Shiatsu Bodywork Academy

Home
Shiatsu Bodywork Academy

Shiatsu Bodywork Academy offers courses in Shiatsu - the Art of Japanese Bodywork. Intro to Diploma.

22/08/2025

Step into the season of renewal with our Spring Shiatsu Retreat – 5th–7th September. 🌿
Spring is the time of growth, movement and fresh beginnings, and in this retreat we’ll explore the Wood element and its connection to the Liver and Gallbladder meridians through shiatsu, self-care practices, and seasonal living.
Join us in our beautiful new retreat space for a weekend of bodywork, learning, and connection. Whether you’re curious about Shiatsu for personal wellbeing or considering a deeper study, this retreat is the perfect way to begin.
🌱 Limited spaces available – secure your place now and welcome Spring with clarity, energy and purpose.
Over the weekend you can expect guided bodywork sessions, seasonal practices, nourishing meals, and time to rest and reconnect with yourself. You’ll leave feeling refreshed, grounded, and inspired with tools to carry the energy of Spring into your daily life.

21/08/2025

Are you ready to turn your passion for healing into a meaningful path?
Our Certificate in Shiatsu Training begins this September — a transformative year-long journey into bodywork, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the power of compassionate touch.
This course is ideal for:
✨ Curious bodyworkers ready to deepen their practice
✨ Career-changers seeking a fulfilling path in the healing arts
✨ Anyone called to support others through mindful, hands-on care
Whether you dream of becoming a practitioner or simply want to bring more awareness and connection into your life, this training is your foundation.
🌀 Starts September
📩 DM us to find out if it’s the right fit for you.

20/08/2025

Our Shiatsu Weekend Retreats offer more than just a getaway — they invite you to slow down, tune in, and reconnect with yourself. With a gentle blend of hands-on practice and seasonal theory, you’ll leave with tools that stay with you long after the weekend ends.
Ready to bring more intention to your life? Join us for the next retreat.

19/08/2025

Shiatsu is deeply rooted in traditional East Asian medicine, drawing from centuries of indigenous Japanese and Chinese healing wisdom. Its foundations lie in practices that honour the body’s energy (Qi) and the interconnectedness of nature, health, and spirit. Passed down through generations, this knowledge was refined into modern Shiatsu therapy in the 20th century, blending ancient principles with contemporary clinical approaches. Today, practitioners strive to honour its cultural lineage while adapting to diverse needs. Respecting Shiatsu’s roots means acknowledging its origins—as a living tradition shaped by history, culture, and community.

18/08/2025

🫳Diagnosing Through Touch is Understanding the Body's Messages:
Shiatsu practitioners learn to listen with their hands.
Explore how touch reveals the body’s story – without words.

🫳More Than Just Pressure.
Touch in Shiatsu isn’t random – it’s diagnostic.
Practitioners feel for tension, temperature, texture, and responsiveness in the body to assess where energy is stuck or depleted.

🫳Hara & Back Diagnosis.
The Hara (abdomen) and the back are key areas in traditional diagnosis.
By palpating these zones, we detect imbalances in the meridians and organs – each area giving a unique reflection of inner health.

🫳A Dialogue Without Words.
Every tissue tells a story.
Is it rigid or soft? Hot or cool? Vibrant or flat?
These subtle sensations guide treatment – tuning us into what the body is asking for in the moment.

🫳Deepening Sensitivity.
Touch-based diagnosis takes time and presence.
The more we listen through our hands, the more refined our awareness becomes – building trust with the body's natural intelligence.

🫳Shiatsu touch is communication.
It bridges practitioner and receiver, surface and depth, problem and potential.
Want to develop diagnostic touch? Learn with us at Shiatsu Bodywork Academy.

17/08/2025

Every movement, every touch, begins with intention.
In Shiatsu and bodywork, our hands become an extension of our awareness — listening, sensing, and responding with presence.

15/08/2025

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, winter is the season of deep rest, restoration, and inner reflection — governed by the Water element and the Kidney system. To support this energy and nourish your vitality, here are three powerful acupoints for winter rejuvenation:

🌿 GB25 (Jingmen / Capital Gate)
Located at the free end of the 12th rib, GB25 is the Front Mu point of the Kidney. It helps regulate and tonify Kidney Qi and is especially supportive when fatigue or low back discomfort arise during winter’s inward pull.

🌿 BL23 (Shenshu / Kidney Shu)
This Back Shu point of the Kidneys, located on the lower back, is a classic for strengthening Kidney Essence. It’s a deeply nourishing point — perfect for boosting stamina, warmth, and inner strength during the colder months.

🌿 KI3 (Taixi / Great Stream)
Found between the medial malleolus and Achilles tendon, KI3 is the Yuan-Source point of the Kidney channel. It supports the foundation of Yin and Yang in the body and is excellent for overall rejuvenation, especially when energy feels depleted.

Use gentle pressure or heat (like moxa) on these points to restore your reserves and align with winter’s quiet power.

14/08/2025

Our Spring Shiatsu Retreat is a weekend of deep rest, renewal, and reconnection — guided by the energy of the Wood element, the season of growth and new direction. Through movement, touch, and the wisdom of Traditional Chinese Medicine, you’ll explore how to support your own flow and expansion.
Open to all – no experience needed.
Join us 5th-7th of September in Okaihau, Northland.
Details & bookings: https://shiatsubodyworkacademy.nz/product/spring-shiatsu-massage-retreat/

13/08/2025

As we transition to full-immersion residential retreats—gathering for two days, staying on site, sharing kai, daily rhythms, karma yoga, and experiencing community in a deeper way—it’s been inspiring to hear reflections from participants like Hinekai, who has joined us for both day and residential retreats.
Voices like hers affirm what we feel so strongly: that this is the right path forward.
We can’t wait to welcome you to our new home base in Northland and share this next chapter of the journey with you.

12/08/2025

Shiatsu and Thai massage may look similar, but they come from different traditions and offer unique benefits. Shiatsu originates from Japan and is based on Chinese medicine principles, using finger and palm pressure along meridians to balance energy (Qi). Thai massage, rooted in Thai and Indian traditions, combines acupressure with dynamic assisted stretches and rhythmic movements. While both are done fully clothed on a mat, Shiatsu is generally more still and meditative, focusing on pressure points, while Thai massage is more active, stronger, and movement-based. Both support wellness—just in different ways.

11/08/2025

Ginger is a fantastic herb (spice) to reduce inflammtion topically or internally, it is a warming and pungent herb.
That means it warms and moves stagnancy.
Ginger root has been used in traditional medicine for centuries to treat a variety of conditions ranging from nausea to digestive issues.
Ginger has anti-inflammatory action and can give pain relief.

Hot ginger compress is used as a macrobiotic remedy. When placed on the skin, it stimulates blood flow relieving tension and pain and breaking up mucus and internal blockages.
The purpose of a hot Ginger Compress is to dissolve stagnation, mucus and tension, melt blockages and stimulate circulation and energy flow.
A Ginger compress can be used for swelling and inflammatory conditions such as intestinal inflammation, bronchitis, and bladder inflammation.�
It effectively reduces both chronic and acute pain, including arthritis, back pains, stiff neck, kidney stone attacks, and toothaches.�

In Winter a Ginger Compress applied to the lower back or Kidney area can be very useful to regain vitality and bring rejuvenation to the body.

10/08/2025

“You carry Mother Earth within you. She is not outside of you... In that insight of inter-being, it is possible to have real communication with the Earth, which is the highest form of prayer.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
This quote invites us to move beyond the idea of Earth as something separate. We are not visitors here — we are part of the great web of life. The soil, the rivers, the trees — they are within us, as we are within them. When we live with this awareness, every breath becomes a prayer, every step an offering. True connection with the Earth begins with remembering that we are one.

Address

Old Valley Road

0475

Website

http://shiatsubodyworkacademy.nz/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Shiatsu Bodywork Academy posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to Shiatsu Bodywork Academy:

Shortcuts

Want your practice to be the top-listed Clinic?

Country:

City: