Monica Konrad
I’m passionate about holistic health and believe that the power of holistic self-healing belongs to everyone.
I would love to see everyone around me benefit from these approaches as much as I have done (and continue to do!)
Please scroll down to find out more about who I am and what I do.
I’m an experienced second-degree Reiki and Seichem Practitioner holding registered membership with RASA (Reiki and Seichem Association) and a SSUK registered Shiatsu Practitioner. I graduated from the three-year Professional Practitioner Diploma at the Shiatsu College in Norwich, the first established Shiatsu School in the UK, studying with leading international teachers: Clifford Andrews, Dinah John, Celia Little, Sylvie Marshall and Sebastian (Basti) Deans, whose Zen Shiatsu lineage goes back to Pauline Sasaki and Shizuto Masanaga.
Shiatsu and Reiki have been vital to me in supporting my own health over many years now. At the turn of the millennium I was weighed down by an academic career working long hours in a highly pressurised environment, and at the time was fortunate to receive powerful healing from a number of gifted practitioners in the UK. Sometime later whilst doing anthropological fieldwork along the Thai-Burmese border and in Cambodia, I received wonderful therapeutic bodywork and hands-off healing from indigenous Khmer spirit healers. In urban Phnom Penh, the healers were using methods partly informed by traditional Chinese medicine and this was a huge eye-opener for me.
When I returned from Southeast Asia, the stress I experienced around impossible deadlines and working within institutionally frozen, deadened structures of corporate bureaucracy led to a sense of burn-out. I had chronic tiredness and felt depleted on all levels. Around this time my professional and personal circumstances suddenly changed, and I realised I had been carrying commitments that had not been aligned with my true purpose. From 2010 I began to re-focus all my intention on my holistic training and started practising self-healing daily. This journey of re-training has been a transformational ‘gateway’ in my life – freeing my Ki energy and bringing much balance and contentment.
I love being able to connect with and support my clients with their own wellbeing journeys. I have a special interest in the treatment of stress, anxiety, fatigue, trauma, sensory and pain-related issues. When exhaustion sets in and pain is chronic, I know it can feel overwhelming. And I know first-hand how effective holistic methods can be. I work with Highly Sensitive Persons, Intuitive-Sensitives and Empaths, and have a particular interest in the treatment of weather hypersensitivity.
I’ve long been curious about energetic anatomy, partly as a result of my daily yoga, qigong and mindful movement practice, and partly out of my love for being in nature. Since childhood I have had the feeling of being connected deeply with the natural world, something I experience as a direct, felt sensory awareness.
As my own pathway unfolded, I found myself wanting to go deeper into the fascinating connections between emotional healing, embodied awareness and the power of the mind. I became interested in Hypnotherapy and eventually went on to do my Hypnotherapy training with Jaswinder Challi and Chrysallis, and also studied with Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) Master Practitioners, Ashley Meyer, Sue Beer and Emma Roberts.
Now, as a qualified Hypnotherapist and EFT Practitioner, I am able to offer emotional release ‘tapping’ therapy using a synthesis of integrated energy techniques. This work draws on a range of proprioceptive exercise, bodywork alignment, Ericksonian Hypnotherapy, NLP and approaches from spiritual healing. I find that this dovetails really well with my Shiatsu and Acupressure. It also complements my Reiki energy healing which is often inseparable from deep soul work.
I have been kept busy with a parallel career working for the local branch of a national mental health charity. This has broadened my experience of facilitating strengths-based, community approaches for people living with complex conditions. Currently, I’m an Affiliate of the Trauma Research Foundation where I am completing a Postgraduate Certificate Programme in Traumatic Stress Studies, led by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk (The Body Keeps The Score).
My clinic-based ethnography of women’s somatic, lived experiences of treatments for infertility led to a PhD in Social Anthropology, and following this I taught degree-level courses in reproductive health and ethnomedicine. I have authored peer-reviewed books and papers on cross-cultural healing practices and am a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute.
I love keeping up with the latest developments in the integrative health world and regularly attend CPD (continuing professional development) lectures, practice sessions and workshops. This keeps me up to date with new research, practical applications and safe practice.
Recently, I’ve been studying with some leading international practitioners and trauma treatment pioneers, in person and online:
- Bessel van der Kolk & the Trauma Research Foundation, Understanding Trauma: Foundations
- Jana Pressley & the Trauma Research Foundation, The Complexity of Adaptation to Trauma
- Bessel van der Kolk & the Trauma Research Foundation, The Nature of Trauma: Developmental Neurobiology, Neuroimaging Research and Effective Intervention
- Bessel van der Kolk & the Trauma Research Foundation, Neurobiology of Trauma Treatment and EMDR
- Jana Pressley & the Trauma Research Foundation, Trauma and Adult Attachment Relationships
- Trauma, PTSD and the Mind-Body Relationship (Matthew Sanford, TRF)
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy (Deborah Korn, TRF)
- Neuropsychology of Sandplay Therapy in Trauma (Lorraine Freedle, TRF)
- Use of Play to Support Trauma-Informed Treatment (Steven Gross, TRF)
- Trauma & Altered States of Consciousness (Ruth Lanius, TRF)
- Internal Family Systems (Richard Schwartz, TRF)
- Trauma, Balance and Sensory Integration (Ann Westcott, TRF)
- Stephen Porges, The Emergence of a Polyvagal-Informed Therapy, Trauma Research Foundation, 31st Annual International Trauma Conference
- Deb Dana, Looking Through the Lens of Polyvagal Theory (Mapping and Navigating Your Nervous System),
- Clifford Andrews & New Energy Work, Stress and Trauma for Shiatsu
- Clifford Andrews & New Energy Work, Creating Shiatsu Treatments Online
- Clifford Andrews & New Energy Work, Distance Healing for Shiatsu Practitioners
- Clifford Andrews & New Energy Work, Shiatsu: The Scientific Basis
- Wendy Ridley & The Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom, Building Balanced Empathy
- Lorraine Gleeson, Hypnotherapy Training; Holly Wincote, Hypnotherapy Training
- Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP) Science of Energy Healing:
- Peta Stapleton: EFT and Energy Psychology
- Roger Jahnke: Healing Effect of Qigong & Tai Chi
- Helané Wahbeh: Exceptional Healer Pilot Study
- Rollin McCraty, The Science of Coherence: Heart, Brain & Earth
- Stephen Porges, Why the Energy System is Important for Energy Healing
- Bruce Lipton, Seeds of an ‘Energetic Biology’
- Gabriella Poli, Quantum Shiatsu Evolution Workshop
- Gabriella Poli, Fascia Release Workshop
- Svenja Schaper, Samurai Shiatsu Programme for Children
Qualifications and Professional Memberships
- Diploma in Shiatsu and Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shiatsu Therapist, MrSS (Member of the Register of the Shiatsu Society)
- Registered Member of the CNHC (Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council) – Shiatsu
- Certificate in Holistic Acupressure (Shiatsu College, UK)
- Certified Reiki and Seichem Practitioner, Member of the Reiki and Seichem Association (RASA)
- Diploma in Integrated Energy Techniques, Dip IET (The EFT Centre)
- Certified Hypnotherapist Cert Hyp CS, MHS, Member of the National Hypnotherapy Society
- Accredited, Certified EFT Practitioner, Member of the Emotional Freedom Techniques International (EFTi)
- Certified NLP Practitioner, American Board of NLP (ABNLP)
- Higher Education Mental Health First Aid Champion (MHFA England)
- PhD, Social Anthropology, University of London, and Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute
- I have enhanced DBS and am fully insured
