates of the shiatsu program and practicing shiatsu therapists can ground their knowledge and build their skills from their own unique abilities. The outcome is more competence and confidence, as well as comprehensive clinical effectiveness.
Even though there are two hybrid courses in this series, online participants will need a partner for How To Develop Your Intuition. The only workshop in the series not requiring a partner is How To Power Up Your Chakras.
How To Power Up Your Chakras - Hybrid (Jan 31 – Feb 3)
Fri-Mon 12-5pm
Master Gregory’s way of empowering the strength and function of your chakras offers some of the most profound self-development and self-healing effects I have experienced. I don’t have any words to convey how extraordinary it is.
For you personally, 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.
For you as a practitioner, it clears and fortifies your energy field, vitalizes your treatments, and helps you prevent fatigue and burn-out.
This 4-day empowerment includes:
- New chakra attributes from a perspective different to India’s
- The Crystal Mountain
- 12 aspects of yin and yang
- A practice I call Chakra QiGong (not Master Gregory’s term)
How To Unlock The Mysterious Hara - In Person (March 1-2)
Sat / Sun 12-5pm
Ampuku, the Japanese word for Hara treatment, takes your work to new levels of effectiveness. When done at the end of a session, all the positive changes you’ve catalyzed from the rest of your treatment go deeper and last longer.
Ampuku elicits a fundamental cellular response that increases, strengthens and supports the immune system. It hastens the rate of healing, helps the digestive process of assimilation, promotes good sleep, helps sustain changes made during treatment, and generally lifts the spirits.
Techniques include:
- “Steering Wheel”
- Wave
- “Navajo”
- Ascending transverse, descending, and Sigmoid colon
- Small Intestine
- Ileocecal valve
- Spleen pump and liver pump
How To Develop Your Intuition - Hybrid (April 12-13)
Sat-Sun 12-5pm
Our connection with clients is what creates the space for healing. Our ability to hear with our hands, ears, heart and intuition directly affects the outcome of our treatments.
By learning to listen to our guidance and incorporate it into our senses, we deepen our ability to know, feel and respond to the communication from our client’s body.
New information will include:
- The Material Body
- The Light Body
- The Personal Body
- The Ether Body
- How to Infuse, Stream and Grid the various bodies
- How to look with different eyes
How To Perform the 5 Best Joint Techniques - In Person (May 2-4)
Fri-Sun 12-5pm
!!!LIMITED ENROLLMENT!!! – Student For Life Discount does not apply to this module
We tend to think about joints in terms of the structures that compose them: alignment of bones; tension of surrounding muscles; strength or weakness of tendons and ligaments. These are appropriate considerations. But when we measure the relative health of a joint, we think about its ease of movement. Therefore, the space between the structures that allows for this freedom is an equally fundamental component of joints . . . perhaps the most important one.
After training with expert Asian bonesetters, European osteopaths, and American chiropractors on three continents, I synthesized and refined the techniques – over a period of 20 years – into procedures that would be suitable for shiatsu practitioners. These treatment protocols are unique in their emphasis on joint spaces, rather than on actual anatomical structures.
In this workshop you will learn skills to:
- Stabilize the axial skeleton and enter the joint space
- Feel the joint space as clearly as the joint structures
- Orient palpation skills toward expanding the space
- Use the additional space to mobilize the joint and increase range of motion
- Introduce a pattern of free movement
- Reduce pain and restore function to injured joints
- Optimize the healing response
How To Use Meridians For Muscle Pain - In Person (July 11-13)
Fri-Sun 12-5pm
Is there ever a time when it is appropriate to address both muscles and meridians in a shiatsu treatment? In the case of musculo-skeletal complaints, that may be exactly what is needed. Our touch goes deeper than the skin level, so we automatically contact both muscles and meridians.
In this 3-day workshop, learn how to discern between them, how to work them separately, and how to work them simultaneously.
Practitioners will develop extra kinesthetic awareness and sensitivity to:
- Body mechanics that increase receptivity to kinesthetic information
- Feeling the difference between muscles and meridians by touch
- Altering our touch to address one, more than the other
- Knowing how and when to do which
- Various techniques for addressing each
Advanced Zen Shiatsu Skills – Level 2 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
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.
Level 2: 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
- 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.
- 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!
- Two of the workshops from the previous Level 1 series — or —
- Three of any other of my Going Deeper workshops — or —
- The Art, Heart and Soul of Zen Shiatsu: Developing the Inner Healer
Prerequisites for Advanced Zen Shiatsu Skills – Level 2:
You can approach these Advanced Skills in two ways:
- Attend Your Diagnostic Skillset as a stand-alone workshop. [See
Prerequisites above.] - 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 workshop 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
- How your hara diagnosis informs your treatment strategy,
- 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
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.
- 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
- Asking questions for getting answers that will indicate your next
- 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 LEVEL 2 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 CLASSES - $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 workshops 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 COURSES - $1275
(save $175)
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.
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