The breath is the ultimate healer … so BREATHE!
I thought I was breathing …
I was a mouth breather and I was not aware it was causing me to lose energy. Did you know that if you breathe through your mouth the breath goes NOWHERE!? Breathe in and out of your nose. When you inhale, the breath and all it’s properties nourish your brain and the benefits are distributed throughout the body.
And EXHALE! Watch yourself. Do you exhale fully? That exhale is not the exhaust from the inhale you just enjoyed. The exhale is the stuff that needs to leave the body from many breaths ago.
Mary Burmeister, the master teacher who brought Jin Shin Jyutsu to the States from Japan, was asked by students: “What Jin Shin Jyutsu do you do for yourself?” Her answer: “Every 30 minutes I breathe!” In the context of her teaching, she is reminding us to be aware of the breath coming and going because the breath is the Ultimate healer. Now that you have full breath awareness, you are in harmony because the breath is THE body harmonizer.
So, how can Jin Shin Jyutsu help you breathe better?
The ring finger harmonizes the lungs and large intestine. It also harmonizes the attitude of grief and sadness. A simple self-help is to place each of your thumbs palm side over the ring fingernails. I always do this when I am out on a walk or hike to supply me with full breathing. I can go further and a bit faster.
For an additional energy boost you can apply the same kind of flow using the thumb pads over middle fingernail.
Another wonderful flow to open the body and feel the breath move down to your toes is to place left hand in top of left hip crease and the right hand on the side of your left foot at the instep. Breathe! Then reverse. Nice way to wake up any time.
During a Jin Shin Jyutsu one hour session, your pulses inform the practitioner about places where your vital life force, brought to you by each breath, may be stagnant. My pulse almost always indicates that my chest area needs help, which I tie to my long history with grief and sadness, residue of childhood. In my years of practicing this art, my breathing is stronger and my vital energy is fully available to me every day! Ahhhhhhh!
