Director of the Chi Nei Tsang Institute, California
Gilles Marin
Gilles Marin is the Founder and Director of the Chi Nei Tsang Institute and TaoTouch® in Northern California. Gilles has studied and practiced massage therapy since 1976. Born in the south of France, he received his degree in Philosophy of Education and afterwards studied with Aikido Master Andre Noquet, then in his seventies and President of the European Aikido Federation. Master Noquet taught traditional healing methods such as kuatsu, shiatsu and jin shin jyutsu which he studied in Japan in the 1950’s with legendary martial arts master and peace activist Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido.
Gilles moved to the United States in 1980, where he received his Black Belt in Aikido and became a student of Tai Chi Chuan under Martin Inn. During this period, he studied the principles and theories of Traditional Chinese Medicine with Dr. Stephen T. Chang, completing a program of study which included Chi-Kung or Vital Energy Cultivation, Classical Chinese Herb Formulas, Principles of Acupuncture, Taoist Sexology, the I-Ching or the art of consulting oracles and reading augurs, and Feng-Shui, the ancient Chinese art of geomancy. He began his professional practice and teaching massage therapy in 1982. In the spring of 1983 Gilles stumbled upon one of Master Mantak Chia’s lectures on Taoist disciplines, beginning his involvement with Master Chia’s International Healing Tao System that has lasted to this day. Gilles is certified by Master Chia to teach the International Healing Tao System and Chi Nei Tsang.
Gilles holds a degree in Philosophy of Education. He served as the Technical Editor for Master Chia’s book: Chi Nei Tsang, Internal Organs Chi Massage released in 1990 by Healing Tao Press. He is author of Healing from Within With Chi Nei Tsang released in January 2000 by North Atlantic Books and Five Elements Six Conditions: A Taoist Approach Emotional Healing, Psychology, and Internal Alchemy, published in 2006 by North Atlantic Books. You can find them here.
He is currently releasing a new ebook series Biology of Consciousness: One Mind, Five Intelligences with accompanying online classes.
Gilles was born in France on Bastille Day, July 14th, and is a Fire Monkey in Chinese Astrology.
Professional therapist, Reflexology, Electro-acupuncture, Homeopathy, and Chinese Medicine
Eva Plokamaki
Eva Plokamaki was born and raised in Piraeus. She professionally engaged in classical and contemporary dance and completed her studies at the “Morianovaba-Trasta” Higher Professional Dance School in 2002. For twelve years, she worked primarily as a dancer in neoclassical and contemporary dance, as well as an assistant choreographer, in performances both in Greece and abroad (England, Germany, India, etc.).
Her personal experience with physical injuries caused during her dance career led her to the field of alternative therapies, initially as a patient and later as a professional therapist. In 2005, she began her journey in the world of therapies, studying Reflexology, Electro-acupuncture, Homeopathy, and Chinese Medicine (acupuncture and Chinese herbs).
From the very beginning, she stood out in the field of therapies, offering her services to colleagues, dancers, and choreographers with a more holistic perspective and understanding of the needs of a dancer’s overworked body, and beyond.
Alongside her work in therapies and dance, she opened a new chapter in the world of martial arts, specifically in traditional Kung Fu. Under expert guidance and with excellent technique, she won one silver and two gold medals in national championships.
A trip to China and a more profound acquaintance with Chinese culture were pivotal in her decision to delve deeper into the path of self-awareness and Chinese culture.
In 2014, she received her diploma as an acupuncturist from the Academy of Ancient Greek and Chinese Medicine, and the same year, after completing 1,100 hours of training, she obtained her “Holistic Therapist” degree from the same school.
Throughout the years, she has attended a series of seminars with recognized Greek and foreign teachers on holistic massage, kinesiology, Ayurveda, Gua Sha, Hot Stones, Tai Oil, Deep Tissue Massage, as well as many personal development seminars such as drama therapy, systemic representation, etc.
Since completing her studies, she has continued to take courses, constantly evolving her practice. Currently, she continues her studies in the field of counseling psychotherapy, with a four-year education at the NDI school, specializing in non-directive counseling based on Carl Rogers’ person-centered approach.
Her generosity, dexterity, and love for her craft and patients make her a distinctive therapist in the holistic therapy space.
Bodywork Therapist
Susanne Schwing
Contact Susanne at www.susanneschwing.blogspot.gr
Intuitive mentor, coach & therapist
Ildiko Berecz
Ildiko is an intuitive mentor, coach and therapist who is passionate about understanding and improving self-knowledge, developing self-awareness and building positive self-image to ignite change for the better. Her calm presence, sensitive perception, compassionate caregiving, encouraging and motivational approach can gently initiate self-realisation and finding one’s life purpose in a practical way. She is gently and patiently stimulating people working out a life plan to realise their dreams. Ildiko’s profound spirit-led couching and mentoring activity comes with a wild-range of entrepreneurial experiences with a leadership background formerly used in owning, managing and operating various businesses. Currently pursuing her passion and creativity in the Greek island of Crete, Ildiko is dedicated to aromatherapy, working with locals and visitors alike to foster and promote healthy, sustainable, peaceful and flourishing life on Earth.
More about Ildiko’s work at www.essentialreflections.com
Massage Therapist, Lomi Lomi Nui, Kahi Loa, Hula
Susan Pa.iniu Floyd
Susan has been teaching Huna and Hawaiian Shamanism since 1987. When she first applied the principles of Huna taught to her in 1986 by Serge Kahili King, great changes in her health and happiness occured. Because of those changes, she left her accounting profession later in 1986 and moved to Kauai to work with Serge and become an Alakai of Aloha International. Some things are just too good to keep to one’s self!
At the same time she was drawn by spirit to receive and eventually study the Lomi-Lomi massage of Kahu (Abraham) Aua’ia Maka’i’ole Kawaii. This helped her process of transformation to speed up and planted “lomi” seeds which, five years later, really started to grow. She developed the Kino Mana courses to blend the study and application of the Huna philosophy with the study and application of Hawaiian massage into one fun-filled class.
Spiritual Hula “happened” into her life as a third element which was a joyful way to apply these principles. Her first teachers were Kalena Mande and Willie Pulawa on Kauai. Then doing volunteer work at Keiki Hula Competitions for the master of Hula, “Uncle” George Naope from Kona and Hilo brought deeper understandings. For the last 23 years, Susan has studied Hawaiian culture, chanting and dance with Loea Hula Kawaikapuokalani Hewett. When feeling sad, sick or just low on energy, dance Hula and watch the world shift inside and out!
Certified Relaxation Trainer
Petra Honies
I was born in Vienna in 1968, and looking back today, I was always searching for the truth. This search opened my eyes to entirely new worlds and brought about many positive changes.
In 2012, at a low point in my life, I had an experience that led me to where I am today.
I realized there was nothing left to search for, because everything I had always sought was already there. I recognized the illusion and only needed to fully engage with what was happening. Through very intense processes, I learned to be with all my feelings, no matter what they were.
In 2015, I learned the background of what I had discovered deep within myself as the truth, and during a training course, this knowledge, or rather the experience, deepened even further and continues to this day. Since then, I’ve been working and living, at least most of the time, from a state of stillness. There are hardly any judgments or judgements anymore; life is taken as it is. Not always, but more and more often. More and more often, I experience that there are no more thoughts, judgments, or entanglements. Absolute stillness.
Today, I experience myself more and more in this BEING, beyond the illusions we create in our lives. And yet, it’s a path that may never end. I learn something new every day…
Thanks to my own versatility, which is also reflected in my training, I am able to meet my clients where they are and guide them on the fastest path to where they want to be. Thirty years of experience in supporting and guiding people, coupled with my personal experience and intuition, are reflected in the quality and effectiveness of my work.
My effective way of working, now primarily online, saves valuable time and resources. This doesn’t compromise quality or effectiveness. On the contrary, it has been shown that working in a familiar environment has actually increased effectiveness.
Dancer, Choreographer, Teacher
Martina Sagmeister
“Dance is life and feeling alive.” After 40 years of teaching different groups of people – mainly acting and musical students – in various kinds of techniques (Modern, Jazz, Tap, Afro) in several countries, she now mainly teaches improvisation and free dance.
To her, it is important to work in and with positive energy: Enjoying the movement, being able to learn and try without fear, to allow mistakes, recognizing one’s own limits and expanding them, having the courage to be oneself, to be in the moment. So the lively, the joyful can jump over the participants and a development takes place.
In 1981, she went to New York where she learned at the Martha Graham School, Alvin Ailey Dance Center, Merce Cunningham Studio and so dived into the world of dance.
Since 1983 she has taught at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (Max Reinhardt Seminar) as well as at the University Sports Department Vienna and at different European Universities in Germany, Sweden and Lithuania.
For more information, check out her homepage: www.martinasagmeister.at
Hatha Yoga Teacher, Pranayama and Yoga Nidra.
Jelena Stojanov
Discovered yoga and its benefits in my twenties, and I am practicing since then. After a few years of practicing, I wanted to get deeper into studying and understanding the philosophy, and to start to share my knowledge and experience with other people who struggle with stress, anxiety and help them find peace in everyday life. I believe that yoga and meditation, and taking care of our body and mind in general is necessary nowadays to spread some light and peace into this world, and make it a better place to live for all living beings.
With a combination of gentle hatha and vinyasa, pranayama and yoga nidra, I help my students in emotional release, in finding balance and peace.
For me yoga is not only a practice, it is a complete lifestyle. We learn every day, explore ourselves through the practice.
Artisan, Spiritual Painter, Designer & Feng Shui Consultant
Sabine Schumacher
Sabine Schumacher, whose artistic name is Sabella, was born in Karlsruhe, Germany. With artistic roots from both sides of her ancestors, she grew up on the countryside near a forest, she then spent hours of time in nature with her four-pawed friends the cats, the animals of the forest, and probably also a number of friends from fairy land.
Already at that time, Sabine loved seeing the thousand colors and shapes of what was, imagining all what could be there, and creating what could be created by her hands. Being a person with an open and searching mind, she first absolved a commercial school and then studied design, and later increased her knowledge and skills within exploring different branches of the creative and commercial business, achieving excellent recommendations.
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