Instructors
Our Instructors are highly trained in the use of Toyohari skills and techniques. They are also skilled in coaching students to develop
these specific Toyohari skills and in helping them understand the didactic material of the program.
All of our Instructors have been trained by senior practitioners in Japan, the U.S. and/or Europe. They have been approved as
teachers by the International Toyohari Association, which is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The Toyohari style of Meridian Therapy is only taught by qualified Instructors during a Toyohari Program in North America, Europe, Australasia or Japan.
Zoë Brenner, L.Ac., Dip.Ac., Dipl.CH, has been practicing acupuncture since 1976. She has taught and written about acupuncture theory and practice, history and the Chinese classics, and Chinese Herbal Medicine in the U.S. and Europe.
She started studying Toyohari in 1997 and has continued her study with senior Japanese teachers in the U.S., Japan and Europe. She completed a two year advanced training seminar in Europe. Zoe has been teaching Toyohari since 2000 and is the currently the Academic Dean of the Toyohari Association of N.A. and the President of the Washington, D.C. Branch.
Zoe continues an active practice of acupuncture specializing in Toyohari. She really gets pleasure in teaching and coaching acupuncturists to appreciate, feel the Qi with their hands and being able to perform the nuanced needle techniques of this style of treatment.
Martin Feldman Lic. Ac., graduated from the New England School of Acupuncture in 1982 and soon after was studying Japanese styles. He studied with many Japanese masters and helped form the Japanese Acupuncture department at NESA. He taught there for many years.
Martin first studied Toyohari when his friend Stephen Birch convinced Fukushima Kodo to send a graduate to live and teach in Boston. A group of students there studied very carefully and intensely culminating in 1990 with a week long class in Tokyo taught by Fukushima Kodo and the most senior Toyohari teachers. They then formed the first branch outside of Japan.
Martin has since taught and studied in many places throughout North America and Europe and Japan. He loves Japanese acupuncture and is still fascinated by what it can do.
Martin maintains a private practice in the Boston area.
Mark Joslin, RN, MAc, EAMP, Dipl. Ac, graduated from Seattle Central Community College in 1976 with an Associate of Applied Science, Nursing degree. He was continuously employed for 34 years and remained certified and proficient in all aspects of emergency and critical care nursing until he retired from hospital work in 2010. He graduated from NIAOM in 1994 with a Masters in Acupuncture degree. Mark began studying Toyohari acupuncture in 1995 with senior Japanese instructors. He has trained almost yearly since then with senior instructors both in Japan and the US. He became a certified Toyohari instructor in 2000 and began teaching in the basic programs in 2001. He completed the first Advanced Training offered in the US in 2008 and later that year taught in the National Training along with Tanauchi and Tokanaga senseis.
Mark was the first Academic Dean of the Seattle branch and also served as branch President from 1999 until 2004. He has been in private practice in Rainier Washington since 1994, specializing in Toyohari and moxibustion techniques. His favorite pastimes are hiking, golf and motorcycles. “I love to see practitioners mastering these subtle needle techniques to make them their own”.
Brenda Loew, M.Ac., EAMP / L.Ac, has a family practice in Seattle specializing in Japanese-style acupuncture. Travelling to Japan many times since 1996 to study with senior Japanese Toyohari teachers, she completed the first advanced Toyohari training offered outside of Japan (in Amsterdam). An authorized instructor in the Toyohari Association since 1998, Brenda was on the faculty of the Northwest Institute of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NIAOM) from 1994-2002, serves as adjunct faculty at several acupuncture colleges and teaches throughout North America. She served as President of the Toyohari Association of North America (TANA) from 2001 to 2012, continues to serve as President of the Seattle Branch of the Toyohari Association, and co-founded the Japanese Acupuncture Institute.
Her other interests include meditation, tai chi, studying acupuncture classics, and community service. She is happiest when engaged in dialogue with practitioners and students on how to make the ancient wisdom of the ancestors come alive in our modern times, and is passionate about humanity’s relationship with nature.
Loew’s healing philosophy is, “When the body is in harmony and its energy is balanced, we will feel at ease” and “All medicine is Love” (a quote from one of her mentors, Yanagishita sensei).
Manu Saxena, LAc., EAMP, has a Bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Cornell University, a Master’s in the same from the University of Washington, and a Master’s in acupuncture from NIAOM. He first began studying Toyohari in 1994, and trained in Japan numerous times; he continues to meet and study with advanced Japanese acupuncturists on a regular basis. Manu has been a certified TANA instructor since 1999, served as a member of the Japanese acupuncture faculty of NIAOM, and taught Japanese-style acupuncture in Seattle, Chicago, Texas, Colorado, and Florida. He is a co-founder of TANA (the Toyohari Association of North America). Manu has had a private practice in Seattle since 1997, specializing in the use of Toyohari acupuncture. He continues to learn and study new ways of applying the principles of Chinese medicine to the challenges of the modern world.
Dan Zizza got interested in Japanese acupuncture in 1986, while still a student at NIAOM and studying with Stephen Brown. After graduation in 1989, Dan began extensive study in Japanese acupuncture with Stephen Birch, Junko Ida, and Kiiko Matsumoto. In 1995 Dan had the opportunity to study with the senior senseis of the Toyohari meridian therapy association for an introductory weekend. Following that workshop he took the year long basic training program in Toyohari meridian therapy, completing the program in 1996. Since then Dan has continued studying Toyohari meridian therapy, attending regular trainings with the senseis both in the US and in Japan.
Dan began teaching and supervising students at NIAOM in 1994. In 1998 Dan began instructing in the Japanese acupuncture certificate program. He became a Toyohari meridian therapy instructor in 1999. Dan served as academic dean for the Toyohari association of North America from 2007 to 2012, and is currently the academic dean for the Northwest branch of the Toyohari association.