All Sorts Of Merry And Some Beautiful Harmony

Well, hello blog, it’s been a while. But here we are, nationwide and spruced up just in time for everyone to unplug and become one with nature. Excellent timing.

With the last few months being consumed with the new website, Christmas and all it entails has only just surfaced and it hasn’t been pretty. But we’re here and it’s happening and Fairytale of New York is on high rotation and the fridge is full and I am beyond grateful for everything.

I’m grateful for being able to roll my mat out each morning, for those 60 minutes that set up my day in the best way possible. I receive it as a luxury in this time when too many have too little as much as I recognise it as necessary for my own self-care.

I’m grateful for starting to appreciate that loving and caring for myself is part of the gift of yoga and a recent experience, given with love and received with love, brought that home to me.

Jin Shin Jyutsu. Have you heard of it? I hadn’t until a couple of Saturdays ago when I lay myself down between pristine white towels and let the beautiful Julia Gunderman work her healing on me.

I wasn’t sure what to expect other than an acupuncture-type experience, but without the needles. Which it kind of is, yet isn’t …

It’s not massage either, with no pressure on the body and little contact with the skin (only what’s exposed, like hands and face). Other than taking my pulse to establish the treatment flow best suited to me at that time, the session consisted of Julia gently placing her fingertips on parts of my body – under and above me – with barely any weight.

With my eyes closed I felt completely relaxed. Completely and instantly, which is unlike me. When I have had a massage I tend to spend a good portion of it in a state of high alert. For what reason, I don’t know, but relaxing takes a while and I always worry I’ll fall asleep possibly snoring or drooling (probably both). In this case I felt totally blissed out yet not drowsy.

And this is the crux of Jin Shin Jyutsu. It allows you enter a deep state of relaxation sending healing energy to exactly where it’s needed, targeting whatever blockages, illnesses or stresses you have going on in your life without manipulating muscles or realigning bones. Rather it’s a way of creating harmony in your body, and hence your mind and spirit also.

During the treatment, there were several instances when I felt a release; once in my chest that was like taking a delicious gulp of fresh, cold air. Not realising it was blocked yet recognising the unblocking was incredibly rejuvenating. Immediately after the treatment I kept testing my breath, feeling the air flow where previously it hadn’t.

Exquisite.

Like yoga, Julia reiterates the importance of self-help and an awareness of your own body. Like yoga, I felt an instant connection to how I felt and trusted it.

Exquisite.

Wishing you harmony this sweet for the Christmas season. Take best care of yourself.

– Jane x
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I left Julia’s gorgeous studio space in a wonderful daze but followed up with further questions which she answers below:

You asked me what my zodiac sign was before the session started. Is this significant in the treatment?
Jin Shin Jyutsu correlates specific organ function energies to each zodiac sign and accordingly, every one of us has a specific flow we come into life with which is essential to keep in harmony. Your pulse that day confirmed the need for your “birth flow”. This won’t be necessary every time but it’s helpful to know the zodiac.

For me, it was an immensely relaxing experience. Would it be suitable to recommend it as such?
Great! Yes, many clients say that JSJ provides a much deeper relaxation than a massage. But they need to be aware that it is a holistic modality that goes further than the physical body. In general JSJ provides a profound way of harmonising body, mind and spirit and preventing disease. In Western society we are used to the idea of “fixing” our health only when we fall ill. For example, we get a headache and take a pill. We are not used to looking behind the symptom of the headache and seeking ways to harmonise it holistically and completely. The Eastern traditions invite us to practice regular self-care in order to prevent disharmonies from manifesting in the physical body in the first place and therefore maintain good health.

[Note: Julia gave me some simple options for practicing self-care, one of which is to hold a finger or your thumb intuitively. Each finger corresponds with a related emotion. Once released there is a shift in how you feel. It really works!]

What is the main reason you find people come to you?
Usually people come to Jin Shin Jyutsu with a current or ongoing health project. In that case, the JSJ session needs to treat the project as well as all the other imbalances/tension that have been stored in our bodies, emotions and mind for most of our lives. Whatever the case may be, one thing is for sure: all physical projects have a relationship to the emotional and mental world of the client and Jin Shin Jyutsu provides a potent yet gentle way of bringing those to the surface in order to harmonise, without the client actually needing to talk about it or consciously work with it.

It is important to realise that in Jin Shin Jyutsu we don’t diagnose, we harmonise. This changes everything in the client’s healing journey, because as soon as diagnosis is made, the client is left with a label and our mind then creates and actually manifests that experience, thus healing gets difficult. The purpose of JSJ is to move away from those labels that our mind clings to and seek a harmonious way of being.
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For more information regarding Jin Shin Jyutsu and what Julia offers her clients go to her website:  http://naamaste.com/

© The Yoga Connection 2015