For the skeptic who’s never heard of Jin Shin Jyutsu®

Little drops of water, little grains of sand, make a mighty ocean in this pleasant land

My entire life, I’ve had an affinity for living slightly off the well-worn pathways. In my 40’s, I came to love philosophy and teachings from Ancient China and Japan and India. I dove into Soto Zen practice in 2009, after a particularly difficult time in my life. You might say I’ve been a “seeker”.

Connecting with Jin Shin Jyutsu here in Sonoma at the senior center was easy and immediately like a hand in glove for me. I wasn’t skeptical of the legitimacy of a practice that makes no claims or guarantees once I took a self-help class where we simply held our fingers and I felt deep calm and weightlessness throughout my being.

But I am asked by friends and first-time clients: “How come Jin Shin Jyutsu isn’t well-known” among the many complementary healing arts? I discovered a must-read article that sates the inquiring mind. A rare interview in Yoga Journal in the spring of 1988 featuring Mary Burmeister, the Japanese American woman who studied with the Master, Jiro Murai in Japan, then brought Jin Shin Jyutsu to the States.

Mary was hesitant to share her work as a business. And she didn’t really need to promote it because by word of mouth, her classes filled quickly and new clients were on a waiting list for up to a year for a session with Mary. She said:

“In Jin Shin Jyutsu there are no teachers or masters, they are all the same. I always say, ‘Be the example.’ We don’t have to preach to other people. When people see me and say, ‘You’re so calm and relaxed. How do you do it, are you on pills or something?’ Then I can tell them about the hands. The jumper cables are the light.”

I encourage you to read the full yoga journal article on my Resources page.