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Our Focus

At Hand to Heart Being we promote a three-fold approach to health that addresses connecting through touch, ecologically conscious living, and healing practices. Our focus is to help create and nourish heart-centered families and communities and contribute to a growing movement of human beings who put the interest of future generations before their own. By sharing the powerful tools of expressing unconditional love through healthy touch; we create children with greater self-esteem and self-awareness and adults who are able to empathize with others and live with respect for the world around them.  It is by understanding the integral role we play in the balance of nature that we will assume and share responsibility for its regeneration and survival.

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Hand to Heart Connecting

Through healthy touch we express unconditional acceptance and create meaningful connections with ourselves, our partners, and our family to ultimately help build healthier and safer communities. Our signature programs include infant massage classes, shiatsu inspired workshops for self-care, couples and families, as well as Facial Intelligence and Elemental Energetics coaching.

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Hand to Heart Living

We use our work to prioritize nurturing the connection between our inner and outer environment. Through greater eco-awareness, we learn how our own health is a direct reflection of the way we treat the planet, and through greater attention to our diet and lifestyles, we reduce our risks for disease.

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Hand to Heart Healing

We offer Japanese shiatsu massage, a variety of holistic services, as well as therapeutic essential oils in our practice to help individuals from all ages and backgrounds to relieve stress, induce deep relaxation, and find the balance needed to restore and heal.

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Meet Raïssa 

Welcome! I am Raissa Chernushenko, a self-described eco-wellness guide, a lifelong student and a published writer and poet.

Ever since my youth, I have been passionate about both the therapeutic benefits of touch and the healing  effects of nature. I even once started a Hug Club. After studying many philosophies, dance, theatre, psychodrama and movement styles, over the years, I was drawn to train with the Japanese Shiatsu Master Mitsuki Kikkawa at Kikkawa College in Toronto, graduating with an Honours diploma in 1994. I have been a Certified Shiatsu Therapist with the Shiatsu Therapy Association of Ontario ever since.

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Other Qualifications:

  • Certified Infant Massage Instructor, 1995

  • Reiki levels 1-3 since 2006

  • Access The Bars Practitioner, 2014

  • Certified Breast Health Educator, 2017

  • Facial Gua Sha and Cupping Practitioner, 2017

  • Past Board member, Chair of Environmental Activism with MammAlive Foundation since 2017

  • Facial Intelligence Practitioner ,9 Star Ki Energetic Interpretation, The Holistic Human Understanding Academy, 2021

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What Our Clients Are Saying...

"Raissa not only helped me physically during a very difficult time, she gave support above and beyond. When I hurt my back to the point I was housebound, she brought her services to my home and was able to give me relief when I desperately needed it! I would recommend her to anyone. Thanks, Raissa!!!"

 — S.G

"I've seen the lovely Raissa for awhile using a variety of her healing services. Her reiki, shiatsu and couple's retreat services have relaxed and really saved me more than once! We love using the infrared sauna along with our shiatsu treatment as it feels completely relaxing and loosens up our stiff muscles to be massaged. Her gentle and accepting demeanour brings me back again and again."

— R.S

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