I left Venezuela in 2001 with the dream of studying and becoming a professional actress, I first went to Madrid and came to London years later to study English. My first contact with Shiatsu was at the London Zen Shiatsu School back in 2004, even after all these years I haven’t forgotten the sensations I felt during my first treatment or even these first lessons, while being introduced to the Yin Yang, the meridians and the 5 elements. The sensation of deep relaxation after the treatment, how the contact was so gentle and how my emotions went from sadness to joy within 10 minutes of Shiatsu. As the emotional weight was lifted, the door was opened and the motivation to change my path from wanting to be an actress to a Shiatsu Practitioner happened, it’s just that, I felt it so deeply I couldn’t do anything else.
The path became deeper and deeper with the time, I went back to Barcelona-Spain where I found that the Movement Shiatsu school began by teaching Zen Shiatsu and then Movement Shiatsu so I joined this school and made the best decision of my life, there I studied with David Ventura, also there I met Bill Palmer in one of his workshops in the School. Every class was better than the previous one, we immersed in the 5 elements, the students and the teacher, every class was a living entity, I was changing and learning, opening and growing while discovering my passion for supporting another person in their own journey. Last year was more focused on the developmental pathways and the 3 families, we also practiced Body Mind Centering, I also remember clearly this first journey within, mind blowing! Learning Movement Shiatsu is for me learning to read the movement of the body, we learn to communicate with it.
To me, this has been a path of discovery, of myself, my body, “the body universe” as I sometimes call it. I have studied and practiced Tantra, Taoism with different Teachers, Vippassana Meditation, Reiki, Sports Massage, Womb Healing, Shamanism, NLP, Counselling, Asian Nutrition, among others, all these practices contributing to open up and increase my awareness.
I can say that Movement Shiatsu gave me a model for my life, it’s an open and flexible model, or simply a path that is flexible yet secure, its is the missing link between physicality and something deeper. For example, I didn’t know I was such a sensitive person, becoming aware of my body as a living thing, always changing, always in contact with the environment, my sensations have always been quite intense, to the point where I blocked them to not be overwhelmed, being so sensitive, I can feel my emotions quite intensely, this hasn’t changed, I just now can be kind to myself , accept each moment as it is instead of wanting to change it, this way living a more peaceful life within. After 20 years and now living in London I studied in the School of Experiential Education with Bill and Teresa since 2015, I even attended a residential while 5 months pregnant of my second child. A lot of things have happened in my life since, I can not be more grateful to have had Movement Shiatsu and Inner Qiqong during difficult times, it has kept me safe, grounded and focused, every time.
We did Qiqong every week during Covid, during the separation of my husband, moving home, and now I am not only me but a community of “me” and that’s fine. One of the biggest lessons was learning about my boundaries, I don’t think I had any, I have learnt I can have them and that’s how I feel safe now. This path has given me organisation without restricting me, in reality it has given me the desired freedom.
The filters I use now for facing decisions or challenges in life are:
What sensations do I feel with this?
How can I activate and feel motivated to do it, solve it, finish it?
What have I learnt from this? How can I integrate this learning into my life?
Actually in my life I feel so grateful for Shiatsu that gave me the foundation for a better and healthier lifestyle, and Movement Shiatsu have integrated into my life and gave me structure to create the life I wanted, there is no one day that I don’t enjoy giving treatments and supporting my clients, I run my own business, a social enterprise that works promoting and expanding Holistic Therapies in my community and my own approach to life has improved and keeps improving every day, I can see how my clients health improve as my practice has become highly effective.
This is my experience so far with Movement Shiatsu, I am certain my path evolving and that the best is yet to come, I am now working towards developing my teaching.