Thoughts on Self-Help: Making it work for you.

"In the beginning you must subject yourself to the influence of nature. You must be able to walk firmly on the ground before you start walking on a tightrope." ~Henri Matisse

Empowering people through self-help is one of my missions as a holistic practitioner. Each of my clients receive self-help routines to do on their own, tailored to their particular needs and abilities. This enables them to extend the benefits of the work that we do together by developing a personal daily practice. It is the time one puts into self-help/self-reflection that strengthens the pathway for healing.

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 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.

Here are some tips to help you in your personal self-help practice:

• Relax- just be as you are.
• Use whatever position is most convenient, practical or comfortable for you.
• Ideally, apply each step or connection until a rhythmic pulsation can be felt. But if time is limited, hold for as much time as you have available.
• All sequences can be adjusted to suit you.
• Be comfortable. If you can not reach a step, you can skip it and go on to the next step that you can reach without straining.
• Jin Shin Jyutsu works effectively over clothing, bandage, brace or cast.
• Use your entire hand, one finger, or several fingers, your  palm or back of the hand whatever is easy, comfortable and convenient at the time.
• No strength is required. It is not necessary to apply pressure, to rub or massage.

Mary Burmeister encourages us to "...Simply adjust the sequence to your own convenience and comfort. If for instance, a "step" feels most revitalizing to you, just get into the habit, in your art of LIVING, of utilizing that step as your own 'special' quickie revitalizing exercise. The art of LIVING is simple. You are the artist."

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.

"Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand and melting like a snowflake." ~Marie Beynon Ray

Bridging the Gap

"I am seeking for the bridge
which leans from the visible to the invisible through reality."
~Max Beckmann

When I first read in Mary Burmeister's Jin Shin Jyutsu Self-Help Book that Master Jiro Murai dedicated his study and rediscovery of the ancient healing art of Jin Shin Jyutsu to the Imperial Shrine at Ise Jingu, I needed to know more about Ise Jingu!

Ise Grand Shrine is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the goddess Amaterasu-omikami (the Radiating Princess or Sun Goddess), located in the city of Ise in Mie prefecture, Japan.

In my research, I found this image of the Uji Bridge, which crosses the Isuzu River and leads to the entrance of the Imperial Shrine. I learned that the Uji Bridge further serves to connect the sacred land with the human world.

This image indeed has a magical, mystical feel to it and leads me to think about the bridge as a metaphor of healing, wellness and balance. Because of the nature of earth's geography-hills, mountains, rivers, etc-there could be no road of any type without bridges. Bridges, both the literal and figurative ones, connect us to everything and allow us to reach something of importance on the other side.

The purpose of a bridge is connect and make it possible for existing paths to continue and join. A bridge has no judgment as it simply exists to connect anyone who chooses to make use of it, no matter who they are or where are ultimately going.

"Know that Self alone that is one without a second, on which are strung heaven, the earth and the inter-space, the mind and the vital forces together with all the other organs; and give up all other talks. This is the bridge leading to immortality." ~Mundaka Upanishad

Right within our bodies exist many bridges or means of connection that help us to live and function effectively. Our bodies are made up of a multitude of communication pathways and bridges that connect all of the layers of our being-body, mind and spirit. Jin Shin Jytusu concerns forces that we can’t see, but that are powerful and ever-present on an energetic level. This experience of the mystical allows us to receive the harmonizing gifts that come through the gentle touch of Jin Shin Jyutsu on the energy flow patterns in the body.

Jin Shin Jyutsu considers harmony to be our original state. It  becomes 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. The Main Central Flow especially helps us to connect to these mystical forces by bridging us back to the ancestral river of creative life force energy that creates our physical experience. By working with The Main Central Flow daily, we find ourselves remembering that harmony is our birthright.

“The study of Jin Shin Jyutsu is to remember who we truly are; spiritual beings having a physical experience.”
~Mary Burmeister

Physio-Philosophy

  

“Living life becomes art, when the phenomenon we call man realizes he just appears to be an object in the phenomenal world, whereas in fact he is the Original Source, the Divine.”
~Mieke Berger

    More than just a healing modality or style of bodywork, Jin Shin Jyutsu provides us with a philosophy for life. It gives us tools for living a balanced life and makes us more aware of our connection with Source and with our true nature. Often, it is the philosophy and spirit of the work that attracts clients and practitioners to Jin Shin Jyutsu rather than the technique.

   Jin Shin Jyutsu is the study of the life energy that pervades the universe and gives life to all things, our personal creation story. Through the study of Jin Shin Jyutsu and Self-Help we gain an awareness of the energy centers of our bodies, such that we can consciously utilize our breath and our hands to dissolve the blocks to the natural flows of our energy, and release stress and pain.

   Healing is the process of becoming WHOLE, a harmonizing of body, mind and spirit and a reconnection with Source. The word HEAL comes from the Greek word Holos; to make whole, entire, complete. This Source or power that brings us into being has the power to heal. It is this sense of balance and well being to the whole body-mind-spirit that Jin Shin Jyutsu emphasizes and that we experience as remembering wholeness. 

   Mary Burmeister called Jin Shin Jyutsu a "physio-philosophy". She believed the understanding of Jin Shin Jyutsu by many people would be facilitated by calling the art PHYSIO-PHILOSOPHY - KNOW MYSELF IT IS. (PHYSIO, meaning Nature, or Creator’s Art / One Order; PHILOSOPHY, meaning Effortless Reality, or Being the Non-being). She also referred to Jin Shin Jyutsu as the "Cosmic Artless Art to KNOW (Help) MYSELF", or “NATURE - THE EFFORTLESS REALITY, KNOW MYSELF IT IS”.

   The study of Jin Shin Jyutsu puts us on a path toward understanding ourselves and our relationship to the cosmos while giving us a deeper understanding of the energy that animates our being and brings us awareness of complete harmony within the self and the universe. Through both physiology and philosophy, Jin Shin Jyutsu teaches how to take the physical understanding and apply it to our circumstances.  Jin Shin Jyutsu teaches the wisdom of life, to know myself, to be in harmony. Our health and harmony depend upon the free and even distribution of this life energy throughout the body, mind and spirit. When we live in the moment with the breath of life, we have all the energy we need.

 

“For those of us addressing existing stress or health disharmonies, or for those wishing to participate actively in maintaining health, vitality and well-being, the Art of Jin Shin Jyutsu is a simple powerful tool, available to all. ”
~Mary Burmeister

Do the Main Central Flow Daily

The Main Central is a valuable self-help tool and the source of our life energy. 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. For optimum results, do this daily.

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

Thyroid/Self-Help Success Story

“There’s no secret to balance.
You just have to feel the waves.”
~Frank Herbert

    A few months before my first Jin Shin Jyutsu Practitioner Class, I was diagnosed with a "toxic thyroid nodule" that needed to be removed. It was a scary time for me, my daughter was just 18 months old and I was a single mom and needless to say had a lot on my plate! I had been dabbling in Jin Shin Jyutsu Self-Help on and off for a few years following information in The Touch of Healing book. But without a practitioner to guide me it was difficult to keep up with it or really even to know what to do.
   They surgically removed 25% of my thyroid to get the entire nodule. It was not cancerous but they told me that at my age, removing the nodule was the best thing to do and that I would be on thyroid medication for the rest of my life.
   A week after the surgery, I had my follow-up with the surgeon. He said that in order to determine the proper dosage of thyroid medication that he wanted me to come back in a month to be tested for thyroid levels, then he would prescribe the medication.
In the meantime, I started doing Self-Help in earnest...nothing like a good push to get me to do what I know I need to do! I chose the Main Central Flow as the one to do because The Touch of Healing book spoke of it being a good daily flow.
   After a month they did the blood test for thyroid levels and when the results came back, my levels were just into the bottom of  the "normal" level. The surgeon decided that I should come back in 6 months because surely by then the blood test would give a good indication of how much thyroid medication I would need.
   Three months after this surgery, I took my first Jin Shin Jyutsu 5-day Basic Seminar. During a 5 day class, in addition to learning the history, philosophy and energy maps of Jin Shin Jyutsu, the participants get at least one session each day and give two session to learn Jin Shin Jyutsu hands-on.
   I learned that my choice of using the Main Central Flow every day was a good one as the Main Central Flow is not only the blueprint flow of the energy being/the ancestral river of life, but it is the harmonizer of the endocrine system, responsible for balance of hormone levels in the physical body. Our hormones are the communication system for our bodies, the grand directors of the functioning of our organs.

   from Wikipedia....."The thyroid gland or simply, the thyroid, is one of the largest endocrine glands in the body. The thyroid gland is found in the neck, below the thyroid cartilage (also known as the Adam's Apple). The thyroid controls how quickly the body uses energy, makes proteins, and controls how sensitive the body should be to other hormones."

   The Thyroid has some big responsibilities! I continued doing the Main Central everyday and added some other self-help to my daily routine. When the blood work came back after 6 months, my thyroid levels were solidly in the normal level. The surgeon scratched his head and released my case to my regular doctor. He told me to "Keep doing whatever you are doing" and get tested again in 6 months to see how much thyroid medication I would need.
   It is now exactly 8 years after that first post-surgery thyroid blood test and every year when they do the blood work, my levels come back perfectly normal without any medication. It has been an amazing journey and confirmation for me of the power of self-help and especially the Main Central Flow.

“Happiness is not a matter of intensity
but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.”
~Thomas Merton

Your Body is Precious

"Your body is precious. 
It is our vehicle for awakening. 
Treat it with care."
~Buddha

     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. With 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.

      For many years now I have been able to have several Jin Shin Jyutsu sessions a month with a local practitioner. My practitioner is currently unavailable, so I am back to relying entirely on Self-Help. I practice Self-Help every day and often throughout each day. I can't imagine my life without this daily practice of tuning in and tuning up. It is in hindsight that I now realize the benefits of those weekly sessions! I always felt great after my sessions  and more capable of dealing with whatever life had to throw at me. But after a few months without sessions, I am more aware of the deeper health benefits of those treatments.  I look forward to my practitioner being available again!

      Regular sessions are more than a frivolous indulgence as the treatment calms the body and helps relax the mind which in turn helps to reduce stress by lowering the body's cortisol levels. Considering that stress is responsible for most illness, alleviating stress can make a major difference in overall health and attitude.

     The combination of daily self-help and regular healing sessions with your practitioner as part of your wellness routine will help you to maintain physical, mental and emotional well-being while instilling a sense of empowerment for your own healing. The many important health benefits of regular Jin Shin Jyutsu treatments include:

• Stress Relief
• Managing Anxiety and Depression
• Coping with Change
• Dealing with Pain
• Minimize Stiffness
• Blood Pressure Control
• Sports-related Injuries
• Boosting Immunity
• Promote Healing from Surgical Procedures
• Ease Negative Effects of Cancer Treatment

     Studies continue to show that the power of touch has miraculous effects with its ability to relax, heal, and help release emotions and tension without the aid of drugs. We all have an innate need for touch and the power of touch is the power to heal.

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

All is Calm...

Did you know that just the thought of calm, of tranquility and serenity, can begin the process of refreshing the body and soul? Yet actually achieving a state of calm seems more and more difficult, if not impossible, given the stresses that weigh us down.

A good first step is to become aware of the breath. This simple, meditative exercise will bring about calm breathing and inner tranquility. Awareness of breathing is an excellent, first-aid technique that will help you to make your way through difficult emotional situations and produce many healthful benefits.

When under stress, we often breathe in a shallow manner or hold our breath, robbing our bodies of oxygen and creating more stress. The breath is very important to our well-being with its ability to relax the body and quiet the mind.

Hundreds of studies have shown that “just being quiet” evokes the ever-important relaxation response, which can lower blood pressure by 7–10 points, says Kathleen Hall, chief executive officer of the Atlanta-based Stress Institute. “It lowers your heart rate, and right away you get an immune system boost,” Hall says. “Considering the chaos in which we all live, it’s very important to have short intervals of relaxation. Research shows that even if you stop for three to five minutes, you change the lobes of the brain and you relax, producing serotonin and endorphins.” Serotonin tends to induce feelings of calm. Endorphins, often called the feel-good brain chemicals, reduce the perception of pain and produce feelings of euphoria.

In the philosophy of Jin Shin Jyutsu, we are invited observe the exhalation. This is where the breath begins. The exhale is what relaxes us and lets go of stress and tension. It is the key to clearing the body.  Moving out the old stale air and making room for the next new breath. Clear your clutter. Too many of us are hoarders of one kind or another. Many of us hoard our breath by not exhaling fully. We keep the old stuff in and don't make room for the new purified air, the abundant out-pouring of limitless life-power, our birth-right.

The breath is the simplest and most perfect of all the tools we have for health and balance. It can be used with awareness at any moment to balance the life energy and bring us into a place of harmony and healing flow. EXHALE long and deep, then you need not TAKE an inhalation but will RECEIVE one naturally, no effort necessary. Being aware of the breath assists us to dwell in the present moment, one breath at a time.

The Jin Shin Jyutsu breath practice, 36 Conscious Exhalations, is a great way to access this Limitless Life-Power and to establish a practice of mindful breathing. Begin by counting each exhalation. One, exhale, inhale. Two, exhale, inhale.......
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 all the dust dirt and greasy grime that is held in your body. Exhale from head to toes. Receive each breath with awareness and gratitude. Inhale from toes to head. RECEIVE the Cosmic Energy of Abundance. Connect to the Cosmic Energy Force.

Welcome to the effortless reality of your life.

“To keep the body in good health is a duty,
otherwise we shall not be able to keep
our mind strong and clear.” 
~Buddha