Seijun Yanagida

Seijun Yanagida is a certified massage therapist. He was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan.
He came to the United States to attend graduate school in communication studies. He
began working as a liaison for NUMMI (the joint venture between General Motors and
Toyota, in Fremont, CA), but he realized that the corporate setting of a huge company
was not a good fit. Returning to academics, he received an MA in transpersonal studies
from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. Eventually, he sought to work more
simply, with people, not theoretical concepts—on a smaller, more personal scale, doing
something basic to human life, involving the body or touch. He wanted to see the effects
of his work directly. This led him to becoming a massage therapist. Seijun has studied
both Eastern and Western styles of massage, along with various movement practices,
including Chi Gong, Tai Chi, and Feldenkrais. He has also taught chair massage.
Therapy is an interaction between two people, and massage techniques are only one part
of this interaction. Body, Mind, and Heart are also extremely important. Cultivating and
deepening them is a lifetime practice. Seijun currently studies Tai Chi and Chi Gong,
which engage these essential elements and help him to bring more presence and
awareness to his work with massage clients.
Seijun believes that therapeutic touch is an important part of the healing experience—
particularly in this age of digital revolution. He offers table massage and low-cost chair
massage to make touch therapy available to more people.