The Shinzui Academy is the Postgraduate branch of the Shinzui Bodywork International Institute, which also includes the Shinzui Shiatsu School, Belgium and the Shinzui Ampuku School, Japan.
Both these schools offer solid foundation courses in traditional Japanese bodywork.
The Shinzui Shuhō Postgraduate program integrates the nature-based wisdom of East Asian medicine with contemporary anatomical knowledge and developments in a range of manual therapies. It combines time-tested treatment methods, such as Shiatsu, Ampuku, and Chi Nei Tsang, with the latest advances in touch-based therapies, including Visceral Osteopathy, Fascia work and CranioSacral therapy, resulting in enhanced clinical efficacy and scope.
Drawing on his many years’ experience of clinical practice and teaching, Philippe Vandenabeele set up the Shinzui postgraduate program in 2017. The Shinzui Academy now offers its program as intensive in-person courses supported by its online learning hub. Alongside its Shinzui Shuhō training, the Academy also offers separate online courses and international workshops on specific themes.
Shinzui Shuhō - Core Bodywork
Bringing the essence of the East Asian bodywork traditions to contemporary
manual therapy practice.
Shinzui 真髄 is the Japanese term for 'essence’ or ‘core’. It is also the Dharma/Lineage name Philippe Vandenabeele received from his Japanese teacher, carrying the message and intent to stay true to the essence of the East Asian healing traditions while also adapting to the times and cultures in which they are practised.
The essence of the East Asian healing tradition lies in the intricate science of Ki/Qi, which maps the patterns of change and their transformations in a detailed and comprehensive manner. Through its holistic nature, this medicine of change offers practitioners ways to understand, listen to, communicate with, and align themselves with the innate intelligence of the body.
By learning to understand the patterns of nature - of which the human body is an integral part - East Asian medicine provides us with a set of detailed, multi-layered maps of the body’s inner landscape, which can guide practitioners to support clients by addressing a wide range of health conditions.
The same patterns of change, so well mapped by East Asian medicine, align with what pioneers of Cranial and Visceral Osteopathy (such as W.G. Sutherland and J.P. Barral) described as the visceral and cranial rhythms of the body. Their discoveries led to entirely new approaches in manual therapy, by working with these deep body rhythms. The strength of their methodologies lies in their precise, anatomical, and scientific approach. Learning from these developments, the Shinzui Shuhō Postgraduate program incorporates these rhythms as the ‘Yin and Yang Tides’ of the body.
Another significant evolution that Shinzui Shuhō program offers is the integration of the Eastern and Western understanding of the influence of gravity on the body’s tissues and structures, and how to work with it.
Shinzui Shuhō is an integrated way of working with the following major body systems:
- Energetic anatomy: the 3 Dantien, 8 Extraordinary Vessels, 12 organ meridians & 5 transformations, and the 6 greater meridians
- Visceral system: Zang Fu organ network, visceral anatomy, visceral neural and vascular systems
- Cardiovascular system: heart, blood vessels, and mesentery
- Craniosacral and Neural system: brain, skull, spine, spinal fluid, and nerves
- Myofascial system: fascia, muscle chains, diaphragms, and tendons
- Skeletal system: bone structure, postural alignment
The Inner Practices - Stillness in Action
Cultivating and embracing stillness in action is the basis for true mastery of any art, including the art of touch. That is why, in the Shinzui Shuhō curriculum, we give ample time and space for Inner Cultivation. The Daoist practices - of Meditation, Qi Gong, and especially Nei Gong and Nei Dan - are central to our work.
