Day 1 – European Shiatsu Congress

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 importance of our 9 months in the womb and how the Extraordinary Vessels can help us connect with our potential.

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

I would like to do a talk and also a practical session.
Talk:
Explore how the Extraordinary Vessels develop in the womb and how they hold the memory of your womb life. I discovered the Extraordinary Vessels in the 1990s through working with pregnant women and learning to understand the development of their baby in the womb. I have kept the name of my business as “Wellmother” because I now understand the impact of our first nine months on the rest of our lives. It is partly through our physical development of our body and our placenta but also the symbiotic relationship between us and our mother, which will influence all future relationships. We access our potential through connecting to our conception, when we draw in not only the two ancestral lines of our parents, but the universe. The first week after conception we are whole and self-contained. This is the transformative nature of the Eight Extraordinary Vessels.
Practical:
Explore the differences between the Inner and Outer Families of the Extraordinary Vessels through practical exercise to understand them in your own body, especially through connecting with womb movements and experiences, and then practical shiatsu to explore how to work with them during shiatsu sessions.

Information about the speaker

SUZANNE YATES

Suzanne Yates is a leading expert in maternity bodywork and the Extraordinary Vessels of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Founder of Wellmother in 1990, 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. Suzanne offers in-person and online courses, shares insights through her YouTube channel, and is currently writing a new book on how the Extraordinary Vessels support health at every life stage.

The changing nature of Chakras

pcab_adm_tb — Sun, 07 Dec 2025 22:08:31 +0000

Nicola’s workshop is based directly on the work of Pauline Sasaki. It is on the chakras and we will experience the chakras in their different aspects.

Pauline used the chakras in every aspect of the energetic anatomy.
Pauline’s favourite quote from the Dao De Ching is verse 42. This explains how the chakras work- though we have to look hard.

“From the Dao, the one comes Heaven and Earth, the two.
Together they create the ‘Chong’, the three. From the three comes the creation of all life and from that comes all things, the ten thousand things.”

As we know, chakras are great wheels of energy. It is where the Heaven and Earth qi creates aspects of life.
On the physical plane- Touch and gesture can activate the chakras and help the physical body move towards harmony.
In the Ether body or the emotional body- the chakras keep the energy body bright and lively and moving.
In the Astral body- the chakras are wheels which help move towards our Divine connection.

And all these aspects are necessary for health.
We can work on them ourselves as part of a yoga or qigong practice.
Having the chakras in alignment is the key to balancing the energy of different meridians and energies in the body.
Finding harmony with the chakras lets all the emotions find their balance and then the whole energy will be enlivened!
Finally when the chakras are all activated and in harmony they can merge as the Astral body becomes part of the ‘oneness’.

Awareness of how the chakras have different aspects which present at different frequencies helps understand their different roles within a healthy person.
And this workshop should enable you to understand and “see”.

Information about the speaker

Nicola Ley (Pooley) – Bsc, BA, MA, PGCE, MRSS(T)

Nicola turned up for her first Shiatsu class with a friend, thinking it was a martial art. The friend went to Aikido, but Nicola loved Shiatsu from then. This was in Tokyo in 1978.
Nicola is a founder of the Shiatsu College along with Carola Beresford Cooke and Clifford Andrews. The College regularly hosted Pauline Sasaki in the 80s and 90s when Pauline’s interpretation of Masunaga’s meridian system underpinned Shiatsu teaching throughout Europe.
Later Nicola studied Quantum Shiatsu – Pauline’s new work – alongside Gabrella Poli. We were devastated when Pauline died far too young and before she had fully developed her new work.
Nicola wrote “Shiatsu a step by step guide” previously called “Shiatsu in a Nutshell’. She is working on a book about her experiences of Quantum Shiatsu.
Nicola has practiced Qigong since the early 80s. She loves this practice and finds that her Shiatsu blends often with Qigong when she is working.
Nicola also loves herbs and plants. Her study and drawing of plants and herbs are her pastime.

Shiatsu and Cancer in the Chemotherapy Room and in the Clinic: Presence, Touch, Adaptation

pcab_adm_tb — Sun, 07 Dec 2025 21:55:34 +0000

Shiatsu for cancer care in chemotherapy wards and private practice: presence, touch, adaptation
In this workshop, I will share my weekly experience in the chemotherapy ward of the Tivoli Clinic in Bordeaux, as well as in my private practice, where I have been supporting people undergoing cancer treatment for many years.
The aim is to show how Shiatsu can provide real support during an intense medical journey: a respectful, adaptable and deeply human practice that restores space for the body and the therapeutic relationship in a highly medicalized context.
The workshop will offer practical tools to support people undergoing chemotherapy: which postures to adopt (physical and relational), which areas of the body to prioritize, how to adapt the touch depending on side effects (nausea, neuropathy, fatigue, pain, hypersensitivity…).
We will explore specific techniques to relieve side effects and improve patients’ quality of life.
A particular focus will be placed on understanding the medical mechanisms of chemotherapy: its physiological effects, why certain symptoms appear, and how these elements can be related to energetic readings and imbalances in Chinese Medicine.
This cross-approach helps refine Shiatsu choices and fosters better communication with healthcare professionals.
A large part of the workshop will be devoted to hands-on practice, allowing participants to experience sequences that can be used in private practice or hospital settings, while respecting the medical and emotional constraints of this type of support.
This workshop is intended for Shiatsu practitioners wishing to expand their skills in oncology care.

Information about the speaker

FANNY ROQUE

Fanny Roque is a Shiatsu practitioner and trainer, specialized in supporting people with cancer and in menstrual cycle disorders.
She is the President of the French Federation of Traditional Shiatsu (FFST), and advocates for a rigorous, accessible practice grounded in clinical realities.
She offers certified training programs recognized by professional bodies in France, aimed at practitioners and healthcare professionals.
She also runs a private practice in Bordeaux and gives weekly Shiatsu sessions directly in a chemotherapy ward at a clinic, as well as with the French League Against Cancer.

Connection in shiatsu – Is anyone home?

pcab_adm_tb — Sun, 07 Dec 2025 21:53:00 +0000

Meridians make it easy for us to connect with ourselves, our clients and the changing nature around us.
Shiatsu also thrives on connection on other levels – or is everything in Shiatsu meridian work?

As a practitioner, how do I know that I am truly ‘present’? How can I perhaps strengthen this, become more aware of it?
How do I notice to what extent my client is ‘present’ – able to connect with themselves so that a connection, a contact between us, becomes possible in the first place for the treatment?

I look forward to exploring this with interested participants at the ESC workshop, offering my ideas and approaches, and creating a tangible path for all of our Shiatsu treatments.

BIRTE ERNESTUS-HOLTKAMP

Shiatsu inspires me because of its richness and interconnectedness, of structures within us, how these relate to emotional experience, and what acts upon and within me.

The training I received from the team of Wilfried Rappenecker, Meike Kockrick, Jürgen Westhoff and many others moved me deeply and fueled my passion for Shiatsu.
After six years as an assistant, I began sharing Shiatsu with interested learners, and since 2017 I’ve taken over leadership of the Shiatsu School in Hamburg.

The encounter through Shiatsu is one of the most authentic I know.
My curiosity is always eager to explore other forms of meeting and treatment, such as craniosacral therapy, fascia medicine, and more. Yet, my fascination remains with Shiatsu, and my creativity keeps finding new paths and connections between disciplines.
Sharing and exploring this with participants in my courses continues to enrich me deeply.