Hi, I am Tamsin Grainger!
I am a qualified teacher and practitioner as well as a Member of the Register of the Shiatsu Society (FwSS T) and of the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC). Both these memberships recognise that I have undergone a professional Shiatsu training and regular CPD – attending post graduate courses, supervision, peer support groups, and undertaking personal study.
What I am up to now
My first book, Working with Death and Loss in Shiatsu Practice, will be published by Singing Dragon on August 21, 2020, and will then be launched in Amsterdam (Netherlands) at the European Shiatsu Congress (2-4 September) where I will be presenting a workshop entitled Autumn Leaves Fall, on Shiatsu for Grief. I have recently returned from Spain and Portugal where I was walking the Camino Portuguese, attending the Seiki Gathering, meeting Shiatsu practitioners and giving sessions. When I travel I offer to exchange Shiatsu for a bed – it’s a wonderful way to connect with people and broaden my experience.
At home, in Edinburgh, I love working with my clients, and I work at my local hospice, giving Shiatsu at the day clinic and to the patents on the wards there as part of the Complementary Therapies Team.
I enjoy teaching Shiatsu, and am currently teaching and leading sessions online due to the coronavirus restrictions. Recent presentations include Touch for Grief and Loss for The Embodiment Conference, Autumn Leaves Fall for The European Shiatsu Congress in Amsterdam, various podcasts including Qiological, Grief Dreams, That Trendy Therapist and Shapes of Grief. There is currently a weekly meeting On Death and Loss (a co-creation with Catherine Dompas in Montpelier, France), Death, Loss and Mourning in the Practice of Shiatsu (with Filipa Lys in Lisbon, Portugal), Group supervision and ‘On Grief’ workshops 30/31 January 2021 (organised by Panayiota Giannino in Athens); and a webinar with New Energy Work in England.
My training
I graduated from the Glasgow School of Shiatsu in 1992 having studied the Zen Shiatsu (Masunaga) style, including Five Element (Chinese Medicine) and Zen (Japanese) theory, Western anatomy and pathology, and counselling skills, plus related exercises and diet.
I have continued to further my studies, concentrating on Shiatsu during pregnancy and with babies and children (initially working with Suzanne Yates and Peter Walker), Shiatsu as part of cancer care (originally working with Thea Bailey among others), and working with those who are HIV positive and their carers. I have a lot of experience with those who have depression, and I am dealing daily with clients who suffer back, neck and shoulder pain.
I have practised Shiatsu in various settings, notably Scottish Widows (two-and-a-half years), The Scottish Office, and Body Positive.
Past teaching experience includes weekly adult beginners classes and weekend courses for The City of Edinburgh Council, independently-run, one-day introductory workshops, five-week courses of Baby Shiatsu for parents of new-born babies, and a series of Baby Massage/Shiatsu training seminars for Health Visitors for Fife Health Board throughout the Kingdom. I have also pioneered parent-child Shiatsu workshops in which adults and older children give Shiatsu to each other (which received some media attention).
In 2000 I started The Shiatsu School Edinburgh with colleagues, Audicia Morley and Cynthia Shuken. I was also a founding Director of the East West Shiatsu School Scotland, the advanced training facility of the Shiatsu School Edinburgh and the Glasgow School of Shiatsu, with Elaine Liechti. This latter is no longer active.
I have been a member of The Shiatsu Society (UK) for all of my professional career, gaining MRSS in 1995, and have served both as a board member and Chair. I have participated in a major European research project, and am informed and up-to-date with current developments and themes in Shiatsu and other general complementary therapy fields. In addition, I am a member of the Shiatsu Profession Specific Board for the Complementary and Natural healthcare Council.
My Website www.shiatsu.ryoho.co.uk
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