“Mina is an outstanding Shiatsu therapist. Her beautiful spirit, honest and caring character shines through in every treatment. She is very intuitive and her attention to detail and being present is unique and very refreshing. Her treatments consist of an excellent balance of deep manual therapy and very needed relaxation techniques leaving you feeling alive again and ready to take on the world! I highly recommend Mina for relief from tight, over-worked, stressed muscles, relaxation and also to simply balance the body and mind.”

Dr. Kristen Butler, Chiropractor, Moksha Yoga Teacher, Owner of Island Optimal Health & Performance and Moksha Yoga Nanaimo

“I have been going to Mina for Shiatsu Massage for 18 months on a weekly basis except for when I am away on vacation. I am 64 years old and over the years my muscles have learned to be tense. So Mina is in the process of retraining my muscles, specifically in my neck, and upper and lower back, to stay relaxed. It’s interesting that the manipulations on my lower back aid a healthy digestive system internally. I find her professional, conscientious, and highly intuitive to the energy connections in my body. I would highly recommend her to all potential clients.”

Geralynn Hindmarsh

“In May 2012, a reoccurring shoulder injury from climbing finally hit its peak. The injury put me out of any physical activity, besides a reclining bike, for a year. During that time I saw chiropractors, physiotherapists, and doctors. All had some great advice, but progress was very slow and the pain decreased only a small amount during this time. The pain radiated from my neck, throughout the rotator cough, down the shoulder blade and ran down the side of my upper body. During my first visit with Mina, not only did it feel amazing, but she was able to find the muscles that contributed to the pain and release the tension from them. After 4 visits I was able to fully rotate my arm. I have been enjoying yoga and climbing again. Shiatsu massage works for my body, and I am truly thankful for Mina’s therapeutic approach and genuine concern for my well- being.”

Krystin Donais

“I have been going to Mina for almost a year. I found her through this website and was struck by her story of enrolling into shiatsu training to help heal people.

And we are so fortunate that she chose to practice shiatsu therapy. Her training in this special form of shiatsu is evident – I feel the difference after each session. I have a history of frozen shoulders and a bad lower back. Mina is able to locate these problem areas very quickly and she kneads, unknots, loosens these areas and I feel ‘lighter’ after each session.

Mina’s motivation to heal others, coupled with her training and experience and her gifted touch makes her an outstanding shiatsu practitioner. This form of shiatsu is truly unique and Nanaimo is very fortunate to have Mina here. ”

Yvonne Chan, Marketing professional and frequent visitor to Nanaimo

“Mina has been my shiatsu practitioner for the last 8 years. She has been able to help me with pain and tension in my muscles displaying competence and care. She is very intuitive and her hands always find areas in my body that need the most attention. Her work ethic is amazing and she finds ways to restore ease and alleviate pain. I recommend her highly.”

Bozena

“I’ve accumulated a number of soft-tissue injuries from cycling accidents and from working on labour-intensive construction sites. For the last ten years, I’ve been seeing an excellent chiropractor and an acupuncturist as needed, and they have been helping me to maintain my health and keep working.

Recently, I had a bad fall onto my back from a ladder – not too high and the landing was relatively soft. However, it did result in a degree of whiplash in my neck that grew steadily worse, as I needed to work. As the pain in my neck increased, older injuries in my shoulders began to reactivate as well. My chiropractor was able to do a lot, but he would not touch my neck until I’d recovered, and acupuncture was ineffective. My pain levels were increasing daily and I began looking for an alternative – and my search led me to Shoda Shiatsu.

In the past, I have been skeptical of Shiatsu and even this time, while I was researching treatment possibilities, I wanted to avoid practitioners that seemed to lack focus. Something about Shoda Shiatsu gave me a sense of depth and seriousness in approach. I feel I made a very lucky choice.

Mina Shoda listened carefully to my history and to what I believed to be the current causes of my pain. We talked in detail about what might be happening in my neck and shoulders, and began a course of treatment. It is challenging to describe the effect of this treatment. Mina made a careful examination of my condition and worked more thoroughly in the first session (and in subsequent sessions) than I have experienced in any form of treatment, giving what seemed the needed amount of time – never too little – for each point of injury. The treatment involves intense pressure applied to problematic tension, and that pressure is applied continuously, working both at and around the point, until the tension in that point releases. One area leads to another; in my case, there were problems that seemed to begin in my neck but radiated through my shoulders, down my arms and into my hands, causing pain in some areas, numbness in others, and weakness. When the pain from the injuries is intense and seems to be everywhere at once, the condition can be bewildering and difficult to explain, but Mina is able to detect these radiating lines of tension, find the centre of each area, work to release that area and then move to the next one, and keep going until the entire problem is treated. Often the pressure is quite painful but it is not the same kind of pain that the injuries present – it is the kind that is on its way out and getting smaller rather than coming in and getting bigger. In this way, Shiatsu, as practiced by Mina Shoda, seems capable of addressing certain kinds of injuries and forms of tension in ways that other approaches cannot.

I was becoming desperate when I first went to Mina’s treatment centre, and I cannot really describe the relief I felt after my first treatment.

In subsequent sessions – and not that many – deeper, older injuries seemed to come out, as though layers of injuries were being pulled away, going back into my battered frame’s history of ailments. In one session, I’d become aware of a pain in my knee that I’d been ignoring, and after thinking about it, that pain had been coming and going since I was in my teens, almost 40 years ago. I never dreamed Shiatsu could help a knee joint, but Mina examined the joint and treated it for just a few minutes – and the pain is gone now. My knees feel stronger and better than I can ever remember.

I have had only a few treatments, and I am confident that with not many more, I will be just fine and perhaps better than ever. I am aware that I will need to exercise properly and stretch as part of regular maintenance, and that is my responsibility entirely, but the Shiatsu treatments from Shoda Shiatsu have opened the door for me to do that. I am forever grateful to Mina Shoda for sharing with me her deep studies and knowledge, her professionalism, and her healing intuition, and I have no doubt that she treats all her patients as she has treated me. Good luck with your journey!”

Timothy Hillman