"Art is the language - the verbs, adjectives, and nouns of the subconscious. Art therapy expresses itself not through words but through images, colors, and transformations."

     Kaleo Ching teaches inspiring classes integrating art therapy, guided visualization, movement, and Asian bodywork to express subconscious issues. He integrates guided imagery to help people drop into their "inner landscape" and retrieve personal information stored in the body. Kaleo supplies art materials so his students can creatively express what they learned.

     Kaleo also combines bodywork in his classes: "We'll bring out a large piece of paper for every student and have everybody draw what they felt in their body. Then bring massage oil and spread it on the drawing material. Amazing experiences often occur and the realizations are shared in classes. As a result, you can see the anger, or hear the guilt, or touch the joy. In other words, that piece of paper being massaged turns out to be each person's body." Kaleo feels especially fulfilled when he is teaching. "There is a lot of happiness, especially when I am teaching, touching people in a deeper way."

     Kaleo uses Chi Gung movements to connect with the energy that flows through the acupressure points and meridians. He teaches “Five Element Chi Gung for Creative Process, Faces of the Soul: Maskmaking, Ancestors and Spirit Guides, Chi Gung for Bodyworkers, and The Body Totem.” His classes integrate art, guided imagery and acupressure. He also teaches classes at JFK University’s program for Transformative Arts and has taught in prisons and other school environments.

     Kaleo majored in Fine Arts at the University of Hawaii and has studied Chi Gung and Tai Chi for thirty years. These disciplines gave him a foundation to understand his own body and how energy flows. This has enabled him to be aware of other people’s bodies and their energy flows.

     Kaleo studied the healing arts for several years at the Acupressure Institute. He graduated from the Institute’s 850-hour program in 2003, with specializations in Emotional Balancing, Stress Management and Pain Management. Taking Guided Imagery at the Acupressure Institute inspired him to study hypnotherapy and to integrate it into his practice.

Kaleo's Practice
     Kaleo has been in practice for five years, as of 2005. He deliberately keeps his practice small, seeing up to ten clients a week, and he tries not to have more than two clients a day. A bodyworker friend advised him to have another way to make a living for 20 hours a week because he would then enjoy the bodywork so much more. Kaleo took this advice to heart. His sessions last between an hour and a half to two hours and he charges $60 an hour.

     His clients often begin by doing some artwork before receiving his hand-on work. After the session, they usually go back and do more artwork. This progression utilizes the altered state reached through bodywork, and makes the healing a more conscious process.

     Many of his clients are women who are art therapists or yoga instructors who are interested in guided imagery and Chi Gung as well. Students from his classes often become his clients. "Perceptive, sensitive people are aware of other people's energy. If your energy is positive and they can trust you, they want to be touched by you. Thus, you are your own best advertisement."

     Kaleo practices an hour and a half of Chi Gung every day to take care of himself. He also watches what he eats and receives regular sessions from other practitioners. He continues to take many classes, which he says "keeps him from getting bored."

     Kaleo practices Lomi-Lomi, a form of Hawaiian bodywork that he describes as "the ocean moving in the body, the underwater currents under the muscles." He also integrates acupressure and hypnotherapy. "Massage opens the body and spirit; the therapy is a way of going to a deeper place."

The Meaning of His Work
     Kaleo admits that many people trust him with their stories. He appreciates the community that he has built around bodywork and teaching. He loves to listen to people deeply: "When you reach a point of listening there is such a deep intimacy." Tai Chi and Chi Gung have taught him to listen to his own body and this helped him with his clients: "When you can listen, the healing really begins. Instead of going in, trying to heal somebody, I pay attention to seeing where a person's body needs to go."

     Kaleo has always known that he wanted to touch others deeply: "When I was very young, I just knew that I wanted to touch people in a deep way. I told my mother when I was about ten years old that I knew exactly what I wanted to do -- I was going to be a teacher and educate people. When she asked me in what, I wasn't too sure. It had to be creative, something to do with languages and with the body. I didn't know exactly which form it was going to take. But I always wanted to be a teacher and to touch people." He believes his work is a form of prayer and meditation, to allow people to trust and honor their body.