A Year Like No Other…

If you’ve ever met Mariana at Touch Tuina, you already know she radiates calm confidence, deep knowledge, and a fierce passion for her practice. Which is probably just as well, because Mariana’s 2025 at Touch Tuina has been a year unlike any other. It’s one filled with profound reminders of why Tuina remains one of the most long-standing healing traditions in history.

Working, (although she doesn’t see it as work), between the Kentish Town and York Touch Tuina clinics, Mariana’s Tuina journey is laced with love and friendship. “Working at Touch Tuina is like working in another extended family, really. We have such a lovely close-knit team that we’ve all taught, full of like-minded people.”

She also loves where the clinics are based and appreciates that she can work with the local communities, as well as meeting and treating people from all walks of life. Out of that family that she loves dearly, she highlights her pride from having worked alongside co-founder Errol Lynch, to “create this mini empire of health.”

Errol’s background in martial arts took him to an acupuncture clinical visit in China in 1998, leading to his life-changing discovery of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) and Tuina. Sharing a desire for a more well-rounded, holistic approach to treating the mind, body and soul, they founded Touch Tuina.

A Year of Challenge and Strength

This year brought the clinic one of its hardest moments: Errol unexpectedly suffered a haemorrhagic stroke in January. You can imagine it was extremely difficult for Mariana to think about what her top moments of the year were, but one highlight was apparent.

“He’s still with us, progressing in leaps and bounds. We’ve all grown through treating him, learning from him, and witnessing his recovery first-hand. That is the biggest highlight – he’s here and he’s bigger than life at the moment.”

Not only is he larger than life, but Mariana stresses that he’s very much still teaching the team – and they’re all still learning from him.

Success Stories

Errol’s recovery has only proved the effectiveness of Tuina, and how the Touch Tuina family now have first-hand experience working with strokes.

When asked about any other success stories that come to mind, Mariana found it hard to answer, as she proudly feels that every Tuina story is a success story.

Considering some of her most recent treatments, she highlighted that one of her patients may no longer need hip surgery for an ongoing problem. Smiling proudly as she shared, Mariana expressed her will to help people avoid undergoing surgery unnecessarily.

“If we can halt somebody going under the knife and prevent the onslaught of what comes after that, then that’s the biggest success story.”

A Year (and New Year) of Healing and Hope

From transforming lives in the clinic, to deepening her skills through relentless practice and navigating challenges with courage and community – Mariana’s year at Touch Tuina has been defined by progress.

Mariana’s 2025 at Touch Tuina has highlighted that with a particularly tough start to the year for Errol and the whole clinic, the light at the end of the tunnel has been reached.

As we transition into the western new year, Touch Tuina hopes to take the wins of 2025 and double them in 2026.

For more news on what goes on at our Touch Tuina clinics, you can read our other blog posts here.