Profile

Shin-TAO

 

Born in Tokyo, Shin-tao was introduced to reflexology for the first time in 1988. Sustaining painful and serious injuries from a severe car accident, he received reflexology from a well-known and established friend for the first time.

Deeply moved by the process, he started studying reflexology that very year. Studying English, American, and countless other Asian styles of reflexology, Shin-tao continued with his studies, basing his research in alternative and holistichealing styles.

Eventually this course of study brought him to Arizona and New Mexico, home to the great Native American cultures and many well-known shamans.

Making friends with local Navaho and Hopi shamans, also known as local healers, magicians, and doctors, he received much influence and guidance, greatly affecting his personal style.

Culminating in 1995, Shin-tao graduated from the prestigious New Mexico Academy of Healing Arts, located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, also known as the massage capital of the United States. Swedish Massage, Aromatherapy, Craniosacral Therapy, Medical Massage, and Feldenkrais Method Technique were among the many subjects he vigorously studied. Upon graduation, Shin-tao set out for Kobe, Japan, where he began his teaching career, eventually returning back to America to begin teaching courses and workshops in reflexology full-time.

 

At the end of 1999, Shin-tao relocated from Santa Fe to Hawaiʻi for the express purpose of studying Lomi Lomi, or traditional Hawaiian Massage Technique.  At the start of 2000, while working as a licensed massage therapist on the opening staff of the trailblazing Na hoʻola Spa in the Hyatt Regency Waikiki, he continued his studies in customer service at Thalassotherapy at Hyatt University and Phytomer respectively.

After being selected for the Hyattʼs prestigious Hoʼo hanohano award for three consecutive years,Shin-tao was honored by the Hawaiʻi Association of Lodgings and Hotels.

Gaining distinction among those in his field, Shin-taoʼs experience in the field is as varied as it is unparalleled, and he remains a popular therapist, serving such clients as local and famed athletes, celebrities, and politicians, such as the 44th  President of the United States, Barack Obama.

 

During the great spa boom that tore through Hawaiʻi during the middle of

2000, Shin-tao took workshops with the great Auntie Margaret at the Kamehameha School and received much influence in Life Style Healing Concepts. Wanting to study Lomi Lomi from Auntie Margaret as closely as possible, Shin-tao decided to study Lomi Lomi in the style of Sheila OʼMalley,a Kumu Lomi Lomi who commands respect from all those Hawaiians who know her.

Studying under Auntie Margaret as her sole apprentice, he graduated from the six month Beginning/Advanced Lomi Lomi Course the following year. Thereafter, becoming close friends with Sheila OʼMalley, the two attended the Hawaiian Lomi Lomi Conference, and continued working together on other such ambitious plans. After helping one of Sheilaʼs classes as an assistant, Shin-tao was bestowed the title Kumu Lomi Lomi, continuing the no nationality-barred lineage.

He is proud to continue in the line of this diverse Hawaiian, American, and Japanese tradition. Although his Lomi Lomi classes feature the traditional techniques and teaching methods honoring Auntie Margaret, Shin-taoʼs courses are enriched by the color of other such traditional Hawaiian healing techniques such as La'au lapa'au (Hawaiian HerbalMedicine), Hoʼo pono pono (Mind Cleansing), and Huna Shamanism.

 

Shin-tao began his Original Hot Stone Massage La Stone Therapy study in December of 2000, learning from Mary Casebeer. Upon obtaining certificate of completion, Shin-tao studied thermotherapy and cooling remedies from Mary,who had formerly been a nurse, while serving as her assistant during the Hot Stone Massage Course, taught together on Kauai.

 

Commanding both a deep understanding and wide breadth of massage therapies, Shin-tao uses his healing powers to the fullest. Even studying Reiki, his interest in healing and holistic treatments are never ceasing, traveling through India, Bali, and Cambodia, continuing to engage in a never-ending quest to study the philosophy, creed, and customs of such varied cultures.

After receiving licensing as a Massage Therapist Educator in 2007 from the Hawaii State Board, he began teaching classes and workshops at local vocational schools and colleges in Lomi Lomi, Reflexology, and Hot Stone Therapy. He continues to educate others in the various genuine techniques, healing methods, and medical treatments, which continue to persist in remaining largely unknown to the general public.

 

Shin-tao  continues to assemble various experts in health and beauty from around the world, culminating in a new project pursuing the ultimate care of a personʼs heart, body, and soul, LOMI YOU. Combining care for the body,mind, and spirit, LOMI YOU aims to furnish such a salon, spa, and school as to combine the ancient healing and massage techniques handed down from the past, largely unknown and untaught, and to present this gentle and beautiful technique covering both skin and body care to the modern body.

 

Shin-tao aims to base his work around LOMI YOU and continue his teaching and volunteering, bringing healing techniques from all over the world to the local community and continuing to enrich his own body, mind, and spirit for the many years to come.