The HeartMind Shiatsu Training
Overview
HeartMind Shiatsu Training guides you to build a career in the holistic healing arts with professional skills as an Asian Bodywork Therapist (ABT*). Our comprehensive 600 hour training meets all national standards for the profession, and is delivered in six 100 hour modules. Students work at their own pace through the levels, and successful graduates of the training can earn the status of Certified Practitioner with the American Organization for Bodywork Therapies of Asia (aobta.org, the premier professional association for ABT, since 1988). Matthew Sweigart, AOBTA® – Certified Instructor, developed the program from 35+ years of classroom and clinical experience. HeartMind Shiatsu blends the holistic disciplines of Classical Chinese Medicine with Traditional Japanese Floor-based Bodywork Therapy. Featuring five element and acu-point study, with compression, meridian stretches, body mobilization, and multiple points of contact healing touch. The HeartMind Shiatsu training offers you an intuitive, creative, profound healing approach that you offer with your hands joined with your heart.
Each one hundred hour segment is offered in a series of modular weekend immersion experiences over the course of several months. The curriculum moves progressively through beginning, intermediate, and advanced studies. Throughout the training, students meet regularly for live training modules of study, practice and advancement. Between modules you are invited to attend a weekly Q & A video conference call with Matthew Sweigart, CI. All calls are recorded and held in an archive for your benefit. The successful graduate will arrive at full, entry-level, professional therapeutic competence.
A central feature of the program is the practice of Qigong, personal wellness and energy cultivation. This ancient practice provides you with profound insights that are central to a life long practice. As you develop your HeartMind Shiatsu skills, we encourage you to discover and manifest your own unique gifts as a healing artist. We inspire you to develop your sensitivity and apply this wonderful healing practice toward the needs of the special population that you were born to serve. You may find that you are drawn to work with sports enthusiasts, expectant mothers, senior citizens, wounded warriors, those in recovery, community building, or entering our Teacher Training program to become a Certified HeartMind Shiatsu Instructor yourself! Wherever your practice leads you, we are here to support you in living the dream of your career in the healing arts.
Following is an overview of the entire training, with descriptions of the content and progression of each level of the training. At HeartMind healing Arts, we believe that the study and practice of HeartMind Shiatsu places in your hands and heart one of the deepest healing modalities on the planet today. The entire training gives you the full and complete education you need to be a professional Asian Bodywork Therapist in the HeartMind Shiatsu style. Successful graduates earn the title of Certified HeartMind Shiatsu Therapist, a professional mark of distinction in the healing arts, and may apply to the AOBTA® for Certified Practitioner professional recognition.
*ABT is manual therapy based in the Asian Holistic Medicine. Just at Physical Therapists are the manual therapy deliverers of Western Medicine, Asian Bodywork Therapists are the manual therapists of Eastern Medicine. Ask your acupuncturist for a referral today!
HeartMind Shiatsu 600-Hour Training
Level 1 – Qi Energy Healing Touch and Movement Essentials
The Twelve Classical Meridian Channels
100 Hours of Essential Training provides the foundation for your HeartMind Shiatsu practice. Inspired by a deep study of the Chinese Medical model and the profound beauty of the Japanese floor-based bodywork healing arts. Six weekend immersions propel you on your journey to master the HeartMind method of healing touch. Study of the Eastern Energy model and awareness awakens a revolutionary view of the interweaving of body, mind and spirit.
Level 2 – Qi Energy Healing Touch and Movement Essentials
The Five Elements
This next 100 hours of Essentials takes us deep into the theory of the Five Elements. Building upon our experience of Meridian functions we dive deep into Five Element actions and take our experience deeper. Building altars to the Elements of Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood, we enter exploration of myriad interactions and multiple patterns and variations of life-energy flow. We learn to recognize strengths and weaknesses, excesses and deficiencies, as well as tendencies and propensities of the psyche, expressed through the body, mind and spirit.
Level 3 – Western Anatomy & Physiology
100 hours is devoted to the study of Western Anatomy & Physiology applied to the HeartMind Shiatsu bodywork training. We focus on the wonder, ingenuity and sophistication of the human body, all its working parts and the living life force. The study of the Eastern approach to the body, mind and spirit is like learning a foreign language. Study of Western science offers students a bridge between East and West. Grounding the healing touch practice in an understanding and appreciation of the physical body, the study of Western Anatomy and Physiology provides students with common language to speak about their findings and treatment choices in a way that effectively communicates with the Western approach. Integrating the Western and Eastern viewpoints and approaches is enlightening and enlivening to the classroom experience.
Level 4 – Classical Chinese Medicine
Together we dive ever more deeply into the beauty and grace of HeartMind Shiatsu with the next 100 hours of training, devoted to refining our skills in artful body movements and therapeutic touch. Underpinning that deepening skill are the profound teachings of Classical Chinese Medicine. In this model we deepen our immersion into the philosophy and practice of Chinese Medicine by digging into the master work Dragon Rises, Red Bird Flies by Leon Hammer, MD. By studying your own signs and symptoms you improve your own life and deepen the offerings you can make to your clients. Personality and Temperament, Patterns and Syndromes, Classical Chinese Medicine, Kitchen Alchemy, and Case Study Applications inform the deepening of our practice. Meridian functions, Five Element actions and expressions guide us into an ever deeper exploration of interactions and the multiple patterns and variations of life energy flow. Exploring life stories, both our own and those of our clients gives us profound tools and insights. With our teachers’ expert guidance we develop intuitive and observational skill to enter into profoundly effective therapeutic interactions with your clients.
Kitchen Alchemy
As we deepen into our level 4 studies, we take a dive into the kitchen! The exploration of nutrition and diet gives us direct access to the powerful central role food plays in health and wellness. The Chinese Medical perspective on food as medicine gives you an important understanding for helping clients work through their dietary challenges. In addition to the Chinese Medicine perspective on nutrition, students learn to develop a discerning and understanding of several contemporary nutritional approaches. In the course, students study the energetics and physiological effects of food on wellness. Students are encouraged to promote healthy eating habits, discover powerful applications of Classical Chinese Medicine theory as it relates to dietary choice, explore specific applications of a therapeutic diet for the overall organic health of all bodily systems as well as specific client needs. Students learn to assess major dietary challenges, and coach clients through creating tasty, healthy and transformative dietary changes. Lively lectures and discussions as well as recipes and food preparation secrets highlight the class. Kitchen homework assignments as well as creating dietary counseling handouts, will help the students with specific application of the teachings of Kitchen Alchemy.
Level 5 – Source Healing, Crafting True Destiny
In our fifth level we devote 100 hours of study to the master work Nourishing Destiny, by Lonny S. Jarrett. Our understanding of Five Elements and Organ Networks is made ever more sophisticated through grasping the significance of virtues and pathologies in the energy body. Specialized point combinations and professional clinical practice and management with these powerful tools assists you in crafting sessions that are truly “game-changers” for your clients. When you can meet someone where they are in the depths of their troubles and struggles and literally have them leave your office transformed and energetically re-awakened, then you are working with the dynamic energy of their destiny to help them craft a life in true alignment with their soul force.
Level 6 – Advanced Training: The Extraordinary Vessels
To complete the training and give you expertise with the full depth and power of Asian Bodywork Therapy our Advanced Training dives deep into the art of healing at the source. The Eight Extraordinary Vessels of Classical Chinese Medicine provide a guiding structure for working with the dynamics of destiny and life path. Students enter into a deep study of these source vessels and how to access and work with them to heal a wide range of life issues from the simple day-to-day challenges of lifestyle and survival to profound healing of trauma and loss. Drawing on the works of Jeffrey Yuen, we learn to access the Extraordinary Vessels. We connect to the Vessels of First Ancestry, Chong, Ren and Du Mai, to work with the Energy Blueprint, The Cycles of Aging and Development, Wei Mai Vessels to support growth through all stages of life, The Vessels of Presence, understanding and working with the Qiao Mai Vessels. We wrap it all up with Advanced Clinical Applications and the Awarding of Certificates to crown the fullness of student achievements in the advanced training! We also dive into the art and science of somatic education, drawing from the great innovators in the field to effectively support the healing of trauma and meet a range of recovery goals. Successful graduates possess the deeply grounded skills necessary for offering profound healing services and creating a satisfying career of contribution and care in the arts of healing touch.
Private HeartMind Shiatsu Sessions
Students receive 10 private HeartMind Shiatsu sessions over the course of the training to address their own personal healing, growth and wellness concerns, and help them discover first hand, the scope and depth of the method.
Small Group Tutorials
Small group tutorials offered throughout the training compliment the classroom experience. Two to four students meet with the instructor for direct instruction on their most pressing questions and areas of challenge with the technique and theory. These focused tutorial groups lead to a swift deepening and refinement of methodology, assuring professional mastery of HeartMind Shiatsu.
Schedule your discovery session today, and see if the HeartMind Shiatsu Training is right for you!
Summary: each level offers 100 hours of in-person instruction and classmate interaction
Level 1 – Qi Energy Healing Touch and Movement Essentials I, The Twelve Channels
Level 2 – Qi Energy Healing Touch and Movement Essentials I, The Five Elements
Level 3 – Western Anatomy and Physiology with an Eastern Twist
Level 4 – Classical Chinese Medicine – Patterns of Qi, Syndromes and Conditions
Level 5 & 6 – Healing at the Source, the Dynamic Energy of Destiny
*Classical Chinese Medicine, Qigong, Supervised Clinic, Western Anatomy and Physiology, and Business and Ethics are interwoven seamlessly into the progressive training. Total Training: 600 hours of transformative in-person, live instruction offers you the skills and artistry necessary to build a fulfilling career as an Asian Bodywork Therapist (ABT). The training meets the educational requirements for Certified Practitioner Level membership in the American Organization for Bodywork Therapies of Asia (aobta.org). Setting the highest national standards for the practice of Asian Bodywork Therapy since 1988!
For full descriptions of the entire training, faculty bios, dates and enrollment procedures click on the active links. We look forward to seeing you in class and supporting you in building a fulfilling healing arts career.
Schedule your discovery session today, and see if the HeartMind Shiatsu Training is right for you!