Schools and universities
Guest lectures, specialist modules, practical workshops, curriculum development, and faculty training for acupuncture, massage, healthcare, and related professional programs.
Professional education · institutions · community
Professional Collaborations
Specialist Gua sha education developed with schools, clinics, spas, healthcare teams, and community organizations. Komorebi Institute brings more than 25 years of clinical and teaching experience to programs designed around the practitioners, setting, and work they will undertake.
Discuss a collaborationExplore our trainingWorking with your organization
Organizations approach us for different reasons. A professional school may want to introduce Gua sha within an existing curriculum. A clinical team may need supervised training that fits its scope of practice. A spa may be developing a distinctive facial treatment, while a community partner may be looking for practical skills that can be taught and maintained locally.
We begin by understanding the participants, their experience, and the conditions in which they will use what they learn. This determines the teaching format, practical content, level of supervision, and assessment.
Clinics and healthcare teams
Therapeutic Gua sha training with emphasis on observation, anatomical relationships, appropriate dosage, safety, and reassessment. Content is adapted to the qualifications and responsibilities of the participating practitioners.
Spas and wellness teams
Professional Facial Gua sha education for practitioners who need consistent technical standards and the ability to adapt treatment to individual facial tissues, movement, sensitivity, and presentation.
Community organizations
Locally adapted Gua sha education, demonstrations, and supervised community activities developed in partnership with organizations familiar with the people and setting. Planning includes consent, safeguarding, and continuity after training.
What we can develop together
Teaching and training
- Focused introductory workshops and demonstrations
- Two-day or four-day practical programs
- Specialist Facial Gua sha and Therapeutic Gua sha education
- Continuing professional development and advanced practitioner sessions
- Lectures, case discussions, and curriculum consultation
Program design
- Content matched to participants' existing qualifications
- Practical teaching time, group size, and equipment
- Clear learning outcomes and assessment where appropriate
- Supervision, hygiene, informed consent, and professional boundaries
- Scheduling, travel, language support, and budget
Programs can be delivered as standalone training or incorporated into an institution's existing educational provision. We can also discuss follow-up supervision and longer-term faculty development where appropriate.
Experience behind the teaching
Komorebi Institute is directed by Clive Witham, a licensed acupuncturist, health promotion specialist, and author of six books on Gua sha and related subjects. He has spent more than 25 years treating, teaching, and developing professional education in Gua sha, and created Ecology in Motion™ (EIM), the clinical and educational approach taught through the Institute.
His teaching has taken place internationally, including professional courses in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia. His ongoing doctoral studies at Anhui University of Chinese Medicine contribute to a wider engagement with the historical and scientific investigation of Gua sha.
Alongside professional education, his work includes hospital and community training in Sri Lanka and Gua sha education with Indigenous communities in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta region of Colombia. These projects require different teaching decisions from those appropriate in a spa or postgraduate clinical classroom.
Ecology in Motion™: EIM teaches practitioners to observe tissue behavior, explore relationships across the body, select an appropriate intervention, and reassess the response. Its teaching combines practical Gua sha skills with anatomical knowledge, clinical reasoning, and careful attention to the individual.
How a collaboration is arranged
1. Initial discussion
We discuss your organization, the people who will attend, their current experience, and the outcomes you want from the training.
2. A tailored proposal
We recommend a realistic format and outline the content, practical requirements, schedule, responsibilities, and cost.
3. Preparation
We agree on facilities, equipment, participant information, and any requirements for supervision, consent, safeguarding, or clinical activity.
4. Delivery and follow-up
Training is delivered with practical feedback and appropriate assessment. Where useful, we can discuss further education or supervision.
Professional standards
Gua sha is taught in a range of environments, from regulated clinical practice to wellness and community settings. The training must reflect the responsibilities and limits of each setting. Clinical activities require appropriate consent, hygiene procedures, safety arrangements, and supervision. Participants should only apply techniques within their qualifications, local regulations, and professional scope.
For community projects, the roles of partner organizations, safeguarding arrangements, language needs, and longer-term local capacity are considered during planning rather than added after the program has been designed.
Discuss a collaboration
Tell us about your organization, where the training would take place, the background of your participants, and what you hope they will be able to do afterward. We can then discuss a suitable format and the practical details.
Contact Komorebi Institute