Touch Therapy Benefits Cancer Patients

Jin Shin Jyutsu in the News:

“The best and most efficient pharmacy is within your own system.”
~Robert C. Peale

Last week, I shared Jin Shin Jyutsu at a local center that provides hospice and palliative care. The CAM Fair was an opportunity for the health professionals at the center to experience a variety of modalities for themselves as self-care, but also to get an idea of what was available to help their patients. In preparing for this fair, I looked over medical studies that consider how touch therapies can support healing and transitions.
One of the newest of these studies was published earlier this year from the UK Markey Cancer Center in Lexington, KY, where they have a Jin Shin Jyutsu Practitioner on-site. This study, included 159 patients currently undergoing cancer treatment. Before and after each session, they were asked to rate on a scale of 1 to 10 their symptoms of nausea, pain, and stress. The patients experienced significant improvement in their symptoms, even after just one session of Jin Shin Jyutsu. The average decreases recorded were three points for stress and two points for both nausea and pain.
"I was pleased to see quantitatively the improvements that patients noted in these primary areas of discomfort. It was interesting to note that regardless of age, sex or diagnosis, cancer patients received a statistically significant improvement in the side effects from treatment. It is encouraging to note that Jin Shin Jyutsu made improvements in these areas without adding additional unwanted effects that so often occur with medication interventions."  ~Jennifer Bradley 
The Jin Shin Jyutsu Institute Website has a listing of this study and well as other medical studies that look at the effects of Jin Shin Jyutsu.

 Natural forces within us
are the true healers of disease.
~Hippocrates

The Virtue of Persistence

Food for Thought:

“As long as we are persistent in our pursuit of our deepest destiny, 

we will continue to grow.
We cannot choose the day or time
when we will fully bloom.
It happens in its own time.”
~Denis Waitley 

Boost Your Resistance to Stress

Self-Help Tip:
Boost Your Resistance to Stress 

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

~Joan Borysenko 

Stress is something that we all experience to some degree everyday. While stress can help motivate us to get things done, too much stress can take a toll on our bodies and our emotional well-being. The brain reacts to stress and danger by generating hormones that temporarily shut down the body’s non-emergency functions to help us respond. When we get caught in chronic stress patterns that constant hormonal response degrades our health. It is important to realize that even low-grade stress and anxiety can damage the body’s ability to defend itself against viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens. It is of vital importance that we find ways to boost our resistance to stress in our lives.

"The key to success is often the ability to adapt.” ~Unknown 

This Spring, I began studying herbal medicine and was introduced to the class of herbs called Adaptogens. The term adaptogen is used by herbalists to refer to an herb that increases the body’s resistance to stress, trauma, anxiety and fatigue. Some common adaptogenic herbs are the Ginsengs (Asian, American, Siberian), Ashwaganda, Astragalus, Holy Basil, Licorice Root, Schisandra, Reishi, shiitake and maitake mushrooms. You can read more about these herbs and their actions on the internet. 

These incredible herbs are used to improve the general adaptability of your body by stimulating the body's own self-regeneration process. They are recognized for their ability to increase resistance to a variety of stressors - chemical, physical, and emotional. They also help the body recover from physical stress like lack of sleep, recovery from surgery, heavy manual labor, running long distances, and even high-altitude sickness. To qualify as an adaptogen, it must be completely safe and non-toxic, it must have broad uses for health, and it must specifically reduce stress, both mental and physical.

As I learned about the wonders of Adaptogen herbs, I realized that regular Jin Shin Jyutsu also has an adaptogenic action on the body as it has the same ability to stimulate the body's self-regenerations and self-healing abilities.

One of my regular clients recently said, "I know that my weekly sessions are helping me with my health challenges, but more importantly, these session hare helping me to cope better with the stresses of my busy life!" She has discovered for herself the adaptogenic action of Jin Shin Jyutsu! When we give our bodies the support that they need to deal with stress, we enable them to heal themselves. The combination of daily self-help and weekly sessions can help you to adapt with ease to whatever life throws your way. 

 "I vow to let go of all worries and anxiety
in order to be light and free."
~Thich Nhat Hanh

Get Out in the Woods

Self-Help Tip:
Get Out in the Woods 

“In every walk with nature
one receives far more than he seeks.”

~John Muir 

         Now that Summer's heat is receding, a walk in the woods in definitely in order. I love to walk in the woods in any season, but for me there is something primal about walking as the season changes. Being a witness to the changing season inspires me to get out of my head and go with the flow.
       The following is by an unknown author, from New York Times editorial, "The Walk," 25 October 1967, “How can you explain that you need to know that the trees are still there, and the hills and the sky?  Anyone knows they are.  How can you say it is time your pulse responded to another rhythm, the rhythm of the day and the season instead of the hour and the minute?  No, you cannot explain.  So you walk.”   

      From the Mayo Clinic website: "Walking is a form of exercise accessible to just about everybody. It's safe, simple and doesn't require practice. And the health benefits are many." 

• Lower your blood pressure
• Reduce your risk of or manage type 2 diabetes
• Manage your weight
• Improve your mood
• Stay strong and fit

 I can't think of a more enjoyable way to get some exercise, improve your health, and reconnect with nature. Go take a hike! 

“The longest journey begins with a single step, not with a turn of the ignition key. 
That's the best thing about a walking, the journey itself.
It doesn't much matter whether you get where you're going or not. 
You'll get there anyway.
Every good hike brings you eventually back home.
Right were you started.”


~Edward Abbey 

Take Time

Self-Help Tip:
Take Time 

“In order to keep the lamp burning,
you have to keep putting oil in it.”
~Mother Teresa  

      Wholeness or "health" is our natural state of being.  But many of us spend our lives burning the candle at both ends. We allow ourselves to get worn out and run down, and then we wonder WHY nothing is working with ease. We give, give, give without refilling our tank and then wonder why we struggle with burnout. Just like our cell phones and other devices, we need to pause and recharge to ensure that we maintain a healthy balance for personal well-being and harmony. 

    My regular clients find that their sessions are more than a frivolous indulgence. The treatment calms the body and helps relax the mind which in turn helps to reduce stress, recharge energy stores and return to harmony and balance.

    There are many ways to recharge your battery, to refill you lamp. Take time for you. Take time to relax, to enjoy life, to interact with your community. Take time to take care of yourself with self-help and with regular Jin Shin Jyutsu sessions. Take time to get outside, to get some exercise and to smell the flowers. If you don't take the time to take care of yourself, how can you take care of anyone else? This is always the question I ask myself. I know that when we are working with a "full charge", we receive what we need from the universe with ease and we can achieve our own true potential.

"Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths."
~Etty Hillesum