Self Help Tip:

Expect to Be Well and Minimize Winter Woes

"Health is a state of complete harmony of the body, mind and spirit.
When one is free from physical disabilities and mental distractions,the gates of the soul open."
~B.K.S. Iyengar 

Wow, it looks like Winter weather is coming to town this week! As I write tonight, the wind is whipping outside but we are snug and warm in our cozy home. As we make our way into winter, I encourage you to Expect to Be Well. I know people who not only expect to get sick all winter but they worry and fear that they will get sick and they do, often.  The attitudes of Fear and Worry dis-harmonize the body and dis-ease of one kind or another creeps in. So set the intention  to BE WELL, it will go a long way to keeping you in Balance.

We prepare our homes, gardens and vehicles for winter by doing regular preventive maintenance. If we are smart we will do the same thing with our bodies. Every Jin Shin Jyutsu session boosts your immune system and prepares your body for whatever life throws at you. Daily Self-Help and Regular Jin Shin Jyutsu sessions will also help you to heal faster if you do catch something and a session when you feel something coming on can often prevent a cold from taking hold. 

Here is a wonderful Daily Self-Help Flow to help you to stay healthy. It is especially helpful if you feel something "coming on." Don't explain the feeling away as tiredness, because chances are if you are tired, then you are more susceptible to whatever is "going around." This self-help is used to build or increase immunity for colds and flu.

Place your left hand on your right neck/shoulder area (the soft muscle area where your neck and shoulder meet). Place your right hand at the fold of your right leg at the groin. Hold until you feel a rhythmic pulse in both places. Then switch: place your right hand on your left neck/shoulder area. Place your left hand at the fold of your left leg at the groin. Breathe and Be Well. 

Maintaining a healthy energy system is the best preventive for keeping the body from being invaded by colds, flu and other illness. Jin Shin Jyutsu leads to better sleep, strengthened immune system, reduced aches & pains, reduced depression, minimized effects from stress, improved moods. The benefits of Jin Shin Jyutsu are cumulative. The more regularly you practice self-help and get sessions, the more benefit there is for you. Those aches and pains go away faster, stay away longer or go away entirely.

“Take care of your body.
It's the only place you have to live.”
~Jim Rohn

Support

“We're all just walking each other home.”
~Ram Dass

JSJ Centennial

JSJ Centennial

"There are two ways to live:
you can live as if nothing is a miracle,
or you can live as if everything
is a miracle."
~Albert Einstein

     100 years ago, on a mountain in Japan, Jiro Murai dropped to his knees and gave thanks for the calm, peace, and healing that infused his being. Master Murai pledged his life to the study of what he would later call Jin Shin Jyutsu.

     Jin Shin Jyutsu is a ancient art which restores an individual's balance-body, mind and spirit. Literally translated, it means "Art of the Creator through compassionate and knowing man." This simple, yet profound art was rediscovered in Japan in the beginning of the twentieth century by Jiro Murai, and brought to the west by Mary Iino Burmeister in the 1950's.

    Born into a long line of medical doctors, Jiro Murai chose to follow a different path and devoted himself to a search for the true meaning of life. He traveled far and wide until he became terminally ill with an ailment unknown to doctors of his time. When the treatment available to him failed to produce any result and death seemed inevitable, he asked to be taken to a solitary cabin in the mountains and be left alone for seven days. There, he meditated on all the teachings of the masters he had learned and began practicing the forgotten art of Jin Shin Jyutsu on himself.
    Each day, his body temperature dropped, as he moved in and out of consciousness. On the seventh day, he suddenly felt himself being lifted out of his semi-frozen state and exposed to an extreme amount of heat. When his fever subsided, he felt completely well and healed. He was so grateful that he fell to his knees and vowed he would spend the rest of his life researching this wonderful art.

    Master Murai found the earliest written records on the Art of Jin Shin Jyutsu in the Kojiki, an ancient Japanese text, which indicated that Jin Shin Jyutsu was widely known and practiced before the birth of Gautama Buddha and Moses, and was passed from Master to apprentice by oral tradition. This simple procedure of placing hands on the body, according to the knowledge of bodily energy flows, dates back to the very beginning of time. But through the development of our civilization, its basic knowledge was lost as we explored more complex ways of healing.

    Self-Help is the cornerstone of Jin Shin Jyutsu and is the pathway to healing and continued balance. Jiro Murai's story is indeed a story of self-help and can serve as inspiration to us all that we hold the power to heal within our hands. 

"The more light you allow within you, the brighter the world you live in will be."
~Shakti Gawain

Sweet Dreams

Self-Help Tip: 
Sweet Dreams 

"Your life is a reflection of how you sleep, and how you sleep
is a reflection of your life."
~Dr. Rafael Pelayo

     My favorite Jin Shin Jyutsu flow to help with both sleep and hormone balance is a simple, one-step flow. In my house, no one is allowed to wake me in the middle of the night, unless they have tried the "Sleep Flow" first... it is rare that Rebecca wakes me up now, and when she does, after I get her settled, I use the "Sleep Flow" to get back to sleep myself. 
     There is a strong relationship between sleep and hormone balance. Sleep is essential to maintain proper hormone balance and health.  For adults a minimum of 6 hours of sleep each night allows the body to re-energize and replenish hormones. Some of the common symptoms of hormonal imbalance - night sweats, hot flashes and sleep apnea -  make getting enough sleep a challenge. So you can see that it can become a vicious circle. 
     Getting less sleep than you need affects at least 10 different hormones causing them to shift and disrupt appetite, fertility, mental health as well as cardiac health. 
     This "Sleep Flow" is also known as the "Hot Flash Flow" as it has the amazing ability to stop a hot flash pretty quickly! It is dynamic for acid balance and serves as a "Natural Tums." Use to fall asleep, and for hot flashes, hormone balance, heart palpitations, coughing and lung congestion, nose bleeding or clogging, snoring, throat discomfort and more. 

Here is the Flow:
Rebecca demonstrates how to do the left side of the sleep flow in the above photo. 
Left Side-With your left fingertips hold below the base of the left thumb on the palm, hang the right hand over the shoulder at the left side of the neck.
Right Side-With your right fingertips hold below the base of the right thumb on the palm, hang the left hand over the shoulder at the right side of the neck.

     When the energies of our body, mind and spirit circulate freely, we enjoy a life of longevity, happiness, and balance. 

“Sleep is the golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.”
~Thomas Dekker

On BE-ing Grounded

Self-Help Tip: 
On BE-ing Grounded

"Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair."
~Kahlil Gibran

     What makes you feel grounded? Surely there are things you know that help you to feel connected to your center. "Ah yes, people say, there are things I do to feel good, to bring calm and ease to my life, BUT I never have the time to do them these days what with all the stresses in my life." Well, with all those stresses, it is imperative that we take the time!
     Just like the trees, we need to reach into the earth and up into the skies to nourish body, mind and spirit. We are at ease when we feel connected both upward and downward.   It is our strong roots, our groundedness that allows us to get out of our heads and gives us the freedom to go with the flow. 

     What makes you feel grounded? My idea is that you take a little time to really think about what makes you feel good, what helps you to cope better. Chances are there are a number of things you already know work for you.
     Here are a few suggestions to get you started: take a yoga class, get a jin shin jyutsu session or massage or other bodywork, meditate for 15 minutes, take 36 conscious exhalations, do the main central, go for a walk, lay in the grass, sit on a mountaintop, bake bread, take a bath or a shower, walk barefoot, lean our back against a tree, just stop and be still.
     Make a list of the things that help you. Write each item on a separate piece of paper or index card-put them in a jar or box. Each day, choose one to do and give yourself a grounding break. It need not take very long. Make this a daily ritual and priority and you will be well on you way to groundedness on no time at all! Being present and grounded will give you great resources of energy, improve your overall well-being and help you to feel connected in the big picture. 

 "In your lifetime the most sacred space you will ever need to create is the space within yourself – the place deep within your soul where you go to find peace and serenity."
~Nancy Santo Pietro