Would you like to:

  Relieve tension and pain in your muscles and joints?

  Keep your body healthy and flexible?

  Learn a Chinese medicine approach to arthritis?

  Help yourself with simple acupressure techniques?

  Cope more effectively with stress?

  Stay healthy and active as you age?

  Experience vitality, joy, and ease in your body?

Chinese medicine teaches that pain is stuck energy and that energy tends to get stuck in the joints. This class emphasizes keeping the joints flexible, since this will help us reduce pain and improve energy flow. The class combines instruction in acupressure self-help with gentle movements to lubricate all the joints.

In the first part of each class we learn and practice simple acupressure techniques that relieve pain and tension in the neck, back, shoulders, and the joints. The class is customized to the needs of the students and typically includes acupressure techniques for arthritis, the hands, wrists, elbows, hips, knees, and feet. An important part of the class from the very beginning is learning to hold a sequence of points for improving and maintaining overall health. We also learn acupressure self-massage and Shiatsu stretches. An optional CD to guide you in practicing at home on your own is available for a $10 material charge.

At the end of each class, we move to music, combining simple Qigong movements for the joints with Rosen Method Movement. Rosen Movement was developed by an innovative physical therapist as a way to prevent problems in the joints before they arise. The movements are simple and unhurried, non-aerobic and non-impact. They lubricate all the joints and are appropriate for all ages, including those who are recovering from injury or who have physical limitations.

By attending a weekly class, you will:

  Learn to locate and hold acupressure points

  Learn to hold a sequence of points to restore, improve, and maintain your health

  Learn acupressure points specific to each joint

  Learn to hold a sequence of points for arthritic conditions

  Keep your body supple and moving freely

  Improve alignment and posture

  Increase coordination and balance

  Breathe with greater ease

  Increase vitality and aliveness

  Re-experience the joy of moving that you felt as a child

Classes are taught by Jan Henderson, nationally certified in Asian Bodywork by the NCCAOM and a certified Rosen Method Movement teacher and Rosen Method Bodywork practitioner. Jan teaches Acupressure Self-Help at Kaiser Permanente and has trained acupressure therapists at Body Therapy Center. She is a certified Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner and a student of Medical Qigong. For more information on Jan, please see her About Jan page.

From the founder of Rosen Movement, Marion Rosen:

"Our goal is to make people feel happy and motivated to dance, rather than drag themselves around. We would like them to feel physically well when their bodies move, and emotionally cheerful…. [T]his is built on a very deep knowledge of anatomy and how people can move."

From Albert Einstein:

"Nothing happens until something moves."

From Jan Henderson:

"We are healthy when our yin and yang energies are balanced and our chi is flowing smoothly throughout the entire body. The intention of acupressure is to guide the body back into balance and flow -- the BalanceFlow principle. This is a holistic practice that restores health to the whole person -- body, mind, and spirit. It is much more than simply a means to eliminate symptoms. "