Jenny Shiatsu founder of Shiatsu Connects

Meet Jenny

Jenny Shiatsu, aka Jenny White, is the founder of Shiatsu Connects. With a background in mental health and community development, her focus is on empowering and connecting individuals and communities.  Since 2008, Jenny has been advocating the essential role of accessible and affordable touch therapies within mainstream personal, community and workplace healthcare.

Shiatsu Connects is for anyone who needs or provides support in person or online. Our approach is practical, compassionate, confident and rooted in the real world, and our ethos is simple. By connecting mind and body, touch therapies in turn enable individuals to connect more effectively and comfortably to and within society. Improved self-awareness, health and confidence help enhance a personal and collective resilience within and across different communities. 

More about Jenny Shiatsu 

Jenny discovered the benefits of Shiatsu over 20 years ago when she was suffering ‘burn out’ within a stressful work environment. Working with her Shiatsu therapist, she was also able to come to terms with the impact and shock which had been with her following tragic loss of a close family member through suicide.

“Shiatsu, with its emphasis on compassionate mindful touch, helped me deal with the physical and emotional aspects of stress, burn out and the impact of sudden loss. It helped me stabilise my body and mind. Regular treatments also helped to connect me to what I truly wanted out of life. Shiatsu gave me the resilience to make big changes.’

These changes included the move to Scotland and three years training to be a Shiatsu Practitioner with Glasgow School of Shiatsu. Jenny’s work has an emphasis on mindful self-compassion, emotional resilience and trauma recovery.  She continues to develop her skills and knowledge. She has a Post Grad Certificate in Emotional Education, and has trained with Rob Nairn and The Mindfulness Association for many years. She is influenced by the somatic bodywork approach of trauma specialists, Peter Levine, Bessel Van Der Kolk and Gabor Mate.

Ideally placed to lead the way in helping and inspiring others, Jenny Shiatsu White is a qualified Shiatsu practitioner (MRSS) with an impressive breadth and depth of qualification and expertise in touch therapy training and treatment. In addition to her track record as a practitioner and trainer, Jenny brings 30 years of experience in mental health social care, community education and development with a diverse range of groups and partner organisations. 

Before moving to Edinburgh in 2014, Jenny lived and worked within the community on Holy Isle, an interfaith retreat centre in the West Coast of Scotland. She coordinated events and the volunteer team as well as offering Shiatsu massage therapy to the guests and visitors.

Jenny’s own self care routine includes regular meditation practice. Her main teachers are Lama Yeshe Rinpoche, Tsoknyi Rinpoche and Mingyur Rinpoche and she is a member of the Tergar Edinburgh Meditation Community where she facilitates group meditation sessions.

Passionate about reaching out to and working with people from diverse backgrounds, in all contexts, Jenny’s collaborative approach brings success. This is demonstrated through Shiatsu Connects support of clients from every walk of life and a partner network encompassing fellow practitioners, people working in health and education and also the commercial sector. 

Given the nature of touch therapy, Shiatsu Connects also forges creative collaborations to help express and broaden the benefit of its essential work. 

With the drive and desire to share and support wherever possible, Jenny is a key player with a clear, confident and influential voice advocating the essential role of touch therapies within our everyday lives.