Love is All You Need

"Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.

Without them, humanity cannot survive." 

~Dalai Lama

Happy Valentines Day to you! I love this quote by the Dalai Lama as much as I love this photo from my wedding a few years ago. It is such an expression of joy and delight!

When we feel connected to others, the negative aspects of fear have no place to hook in to our BE-ing. Fear is a paralyzing force that hinders the body's natural-motion principles. Fear includes feelings of mental confusion, frustration, depression, timidity, perfectionism, and criticism. Fear is also associated with drug addiction. Fear brings disharmony to the muscular system and affects both bladder and kidney function energy which together are responsible for the regulation of the movement of water throughout the body. Fear limits the body's ability to move freely and translates into back discomfort and stress, and affects the functions that revitalize bones and bone marrow.

 "One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life:

that word is love."

~Sophocles

The INDEX finger is the key to FLOW and LOVE. When you are in the FLOW, you are in HARMONY. There are no obstacles, no limitations, no feelings of lack, no judgment. There is perfect circulation and balance. To balance Fear, HOLD your INDEX finger for 5 minutes or until you can feel a gentle rhythmic pulsing. Even and clear. Breath easily. Relax the shoulders and smile from the very heart of you. As you hold the index finger, you ease back tension/stress and facilitate the flow of life energy throughout the body. All fears begin to melt away. Assimilation and elimination functions begin to improve. Toothaches and teething issues are eased and healthy circulation is restored.

Hold your index finger to clear the chains of fear and to bring flow and love into your very BE-ing! Exhale. Smile. Relax.

"Love doesn’t make the world go round.

Love is what makes the ride worthwhile."

~Franklin P. Jones

Make Way for the Returning Light

"May you have

the gladness of Christmas which is hope;

The spirit of Christmas which is peace;

The heart of Christmas which is love."

~Ada V. Hendricks

Here we are today at the Winter Solstice, December 21nd, which is both the shortest day and longest night of the solar year. Today may be the the longest night but it carries the promise of Spring. The Winter Solstice is the day that the Sun’s light begins to grow again. The diminishing of the Sun’s light ends and the days begin to grow brighter and longer again until warmth and fertility return to the Earth.

The word Solstice literally means the sun stands still. It is the extreme positions of the sun at midsummer and midwinter, that makes the rising and setting of the sun appear to take place in the same position on the horizon for three or four days in succession. The Sun's path north or south appears to come to a magical stop before reversing direction.

It’s also the day, if we are attuned to the rhythm of the seasons, that we know we are heading toward more daylight and this manages to lift our spirits and has been a cause for celebration way back into the most ancient of times.

In the Jin Shin Jyutsu philosophy, it is not surprising that the color associated with this Winter-time of darkness is blue/black. The attitude of imbalance is FEAR and the harmonizer for fear is LOVE. (Hold your index finger to balance.)

This moment of transit from the old light to the new provides an opportunity for each of us to reflect on our experiences through the year and to set our intentions for the incoming year. Take this opportunity to embody the light, the love, and the consciousness that is your birthright as a Spiritual Being having this Human Experience. I invite you to embrace the darkness, to welcome the returning light and to share this love with all around you. Merry Christmas.

"With mounds of greenery,

the brightest ornaments,

we bring high summer to our rooms,

as if to spite the somberness

of winter come."

~Margaret Starkey

You Be the Joy-seeker That You Are

"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

The first energy flow set in motion by the Main Central Flow is the two Major Vertical Supervisor Harmonizing Energies. These two flows create and maintain our physical form and are the birthplace of the pairs of energy centers that Jin Shin Jytusu refers to as Safety Energy Locks. The Supervisor Flows monitor or supervise the development of each respective side of the body. I just love how the Abraham quote above illustrates the importance of keeping the Supervisor 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

Managing Chronic Pain and Fibromyalgia

"Wisdom is nothing more than healed pain." 

~Robert Gary Lee

Several years ago, I received a letter from a reader asking for Self-Help recommendations to manage a label of Fibromyalgia. At that point I didn't know much about Fibromyalgia, so I did a search and learned what I could about this mysterious label. 

Fibromyalgia Quick Facts

• Affects 3 to 5 percent of the general population

• Occurs in people of all ages, even children

• Men develop fibromyalgia too, although more women are diagnosed with it

• Symptoms are chronic but may fluctuate throughout the day

• Roughly one-quarter of people with fibromyalgia are work-disabled

• Three drugs are FDA-approved for fibromyalgia treatment

What I found most interesting is that one of the criteria for diagnosing Fibromyalgia is tenderness or pain in at least 11 of the 18 specified tender points when pressure is applied. The 18 tender points associated with fibromyalgia are found in symmetrical pairs on the body. When I looked at the Tender Points Chart, I immediately thought of our Jin Shin Jyutsu Safety Energy Lock Chart! The "tender points" used to diagnose Fibromyalgia are all located on or near safety energy locks! 

Here is a tender-points chart side by side with a Safety Energy Lock Chart!

In Jin Shin Jyutsu we work with 26 pairs of energy centers in our bodies, referred to as Safety Energy Locks. These areas are much more than fixed points and encompass and area approximately the size of our hand. Each one of them has a specific meaning that is expressed through its number and is closely related to its placement on the body. They act like the circuit breakers on the electrical system in our homes and lock when the flow of energy in a pathway is too much, too little or stagnant-to warn and protect us from further disharmony.  

When one or more of these safety energy locks become blocked, a local disruption can occur, eventually resulting in disharmony of the energetic pathway completely. Just like in your home electrical system, if an outlet is overloaded, it blows the breaker that feeds that outlet, but does not shut down the whole electrical system. If the breaker is not reset, you can just shift the plugs to another outlet. This outlet will also break as it becomes overloaded and the process will continue until the entire system shuts down. A single breaker switch shutting down is a warning that you have overloaded the circuitry and attention must be paid to what you are doing. It is just the same thing with the energy system of our bodies. 

These twenty-six Energy Locks serve as breaker switches. If enough are blown over a period of time, disharmonies will occur in your physical, emotional, or mental well-being. The openness and flow of energy through our safety energy locks determine our health, balance and well-BE-ing.

It was easy for me to see that the relationship of these Fibromyalgia TenderPoints and Safety Energy Locks indicates a stagnation of the flow of life energy. 

Jin Shin Jyutsu teaches us to heed the warning of pain-which is our indicator that something is out of order and energy locks are shutting down. By simply holding the stuck energy center we can unlock the flow of energy and return ourselves to harmony. It really is that simple: Hold the pain and clear the stagnation!

I now see a number of clients in my practice who have the label of Fibromyalgia. Regular Jin Shin Jyutsu Sessions with a practitioner can be really helpful. One of my clients with this label usually comes weekly for a maintenance session. She finds the weekly sessions very helpful in managing her pain. This Summer she missed several weeks of sessions due to family vacations and house guests, etc... she said that she continued to do all of the other things that she knows helps her to keep the Fibro pain at bay (healthy eating, regular exercise including swimming, supplements and fibro meds) but she skipped her Jin Shin Jyutsu sessions with me. She said that leaving out the Jin Shin Jyutsu sessions was the only thing that she changed in her care plan and she was surprised to discover just how much the regular Jin Shin Jyutsu sessions made a difference in her pain level.

A common question people have when they first set off on the healing path is, "How many sessions will this take?" Well, it varies depending on the nature of the your project and what you want to achieve. Each of us is unique, so consequently, there is no set number of required sessions that works for everyone.

Know that the body wants to heal itself. The amount of time it takes to heal depends on how long and how elaborately your energy system has been adjusting to the disharmonies in the energetic pathways of the body and how out of balance you are - body, mind and spirit.  

It takes awhile for us to get out of harmony. The goal of each healing session is to focus on the harmony and to return the body, mind, and spirit to a place of balance. By releasing the blockages of your flow of energy, the life-force energy in your body is increased. Each healing session allows us to find and release energies that you may have tied up in a specific project, such as health issues, relationships, emotions and attitudes or anything else you wish to work on to bring more joy and harmony into your life.  It is in this place of balance and free flowing energy that healing occurs.

The process of change and transformation can happen quickly but it does not run on a fixed schedule. The rate of improvement is specific to you and may include a reduction in pain, deep relaxation, an increase in energy, or an improvement in overall health. If the condition is acute, it will usually resolve in fewer treatments, while chronic conditions may take longer. Your rate of healing is also dependent on how much energy or change that your body/being can withstand at any given time. Each session builds on the last since the healing process works in layers. As some parts of your body begin to heal, new underlying patterns become exposed and can also be addressed. Over a period of time, we clear more and more issues and learn how to operate in a new and healthy way.

When more time is spent receiving healing, the healing patterns are set more strongly, so your body begins to heal faster. The effects of regularly returning your body to balance are cumulative and lead to deep and sustained changes in the your life. These effects can become long lasting with a maintenance program of regular Jin Shin Jyutsu sessions paired with daily self-help.

“Pain is such an uncomfortable feeling 

that even a tiny amount of it 

is enough to ruin every enjoyment.” 

~Will Rogers

Empowered Kids

Empowered Kids

"You are very powerful,
provided you know how powerful you are."
~Yogi Bhajan

     Last week, I got a phone message from my 11 year old daughter. She was as at school and  having a belly ache. She had been having a belly ache before school, so I had given her some self-help to do. When I saw that there was a message from the school, I thought... oh no.. she needs to come home. But her message said, "Mom, I don't need you to come get me, I just wondered if you had something else you could suggest for me to do so that I can stay at school, my belly is really hurting..."
     Wow, I was amazed! It was one of those proud mama moments. One of my goals (both as a parent and as a holistic practitioner) is to empower people to take charge of their own health through Jin Shin Jyutsu Self-Help! and here was my dear one asking for ideas on what she could do to help herself! Pretty cool, eh?!
     Mary Burmeister wrote a children's self-help book called Fun with Happy Hands, which offers a delightful introduction to the Art of Jin Shin Jyutsu and helps children of all ages learn simple and FUN ways to help themselves. My daughter, Rebecca, has owned this book since she was pretty little and has been actively learning Jin Shin Jyutsu Self-Help from me and this book most of her young life.
     I think that it is important that while we are teaching our children self care skills like potty training, tying shoes, making healthy food choices, how to get dressed, and so many others, that we also empower them to actively participate in their own care and well-being. Teaching your child independent skills can be easier said then done, especially if they are accustomed to having things done for them. But if we give them the tools that they need to self-soothe and help themselves, they become empowered with good coping skills and a confidence in their body's ability to heal.
     I  like to think that from an early age that I taught Rebecca about her ability to balance attitudes by simply holding her fingers. But in actuality, she taught me a lot about them! I would watch her at a few months old choosing which finger or toe to suck. Confidently and consciously choosing! It was amazing to watch and taught me so much about the innate nature of Jin Shin Jyutsu. We are all working towards helping ourselves all of the time. The practice of Jin Shin Jyutsu brings awareness to what we are doing and allows us to have a different relationship with our BE-ing.  We literally hold BALANCE in our own hands!

Self-Help Tip:

We can teach our children how to cope with emotionally difficult situations like worry, fear, anger, sadness and the challenges of being true to ourselves (pretense/trying to). If we are always trying to do it all and being burned out, stressed out and overwhelmed, the lesson that we gift our children with is how to be stressed. However when we use these same self-help techniques to enhance your own coping skills, we teach them how to cope and BE. Simple! 

"Happiness is not a matter of intensity 

but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony." 

~Thomas Merton 

Forest Fires and Flu

Forest Fires and Flu

"Fever itself is Nature's instrument.
Fever is a mighty engine which Nature brings
into the world for conquest of her enemies."

~Dr.Thomas Sydenham (1624 - 1689)

You might ask, what do forest fires have to do with the flu?

     When everyone around me is getting sick, I rarely succumb. If I feel something coming on, I boost my immune system with Jin Shin Jyutsu, herbs and Vitamin C and D, and I usually manage head IT off at the pass. In fact, it has been so long since I had the flu, that I can't even remember when the last time was! 

     But as the year turned from 2012 to 2013, I could feel it coming on and even though I used all of my tools to head it off, it was coming. Once the flu hit, it was like being in a long dark one-way tunnel.  So I crawled in bed for the next six days....seems that my body needed a vacation! I focused on keeping hydrated and sleeping. I drank lots of water and herbal teas with lemon, honey and ginger, and Miso soup with garlic and cayenne.  My fever started at 101°F but then hung just below 100°F for 3 days. 

     After recovering, I found that I felt lighter, more expansive as if some of the old junk got burned off! What a great feeling!  

     Most people look at the flu as a bad thing, but Dr Sherri Tennpenny says, "If everything on this planet is here for a reason and there are no mistakes, perhaps an episode of the flu, with the increased mucous, cough, nasal drainage, and diarrhea is the act of cleaning out the internal dross. Supporting the body through this elimination process with homeopathy, herbs, and Chinese medicine, instead of suppressing the symptoms with Western medicine tools may be the key to long-term health and longevity. From this perspective, instead of being the problem, viruses may be part of the solution, the clean-up crew. It should be noted that the human race evolved because of its relationship to microbes, not in spite of it. What a novel thought! Instead of fearing the flu and doing everything possible to avoid it, including spending billions of dollars to create an experimental vaccine, it may be okay to spend a week or two in bed, clearing out accumulated toxicities." 
     Fever is an important part of the body’s defense against infection. Most bacteria and viruses that cause infections thrive at our normal body temperature of 98.6 °F. A fever signals that a battle might be going on in the body. It is considered an ally and a beneficial partner in the healing process.  By manifesting a fever, the elevated metabolic heat can burn off toxins and pathogens at a faster rate. During the higher body temperature the production of immune cells and the blood circulation is increased, sweating helps to eliminate toxins, not feeling hungry saves energy that would be otherwise needed for digestion and the resting helps recuperation and healing. After the fever has served its purpose the body returns to normal. As long as the fever doesn't rise too high or too quickly, holistic practitioners prefer to support the fever rather than suppress it. Fasting, rest, drinking plenty of fluids and beneficial herbs are used to encourage the purposes of a fever.

     All of this has me thinking about forest fires. Like the flu, they are another one of those things that we often think of as destructive and to be avoided at all costs, but recent research shows that forest fires are actually beneficial to soil because they play an important role in helping to maintain the earth's nitrogen cycle and serve important ecosystem functions. Some trees have fire resistant bark and cones that require heat to open and release seeds for regeneration.  Fires typically move through burning lower branches and clearing dead wood from the forest floor which kick-starts regeneration by providing ideal growing conditions. It also improves floor habitat for many species that prefer relatively open spaces. Fever is Nature's instrument indeed! 

     It is not surprising that I felt lighter, more balanced and regenerated after my bout with the flu! 

     Optimal nutrition and hydration, exercise, reduction of stress with Jin Shin Jyutsu, yoga and meditation,  and proper rest are some of the things you can do to boost your immune response. It is recommended to seek medical care if one’s fever is above 104 degrees for over six hours or in any fever in an infant under four months of age.

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

With an Attitude of Gratitude

Self Help Tip: 

With an Attitude of Gratitude

     
"If you don't like something change it;
if you can't change it,
change the way you think about it."
~Mary Engelbreit
 

As I woke up on Thanksgiving morning, I held my fingers, as I do most mornings,  and thought about the gifts that Jin Shin Jyutsu brings to my life and how easy it is to access those gifts by holding my fingers. In the practice of Jin Shin Jyutsu, we are taught that by holding our fingers we can harmonize the attitudes that dis-harmonize our bodies. Each finger harmonizes an attitude as well as the organs that are affected by that particular attitude. Hold your fingers not to suppress attitudes but to express or release them. Holding our fingers to harmonize limiting thoughts and attitudes is the simplest, most readily available tool we have to cope with whatever life throws at us. This simple act not only keeps us from getting stuck in those limiting attitudes, but brings us in touch with the limitless, positive and harmonious gifts that BALANCE brings to us! 

I wanted to find a way to emphasize these gifts and was inspired to created this Thanksgiving turkey hand as a way to show what we bring in as we harmonize those attitudes! At the same time giving me a chance to express my gratitude for each of these gift that my practice of Jin Shin Jyutsu brings to my life each day.

thumb - worry transforms to into harmony, a healthy sense of self, profound security
index - fear transforms into love, flow, perfect circulation
middle - anger transforms into peace and balance
ring - sadness and grief transform into joy and happiness
little - try-to's/effort and pretense transform into ease, laughter and BE-ing
palm - despondency transforms into equilibrium, balance, intuition and connection to Divine Source

HOLD each finger for about 5 minutes or until you can feel a gentle rhythmic pulsing, even and clear. Breath easily. Relax the shoulders and smile from the very heart of you.

Take charge of your ATTITUDES and bring GRATITUDE into your daily practice. Remember that the simple act of holding your fingers will balance all of your Attitudes and transform them into the positive emotions that we all thrive on. It really is that simple. We are in charge of our attitudes and nature has given each of us an easy and accessible way to do so.

"Could we change our attitude,
we should not only see life differently,
but life itself would come to be different."
~Katherine Mansfield

Happy Thanksgiving

As I woke up this morning and held my fingers, I thought about the gifts that Jin Shin Jyutsu brings to my life and how easy it is to access those gifts by holding my fingers. We often talk about how holding fingers harmonize the attitudes that dis-harmonize our bodies-thumb/worry, index/fear, middle/anger, ring/sadness, little/try-to's. So I drew this Thanksgiving turkey hand to show what we bring in as we harmonize those attitudes! Enjoy!

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

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

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

BE the River

BE the River

"Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like water.
Now you put water into a cup,
it becomes the cup,
you put water into a bottle,
it becomes the bottle,
you put it in a teapot,
it becomes the teapot.
Now water can flow or it can crash.
Be water, my friend.”
~Bruce Lee

     Nothing like sitting next to a waterfall on the river to help you to feel the importance of flow. The importance of letting go of our attachments and control.
     One of my personal mantras in life is "BE the RIVER not the ROCK." It helps me to remember to Go With The Flow.
     Holding the index finger harmonizes FEAR and increases our ability to FLOW and ALLOW. I encourage you to take time to sit by moving water as a reminder of the power of FLOW and to hold your INDEX finger.   

“Relaxation means releasing all concern and tension and letting the natural order of life flow through one's being”
~Donald Curtis

Attitude Changes Everything!

Attitude Changes Everything!

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes."
~William James

     Attitude is the way you mentally look at the world around you. It is how you view your environment and your future. It is the focus you develop toward life itself.
     In Jin Shin Jyutsu, we know that the body is affected by the air, food, activities, thoughts and stresses that we experience each moment of living. Our attitudes dis-harmonize the flow of life energy in our bodies and disrupt the pathways which deliver the limitless supply of life energy to every part of our physical being.  Attitudes keep us from freely being all that we have the potential to BE.
    MY DESTINY IS IN MY OWN HANDS: One of the simplest ways to utilize Jin Shin Jyutsu on ourselves is to hold each of our fingers, one at a time. To reverse the affect that attitudes have on our bodies and our lives, we simply need to HOLD our fingers. 

    Each finger harmonizes an attitude as well as the organs that are affected by that particular attitude. Hold your fingers not to suppress attitudes but to express or release them. HOLD each finger for about 5 minutes or until you can feel a gentle rhythmic pulsing, even and clear. Breath easily. Relax the shoulders and smile from the very heart of you.
     Take charge of your attitudes. It will make such a big difference in your life and in the amount of stress that you allow to accumulate in your being. Holding your fingers to harmonize limiting thoughts and attitudes is the simplest, most readily available tool you have to cope with whatever life throws at you.

“We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do is play
on the one string we have,
and that is our attitude.
I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.
And so it is with you-
WE are in charge of our Attitudes.” 
~Charles R. Swindoll

Choose Love

Choose Love

Hold your index finger to clear the chains of fear and to bring flow and love into your very BE-ing!

When we feel connected to others, the negative aspects of fear have no place to hook in to our BE-ing. Fear is a paralyzing force that hinders the body's natural-motion principles. Fear includes feelings of mental confusion, frustration, depression, timidity, perfectionism, and criticism. Fear is also associated with drug addiction. Fear brings disharmony to the muscular system and affects both bladder and kidney function energy which together are responsible for the regulation of the movement of water throughout the body. Fear limits the body's ability to move freely and translates into back discomfort and stress, and affects the functions that revitalize bones and bone marrow.

The INDEX finger is the key to FLOW and LOVE. When you are in the FLOW, you are in HARMONY. There are no obstacles, no limitations, no feelings of lack, no judgment. There is perfect circulation and balance. To balance Fear, HOLD your INDEX finger for 5 minutes or until you can feel a gentle rhythmic pulsing. Even and clear. Breath easily. Relax the shoulders and smile from the very heart of you. As you hold the index finger, you ease back tension/stress and facilitate the flow of life energy throughout the body. All fears begin to melt away. Assimilation and elimination functions begin to improve. Toothaches and teething issues are eased and healthy circulation is restored. Exhale. Smile. Relax.

Movement

Movement

“I came to see that movement
is one of the great laws of life.
It is the primary medium of our aliveness,
 the flow of energy going on in us like a river all the time, awake or asleep, twenty-four hours a day.
Our movement is our behavior;
there is a direct connection between what we are like and how we move.
As people begin to move in their own way,
they are faced with feelings of surprise and delight
 and often of anxiety and embarrassment.
Judgments, corrections and explanations are of no use.
It is their movement, and it happened just that way.
~Mary Whitehouse

Mudras: Yoga in Your Hands

Mudras:
Yoga in Your Hands

"Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself."
~Hermann Hesse 

     Mudras are the birthplace of what we now call Jin Shin Jyutsu. One hundred years ago, when Master Jiro Murai was diagnosed with an incurable illness, he asked to brought to the family cabin in the mountains of Japan. His family was instructed to come back in 7 days to see the outcome. It is said that the intense use of mudras while sitting in meditation and fasting turned his life energy around. He passed through fevers and chills during those days before losing consciousness and subsequently coming back to himself, feeling that he was free of whatever had caused him to be so ill. Murai believed that the simple act of joining right hand with left hand would bring about a unity between body and mind. 

     Unlike animals who primarily use their noses and mouths to experience their environment, we explore our world with our hands. Touch is important to our human experience thanks to 17,000 tactile receptors on the hand. We have about 4000 nerve endings at the tips of our fingers, giving our fingertips one of the densest collections of nerve endings in the body. The nerve endings connect with the energetic pathways of our organs and can influence them, relax, stimulate or balance them. Our hands are therefore an energy map of our consciousness and health with areas of the hand corresponding to different systems of the body as well as our various attitudes. Through the simple act of  curling, crossing, stretching, and touching the fingers and palms, we access the energetic pathways that connect body, mind and spirit. All of this is what makes mudras effective tools for balance and well-being.

     Anywhere you are, while on a break, sitting at a red light while in your car, waiting at the checkout, at your office or home, stillness can be yours. Mudras are easily learned and with a little practice you can do them at any time and place. A knowledge of these mudras allows us to send energy to any part of our being.

     The mudra pictured above is one of the 8 mudras that are part of the Practice of Jin Shin Jyutsu. It is known in our tradition as "Inhaling the Purified Breath of Life." This finger pose relieves asthma, back tension/stress and brings general well-being to the whole body. It aids in easier breathing allowing us to receive the purified Breath of Life. This pose helps us to bring harmony to our total being. 

     Cynthia Broshi, International Jin Shin Jyutsu teacher, says, "Through their relationships the Mudras excavate, untangle and dissolve tensions. Singly and as a group they work with the relationship of Exhale and Inhale, building and breaking down. Some poses emphasize one or the other aspect of Breath, and utilizing each pose with the left and the right hand amplifies and blends these actions of Generation and Regeneration." 

     Our power to harmonize, balance, and heal is literally in our own hands. Learn more about this practice and awareness in MUDRAS and MINDFULNESS , a six-week course beginning on February 22. This course is an indepth study of Mary Burmeister's Self-Help Text, FUN with FINGERS and TOES: Jin Shin Jyutsu Physio-Philosophy. Join me for this in-depth study of harmonizing our energy channels through fingers and toes and the 8 Mudras of Jin Shin Jyutsu.

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

The Power of Self Help

The Power of Self Help

"But from whence comes the healing?
...the healing comes from WITHIN."
~Edgar Cayce 

      Self-Help is the cornerstone of the Jin Shin Jyutsu and is the pathway to healing and continued balance. It is this Self-Help aspect that initially attracted me to Jin Shin Jyutsu. Through Self-Help, I have witnessed miracles of healing in my body at my own hands. I truly believe that with Jin Shin Jyutsu, time and an open mind, all things are possible. 
 

      I love that Jin Shin Jyutsu empowers us to take responsibility for our own healing, that it allows us to know ourselves in ways that connect us with our awareness and enables us to create balance for ourselves. I know so many people who present themselves to a medical professional and ask to be "fixed" by them when in actuality the body seldom works that way. 

      The Self-Help aspect of Jin Shin Jyutsu gives us the means to identify and deal with stress in our bodies and clear that stress so that healing can occur. It enables us to awaken our own personal inner healer. It is the time one puts into self-help/self-reflection that strengthens the pathway for healing. Attending to our personal healing needs on a daily basis is the way to balance and ease.

     I find that the most effective self-help is self-help that is done with the least amount of effort. It can be as easy as holding a finger or doing a one-step "quickie". You can do an entire flow or just the steps that feel good to you. Whatever you do for yourself will be beneficial. 

     The only time Jin Shin Jyutsu is not effective is when you are not using it. So pick something simple and do it every day. Make a daily goal of 20 minutes to start with and build up to more time eventually. The time spent with self-help need not be continuous, but can be 5 minutes here and 10 minutes there. Make it work for you however you can. Do not be discouraged. Remember that the results are not always immediate, nor do they always come in the form that you are looking for, but on some causal level they are working for you, peeling the deep layers and clearing the way for balance and healing.

     How do you learn self-help? As part of each healing treatment, I share personalized self-help routines to practice at home. These tips are meant to support the work that we do together. I share self-help tips in this newsletter and on my blog. I invite you to join me for a class or workshop to really get jump-started with your own Jin Shin Jyutsu Self-Help Healing Practice. 

"The human body is predisposed to heal itself and to exist as a healthy, thriving organism.
It's amazing, but true, that many of the most effective healing therapies (even for grave,
life-threatening disease conditions) are simple things that you can do for yourself at home. You simply have to educate yourself and take responsibility for your own health."
~Ken Adachi

Awaken Your Inner Healer

  "…each patient carries his own doctor inside him. We are at best when we give the doctor
who resides within each patient
a chance to go to work.”
~Albert Schweitzer

      It is clear to me that my very first Jin Shin Jytusu session back in 1998 woke up my inner healer. Up to that point in my life, I was unaware that I even had an inner healer. In our culture, we are led to believe that we need a doctor to "fix" us. But when I found a holistic approach to wellness, it set me on the path to clearing long standing dis-ease in my body and restoring balance in ways that I never thought were possible. My inner healer was reminded that she had work to do, revealing to me the power that is within us.  We each have an innate ability to heal and being whole is our birthright.
      Think about it, for our entire lives, we have healed cut fingers and skinned knees, mended broken bones, overcome colds and flu without even thinking about it. Healing occurs without conscious effort, as does every breath and heartbeat and body function. The Innate Intelligence of our bodies has the ability is to maintain the body, to take the food, sunshine, water and air that we consume and turn it into what our bodies need to heal and become whole.  It maintains our bodies and is a creative force in our lives.

“You have within you right now,
everything you need to deal
with whatever the world can throw at you.”
~Brian Tracy

      Wholeness or "health" is our natural state of being.  Our Innate Intelligence provides us with all of the tools needed to heal ourselves. The assistance that we get from a practitioner or doctor merely provides support for our own bodies’ natural healing abilities. And when we attend to the cause of the disharmony, rather than masking the symptoms,  our inner ability to heal is supported.
      With Jin Shin Jyutsu Energy Work, we seek to clear the energetic stagnation that produces dis-ease in our bodies. When the stress that is held in the body is removed, our inner healer is able to get to work returning balance and harmony. This enables us to tap into our natural ability to create the healing we need in our life, to help the body to fulfill its innate functions harmoniously, and to produce health.

"The reality is that you are a powerful being,
fully capable of things that may lie far beyond
your wildest dreams at this point."
~Bradley Nelson

How Many Sessions Does Healing Take?

"Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity."
~Hippocrates

A common question people have when they first set off on the healing path is, "How many sessions will this take?" Well, it varies depending on the nature of the your project and what you want to achieve. Each of us is unique, so consequently, there is no set number of required sessions that works for everyone.
Know that the body wants to heal itself. The amount of time it takes to heal depends on how long and how elaborately your energy system has been adjusting to the disharmonies in the energetic pathways of the body and how out of balance you are - body, mind and spirit.   

"Habitual recurrence to the harmony will increase your mastery of it".
~Marcus Aurelius

It takes awhile for us to get out of harmony. The goal of each healing session is to focus on the harmony and to return the body, mind, and spirit to a place of balance. By releasing the blockages of your flow of energy, the life-force energy in your body is increased. Each healing session allows us to find and release energies that you may have tied up in a specific project, such as health issues, relationships, emotions and attitudes or anything else you wish to work on to bring more joy and harmony into your life.  It is in this place of balance and free flowing energy that healing occurs.
The process of change and transformation can happen quickly but it does not run on a fixed schedule. The rate of improvement is specific to you and may include a reduction in pain, deep relaxation, an increase in energy, or an improvement in overall health. If the condition is acute, it will usually resolve in fewer treatments, while chronic conditions may take longer. Your rate of healing is also dependent on how much energy or change that your body/being can withstand at any given time.  Jin Shin Jyutsu energy healing meets you on your own terms, never pushing you more than you are ready for. Each session builds on the last since the healing process works in layers. As some parts of your body begin to heal, new underlying patterns become exposed and can also be addressed. Over a period of time, we clear more and more issues and learn how to operate in a new and healthy way.
When more time is spent receiving healing, the healing patterns are set more strongly, so your body begins to heal faster. The effects of regularly returning your body to balance are cumulative and lead to deep and sustained changes in the your life. These effects can become long lasting with a program of regular Jin Shin Jyutsu sessions paired with daily self-help.

"Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn't you - all of the expectations, all of the beliefs - and becoming who you are."
~Rachel Naomi Remen
 

Our Energy Centers

"All Creation proceeds from unity."
~Mary Burmeister

      This week I want to introduce you to the energy centers of the body that Jin Shin Jyutsu refers to as "Safety Energy Locks". I am sure that many of you are familiar with the Chakras from Yoga and other healing traditions. A chakra is defined as a wheel, or vortex of energy. There are seven major chakras that flow through a human’s energetic system. All of these major chakras are on the Main Central Flow Pathway and make up our energetic blueprint connecting us to Source energy and our soul purpose.
      Interestingly, Safety Energy Locks have the same definition! They are  defined as vortices of spiralling energy. To my way of thinking, they can be considered "minor chakras" on our energy map. They mark the locations of intersecting energetic pathways or meridians often at skeletal junctures.
      I have many clients ask about this curious name-Safety Energy Lock. Jin Shin Jyutsu recognizes 26 pairs of these energy centers in our bodies. These areas are much more than fixed points and encompass and area approximately the size of our hand. Each one of them has a specific meaning that is expressed through its number and is closely related to its placement on the body. They act like the circuit breakers on the electrical system in our homes and lock when the flow of energy in a pathway is too much, too little or stagnant-to warn and protect us from further disharmony. When one or more of these safety energy locks become blocked, a local disruption can occur, eventually resulting in disharmony of the energetic pathway completely. Just like in your home electrical system, if an outlet is overloaded, it blows the breaker that feeds that outlet, but does not shut down the whole electrical system. If the breaker is not reset, you can just shift the plugs to another outlet. This outlet will also break as it becomes overloaded and the process will continue until the entire system shuts down. A single breaker switch shutting down is a warning that you have overloaded the circuitry and attention must be paid to what you are doing. It is just the same thing with the energy system of our bodies. These twenty-six Energy Locks serve as breaker switches. If enough are blown over a period of time, disharmonies will occur in your physical, emotional, or mental well-being.  Another picture that describes for me what happens in the body, it to imagine our highway system of roads. Where many roads intersect there are overlaps and junctions, referred to in many cities as "malfunction junction". All it takes is one accident at the junction to slow traffic from coming and going in many directions!
     Jin Shin Jyutsu teaches us to heed the warning of pain-which is our indicator that something is out of order and energy locks are shutting down. By simply holding the stuck energy center we can unlock the flow of energy and return ourselves to harmony. It really is that simple: Hold the pain and clear the stagnation!

"Smile, breathe and go slowly."
~Thich Nhat Hanh