Advanced Practitioner Training
Once you've learnt the foundations of Gentle Release Therapy, there is a great deal more to draw on. The Advanced Practitioner Training builds on what you already do, with Acu-Touch, over seventy-five acupuncture points held by touch, and a fuller understanding of how to bring Traditional Chinese Medicine into your treatments. You learn to choose points for the person in front of you and to plan a treatment around what they bring. You can join as soon as you've attended the Practitioner Training, even if you're still completing your case studies.
New to the work? Read more about Gentle Release Therapy →
You might have been practising Gentle Release Therapy for a couple of years, or you might have only recently attended your Practitioner Training. Both are welcome.
By this point you know the shape of a treatment. You can hold the chest and abdomen, work the cranial system, and stay calmly with whatever surfaces. And you will have noticed that no two clients arrive with quite the same needs. One is navigating perimenopause, another is struggling after a difficult experience, someone else is hoping to conceive.
The Advanced Training doesn't change the way you already work. It gives you more understanding of what might be happening, more options for how to support each person, and the confidence to put that knowledge together in your own way.
Gentle Release Therapy works with the whole person, not only the place where someone is feeling discomfort, and Traditional Chinese Medicine gives us a way of seeing those connections. In your foundation training you met the organs and the emotions associated with them, the cranial system, and the endocrine and lymphatic work.
There is only so much a foundation course can hold. The Advanced Training goes much further into Traditional Chinese Medicine, particularly the meridians and the acupuncture points: why particular points are traditionally chosen, how they relate to different physical and emotional experiences, and how that sits alongside everything else you already do.
At the centre of it is Acu-Touch, a gentle, needle-free way of working with acupuncture points. There is no set routine to follow with every client. You learn to choose points and techniques according to what each person brings, and having more knowledge gives you more to draw on when you follow what you notice.
It gives you more points on the map, and more confidence to follow them.
There is a lot in these three days. We spend time on the theory behind each technique, and just as much on practising it and feeling how it is to receive. As with all Gentle Release work, treatments are given fully clothed with gentle touch. There are no needles, no oil and no manipulation.
The largest part of the course. You learn over seventy-five acupuncture points across the twelve main meridians, starting with nine that come up most often and then taking each meridian in turn. For each point we look at its traditional uses, its relationship with the organs and emotions, and why you might choose it over another, so that you understand what you are doing and are not reaching for a book every time someone arrives with something different.
Knowing the points is one thing. Choosing which to use, and how they sit beside your other Gentle Release techniques, is the skill that makes them yours. We work through different client situations, then you plan a treatment in pairs and give it. A plan is a starting place. You can still change direction and respond to what you notice as the session unfolds.
Traditional acupuncture point prescriptions for a range of conditions, with the reasoning behind each choice so they are more than lists to memorise. We also spend time on women's health, including menstrual difficulties, perimenopause and menopause, and what Traditional Chinese Medicine has to say about those stages of life. This is always support alongside whatever medical care someone already has, never a promise to fix or cure.
Fertility is an area I have worked with for many years in my own practice. When someone is trying to conceive there is far more involved than the physical side: disappointment, fear, grief, frustration, or the exhaustion of months or years of hoping that this will be the month. You learn the meridians and points traditionally associated with reproductive health, and how to bring together the abdominal, cranial and endocrine work with Acu-Touch, for women and for men. There is no promise of an outcome here. You learn how to be a steady support through what can be a very difficult time, alongside medical care and never instead of it.
Gentle ways of supporting someone as they approach the birth of their baby. Pregnancy can bring up all sorts of feelings, particularly after a difficult birth or a long time trying to conceive. You learn the relevant Acu-Touch points and how to use the techniques you already know for the emotional side of preparing for birth, always alongside maternity care.
Sometimes a client arrives with a part of the body that seems to have been holding tension for a very long time: a joint, an old injury, somewhere they instinctively protect. You learn to work intuitively with these areas, with gentle contact and attention to what you notice, giving the person time and space to respond in their own way. Nothing is forced.
The pelvic bowl has its own kind of power and creativity once you know how to work with it. It is somewhere people can hold a great deal, physically and emotionally, and it is rarely given attention. You learn a gentle, respectful way of bringing it into your treatments as part of the whole person. (This work is taught with the permission of Tami Lynn Kent, whose Holistic Pelvic Care informs it.)
A gentle technique at the head, used to ease tension held high in the body. It can feel especially right when someone has been carrying a lot or feels overwhelmed, and it is a quiet way to bring a treatment towards its close.
By the end you have a much wider range of points and techniques to choose from, and a better understanding of how to bring them together.
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I loved every minute. The course has given me the ability to work at a deeper level with my current treatments, and the potential to expand into areas I had never previously considered. It's very special to spend time in such a nurturing and supportive space while gaining all the knowledge and practical experience the course has to offer.
Hannah · Lincolnshire retreat
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The advanced course has given me an infinite opportunity to really personalise my energy treatments for my clients, both those I meet in person and at a distance. It's been a pleasure to learn the techniques, and I'm not overstating it when I say it's been life changing.
Faye · Lincolnshire retreat
Your theory materials arrive in advance, so you can start getting to know the acupuncture points and the ideas behind them. You don't need to memorise everything before we meet. The aim is to be familiar enough that the practical days can be spent practising.
Each technique is demonstrated, then practised in treatment swaps, so you both give and receive every part of the work. Groups are small, which leaves time for questions, discussion and individual support. There is a lot to cover, and the pace is still kept unhurried.
You can bring the new techniques into your Gentle Release treatments straight away, within your professional scope and insurance. Case studies are encouraged, because there is so much to be gained from taking your time with the techniques, but unlike the Practitioner Training they are not required for the Advanced assessment.
Tuesday 13 to Thursday 15 April 2027
9.30am to 2.30pm each day
Live on Zoom from a quiet, private space at home, with no travel. You receive extra pre-recorded material beforehand, which is why the live days are shorter. The time together is spent on the techniques, practice, questions and treatment planning.
£525 from 1 January 2027. A deposit by 31 December 2026 keeps this year's price. All prices side by side →
Maximum eight students per course.
Complete the booking form →Tuesday 15 to Thursday 17 June 2027
Accommodation Mon 14th to Fri 18th June
Three days at Ashlin Farm Barns, a peaceful retreat setting in rural Lincolnshire, away from everyday distractions. If you stay at the barns there is time to arrive gently, enjoy the woodland walks and quiet evenings, and get to know the other practitioners.
£625 from 1 January 2027 (£975 with accommodation). A deposit by 31 December 2026 keeps this year's price. All prices side by side →
Spaces are intentionally limited, so please get in touch before booking to check availability. Have a look at the barns here →
Complete the booking form →
The Gentle Release Therapy Advanced Practitioner Training is an accredited course with the Association of Reflexologists.
International students are very welcome. Insurance requirements vary between providers and countries, so please check that your insurer will cover the techniques you intend to practise.
The full curriculum, how the training is organised, and more about the Advanced Practitioner qualification.
If you have attended the Practitioner Training and have been wondering whether to take your learning further, I would love to welcome you onto the Advanced course. If you're not sure whether you're ready, or you'd like to ask anything before booking, please get in touch.
Get started today before this once in a lifetime opportunity expires.
