Take a Break

Take a Break

"Every day brings a choice:
to practice stress or to practice peace."
~Joan Borysenko

Take a Break! When we cultivate activities in our day-to-day lives that have the ability to leave us feeling nourished and renewed, we go through life with a sense of ease and contentment. 

This can be as simple as taking a 15 minute meditation break, a walk around the block, a few rounds of yoga sun salutations... really anything that gets you away from your desk and gives your mind and body a break. 

Spending a few minutes each day focusing on our breath is a great tool to take control of the stresses in our lives. We need to learn to manage stress and this sort of internal retreat or mini-vacation is therapeutic, providing a restorative break from the challenges of work and every day life - just the ticket to bring us to a peaceful mindset and a more productive day.  

One of my favorite Jin Shin Jyutsu practices is the 36 Conscious Exhalations.  What a great way to take a break and to establish a practice of mindful breathing! Begin by counting each exhalation. Allow your breath to unfold naturally. If you lose count, just begin again. This exercise can be done all at once, or broken into 4 session of 9 breaths each. In time, your breathing will automatically become deeper and more rhythmic. As you EXHALE, unload the stresses that are held in your body. Exhale from head to toes. Receive each breath with awareness and appreciation. Inhale from toes to head. RECEIVE the Cosmic Energy of Abundance. Connect to the Cosmic Energy Force.

Consider how many studies show us that stress can lead to serious problems like heart attacks, strokes, depression, sleeplessness, decreased immunity, and substance abuse. It is increasingly important that we find ways to relax!

"He who lives in harmony with himself
lives in harmony with the world."
~Marcus Aurelius

Just stay in the NOW

 

"Just stay in the now and BE in the Center.
All will follow."
~Mary Iino Burmeister

    Jin Shin Jyutsu considers harmony to be our original state. The Main Central is a valuable self-help tool and the source of our life energy. Harmonizing the Main Central Flow is the bridge on our journey to get our egos and attitudes out of the way so that we can reconnect with Source and find clarity and balance in our total being. This pathway runs down the center of the front of the body and back up the spine. I love to do this flow in the morning before I get out of bed and at night before falling asleep. When I am abusing my body (gardening, dancing, painting, computer work, etc) during the day, I will take a break and do this flow. It brings me back to balance.

     Follow the steps in the picture. Start with Right hand on top of head and Left hand between eyes, Left hand moves down the body through each step, then at the end, Right hand moves to tailbone.
     Harmonizing the Main Central regularly helps you to feel centered and ensures that you will have plenty of energy. Some people find it calming and use it to fall asleep, while others like to use it to clear away the cobwebs upon awakening. By working with The Main Central Flow daily, we find ourselves remembering that harmony is our birthright.

MAIN CENTRAL VERTICAL FLOW
Step 1: Place the fingers of the right hand on the top of the head (where they will remain until step 6). Place the fingers of the left hand on your forehead between your eyebrows. Hold for 2 to 5 minutes or until the pulses you feel at your fingertips synchronize with each other.
Step 2: Now move the left fingertips to the tip of the nose. Hold them there for 2 to 5 minutes, or until the pulses synchronize.
Step 2a: Move left fingers to mouth area... hold one finger above mouth, other fingers below mouth on chin. (optional step/not pictured-clears jaw tension, supports mental clarity)
Step 2b: Move left fingers to hollow space in middle of collarbone. (optional step/not pictured-supports thyroid balance)
Step 3: Move the left fingertips to your sternum (center of your chest between your breasts). Stay there for 2 to 5 minutes or until the pulses synchronize.
Step 4: Move your fingers to the base of your sternum (center of where your ribs start, above the stomach). Hold them there for 2 to 5 minutes, or until the pulses synchronize.
Step 5: Move your fingers to the top of your pubic bone. Stay there for 2 to 5 minutes, or until the pulses synchronize.
Step 6: Keep your left fingertips in place and move your right fingertips to cover your coccyx (tailbone). Hold for 2 to 5 minutes or until the pulses you feel at your fingertips synchronize with each other.
Note: The right hand remains on the top of the head while the left hand moves down the body until the final step.

"If we think we are tired or ill,
it is only because we have done something to unbalance the bodily conductivity
of the universal electric current which motivates it."
~Walter Russell

Your Absolute Splendor

"Everything is created from moment to moment,
always new.
Like fireworks, this universe is a celebration
and you are the spectator contemplating the eternal Fourth of July of your absolute splendor."
~Francis Lucille

BE the Joy-seeker

"When you take the problems of the world on your shoulders, your body doesn't feel good. It's just that simple. Leave the problems of the world to the individual problem-makers of the world, and you be the joy-seeker that you are."
~Abraham

Don't you just love how the perfect quote or statement seems to come along at just the right moment!? Wednesday morning, as I was planning for my evening class, this Abraham quote popped into my in-box. One of the flows for the class that night was the 11/15 and 11/25 Flows to support the Supervisor Energy Flows. To me this quote brings home the importance of keeping this energy pathway clear and flowing.

Safety Energy Lock 11 is located at the shoulder where it meets the neck. This energy center's wisdom/gift is to enable us to "Unload Excess Baggage, BE free of Worthless Antiques, Turn our Problems into Projects, and to Clear Our Clutter." SEL 11 harmonizes the shoulders and the neck and benefits the arms - elbows, wrists, hands, and fingers.

Safety Energy Lock 15 is located and the fold of the leg at the groin. This energy center's wisdom/gift is to "Wash our Hearts with Joy and Laughter." By opening the SEL 15s we are able to bring more joy and laughter into our BE-ing, helping us to take ourselves and situations less seriously.  SEL 15 harmonizes the abdomen, legs, knees, ankles, and feet, Alleviates bloat and aids the heart. 

Safety Energy Lock 25 is located at the sit-bones. This energy center's wisdom/gift is to "Quietly Regenerate." It cam be used to calm, sooth and quietly regenerate all of the body's functions. SEL 25 increases alertness, energy and mental clarity, builds the memory and clears toxins from our muscles after physical activity. 

Here is the simple flow for you:
Drape your right hand over your left shoulder where it meets the neck (SEL 11) and hold the fold of your leg at the groin (SEL 15) on the left side with your left hand. After a few minutes, or when you feel the pulses in each place come into harmony, move your left hand to hold your left sit-bone (SEL 25). Reverse for other side. This simple flow clears our attachment to problems and things while bringing joy and laughter along with energy and clarity to our lives. Add this sequence to your daily practice to clear the entire body and harmonize body, mind and spirit. Give it a try today!

"Drop the idea that you are Atlas carrying the world on your shoulders.
The world would go on even without you.
Don't take yourself so seriously."
~Norman Vincent Peale

The Art of Longevity

"While scientists have to date largely focused on the biology of longevity, the secrets of living to an exceptional age lie more in our personalities, attitudes, support systems and life experiences than our genes." ~Leonard W. Poon  

     When Master Jiro Murai revived the ancient art of Jin Shin Jyutsu around 1920, one of the terms that he used to described Jin Shin Jyutsu was the Art of Longevity: Live fully, experience each breath fully.

     Most of us are raised to believe that growing older means a progressive decline in health, wellness, mental and physical ability. However, that need not be the case. 

    Regular Jin Shin Jyutsu sessions and self-help provides a valuable support system as it is aids in restoring the body's energy systems to a balanced, efficient, functioning state. It's practice helps us to take charge of our negative, limiting attitudes and to change the self-defeating belief of inevitable aging. It teaches us to master the art of living and to seeing aging as an opportunity for greater peace of mind, wisdom, creativity and happiness. Jin Shin Jyutsu brings to us a new awareness of our limitless life energy and of our ability to partake of the effortless reality, which is our birthright. Jin Shin Jyutsu brings to us a new awareness of our limitless life energy and of our ability to partake of the effortless reality, which is our birthright. We can then expect the best results by learning and practicing good health habits for staying healthy and reducing stress. Ultimately, Jin Shin Jyutsu will restore you to a knowledge of yourself and of your long dormant innate ability to improve the quality of your life. 
 

"Controlling mental and physical stress
is the key to a long,
healthy and happy life."
~Nicholas Perricone, M.D.