About Maria Mercati

Maria Mercati
founded  BODYHARMONICS®  in 1993
to provide treatment and training to the highest possible standards.

  • Maria Mercati was the originator of the concept of combining  Acupuncture and Tui Na  for a unique and powerful therapy for the control of pain and the promotion and maintenance of good health.
  • Maria Mercati was the most authoritative and innovative teacher in this field today and has been teaching and practising acupuncture and Tui Na Chinese Medical Massage and Manipulation in Cheltenham for over 25 years.  Students come from all over the world to benefit from her individualized and highly effective training style.  She has also treated thousands of patients.
  • She was committed to furthering the educational standards of acupuncturists. In 1996 she was nominated for an award for her teaching of Chinese Medicine by the European Union of Women.
  • Since 1992, she studied acupuncture in China 14 times at TCM hospitals in Shanghai, Weihai, Beijing, Xian, Jinan and Hangzhou.
  • In 1993, she accompanied the Cheltenham Mayor – Jim Pennington to Weihai, Cheltenham’s twin town, on an official visit.

Maria was a best selling international author.

Maria is the author of two Tui Na Chinese massage books and a Thai massage all of which are international bestsellers, which to date have sold over a third of a million copies and translated into several different languages.

Books
“Step-by-Step Tui Na” first published in 1997 and “Thai Massage” first published in 1998 are definitive texts,  “Tui Na for a Healthy Brighter Child” was published in 1998 and “Hands on Health” published by Readers Digest 1998.  Her Revised Thai Massage Manual was republished in 2017 and her revised  Tui Na manual will be available mid June  2018. – Watch this space for her definitive acupuncture book!

“Abdominal and Navel Acupuncture: Awaken the energetics of your body” published 29 January 2022. Its clear step-by-step approach focuses solely on the abdomen and navel, this is for qualified acupuncturists looking for alternative ways to treat the body. It is also valuable for those trained in other forms of bodywork such as Tui Na and Shiatsu where Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is relevant to abdominal massage as well as Acupuncture.

Maria’s vision 

  • She saw the potential of  drawing from three of the world’s most ancient, powerful and alternative medicine and complementary therapies  –  Traditional Chinese Medicine – Tui Na and Acupuncture, Thai and Indonesian soft tissue massage and  joint manipulations to create the concept of  Bodyharmonics.
  • Her speciality is in combining her unique Acupuncture treatments with Tui Na to create some of the most powerful medicine in the world today.
  • Maria’s method is unique. The methods she uses and teaches have been developed from her many periods of study in China, Indonesia and Thailand working with the leading experts in their respective fields.
  • She furthered her knowledge and refined her techniques under several prominent Chinese doctors at the famous Yue-Yang hospital in Shanghai in 1992 and hospitals in Weihai, Xian, Jinan and Hangzhou.
  • In Thailand she studied at the sacred Wat Pho temple in Bangkok and at the massage hospital in Chiang Mai.
  • Indonesian massage became part of her life during her four year period in Bandung from 1979, where she was taught massage by traditional experts. She brings a wealth of practical experience to her courses, having achieved outstanding results with thousands of patients.
  • Maria trained the rest of the family and they all became involved, on a professional basis. The family massages each other; often at the end of the working day.
  • Maria was the first person to develop a system of integrated bodywork based on Chinese, Thai and Indonesian massage and manipulation and created the phrase “ORIENTAL BODYWORK ” in 1995.