The Touch of Healing Read online

  This book is not to be interpreted as an independent guide for self-healing. The information provided is intended to complement, not replace, the advice of your own physician or other healthcare professional, whom you should always consult about your individual needs and any symptoms that may require diagnosis or medical attention and before starting or stopping any medication or starting any course of treatment, exercise regimen, or diet.

  THE TOUCH OF HEALING

  A Bantam Book / September 1997

  Jin Shin Jyutsu is a registered trademark.

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright © 1997 by Alice Burmeister.

  Interior art copyright © 1997 by Connie Fisher

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  For information address: Bantam Books.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Burmeister, Alice.

  The touch of healing : energizing body, mind, and spirit with the art of Jin Shin Jyutsu / Alice Burmeister, with Tom Monte.

  p. cm.

  Includes bibliographical references (p.).

  eISBN: 978-0-8041-4978-5

  1. Acupressure. I. Monte, Tom. II. Title.

  RM723.A27B87 1997

  615.8′22—DC21 96-36960

  Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada

  Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words “Bantam Books” and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, 1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036.

  v3.1

  contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  foreword by Mary Burmeister

  introduction: a simple way for health and balance

  chapter one

  the foundations of the art

  chapter two

  the depths and attitudes

  chapter three

  the trinity flows

  chapter four

  safety energy locks: 1–15

  chapter five

  safety energy locks: 16–26

  chapter six

  the organ flows

  chapter seven

  general daily sequences

  chapter eight

  harmonizing with the fingers and toes

  chapter nine

  first aid and on-the-spot healing

  appendix

  bibliography

  Dedication

  acknowledgments

  About the Authors

  foreword

  My parents were storytellers. I grew up hearing stories from mythology and ancient times. I am often reminded of one that occurred in a marketplace in ancient Greece.

  A FIGHT BROKE out between two men. Among the bystanders was Pythagoras, the great mathematician and philosopher. Just as one of the combatants was about to strike the other with his sword, Pythagoras picked up his lute and plucked a single, clear note. Upon hearing this sound, the angry man lay down his sword and walked away.

  Pythagoras’ understanding of harmonic relationships helped him choose the one perfect tone that could pacify the man.

  Jin Shin Jyutsu helps us find that tone, the perfect expression of harmony, that exists within everyone. It is a philosophy, a psychology, and a physiology. It demonstrates a way of Being to understand cosmic oneness and to know and help ourselves.

  A friend once remarked that Jin Shin Jyutsu is “complicatedly simple.” One who understands and sincerely respects the profound significance of this Physio-Philosophy and follows its procedures accordingly should be neither intimidated by its magnitude nor apprehensive about practicing it. It is not application of technique; it is demonstration of art, simply Being the channel through which flow the infinite aesthetic powers of the Creator.

  Jin Shin Jyutsu is a lifelong journey toward self-knowledge and harmony. This book is a road map for that journey. It will start you in the right direction and show you how to proceed along the way. Learning the route is just the first step. Continuing on the journey depends on complying with the art’s established procedures and on unencumbered communion with the Creator.

  May your journey be as blessed as my own.

  Mary Burmeister

  introduction

  a simple way for health and balance

  In 1977 Celeste Martin attended a real estate convention in New Orleans—a rare event for her, since she traveled only when her health would permit it. Celeste suffered from phlebitis, a life-threatening disorder that causes blood clots. As a preventive measure, she was taking daily doses of a blood-thinning medication as well as having her blood regularly monitored by physicians.

  Celeste had suffered from the disease for nineteen years and had been frequently hospitalized for it. The large saphenous veins in both her legs had been removed due to the clots. In addition, two clots had formed in her lungs. These pulmonary embolisms could have been fatal without proper medical intervention. Smaller embolisms were causing her to have numerous transient ischemic attacks, or ministrokes. Chronic swelling and pain from poor circulation forced her to wear elastic bandages around her legs.

  Now, in a kind of rebellion against the limitations that her disease imposed, Celeste decided to get away for a week. At the convention, quite out of the blue, a man by the name of Charles approached her and offered her some strange advice: “If you don’t want to continue looking like you’re half dead, I know a woman who can help you.”

  The woman to whom Charles was referring was Mary Burmeister, a teacher and practitioner of a little-known healing art called Jin Shin Jyutsu. When Charles explained that Jin Shin Jyutsu could achieve powerful results using nothing more than a simple application of the hands, Celeste was immediately skeptical. Having worked as a nurse for twenty-one years, her training and experience had given her no intellectual framework in which to place such information. She returned home to New Jersey feeling that Charles was an interesting man but of no real relevance to her.

  A month later Celeste came home from work with a strange tingling feeling around her face, as if she had walked into a thick spiderweb. Later that day she lost all feeling and strength in the left side of her body. Remarkably, Charles called that very night to see how she was doing. When she told him her symptoms, he told her to hang up and stay by the phone; he would call her right back. Charles phoned Mary Burmeister, who instructed him on how Celeste could help relieve her symptoms. Charles called back and conveyed the information to Celeste. For the next couple of hours, her children followed the instructions. They placed their hands upon the appropriate areas of their mother’s body. By two o’clock that morning, her symptoms were gone.

  “I would have been hospitalized the next day,” recalls Celeste, “but instead I went to work.” Charles phoned later that day. When she told him the symptoms were gone, he replied, “Now will you believe what I told you?”

  Celeste did believe him, and in early April she went to Scottsdale, Arizona, for ten days to receive Jin Shin Jyutsu. Mary Burmeister was out of town at the time, so longtime Jin Shin practitioner Pat Meader performed the art on Celeste. Pat gave Celeste two sessions a day, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. During her ninth session Celeste had a strange experience of being transformed, as if some deep blockage inside of her were releasing. She felt as if energy were flowing freely inside of her. Later that day Celeste received a telephone call. Without thinking, she
got up from the place where she had been sitting and walked to the phone—only to realize, after she picked up the phone, that she felt no pain in her legs. Quite the opposite—her legs felt strong and nimble. Suddenly, she let out a shout of joy—“I have no pain in my legs!”

  Upon her return to New Jersey, Celeste was met by her cousin at the airport. Her cousin hardly recognized her. Once she was home, Celeste underwent a full medical examination, which showed that her blood pressure and blood-clotting mechanisms were all normal. “What have you been doing?” her doctor asked. Celeste explained. “Well, whatever it is, keep doing it.”

  At that point Celeste knew she was all right. “I had no more fear,” she said. “I had always been living in fear that a clot would get loose and kill me suddenly. Now all that fear was gone.” At 44 years of age, she felt as if she were reborn.

  Celeste’s story is remarkable, but it is by no means atypical. The lives of countless other people have been dramatically improved after an exposure to Jin Shin Jyutsu. Like Celeste, many of them were initially skeptical about its ability to help them. The art is so disarmingly simple and gentle that many wonder as to its potency. Yet its subtle character is one of the primary components of its effectiveness. Because it is so gentle and noninvasive, Jin Shin Jyutsu allows the recipient to feel more at ease and receptive to the healing process.

  Jin Shin Jyutsu is much more than a glorified placebo, however. Its principles and practices are firmly rooted in ancient, long-forgotten healing traditions. It was rediscovered, as we shall shortly see, after years of meticulous, systematic research by one man—Master Jiro Murai. Murai subsequently passed this knowledge along to Mary Burmeister.

  Mary Burmeister’s husband, Gil, shares the following story, which serves as an excellent illustration of both the subtlety and the power of this healing art. After World War II Gil had been serving in Japan as a civilian employee of the American military. Soon after Mary arrived in Japan, she met Gil, who began to court her. Meanwhile, Mary was studying with Jiro Murai. At the time Gil was suffering from chronic rectal itching, which eventually developed into a fistula that had to be removed surgically. Yet even after the operation, the itching persisted. No medication could relieve the discomfort. A year after the surgery, Mary suggested that Gil see Jiro Murai. Gil agreed.

  Gil entered Master Murai’s sparse room—the only visible furnishing was a white mat lying at the center of the clean hardwood floor. Murai invited Gil to lie down on the mat. Gil complied, and the teacher placed his hands upon him. The instant Gil felt Murai’s touch, a tremendous wave of energy seemed to penetrate his body. “I had this sensation of rushing energy,” Gil recalled many years later. He quickly fell asleep and remained so for a couple of hours. In the meantime Murai did nothing more than move his hands to different parts of Gil’s body. When Gil later awoke, the itching was gone. It never returned.

  Murai was unquestionably a brilliant man, and his painstaking research gave him a profound understanding of the intricacies of the human body. This understanding enabled him to zero in on the source of Gil’s suffering. More importantly, however, it led Murai to recover an awareness of a healing art that is both simple and wide-ranging in its application. Anyone who wished to, he realized, could learn this art and use it for their own benefit and for the benefit of others. In order to provide future generations with the opportunity to learn Jin Shin Jyutsu, he imparted all that he could to the young Mary Burmeister.

  Today, more than forty years later, Mary has taught Jin Shin Jyutsu to students from all over the world. One of them is Celeste Martin. Shortly after she experienced her remarkable recovery, Celeste decided to devote herself to the study and practice of Jin Shin Jyutsu. In fact, it wasn’t long after Celeste began to study it that she was able to use it to help someone else—her mother.

  In April 1979 Celeste’s mother suffered a fall that shattered her hip. The trauma brought on congestive heart failure and sent her into a coma. Celeste called Mary Burmeister to ask if Jin Shin Jyutsu could do anything for her mother. Mary gave her instructions on the appropriate areas to place her hands. The next day Celeste was at her comatose mother’s bedside.

  “Mary had instructed me as to where I should place my right hand and my left hand,” Celeste recalls. “But I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know what I could do, if anything at all.” Nevertheless, Celeste began to perform Jin Shin Jyutsu as Mary had instructed.

  Celeste’s mother had been catheterized. A plastic bag hung beside her bed, into which had drained about an inch of urine. Celeste had performed about fifteen minutes of Jin Shin Jyutsu when suddenly she looked up and saw that the bag was full, even overflowing. Immediately she rang for a nurse, who hurried into the room. Upon seeing the bag, the nurse said to Celeste, “Well, that’s strange. I was just in here a little while ago, and there was little or no drainage in the bag.”

  As the nurse said those words, Celeste’s mother opened her eyes and said, “Is that you, Celeste?” From that moment on, Celeste’s mother gradually got stronger. Eventually she made a full recovery.

  “I was shocked and amazed,” said Celeste. “I was also scared. I didn’t know that a simple person like me could do these things. I accepted that that was an ability of Mary’s, but now I realized and was humbled by the fact that people could also be helped through me.”

  Celeste’s experience with her mother exemplifies the wonderful accessibility of Jin Shin Jyutsu. With only a minimum of experience, she had been able to assist greatly in her mother’s healing process. Each one of us has the same potential. An awareness of Jin Shin Jyutsu’s basic concepts and practices provides a wonderful tool for offering help to our loved ones. And as the following story illustrates, it can greatly enhance our ability to help ourselves.

  In 1983, at the age of 38, Amy began to experience significant joint pain and inflammation. Occasionally the pain in her knees and feet would become so intense that it prevented her from walking for days at a time. At first her physician thought she suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, but tests failed to confirm the presence of any specific joint disease. Her doctor then prescribed cortisone and anti-inflammatory medication for her condition.

  In 1985 tests revealed that Amy’s liver had become enlarged. Further tests, including a liver biopsy, ruled out cancer but were unable to provide any clear diagnosis. Meanwhile, her symptoms worsened. In 1988 tests revealed clearly that her liver was dysfunctioning. Her doctors told her that she had connective tissue disease, a nonspecific term for numerous disorders.

  Finally, her doctors diagnosed Amy as having lupus, an illness in which the body’s immune system attacks connective tissue and essential organs, including the brain and kidneys.

  In the summer of 1990, Amy’s condition took a dramatic turn for the worse. Tests revealed that her kidney function had been cut to 50 percent of maximum. The kidney specialist who was monitoring Amy informed her that if her kidney function fell to 20 percent or lower, she would need kidney dialysis.

  Just when it seemed that things could not get any worse, Amy was involved in a car accident that left her with severe neck pain. Ironically, this accident proved to be her doorway back to health.

  To treat her neck pain, Amy chose a local massage therapist, Gina, who had recently incorporated Jin Shin Jyutsu into her practice. The sessions helped Amy to feel better, so she requested Jin Shin Jyutsu treatments every day for three weeks straight. Soon she experienced a significant improvement in her overall strength and vitality; at the same time her fluid retention decreased for the first time in years.

  The following month Amy had her kidneys checked again. The tests showed that their function had fallen to 25 percent. Her physician told her that if her kidney function dropped five more points, he would be forced to refer her to a kidney transplant team.

  In April 1994 tests showed that her kidneys were functioning at only 21 percent of maximum—dangerously close to the precipice. Convinced that it was just a matter of time, her doc
tor advised Amy that in the near future she would have to have a kidney transplant or else undergo regular dialysis.

  “After I got the test results, I left my doctor’s office and sat in my car, and I thought about my future and what I would do,” Amy recalls. “I decided right then that I was not going to have a transplant or dialysis. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I was not going to accept either of those choices.”

  The next thing she did was telephone Mary’s son, David Burmeister, at the Jin Shin Jyutsu office in Scottsdale. David encouraged Amy to continue receiving medical care and recommended Marilyn, a longtime practitioner who worked in Amy’s hometown, Dallas.

  In May 1994 Amy saw Marilyn for the first time. “I knew during that first treatment with Marilyn that something special was happening to me,” recalls Amy. “It seemed as if some weight had been lifted from my body.” Soon Amy had so much energy that she didn’t know what to do with herself. “One day I felt so alive and filled with energy that I cleaned all the baseboards in my house.”

  From that May onward, Amy saw Marilyn two to three times each week and Gina once a week. Meanwhile, she had been taught a variety of Jin Shin Jyutsu self-help routines that she could use daily to strengthen her condition. Amy applied them diligently.

  It was Amy’s commitment to the Jin Shin Jyutsu self-help routines, Gina says, that helped turn her condition around. In August 1994 Amy underwent another kidney test. This time things were dramatically different. The tests showed that her kidney function was up to 30 percent. Her doctor marveled at the improvement. “If you get up to 40 percent,” he told her, “I’ll learn this Jin Shin Jyutsu myself.”

  Amy’s health continued to improve. In August 1995 another test revealed that her kidney function was at 43 percent. Needless to say, she was ecstatic. Eventually, Amy’s enthusiasm led her to attend a Jin Shin Jyutsu class to learn how to use it for her family members. She summarizes her experience by saying, “In May 1994, when it seemed like a kidney transplant or dialysis was inevitable, I told a friend that I believed that I was not going to die, that I was going to have a miracle. In some way I was guided to this practice. If I had not had Jin Shin Jyutsu, I would be on dialysis today, or perhaps even be dead.”