His clients include Liza Minelli, Ralph Lauren, Henry Kissinger, Ani DiFranco and other notables. Ohashi's latest work, Ohashi Method, can be found in his expanding DVD library, beside his OhashiTouch classic, FaceLift. I have been in the wellness industry for 43 years. I began first as a bodywork therapist at the Watergate in Washington, D.C. Yes, that Watergate. Then I became of the first instructors teaching Oriental bodywork in New York City. I believe that education is critical for us. I saw a need and so I established and directed a non-profit educational and cultural organization. I wrote several books, all of them translated into many different languages. As an entrepreneur, I franchised Ohashi Method™ all over the world. I also became a business consultant to various wellness organizations and individuals. Now I am developing e-education and online consultation for the wellness and holistic health industry. The Ohashi Institute is a non-profit educational and cultural organization. We have been supporting the cause "Touch for Peace" for the last 40 years. The more we touch each other, I believe we create more peace within ourselves and each other, and then societies all over the world in the end. My method, Ohashiatsu® or Ohashi Method™ is well known and I have trained thousands of students in this technique all over the world. I take full responsibility for this method. And after 43 years, I am still developing it! I work from "hara" (the body's center of gravity) for effective touch and I use continuous movement and elegant transitions which keep clients comfortable and safe. Working from hara allows me to use a strong touch when necessary without hurting the client or myself. If I had to give one piece of advice to every client I see, it would be to not depend on your therapist. This is the only advice I give to everybody. It sounds contradictory, but in other words I am saying "do not depend on the human service provider." I say this because their beauty, health, and well-being do not come from the outside. The human service provider is not the provider, but the initiator of this transformation. So if we are providing the best quality of treatment and information, then our clients will figure out how to use these treatments and information and transform themselves with self-healing and self-maintenance.

Ohashi's response on the tools that he would not be complete without:

My health is my supreme tool. This health includes my physical, spiritual, emotional, financial, ethical, and political health. Without this good "health," I do not have any tools to practice with and perform my other work. I do not need any other tools for my practice, since I use my own hands.

More from our interview with Ohashi:

DERMASCOPE:
Which of your various roles in the industry has taught you the most or had the most impact on you and how?

Ohashi:
None, but all of them equally. All of these roles and positions have helped equally to shape and influence my work after 43 years. They still continue to do so evenly. I still practice all of these roles in my work.

DERMASCOPE:
What adaptations have you made over the years to stay relevant in your industry?

Ohashi:
Enthusiasm! Only your enthusiasm to your life, both business and private life, can help you change and adapt to stay relevant in your work. I am always excited and dedicated about every single activity. You have to “evolute” yourself in order to be relevant in your work. If you have the highest enthusiasm from inside yourself, you will have the most enjoyment and efficiency in what you do. If you find your work and life boring, then everything deteriorates and corrupts from you and from inside yourself, especially in this business. When I am giving treatment, I say to myself: this is my first treatment in my life. This is my last treatment in my life. I say this is my first client in my life. This is my last client in my life. This gives me a tremendous amount of enthusiasm, excitement and nervousness. This enthusiasm and excitement invigorates and transfers to your clients. They feel so excited and so honored to be treated by such a supremely enthusiastic therapist. When I am teaching, before I enter the classroom, I sit down to meditate. Then I say, this is my first teaching and this is my last teaching in my life. Then I say, these students are taking the first lesson in their life and could be the last teaching in their life. This enthusiasm, excitement and nervousness give me supreme alertness. Students can feel my alertness. Nobody can learn from the instructor who is not alert. When I am consulting, I say this is my first consultation and I say this could be my last consultation. In the name of Ohashi, I cannot give a mediocre consultation. I nervously prepare a couple of years before giving any consultation. This attitude gives me excitement in my work and enthusiasm in my life.

DERMASCOPE:
Has there been a constant theme that has led you from one point to the next throughout your training and career? (i.e. asking questions, reading certain material, etc.)

Ohashi:
A sense of dignity. You want to be the best of the best of what you are doing in your work. No matter how or what kind of work you have, if you have a sense of dignity in what you are doing you can achieve a lot.

DERMASCOPE:
What has surprised you most during your professional journey?

Ohashi:
I am surprised by the recognition that I have received. People recognize me by name no matter where I may go, no matter what kind of social group they are from; they recognize me by the name “Ohashi.” That is the best prize and surprise in my life.

DERMASCOPE:
Do you have any regrets, or is there any one thing you can point to and think, “I wish I would have done that differently” or “if only I had known then what I know now” that you can share with the readers? Please explain.

Ohashi:
I have lots of regrets. Whenever I give a treatment, I have so many regrets. Whenever I finish teaching I have so many regrets. I hope my clients and my students do not find out what I regret. These regrets and my nervousness make me a very good therapist and instructor, and guide me to be very successful in my work. I believe that when you are content in what you are doing, you never want to improve and you never study. You will stagnate and become rotten. Your clients can tell it and smell it. They never come back.

DERMASCOPE:
What is your secret to keeping life in balance and enjoying the journey?

Ohashi:
Balance with professional life and private life – these are two wheels on the cart. If you want to succeed in business, you must succeed in private life. Because you are a provider in the human service business, this balance is extremely important. Your private life immediately influences your business – such as your health and your social life. In the “touch” business – for example, massage therapists and aestheticians – you cannot hide anything. Clients can feel from your touch if you are not balanced in both your professional and private life. Good clients are very sensitive and can feel these issues. And then they never come back.

Find Ohashi on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ohashimethod.
Read his blog: www.ohashimethod.wordpress.com.

Visit Ohashi’s website at www.ohashi.com.