Recharge Your Body’s Batteries the Easy Way: Jin Shin Jyutsu®

The power of our hands is no secret to massage therapists. The ancient art of Jin Shin Jyutsu® takes this knowledge to a new level, offering an easy-yet-sophisticated self-care method that is accessible to everyone, at all times.

According to the philosophy of Jin Shin Jyutsu, we have 26 points of energetic density on both sides of our body. These points protect us from major energetic breakdowns, and are called safety energy locks. In case our energetic current isn’t in balance—on a physical, mental or emotional level—several of these points will lock, and dis-ease or discomfort will remind us to restore our balance.

The Key to Health and Balance

In Jin Shin Jyutsu, our hands work as jumper cables that enable us to recharge our body, mind and spirit and restore a harmonious flow of energy, which is key to health and balance.

For example, by simply holding your thumb, you can help boost your stomach and spleen energy and harmonize the plethora of symptoms that may occur when those energies are out of balance. Holding your thumb can assist in easing a broad range of issues, including upset stomach, nervousness and exhaustion.

See the photo above for how to perform the thumb hold. Hold your thumb until you can sense a pulsing in it; or, if you don’t feel your pulse easily, hold it for about three minutes.

Once you perform the technique a few times, you will quickly develop an intuitive understanding of how long you need to hold it in order to feel relief. In addition to your thumb, you can perform holds on other fingers.

See the chart on the right for information on which fingers help balance different body parts, or assist in relieving worry, anger, sadness and other negative emotions.

Reaching Your Energetic Pathways

Gently holding our fingers addresses physical, mental and emotional concerns, as our fingers are the main entry points to all energetic highways of the body, such as the vertebrae, organs and emotions.

In addition to simple finger holds, Jin Shin Jyutsu also utilizes flows, intricate choreographies for our hands which help us take care of our bodily fuse box. You can learn these more complex practices and adapt them to your self-care routine by taking one of the many continuing education courses available.

For me, my family of five, and thousands of practitioners, Jin Shin Jyutsu has become indispensable, as we can apply it anywhere, anytime. Try it for self-care and tap into the repairing properties of this simple healing art.

About the Author

Kathrin Stengel, Ph.D., is a certified Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner, author and philosopher. She co-founded the philosophical studio and publishing house Upper West Side Philosophers Inc. (www.westside-philosophers.com), which recently published the book and card set Health Is in Your Hands: Jin Shin Jyutsu®—Practicing the Art of Self-Healing, by Waltraud Riegger-Krause.

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