Featured Shiatsu Practitioner of the Week: Meike Donohue
FEATURED SHIATSU PRACTIONER: MEIKE DONOHUE
Meike Donohue is a Shiatsu Practitioner and Teacher based in Thomastown, Kilkenny.
She began learning about Buddhism and meditation in Berlin in 2000, and became a meditation instructor in 2004, and was one of the founders of the Buddhist Tara Centre. A few years later, she discovered Shiatsu and became a Shiatsu teacher in 2015, and then further qualified as a QQI Level 6 teacher in 2018.
BALANCE MATTERS
In 2018 Meike founded Balance Matters which is based in Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, where she teaches Meditation and Stress Resilience Training and Mindful Shiatsu.
Meike offers:
- Shiatsu treatments;
- Meditation courses;
- Stress Resilience programmes; and
- Mental Wellness retreats.
CONTACT MEIKE:
You can learn more about Meike’s services on her website https://www.balancematters.ie/
Phone: 087 777 4508
Email: meikedonohue@gmail.com
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Maria also has a corporate wellness services with Emma Fitzpatrick called Work Well Therapies, delivering onsite Shiatsu and Ear Acupuncture to corporate groups, as well as Online Shiatsu Wellness Consultations to individual employees and groups.
Becoming a shiatsu practitioner has gently changed my life over the years. I definitely went around for years with my head in the clouds! I had no concept of how feelings and emotions affected me, and in turn, were affecting my health. From learning about the meridian system and the five elements theory I am much more aware of myself and my body. Through my training I have learned to listen and acknowledge feelings, and how these feelings can potentially affect my body. If emotions are not processed they can get stuck in the body and cause pain and disease. With a better understanding of myself, through shiatsu, I can help move these blockages and bring balance to the body.
Background
After school I qualified in beauty therapy and off to Australia I went , like so many others , to travel and experience the world at large! When I came home I settled into a busy 5 star hotel spa where the treatments were mainly massage. I feel I should preface this by saying I enjoyed working in the hotel. There treatments given had to be to a very high standard and I learned a lot there.
However! It was so busy many of the days and I worked 12 hour shifts. The clients came in like they were on a conveyer belt and out just as quickly so I could rush to turn over the room, wipe the sweat of my brow and run down to get the next client, but not before pausing, taking a deep breath, and making it look like it was easy!
I enjoyed massage. People were coming to you because they were sore, they were stressed, they needed to take a moment to stop and relax. There was a need there, but was I meeting that need? I found my self sticking to the exact same routine with everyone, just so I wouldn’t run over the time. I though there had to a better way than this. I wanted to be able to check in with the client, meet their needs and bring about change. A really beneficial change that helped them, but I was defiantly not doing this. There was not enough time and too much protocol in the treatment room.
Training in Shiatsu
I wanted to learn a how to give a more grounded treatment and soon after I started to think like this Shiatsu found me! I did a weekend introductory course in Shiatsu and it was so amazing, I was hooked! The teachers at The Shiatsu College Dublin were so knowledgeable and had a vast amount of experience. They were down to earth people and helped the meridian system feel more tangible to me. On the offset, I wasn’t sure if this was something I could connect with. The meridian system and the way the Chinese Five Elements Theory represents different aspects of our personalities. It all seemed a little bit up in the air. But with the help of the college, I really learned how to work with it in a treatment, giving it a practical, functional element. And how to make small changes to bring it in to my everyday life. One thing I have learned from Shiatsu is that as the practitioner I can get as much out of the treatment as the client. If I am connected to the client, and grounded, I can feel relaxed and centered at the end of a treatment. If I am not grounded, I am not connecting with the client properly and it is only the “conveyer belt” treatment that I had done for years.
After I graduated I rented a lovely little salon in a hotel in the city centre where I did beauty treatments and started my career as a Shiatsu practitioner. Another valuable lesson I learned from the college is that everybody you work on is a privilege. An opportunity to hone your skill. I now had the time to meet the client’s needs and create change. I learned how the same meridians come up for the same ailments and just how much help you can give someone when you connect with them on an energetic level, and help the body to heal its self.
Today.
Now that I have a young family I having given up working in the salon in town. I work out of two beautiful spaces; Comunity Well in Donabate and Tree of Life in Malahide. As a part of the treatment I also give home care advice in the form of what points on the meridian might help the client, what foods will help. I believe in giving gentle recommendations that will fit easily in to your lifestyle. That way you can easily make change to your health and lifestyle and can I build on this knowledge through treatments and homecare.
Contact:
Contact: 085 7350 925
