Catharsis at the Hand of Jin Shin Do

Map of energy meridians in the body.  The gall bladder meridian is the green one running a zig-zag up the middle of the body.

I took a detour from massage and got a Jin Shin Do session from Avery at the Well-Being Center for Health. It was a powerful experience,

Jin Shin Do, a form of acupressure, originated in China. Avery gave me a pamphlet called the Jin Shin Do Handbook authored by Iona Marsaa Teeguarden. The Cliff’s Notes version of how Jin Shin Do works is that it nourishes the body and mind via 12 meridians – or bodily energy channels. It clears the channels and connects them with the larger flow of universal life force energy. This flow in turns feeds the organs and other body systems accounting for the healing effects of the modality. The pamphlet described the flow of energies through the body according to an internal clock, a clock in synch with nature’s calendar. The 12 meridians are said to correlate with the 12 months of the year, the human body an allegory for the structure of natural time.

This is certainly the way I felt when I left the session – like one very small though relax and happy curve within a larger spiral of life, as if I could keep my body alive simply by breathing in air or pulling sunshine in through my eyes.

Avery put it this way, “In Jin Shin Do, in Eastern medicine, the body is described as an extension of nature, as nature itself. It is talked about in these terms, the body is fire, or wood, or metal, it is wind, it is water, it is moist, it is damp.”

Because of the changes going on in my life Avery and I decided to focus on my gall bladder meridian for the session.  This is what the pamphlet (page 38) has to say about the gall bladder and its meridian:

“The attitude of all the other organs originate in the energy of the gall bladder. In our complex world, with its greatly increased stress level, armoring along this meridian route is almost universal – especially in the neck and shoulder areas” and can lead to tension and headaches.

The pamphlet also describes the gall bladder as effecting decisions, assertiveness, judgments and planning, and as governing one’s ability to be fully oneself.

This made sense to me. I have been distracted by tension in the neck and shoulder area. Life changes are forcing me make a whole new set of decisions, to plan carefully and be assertive in the process. For instance, within the last 10 days I coaxed discouraged workers at the copy shop to reprint my business cards when the software and the card cutter were malfunctioning, talked to my nearly grown son about taking on more adult responsibilities, got my web hosting company to finally cancel my account due to compatibility issues, talked to my business development consultant about missing deadlines and let my cranky, uninspired inner-attorney know that he does not get to rule this life anymore, even from his perch in my subconscious. I could see the potential of a clearer, more energized system - my judgments and planning will follow suit.

Avery started the session by holding points at my shoulder and neck. After some time she moved to my leg. At the outside of the calf she worked on a point called Yang Mound Spring and at the thigh, Wind Mountain. The leg points were tender. At her touch I drew in my breath sharply. As she worked the points I felt sudden and intense rushes of energy through my torso and head – something like a sheet being drawn up and over me, yet extending through my being, a fabric with the texture of electricity or fine sandpaper. On the top of one foot, Avery spent time working a point called Foot Before Weeping.

After the session, on my way out of the Center, Richard asked me about the 20 massages. “It must be a lot of emotional processing for you,” he said.

Richard was right. That night I took myself to the movies. Perhaps it was the influence of Foot Before Weeping, or the memories of drowning, the relief of being freed from fear and then also an internal dictator. Maybe it was the sheer intensity of the whole process. Being the only one in the theater late on a Monday night I wept through the entire showing of “Little Fockers” and enjoyed every minute of it.