Instructors
The following are all qualified to teach Shintaido in Britain (click on a name to read more). It is not an exhaustive list of all those qualified to teach, but does represent those who are actively seeking to do so.
Masashi Minagawa, Master Instructor
Shintaido Master Instructor, Bojutsu 5-dan, Karate 5-dan
Masashi was one of the founding members of Shintaido in Japan. He lives in Bristol, and is very much the centre of Shintaido in the UK. He is one of only four doshu in the world, and so we are fortunate to have him here in the UK. As well as his work with British Shintaido he is the coordinator of the European Shintaido College Technical Committee.
Ula Chambers, General Instructor
Shintaido General Instructor
Class: Brighton
Ula lives in Brighton, where she runs a small local group. She is a General Shintaido Instructor (4th Dan equivalent), Bohjutsu 1st dan, and is the current Chair of the British Shintaido College and a founder member of the European Technical Committee. She has been practising Shintaido for over 35 years and has been an Instructor of Shintaido for 28 years. She offers Shintaido practice in various forms – weekly classes, workshops, demonstrations, one off sessions, corporate/team bonding sessions and individual work.
Ula is also a Specialist Physiotherapist working with Adults who have special needs/learning disabilities. She applies Shintaido principles to her work role in relation to empowering her clients and the team she works with. The unique Shintaido qualities of somatic listening, understanding and working with a person’s movement ability, have supported her enormously in this role.
Charles Burns, Senior Instructor
Shintaido Senior Instructor, Bojutsu 3-dan, Karate shodan
Class: Reading
Charles Burns is a successful freelance artist and the current Chair of British Shintaido. He has been practicing Shintaido for over 30 years and currently runs regular Shintaido classes in his home town of Reading.
He was first introduced to Shintaido in 1983, joining a student Shintaido club while studying painting at Wolverhampton Art College. He became a Shintaido graduate in 1994, a qualified instructor in 2003, and a Senior Instructor in 2016. In 2012 he also attained the rank of third dan in Shintaido bojutsu (the Shintaido brand of quarterstaff practice) making him one of a small number to hold this rank in the UK.
Pam Minagawa, Instructor
Shintaido Instructor, Bojutsu shodan
Class: Bath
Pam is married to Masashi and spent a long time studying Shintaido in Japan before they both moved to England. She is currently on the Management Committee for British Shintaido.
Peter Furtado, Instructor
Shintaido Instructor
Class: Stroud
Peter Furtado has been practising Shintaido since the early 1980s and has been a qualified Instructor for many years. He lives in Stroud and is a long-standing member of the Management Committee for British Shintaido.
Nagako Cooper, Instructor
Shintaido Instructor
Nagako began to practice Shintaido in Tokyo in 1994. She moved to the UK in 1999 and started 2 weekly classes Lightwave Shintaido and Gentle Shintaido in Stroud, Gloucestershire and shared the joy of Shintaido over the years. Recently she has handed the classes over to Peter Furtado and Susan Lacroix as she has relocated to Dumfriesshire in Scotland. She is planning to start a new class in the area soon.
Jamie Hamilton, Graduate
Shintaido Graduate
No regular class at present
Graduated in 2007, Jamie lives and works in Farnham. He combines Shintaido with his work as a acupuncture practitioner.
Susan Lacroix, Kenjutsu and Bojutsu Shodan
Kenjutsu Nidan and Bojutsu Shodan
Classes: Stroud and Box (Wiltshire)
Susan lives near Bath and now teaches two classes, one weekly one in Stroud and one every few weeks in Box. She is particularly interested in exploring how the benefits of gentle shintaido—relatively simple, relaxing yet energising movements done alone or with others—can be brought into and enhance daily life.
Susan is a counsellor and anma shiatsu practitioner and uses Shintaido and its principles in her work.
