Monte Tom - The touch of healing: energizing body, mind, and spirit with the art of Jin Shin Jyutsu

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
615.822DC21 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.

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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 arts established procedures and on unencumbered communion with the Creator.

May your journey be as blessed as my own.

Mary Burmeister

In 1977 Celeste Martin attended a real estate convention in New Orleansa 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 dont want to continue looking like youre 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 mothers body. By two oclock 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 phoneonly to realize, after she picked up the phone, that she felt no pain in her legs. Quite the oppositeher legs felt strong and nimble. Suddenly, she let out a shout of joyI 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.