What is Zen-Touch

Zen-Touch™ is a form of body therapy that combines:
“Zen” - A state of being where one is flowing in harmony with the forces of nature. When we
experience this place we feel a sense of Oneness... Unity... with the divine. We can all recall times, perhaps moments when our life flowed perfectly. Call it perfection, bliss, joy, love, or a connection with God, this state of “being” is very healing and perhaps the common state that all humans strive for.

“Touch” –The practitioner’s body, including hands, fingers, thumbs, elbows, forearms, knees, feet are used to make contact with a person’s energy field. A tuning of the body mind spirit occurs as the practitioner orchestrates movements, stretching and holding of points on energy meridians that correspond to functions of the body mind spirit.

“Shiatsu”- Traditional “finger pressure” style of bodywork that is often therapeutic while being
somewhat painful. Seymour’s Zen-Touch ™ style makes the gain without the pain.
It sounds like people who receive Zen-Touch™ will become
healed or enlightened?
Receivers of Zen-Touch™ are “response able” for their own changes, benefits / healing. The practitioner and client become co -creators of a state of being that expedites change, and improves one’s overall health condition.
The sessions are a thumbnail glimpse and experience of joy, calm, freedom from pain, and a state of peace that is inherent to our birthright as human beings. By facilitating a shift in how one’s body communicates with itself, practitioners merely catalyze changes that a client would have eventually embodied on her/his own (ideally in this lifetime). The change; relief, life lesson, joy, understanding simply comes sooner.
It seems like this might be hard work for the practitioner?
One of the unique differences between ZT and other bodywork forms is that the practitioner and client
are in a reciprocal relationship- they both receive benefit. I compare it to giving a gift to someone you
love. Who gets more benefit? -the giver or receiver? Ideally both feel better from the experience. The
amount of commitment that is necessary for a practitioner to facilitate this work is extensive.
Eastern/holistic theories techniques and practical applications of energy meridian, behavioral, exercise,
nutritional assessment and recommendations are all part of a practitioner’s repertoire of necessary skills.
The paradox is that while a practitioner could offer so much information and technical expertise to a client, the best work is accomplished when the practitioner gets out of the way so that a client finds his/her own path to healing.
Can you be more specific about the way ZT practitioners do
their bodywork? The 5 principles that practitioners maintain while facilitating sessions are the essential key to the unique approach of Zen-Touch™
1) Reverence: Practitioners address the human body as a vehicle or instrument of Spiritual
Development. The forces of nature that govern every movement and function of the body mind spirit are accessible through the energy meridians that the practitioner stimulates. The honor of touching and connecting with someone in this way is accepted with gratitude, respect, humility, compassion and awe.
Before a practitioner lays hands on someone he takes a moment to center and embrace the sacred space that is created between client and practitioner.
2) Be Received: Practitioners wait to be called in rather than asserting themselves on a client.
Instead of “Pushing” on the body we are being “Pulled” into one’s energy field, meridians, body areas and tissues. It’s like knocking on a door and waiting to be let in rather than pushing the door open.
3) Flowing: Instead of moving in an abrupt random manor, practitioners, like water, flow into the
areas that are calling for attention. Stretches, point stimulation, and various foot, hand, elbow, and knee techniques are woven into a seamless pattern of motion that mirrors the contours; valleys and mountains,
high’s and lows of the client’s body.
4) Both Hands: The use of two hands that are in constant communication with each other connect areas of high energy with areas of low energy. For example A “cool” area in the upper back that feels relief when a nurturing hand is placed there, is connected to a painful high ridge in the mid back area that is “ropey” and slips away when a thumb touches it. By gently connecting these two
areas, the body feels how this state of extreme between emptiness and fullness can be moderated, and better balanced. When life situations are too extreme one may get burnt out, fatigued, and feel pain or resentment. The practitioner points this out by stimulating these areas of extreme and the body usually receives/accepts this message because of the practitioners nurturing and supportive approach. The body listens and spirit responds.
5) Be Natural: each practitioner develops her own style or “nature”. Every session of Zen-Touch™ is as different as the practitioner that facilitates it. The common thread that one will recognize ZT by is the 5 Principles.

What do you attribute as the main reason people have Health Challenges?
I attribute it to the extremes people live their lives with. In our desire to feel passion or avoid it, we sometimes burn the candle at both ends. Lifestyle extremes like hyperactivity followed by exhaustion burn the body out – ZT practitioners find and stimulate the meridian lines, points, or body areas and systems that are being pushed to the limit (“FULL”) and those that have been neglected (“EMPTY”) and
are calling for attention. The client feels the resulting balance and ideally shifts his or her life to feel this benefit more consistently.

Does the practitioner say anything to the client about the
energy dynamics of High and Low – Full/Excess and Empty/Deficiency, Yin/ Yang or the 5 Elements?
At the end of a session the practitioner will often explain what she or he finds using the” 5 Element/Season model” which integrates one’s health condition with the cycles of nature. For example in the scenario above the high/ full energy area might correspond to excess “summer-like” flamboyance, excitement, passion and perhaps compulsion affecting the Hear and Small Intestine Meridians. This hyper activity can be a distraction from the person’s need to honor the “Fall –like” calling for acknowledgement- “harvest” of one’s individuality and self/soul awareness that is associated with the Lungs and Large Intestine Meridians.
The gathering of one’s unique soul expression may have out of fear been denied and relatively empty for so long”. A practitioner may offer exercises, foods, and way of life suggestions that will enhance and support the client’s movement towards the resolution of this extreme pattern.

Any last comments about Zen-Touch™?
If a person is looking to expedite their journey on the path to
health, in a way that feels absolutely wonderful I invite you to
experience Zen-Touch™.