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Shiatsu Learnings & Reflections
The Five Lights Center articles share insights, experiences, and wisdom from our vibrant global community — practitioners, students, and teachers dedicated to living the spirit of Shiatsu.
Here, you’ll find reflections on energy and touch, personal healing journeys, and practical tools for daily balance — from Tai Chi and Reiki, to color therapy, tapping, Shiatsu techniques, and more.
Each article is an invitation to pause, breathe, and reconnect — reminding us that through awareness, movement, and compassionate touch, we continue to grow together in the art of living.
The Fusion of Shiatsu and Orthopedic Massage: A Holistic Approach to Wellness
In the realm of bodywork, the marriage of Eastern and Western techniques holds transformative potential. As a practitioner with over 25 years of experience, I, Krystal Stone, have developed a unique style that weaves Shiatsu meridians and points into my Western orthopedic massage practice. This blend allows me to harness both the ancient wisdom of Eastern traditions and the scientific understanding of Western anatomy, creating a holistic approach that yields lasting results f
Krystal Stone
2 days ago3 min read
Two as One: Reflections on Unity in Mind-Body Experience
What might be termed the psyche-soma, aka: “the body-mind problem” (Sella, 2018, p.18), poses a challenging paradox facing anyone committed to therapeutic interaction in whatever form. How can we genuinely empathize with a patient’s suffering, enter their experience as it were and truly “be” with them in that place, yet strive to be effective in our attempts to analyze and interpret by essentially remaining separate and impartial in the same moment? How can subject and object
Nigel Dawes
Nov 147 min read
Attuning
In this day and age filled with the firehose of information, misinformation, and disinformation, of frequent alarm and too often a sense of a world in disarray, how do we make our way to find the foundational truth of our own existence, the absolute truth of the light that we are right now in this moment? How do we take that first step of a thousand mile journey, a narrative that transforms and reveals our true destiny. Over a century ago in Japan a new healing practice evo
Mark Dodd
Nov 72 min read
Cancer and Eastern Medicine: Gaining the Advantage
What if when we are born, we are asked to make a vow with our bodies. “Do you take this body, for better or for worse,” the pledge would go, “in sickness and in health, till death do us part?” Pledging ourselves to our bodies may sound absurd but our bodies are what define our lives more concretely than anything else. Without them, we’re dead. There’s a teaching in Chinese Medicine known as The Mud Pill. It addresses the commitment we make at birth to our bodies and to our l
Lisa Orlando
Oct 3011 min read
Lineage and Legacy: Honoring Our Teachers (Those That Have “Gone Before”) Part Two
My very first class at IIOM was with Edward Bailey, a Californian who had already spent some years living in Tokyo, having studied at the Iokai Institute, founded by his teacher Masunaga Shizuto , creator of the Zen Shiatsu style. Ed was eccentric and quite a zealot for his craft as perhaps only those who assimilate a discipline foreign to their own culture can sometimes be. It always impressed me that he ran a very busy and successful full-time Shiatsu practice with his J
Nigel Dawes
Oct 236 min read
Lineage and Legacy: Honoring Our Teachers (Those That Have “Gone Before”) Part One
I am very happy to contribute to this blog dedicated to honoring teachers and their legacies. For me, the role of a teacher is embodied in the meaning of the word sensei, “the one who has gone before”, to act as a beacon, to light the way for others, to inspire, to lead but also to serve. A great teacher can successfully transmit their experience directly and in a unique way to their student who can then begin to make it their own. In this way teachers should always expect t
Nigel Dawes
Oct 166 min read
Touch, Connection, and Discovery: Shiatsu in Italy 2025
To all Shiatsu practitioners and students: In September of 2025, I traveled to Italy for the third time to attend the Five Lights Italian...
Keith Strand
Oct 103 min read
Supporting Others Begins with Supporting Yourself: 8 Ways to Clear Blocked Energy and Strengthen Your Life’s Flow
Your healing work is a gift to the world—but it can only shine when your own energy flows freely. As holistic healers, shiatsu...
David Conti
Oct 25 min read
Healing the Water Element Through Ancestral Healing
I am working on a book called “Immigrace: A Guide to Healing Our Immigrant Consciousness”. Chapter Two is titled “Ancestral Healing”,...
Sooyong Kim
Sep 267 min read
Pauline Sasaki and Quantum Shiatsu
The following are my experiences learning about Shiatsu. I began studying Shiatsu with Ohashi around 1977. Traditionally, Shiatsu was and...
Tom Banasiak
Sep 194 min read
Shiatsu Snowball
This past August 2025, 48 musicians and 36 opera singers gathered in Brattleboro, Vermont, for the 7th Annual Wagner Festival. In a...
Keith Strand
Sep 104 min read
From Johannesburg to Toronto to the Global Stage: My Shiatsu Journey
By Daniel (T’agyol) Adler Writing this article has been a real struggle. Honestly, I almost didn’t do it at all. When Kumiko asked me to...
Daniel (T’agyol) Adler
Sep 15 min read
Joyful Milestones On A New Path
The feeling after my first “real” client left the studio was quite honestly overwhelming. In fact, I cried. Tears of joy, that is. I say...
Caitlin Beckett
Aug 254 min read
The Child Who Keeps On Dancing
My journey through movement, Shiatsu, and the Five Elements by Ori Flomin I have been dancing for as long as I can remember myself being...
Ori Flomin
Aug 27 min read
🌏 Shiatsu Summit 2025: One World – One Planet, United Through Healing Touch
April 25–27, 2025 | Himalayan Institute + Zoom Access In today’s fast-paced and uncertain world, the need for grounded, heart-centered...
info4911255
Jul 203 min read
At Its Core, Bodywork is About Communication.
As an “Art of Touch,” it is about making connections and allowing for a dialogue to emerge between the practitioner and receiver through...
Philippe Vandenabeele
Jul 95 min read
🌸 In Loving Memory of Hazel Chung Hood Sensei
An Inspirational International Shiatsu Teacher, Dancer, and Light in Our Shiatsu Community Dear Friends, I hope this message finds you...
Kumiko Kanayama
May 257 min read
Reflections of the 2nd Annual Shiatsu Summit April 25th- 27th, 2025
Welcome from far and near to share what we hold dear in our circle of Ki As we enter the beauty of the Poconos, we breathe in the awe and...
Maureen C. Miller
May 163 min read
The Masunaga System of Zen Shiatsu Part Two
by Maureen C. Miller, Senior Shiatsu Instructor Our sessions are a lovely, gradual, continuous flow of a moving meditation. From quiet...
Maureen C. Miller
Apr 35 min read
The Masunaga System of Zen Shiatsu Part One
SHIZUTO MASUNAGA SENSEI was born in Japan where he lived until his death in 1981. He studied shiatsu and psychology, and spent many...
Maureen C. Miller
Mar 115 min read
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