Graduate Testimonials
Video Testimonials
Written Testimonials
Shiatsu originally found me through a series of serendipitous circumstances, as it seems to for most folk.
I had encountered energy medicine previously, but had never been fully satisfied with the things I learned. I often felt a distinct lack of specificity and a concrete orientation to the body in other disciplines.
When I first encountered shiatsu, I was struck by how embodied it was.
I remember in my first intro workshop, Steve did a demo on someone where he put his elbows into specific points on the receiver’s back, and opened his hands “up to heaven” to channel qi downward. It literally looked like the receiver blissfully melted beneath him. I was immediately enchanted.
Over the course of the program, my initial fascinations only grew deeper. I learned how truly profound this medicine is. Deeply technical, deeply specific, deeply meaningful, very grounded, and capable of making positive change happen in ways I couldn’t have previously imagined. I definitely knew shiatsu was deep medicine from the start, but more than a few times during the program I was surprised by just how effective it could be. I feel like shiatsu allows for me to do bodywork closer in alignment to my values—helping people actually heal from the diverse woes of life, rather than just offering comfort. It also is constantly challenging me, asking me to deepen my own knowledge and technical skill, in a way that keeps the work fresh and interesting.
Right now, I have a small but growing practice in Boulder, CO. I’m working with a diverse array of private clients, helping folks with everything from spiritual malaise and complex trauma to internal organ issues, acute injury, and chronic pain. The work is incredibly fulfilling, and I couldn’t be happier with my choice to pursue such a unique and special style of bodywork as shiatsu.
I had encountered energy medicine previously, but had never been fully satisfied with the things I learned. I often felt a distinct lack of specificity and a concrete orientation to the body in other disciplines.
When I first encountered shiatsu, I was struck by how embodied it was.
I remember in my first intro workshop, Steve did a demo on someone where he put his elbows into specific points on the receiver’s back, and opened his hands “up to heaven” to channel qi downward. It literally looked like the receiver blissfully melted beneath him. I was immediately enchanted.
Over the course of the program, my initial fascinations only grew deeper. I learned how truly profound this medicine is. Deeply technical, deeply specific, deeply meaningful, very grounded, and capable of making positive change happen in ways I couldn’t have previously imagined. I definitely knew shiatsu was deep medicine from the start, but more than a few times during the program I was surprised by just how effective it could be. I feel like shiatsu allows for me to do bodywork closer in alignment to my values—helping people actually heal from the diverse woes of life, rather than just offering comfort. It also is constantly challenging me, asking me to deepen my own knowledge and technical skill, in a way that keeps the work fresh and interesting.
Right now, I have a small but growing practice in Boulder, CO. I’m working with a diverse array of private clients, helping folks with everything from spiritual malaise and complex trauma to internal organ issues, acute injury, and chronic pain. The work is incredibly fulfilling, and I couldn’t be happier with my choice to pursue such a unique and special style of bodywork as shiatsu.
Lark Kleekamp
The path of becoming a massage therapist was always a potential vocation for me. Bodywork is a skill set that seemed well within my wheelhouse. When I experienced shiatsu, my path became more clear.
My life experience and interests consist of a charming blend of environmental studies, organic farming, community and personal care work with people of all ages, Eastern religion and philosophy, and integrated health and wellness. My appetite for all of these things seemed to be beautifully blended and reflected in studying shiatsu and East Asian medical philosophy.
Shiatsu blends the material world - muscles, movement, touch - with the immaterial - emotions, thoughts, Qi. Shiatsu, which is informed by Chinese and Japanese cosmology, recognizes the human as a microcosm of the greater world. Cells nested in organs, organs nested in their systems, individuals nested in families, and families nested in community.
Through practicing shiatsu, I can honor the many levels of being of which we are all a part. I can learn every day more about the intricacies and curiosities of being alive. Plus, I like to help people feel better and happier in their bodies!
I am happy to be a shiatsu therapist. It is such an honor to work with each client, supporting them in their goals of wellbeing. It is a privilege to touch others, to be with them on their journey, and to learn and grow alongside everyone.
Every session provides me with more knowledge and experience. Every client is an opportunity to study a unique facet of humanity and apply myself in supporting that client in the particular way that they need
My life experience and interests consist of a charming blend of environmental studies, organic farming, community and personal care work with people of all ages, Eastern religion and philosophy, and integrated health and wellness. My appetite for all of these things seemed to be beautifully blended and reflected in studying shiatsu and East Asian medical philosophy.
Shiatsu blends the material world - muscles, movement, touch - with the immaterial - emotions, thoughts, Qi. Shiatsu, which is informed by Chinese and Japanese cosmology, recognizes the human as a microcosm of the greater world. Cells nested in organs, organs nested in their systems, individuals nested in families, and families nested in community.
Through practicing shiatsu, I can honor the many levels of being of which we are all a part. I can learn every day more about the intricacies and curiosities of being alive. Plus, I like to help people feel better and happier in their bodies!
I am happy to be a shiatsu therapist. It is such an honor to work with each client, supporting them in their goals of wellbeing. It is a privilege to touch others, to be with them on their journey, and to learn and grow alongside everyone.
Every session provides me with more knowledge and experience. Every client is an opportunity to study a unique facet of humanity and apply myself in supporting that client in the particular way that they need
Kathleen Drozd
"I originally found Zen Shiatsu Chicago in my search for an integrative and holistic bodywork modality to complement my work in female health. I specialize in postpartum care and wanted to develop my healing touch. My experience at Zen Shiatsu school was all that and more!
I not only developed a rigorous approach to the health of the body, through an Eastern Medicine lens. I also honed the development of my own meditative and spiritual practices, and cultivated a sense of curiosity and competence that I bring with me to every client I work with.
My shiatsu training has become a pillar of my work in female health, helping me support women in healing all manner of complications, from postpartum bleeding to chronic hormonal issues. And, most surprisingly, I have broadened my practice to work with all manner of cases, including men, the elderly, and children.
My shiatsu training has given me the confidence and skillset to feel grounded in my work in the healing arts. I have integrated my bodywork skillset into my work as an herbalist and female health practitioner seamlessly, offering clients a more robust healing experience and continuity of care.
I feel deep in my heart that my experience learning shiatsu at Zen Shiatsu Chicago was foundational to my ability to live in my life's purpose, and to serve my community fully. Zen Shiatsu is a style of medicine that prioritizes relationship, tranquility, and is a cornerstone to well-resourced community care.
It is the right fit for anyone hoping to discover more about the healing potential in their own hands!
I not only developed a rigorous approach to the health of the body, through an Eastern Medicine lens. I also honed the development of my own meditative and spiritual practices, and cultivated a sense of curiosity and competence that I bring with me to every client I work with.
My shiatsu training has become a pillar of my work in female health, helping me support women in healing all manner of complications, from postpartum bleeding to chronic hormonal issues. And, most surprisingly, I have broadened my practice to work with all manner of cases, including men, the elderly, and children.
My shiatsu training has given me the confidence and skillset to feel grounded in my work in the healing arts. I have integrated my bodywork skillset into my work as an herbalist and female health practitioner seamlessly, offering clients a more robust healing experience and continuity of care.
I feel deep in my heart that my experience learning shiatsu at Zen Shiatsu Chicago was foundational to my ability to live in my life's purpose, and to serve my community fully. Zen Shiatsu is a style of medicine that prioritizes relationship, tranquility, and is a cornerstone to well-resourced community care.
It is the right fit for anyone hoping to discover more about the healing potential in their own hands!
Maura Sternberg
"My studies at Zen Shiatsu Chicago greatly expanded my understanding of the human body and the interrelationship between its physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects. It provided me a stronger foundation and varying paradigms from which to work as a successful holistic therapist. In addition, my studies at Zen Shiatsu Chicago provided me the confidence, vocabulary and knowledge to collaborate with other integrative practitioners, including Medical Doctors and Doctors of Chiropractic Medicine. Although I work in a geographical area where I am the only certified Asian Bodyworker, Zen Shiatsu Chicago prepared me to successfully demonstrate the value and validity of Asian Bodywork Therapy to my clients and to many of those who solely practice within the Western Medical Model."
Elliott Challandes
"This school has launched me into a lifelong exploration of the question of what it means to Be - in a human body, no less! In my time here, I received a framework for understanding the body as well as fundamental tools for working with it, but above all else, the school gave me a new language for learning. I came in with the vague notion that I’d learn how to manipulate people to make them feel better. What I ended up learning is how to *feel* more proficiently (which, as it turns out, is pretty critical in the process of helping people feel better!) I learned how to listen to people. I learned how to gain an understanding about them and the nature of life itself, directly through my own two hands. It’s often said that the best schools teach you how to think. Zen Shiatsu Chicago taught me how to feel, and with that capacity the learning never ends."
Ali Aird
What are your reflections looking back on your time at Zen Shiatsu Chicago?
"When I first chose to study Zen Shiatsu, I was told it would be a journey of self discovery as much as it would be learning bodywork. Reflecting back, this statement resonates so deeply. My time at Zen Shiatsu was a turning point in my understanding of this world, who I am in it, and how I connect with others. Cultivating this offering of touch therapy to share with those in need is a blessing. It’s truly an honor to practice Zen Shiatsu."
What would you say to someone considering enrolling in the program?
"I would say absolutely pursue it! I believe that Shiatsu finds you at the perfect time, when one is ready to align with their truth and step into their power. If you’re interested in deeply exploring nature, the body, and oneself through an ancient form of bodywork, Zen Shiatsu is the place.
"When I first chose to study Zen Shiatsu, I was told it would be a journey of self discovery as much as it would be learning bodywork. Reflecting back, this statement resonates so deeply. My time at Zen Shiatsu was a turning point in my understanding of this world, who I am in it, and how I connect with others. Cultivating this offering of touch therapy to share with those in need is a blessing. It’s truly an honor to practice Zen Shiatsu."
What would you say to someone considering enrolling in the program?
"I would say absolutely pursue it! I believe that Shiatsu finds you at the perfect time, when one is ready to align with their truth and step into their power. If you’re interested in deeply exploring nature, the body, and oneself through an ancient form of bodywork, Zen Shiatsu is the place.
Nicole Superits
"Though I started Zen Shiatsu study because of my fascination with East Asian medicine and culture and to deepen my Qigong and Tai Chi practice, once involved in the program, unexpected, transformative things began to happen. I began to change. Because of the emphasis on meditation, I found myself becoming more fully present and expansive, better able to listen to others and to their bodies— critical qualities for a Zen Shiatsu therapist.
I became viscerally aware of the awesome power of touch and its capacity to nourish and heal. I also found myself feeling more whole and integrated, not only with the many disparate parts of myself, but also with the world around me— the spiritual and the physical more fully connected. I became filled with an abiding sense that we are all interdependent and interconnected, that the microcosm and macrocosm are simply reflections of each other.
I found a remarkably supportive, nurturing, focused, passionate, and inspired community of colleagues and teachers, committed to this meaningful practice of Zen Shiatsu and healing. The Zen Shiatsu journey is replete with creativity and an infinite depth of possibility and capacity, an empowerment for the practitioner but especially for the receiver. This is both humbling and inspiring."
I became viscerally aware of the awesome power of touch and its capacity to nourish and heal. I also found myself feeling more whole and integrated, not only with the many disparate parts of myself, but also with the world around me— the spiritual and the physical more fully connected. I became filled with an abiding sense that we are all interdependent and interconnected, that the microcosm and macrocosm are simply reflections of each other.
I found a remarkably supportive, nurturing, focused, passionate, and inspired community of colleagues and teachers, committed to this meaningful practice of Zen Shiatsu and healing. The Zen Shiatsu journey is replete with creativity and an infinite depth of possibility and capacity, an empowerment for the practitioner but especially for the receiver. This is both humbling and inspiring."
Jan Yourist
"After having completed the program, I can truly see the healing power that meaningful touch can have. It is a great privilege to be able to be with people in this context as we explore what is truly meant by living a full and meaningful life. This work has been extremely healing to me in helping me realize the interconnectedness we all have and need in life to truly be ourselves and exist in a balanced healthy state."
Justin Zelinksi
"The program has quite literally changed my life in many ways, honestly a struggle to speak of in a short fashion. The instructors at Zen Shiatsu are fully equipped to support you along the learning journey, and come from a vast pool of experience to draw from. I always felt like my questions were valued and welcomed. The camaraderie and built in self-care practices in each class made everything less stressful. I have cultivated close friendships and a deep knowledge of self through this program, and you cannot really put a price on that. The information and writing materials I have accumulated will be used in my professional reference library. I walk away equipped in bettering my own physical, mental, and spiritual health- which will in turn allow me to hold space for others in my life and as a practitioner.
Rachel Bowman