Day 1 – European Shiatsu Congress

Zen Stretching®

pcab_adm_tb — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 05:16:21 +0000

A comprehensive and enriching method. Inspired by the visualisation exercises developed by Masunaga, Zen Stretching® combines stretching, visualisation and subtle body awareness to harmonise the energy pathways of the meridians.
This workshop is designed specifically for Shiatsu practitioners: it offers practical tools to refine perception, work on oneself and deepen one’s understanding of the meridians through an approach based on self-awareness and self-assessment. Participants learn to sense the meridians in action, strengthening their mastery of the energy pathways and enhancing their professional practice.

BARBARA AUBRY

Barbara Aubry Anemone lives and works in Paris, where she founded *L’Art du Toucher*, a school dedicated to Shiatsu and wellness arts.
A practitioner and teacher for over twenty years, she guides individuals and professionals through an approach that weaves together movement, conscious touch, and listening to the body. Her work integrates Shiatsu, somatic practices, dance, and the development of body awareness, creating spaces for learning and transformation centered on well-being, presence, and connection.

Innerdance

pcab_adm_tb — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 04:50:09 +0000

Innerdance is an experience of deep and expansive listening that allows us to enter a state of altered consciousness, where doing gives way to being. In this state, the parasympathetic nervous system is activated and experiences find new ways of being integrated, allowing insights, emotions and inner resources to emerge.

CARMEN DERUNGS

For over 30 years, she has been a practitioner and teacher of Shiatsu, Breathwork, a Mindfulness trainer specialising in stress and chronic illness, various forms of meditation, and an Innerdance facilitator. She trained in Europe as well as in India, Myanmar, Thailand and the Philippines, developing her own approach to adapting and integrating Eastern wisdom ‘for and with’ the Western mindset.

Gongs and Tibetan Bells: Meditations and Overtones to Connect with Our Essence

pcab_adm_tb — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 04:30:51 +0000

The use of sound complements and enriches our Shiatsu practice. Whilst manual contact stimulates the Yin dimension – the physical and tangible aspect of the person – the frequencies of Tibetan singing bowls and gongs allow us to reach their Yang and immaterial essence, working on different yet complementary vibrational levels.

CLAUDIO MICALIZZI

Creator and teacher of the MaKeShi bodywork method on a treatment table.
Qualified shiatsu practitioner, having graduated from the European Institute of Shiatsu in 1992.
He has been teaching shiatsu since 1995.
He specialises in bodywork and expressive work, as well as training through the practice of meditation (drawing on both Chinese and Western traditions).

Shiatsu clinic

pcab_adm_tb — Sun, 07 Dec 2025 22:50:17 +0000

A Shiatsu clinic involves a demonstration of a shiatsu treatment being performed on someone who is not attending the congress. Each clinic involves two practitioners, who deliver their treatments one after the other.

Before starting the treatment, each practitioner will give a brief description of their approach. During the session, they may comment on their work, provided it does not interfere with the treatment itself.

At the end of the session, the practitioner may explain their approach further if they feel it is necessary. Attendees will then have the opportunity to ask questions, share comments and express any doubts.

Shiatsu clinic

pcab_adm_tb — Sun, 07 Dec 2025 22:48:30 +0000

Shiatsu clinic

pcab_adm_tb — Sun, 07 Dec 2025 22:46:34 +0000

Self-regulation in the role of therapist

pcab_adm_tb — Sun, 07 Dec 2025 22:27:26 +0000

One’s own presence is an essential component of therapeutic work in Shiatsu – both for us as practitioners and for the entire setting with the clients. Resonance serves as an entry point to perception and action. In order to act professionally, it is necessary to regularly regulate ourselves.

In this workshop, Steven will share insights from his experiences with the topic of self-regulation. The aim is to develop strategies together to recognize and resolve limiting patterns that may arise in contact with clients or through external stress factors.

The workshop provides space for professional exchange on the conscious handling of inner stability in challenging situations.

How can we succeed in remaining focused and capable of action, even under stress?

Information about the speaker

STEVEN GRÜTTER

Steven Grütter is a teacher at the International Shiatsu School Kiental and torchbearer of the European Shiatsu Congress. He teaches Shiatsu as well as healthy and healing natural cuisine.
He discovered his inner orientation early on through intensive Tai-Chi training. His passion for cooking led him on the Solar Impulse project around the world, alongside working as a Shiatsu therapist.
In his practice, he consciously works with the perception of inner orientation. He conveys this knowledge in a clear and accessible way in his training courses.
Additionally, Steven Grütter is co-founder of Tennis Champagne and co-initiator and board member of Terrain Gurzelen, where he is also responsible for the guest sector.
He is a father of a daughter and lives in Biel.

Listening to Life as it Comes Alive

pcab_adm_tb — Sun, 07 Dec 2025 22:22:32 +0000

In Shiatsu, we often believe that we have to “look for something”, blockages, tension, imbalance.
But what happens when we shift our attention from searching to finding?
In this workshop, I invite you to rediscover Shiatsu from a perspective of mindful listening.

Experience has shown me that the deepest encounters in Shiatsu do not come through targeted searching, but through open and non-judgmental perception.
Listening to life as it comes alive means creating space, in conscious presence, for the inner flow of the other person.
We focus our attention on what is already there and wants to reveal itself, without actively forcing it.

To clarify and make this attitude more tangible, I will explain its significance through systemic theory.
This theory views the human being as a living system, whose self-regulation can unfold through value-free observation and mindful accompaniment.
We discover that life is always present in the other, waiting to be seen and accepted.

The practical part of the workshop will offer concrete exercises where participants can experience how mindful listening enables new kinds of encounters and qualities of touch.
The exercises aim to refine the ability to perceive subtle impulses of life and to support them without manipulative interference.

The goal of the workshop is to provide new inspiration to Shiatsu practitioners, strengthen their trust in their perception, and allow them to dive more deeply into the therapeutic relationship with clients.
Because the true art does not lie in finding what is missing, but in listening to and acknowledging what is alive and already present.
“Come on, let’s go find a treasure.” (Janosch)

Information about the speaker

FRANK SEEMAN

Frank Seemann, Bonn, born in 1956
Shiatsu training in New York with Wataru Ohashi.
Running his own Shiatsu practice in Bonn since 1991.
Certified Shiatsu teacher (GSD) since 1995.
Assistant to Ohashi from 1994 to 2000.
In 2001, he became director of ISOM – Institute for Shiatsu in Bonn/Wiesbaden.
Board member and chairman of the German Shiatsu Society (GSD) from 2002 to 2023.
Most recently employed at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, University of Bonn.
Married, father of three adult daughters.

Ki Counselling — “Life Supports Shiatsu”

pcab_adm_tb — Sun, 07 Dec 2025 22:19:16 +0000

Workshop: Theoretical and Practical, 2 hours
Languages spoken: Italian and basic English and French
Conducted by: alone

Theory:
Shiatsu takes an integral view of the reality it relates to. Uke is a receiving unit and Tori is a practicing unit.
The symptom is an invitation to change. Personal stories are always implicit, can be unconscious but never separated from symptoms.
Energy at every moment is present in limited, optimal, or excessive amounts.
Life is always present. It can only be limited by lifestyle, behaviors, thoughts, and beliefs.
Life is like grass, fragile when the wind blows strongly, powerful when it seeks the light breaking through asphalt, exciting when observed closely, sacred when lived from within, infinite when you rest in it. R.V.L.
Shiatsu and awareness can ally with life and integrate into the treatment by grounding in the present, with power, respect, and sacredness the energy that can support, give strength to Uke on the path toward oneself. A Uke capable of sustaining a more harmonious, more authentic vision of their existence and on the other hand capable of recovering the useless effort toward a dispersive elsewhere.

Practice:
Walking the void, practicing respect, practicing trust, listening, observation, allying with the process. Feeling, thinking, acting. Living mandalas. The Five Elements are actually the constitutive elements of the human system.
Looking beyond the stage, beyond the lights, at the heart of life itself they can be translated into energetic qualities, expressions of nature, archetypes, principles, qualities or essences, forces or mirrors in which one can deeply observe one’s own and others’ existence.
The human being has not changed in their intimate essence, in their fundamental structures.
The human being is the greatest champion of their existence when they realize the immensity within them recognizing themselves beyond themselves, find their place in the world, will find the meaning of their existence. They will feel on their path, understand the Way to follow and will have the strength to do so.
Once the field is built, Shiatsu treatment will ally with the process and support Life.

Information about the speaker

ROBERTO VITTORIO LAZZARO

Contact Information:
Roberto Vittorio Lazzaro
Born 14/03/1956 in Huddersfield (GB)
robysamurai@gmail.com
Phone: +39 331 746 7255

Shiatsu training:
ISS International Shiatsu School Padova 1991–1997
ISS Kiental 1994

Significant teachers:
Saul Goodman, Wilfried Rappeneker, Attilio Somenzi, Claudia Beretta

Currently:
Shiatsu operator and teacher, Educational Director of Decima Luna Shiatsu School. Responsible for the four-year course.
Roles at FISIeO:
Previously: Regional Manager, CE Probiviro
Currently: Exam Commission, Cultural Institute, CST Conference
Psychology and Human Sciences Psychologist, Biotransenergetic teacher, Transpersonal Counselor, Counselor Trainer.
Currently: Responsible for the four-year course in Transpersonal Counseling with Biotransenergetic methodology, Om Padova headquarters, ITI (International Transpersonal Institute).
Practices as Shiatsu operator and psychologist at his studio in Piazza Europa 32, Noventa Padovana.
Third-year student at the University of Bologna, Faculty of Anthropology.

The Imprint of Life in the Womb: How the Extraordinary Vessels Help Us Reconnect with Our Potential

pcab_adm_tb — Sun, 07 Dec 2025 22:14:24 +0000

This presentation is mainly practical and experiential.
We will explore how the Extraordinary Vessels develop in the womb and how, by working with them, we can transform limiting patterns at any stage of life—especially during what I call “Turning Points” or “Gateways of Transformation.”
These are moments when our nature changes dramatically, such as:
– Learning to stand and walk
– Adolescence
– First sexual experiences
– Major life transitions

The Extraordinary Vessels are present from the moment we decide to incarnate. They draw universal energy into our future physical body, weaving it together with the ancestral lines of our parents, in a particular time and place. They hold the memory of our cosmic origin and potential in this lifetime.
They also carry the memory of our first week after conception, when we are whole and self-contained. This original power and coherence can be accessed through working with the Vessels.
When we implant in the womb, we become fully dependent on our mother and are bathed in her life, emotions, and physiology. This symbiotic relationship deeply influences all of our future relationships, especially our most intimate ones.
In this workshop, we will explore these three key phases through movement and embodied practice to feel how their energy lives in our bodies today:
– Conception and original intention
– The first week: wholeness and self-containment
– The second week: relationship and dependency

We will then explore with two shiatsu sessions:
Conception and Wholeness
Working with the shared, unified and self-contained nature of the Eight Extraordinary Vessels
Relationship and Nourishment
Working with the Chong Mai (Nourishing / Penetrating Vessel) as the vessel of embodiment, relationship, and deep connection

Participants will gain:
– A clearer understanding of early embryological development from a TCM perspective
– Practical ways to work with the Extraordinary Vessels
– Tools to support clients to connect more deeply to their potential”

Information about the speaker

SUZANNE YATES

Suzanne discovered the Extraordinary Vessels in the 1990s through working with pregnant women and understanding the development of their baby in the womb. As she has passed through different life phases herself she now understands more deeply the impact of our first nine months on the rest of our lives.
Founder of Wellmother in 1990, trained in shiatsu from 1983 -88 with Keith Phillips and Sonia Moriceau, Suzanne has spent over 35 years pioneering a holistic approach to all life cycles from birth to death, combining shiatsu, massage, movement and visualisation. She has taught thousands of practitioners and midwives globally and authored three books: ‘Pregnancy and Childbirth: An Holistic Approach to Massage and Bodywork’, ‘Beautiful Birth’, and ‘Shiatsu for Midwives’. She is currently finishing her fourth book ‘Turning Points: Harness the Power of your Changing Body to Transform Your Life’: on how the Extraordinary Vessels support health at every life stage.