Achieve Healing and Balance through the Practice of Jin Shin with Alexis Brink

Transcript

Alexis, it’s so great to have you on the show.

Hi Stephan, I’m very happy to be here.

Let’s start by explaining to our listeners what the heck is Jin Shin and how does it compare with other types of healing techniques that you use your hands such as Reiki.

That’s a very good question because it’s very little known. The art of Jin Shin, it’s a form of energy medicine. It was born in Japan and it’s similar to acupuncture. Instead of needles, we use our hands to move the energy. For that reason, it’s very easy to apply it on yourself and this is what the book is about. You can also practice this on others.

You asked about the Reiki. When you work with energy, all these kinds of modalities are similar in a way but the art of Jin Shin also known as Jin Shin Jyutsu—the word Jyutsu means art—it’s very individualized. Reiki is a more general treatment whereas the art of Jin Shin is very specific to specific symptoms and we go to the cause of the problem. When people come in with a symptom, we treat it individually. If two people come in for example with a headache, then the cause may be different. We go to the cause of the project and we can talk a little bit later about how we find that.

Great. You came up with a book titled The Art of Jin Shin based on maybe what? The Art of War by Sun Tzu or…

The name Jin Shin Jyutsu was chosen by Jiro Murai who’s the father of the art and he chose these words very carefully because Jin means person, compassionate person, and Shin means creator, or creative energy, or universal energy, and then Jyutsu means art. Because I wanted to bring this art and open it up to the world—as you say, nobody has heard of it or so few people have heard of it—I decided to call it The Art of Jin Shin. I’m just translating the words Jyutsu because it’s hard for people to remember and sometimes they think it’s some martial art. So, I thought Jin Shin is easier to remember.

A lot of folks will have heard of The Art of War and also there’s other art of books. Actually, I have an art of book. It’s called The Art of SEO and it’s about search engine optimization. It’s 1000 pages so it’s quite a hefty read and it’s pretty technical too but that’s all about Google. The book, The Art of Jin Shin, this is already out or it’s going to hit the bookstores, it’s a brand new book, right?

Yes, it’s a brand new book. It came out June 25th and so it is in the bookstores and on Amazon. I just wanted to say something about the art. The art means that it’s a skillful creation and what I was saying before when two people come in for example with a backache, the cause may be different. Jin Shin can be a lifetime study, which it was for me and I’m still learning after 30 years because it is an art. What I love is that you can find art in so many different things like you say the art of war, just being a painter, their skillful creations and so is this. On the other end of it, Jin Shin has a vast technique. For that reason, you can just continue to study and understand it on different layers, while the sessions and working on yourself is a skillful creation. I think what makes it so beautiful is that it is an art.

Yes. That’s an art you have worked on for, as you said, 30 years. How did you end up getting started with this?

I was in another art. I came from Holland when I was 18 to be a dancer in New York. I did a pirouette and I hurt my knee. It became a chronic project. By the way, we call problems and we turn them into what we call projects because we work with them. Anyway, I got this knee project and I used to go to get acupuncture and it was helpful, but it didn’t resolve it completely.

One day, a friend of mine who had MS, he went to see this lady Philomena Dooley, who became my teacher. After his session, she said to me, “So what’s with you?” And I said, “Well, I have this chronic knee project.” And she did something with my toes and I was able to go back to rehearsals the next day. She taught me how to do some simple holds on myself and I was able to maintain it completely. I never had to stop again.

I decided to take a course with her the following week and that just completely changed my life. I actually said this is what I want to do for the rest of my life because I think that’s where the art came in. It made me feel like I was a part of something bigger than myself. That was the thing that I was searching for anyway. That’s where the art comes in. I learned how to maintain my knee project and on the other hand, I just felt that this is what I wanted to do.

Does Jin Shin help with MS with Multiple Sclerosis? Is it this magic cure-all that we in the west just haven’t heard of for whatever reason?

Yes. The thing is, there are a lot of students in the world. There are about 30,000 but because the organization wanted to keep it pure, they haven’t really done a lot of advertising. I have an institute, Jin Shin Institute, and I have a little bit of a different vision. I want to open it up to the world and make it accessible to the next generation because it can die and it’s so effective. I think it should be there.

To answer your question about MS, yes, it helps everything. When the energy is harmonized in the body and the energy can flow freely, then the body can heal itself. It’s not a quick fix or a cure but it’s the concept that the body can heal itself. Today, a lot of people are aware of that, and a lot of people are really looking into that and looking for that, but in the east, that’s very much the culture. People are brought up with that thought. Here in the west, we talk a lot more about the philosophy which I can talk a little bit more about as well.

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Your friend who had MS that introduced you to this practitioner, who became your mentor, what happened with him and his MS and his whole journey, his project?

It didn’t go away completely but he was helped greatly by it and he felt a lot more comfortable. Again, it depends on the person. We are not here to fix but simply to unblock stuck energy in the body so that it can function optimally.  People have different outcomes. Some people can get rid of growths or accumulations that they’ve built up and other people need to have it removed medically. That’s where the philosophy ties in; the body, mind, and spirit connection. It’s not if somebody comes to me that I’m going to fix them. In a way, it is a spiritual practice because when I placed my hand on somebody. I’m not giving my own energy but we use the universal energy. It’s not me doing it. Does that make sense, Stephan?

Very much. It does but I don’t know if it makes sense to the listener. I had an experience where I learned how to be a channel for universal energy. I was in India. I was on this Tony Robbins Platinum Partner trip. I received what’s called a Deeksha or a oneness blessing from the monks there. They put their hands on my head and I had this awakening experience. It was beautiful and I went from agnostic, almost atheistic, to feel connected to the creator and to everybody. It was a permanent shift and an opening for me.

In that same trip, I also learned how to become a blessing giver and do this. You essentially are praying for the person as you’re touching them. The more you want the divine light, that energy to pass through you to them, the more you want it for them, the more of that energy passes. That’s how I ended up meeting my wife. We’ve been married 2½ years now. When we were first introduced, we were at a Tony Robbins’ event and within 10 minutes, I had given her a Deeksha. As I was doing that, I realized I want this so badly for her. She’s my soulmate. I knew 10 minutes after meeting her by giving her a Deeksha.

And the Deeksha is the blessing?

That’s the oneness blessing where you put your hands on their head.

That’s a beautiful story and when you talk about energy work, this is what we tap into. The thing is, for listeners who don’t understand it, that it is a part of our innate wisdom and we are all born with this. If you think about it, like a baby that suck their thumbs and even the way the mother holds the baby in a nursing position. The natural hold is two points that we use in Jin Shin, or when somebody is stressed and they place their hand over their shoulder or they hold a certain finger. In effect, they are doing Jin Shin and harmonizing their own body. Your story and when I talk about consciousness, it can sound a little bit esoteric but in fact, it is a part of us. It’s very accessible to all of us.

Sometimes the way I explain it is like some days, you walk on the street and everything just falls into place. Everything goes the way you want it, and you’re having a great day and some days, you don’t. If you apply Jin Shin Jyutsu to yourself, you can bring yourself in alignment, then things will fall into place. Does that make sense?

It does.

It’s really accessible to anybody. This book, I made it very accessible and I’m explaining all the concepts so everybody can use it, from more experienced practitioners to somebody who says, “I have a headache and I want to get rid of it.” There are two points that I show and you will help to pull down the headache. In effect, you’re doing more than just pulling down the headache, you are harmonizing the energy so that the energy flows correctly in the body.

Does it matter if it’s a migraine, or a sinus headache, or a tension headache? Does it all just work if you touch these points?

Yes, but there are different points for different symptoms. For example, a migraine headache is on the side of the head. On the side of the head, there’s the gallbladder energy that runs there. When I say gallbladder energy that moves through that area, it means most people have heard of meridians. These are energy pathways. What Jiro Murai found was these pathways are very similar to meridians.

For migraine headache, there are these two points on your leg which are on the gallbladder energy and they will bring it down. When I say gallbladder energy and you have a migraine, there’s not necessarily something wrong with your gallbladder the organ, but the energy that is moving through the body eventually dances down and becomes the organ. We are really working with pure energy.

For some people, that may be a different concept. For me now, that is completely logical and I have never even heard of energy before, but working with it and experiencing it makes a lot of sense to me. In today’s age, people are more open to yoga, moving the body, and getting into the breath. These are all very similar practices.

Right. People who are doing yoga, they get that there are different energy centers, what are they called in yoga?

The chakras?

Yes, the chakras. Is there something similar in Jin Shin?

Yes. We have something called the main center source. In my book, this flow is called the first three. There are these three flows that are directly related to source energy. They are not the pathways yet. In the main center source, we hold all the points that are the same as the chakras. All these modalities and traditions, they greatly overlap. Maybe we can have time to go through it and the listeners can experience this.

This is a very nice flow. I teach it to all of my clients and people use it on themselves every day as I do myself. I do it before I get out of bed in the morning and it’ll set me up for the day, or at night if I wake up and it will help me to fall back asleep. It helps the total endocrine system, and it helps all the organs, and it helps many things. That is a really nice flow.

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As to the chakras, we call them in Jin Shin safety energy locations. There’s 26 points that we’re working with, 26 on the right and 26 on the left of the body. They tend to close because of stress, or lifestyle, or diet, or genetic predispositions. We open them up by holding these different locations in different sequences. It can be a simple little hold or it can be more a longer flow for four or five steps.

This probably sounds a little bit daunting to our listeners. I have a feeling I’m trying to figure out, what am I supposed to do with my hands and fingers, and where do I put them?

Yeah. Shall we move through one?

Yeah. Let’s move through one because if we pick a simple one, then they can do it with us, if we imagine them having whatever, a stress response, or having a headache. Pick whatever, but something simple that we can walk them through.

The simplest and very interesting one is holding the fingers. Mary Burmeister, the lady who brought Jin Shin to the United States, said, “Every disease or disharmony really begins with an emotional attitude.” When you think about it, fear brings a lot of disease or disharmony and so on. Holding the fingers and getting into the breath is probably the easiest way to harmonize the entire body. We can just go through that gently. I can talk you through it and I will just keep talking and explaining a little bit as you can hold these fingers.

Starting with the thumb that helps to harmonize worry. It helps the stomach and spleen energy. It also helps skin surface. It helps digestion. As you’re holding it, you will feel a slight pulsation come up, and that is the energy moving. You can hold it gently and wait for this pulsation and just breath.

I’m holding my right thumb with my left hand’s fingers.

Yes. People also ask me, “Do you hold the right or the left side?” you can do whatever is comfortable. Stephan, maybe later you can ask me if there’s between right and left side. So, just whatever feels comfortable. Where do you use the big one today? When you can’t sleep, this is a very good one to hold. As we know, babies often suck their thumbs to help self-soothe and fall asleep.

I can feel the energy and the pulsating at the end of my thumb now.

Good. That’s it and that’s the energy moving.

Cool.

That’s all. The next finger, the index finger helps to harmonize fear and that’s a big one today. There’s a lot of fear and anxiety. My son—he’s at college—said, “My whole generation is anxiety-ridden.” For today’s kids, this is a very good one to hold. The index finger, you’re helping the bladder and kidney energy. You’re helping muscle as well, tight muscles. This also helps back pain.

Does it help to actually visualize those different areas or think about those as you’re doing this exercise, or does that not matter?

What helps to be aware of the breath, so that it makes the complete cycle because the exhale is down the front of the body to the toes and then the energy to inhale goes up the back. You have exhaled down to the front and inhale up the back. With the breath and holding the fingers, you help harmonize the body. So, breathing is very important.

Okay, but not necessarily thinking about what area of the body it’s helping. I have tension in my shoulders, for example, so it’s not going to help anymore to just recognize maybe that area of the body is being helped by this exercise or does it?

I think it does. When people have a tight shoulder, I will hold it and I say, “Yes, send some breath into that area,” because with the breath it opens up and it releases. Thank you for pointing that out.

Because my personal trainer tells me to be aware of the part of the muscles that I’m trying to work on, so that I can isolate better.

I think attention, intention, awareness, and breath are all very much a part of it, so yes.

Moving to the middle finger, can you guess which emotion?

Love?

It’s the opposite. Right now, we’re looking at…

Oh, the negative feelings.

Sometimes we use it. We stick up this finger even.

All right. Hatred or…

Anger. This one helps to harmonize anger. It helps the liver and the gallbladder energy. The liver energy helps the eyes. I just mentioned that the gallbladder energy helps with headaches, so that would be helpful. Also, this one helps fatigue in the body, so if you’re very tired or you feel depleted, you need some energy, then holding this finger will help. Again just getting into the breath for a few moments.

That’s something I’m not that good at. I breathe really shallow and don’t think about my breath like I should. When I do notice, I’m like, “Wow, that’s really shallow breathing.”

That is really the first step to healing. I have a whole chapter on the breath as well in the book because without the breath, the energy cannot move. It is in the slow, deep breathing which we call the parasympathetic nervous system, that is why healing takes place. Again, when you’re sleeping, you get into that state. We automatically go there and if you see a baby breathing, you see their belly up and down, that’s what we mean. That is, for the listeners, a very important thing. You can just place your hands on your belly and get into his deep belly breathing, while you’re holding your fingers.

Yes, is not called the Dantian, the energy? I learn that word or phrase, whatever from taking Tai Chi for a little while, many years ago.

Yeah, that is the center. In Shiatsu, that’s where they use the Hara diagnostic. They check that area out. Yes, you can place your hands there and then make sure that you feel your belly move up and down.

When you’re talking about yoga, a little while ago, I just remember that my wife goes to Naam Yoga here and in Santa Monica. She learned a breathing exercise that she taught me and I love it. It feels like all the stress and tension just melt away. In this breathing exercise, you breathe in and fill your lungs, then you breathe in a little bit more, then a little bit more, then you hold it, and then you tap on your chest with both hands with the fingers and then release. I feel so good and energizing, I don’t know if you heard of that exercise before.

Because I practice yoga myself and breathing exercises are so helpful and cleansing. In Jin Shin Jyutsu, we just use the exhale as letting go and as a Mary Burmeister said, “Letting go of the dust and greasy grime of our lives, then inhale the fresh, the new and the abundance.” What you’re explaining about holding your breath, holding your breath, and then letting it go, to completely let go, and have a big exhale. Again, so that we can receive the new because otherwise, it keeps recycling this old oxygen in the system, so it’s very important.

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All right. Let’s move to the next finger.

In the meanwhile, you’re still holding. The next one helps sadness and grief. The ring finger, it helps the lung and large intestine, energy, and breathing. This is a very nice place to start and holding your ring finger will help everything in the body. You help the breath and everything opens up with the breath. That’s a very important one. Then, the last one is also very important because it helps the heart and small intestine energy, and the emotion of trying too hard, efforting, or pretense and authenticity. To really be who you are, be authentic, and then you don’t have to try so hard.

There’s so much of that happening on the social media, isn’t there?

Yes, that is very stressful as well. This little finger, you can also use in an emergency, if somebody has heart palpitations or something going on and then you get in a little bit stronger, not hold it so gently but get in a little bit stronger.

One more, the palm of the hand helps everything. All the energies come together there, it’s all-inclusive, and it helps the diaphragm and umbilicus energy, which is right in the waistline. Again, that helps breathing as well. Again, if you’re very tired the palms of the hands are very helpful. Again, babies are good examples. When you look at a baby in a resting position sometimes they clench their fists, that tells you that they need umbilicus energy. It’s nice to hold the palms of your hands.

Do you touch the palms with the fingers and the thumb?

Yeah, you can touch it with your fingers, you can touch the palm or even the prayer position, you’re touching the palms.

This is also very good for jet lag because I mentioned all of the organ functions. It helps the entire body holding the fingers and palm helps the entire body. When you fly to a different time zone, the organ functions cannot finish the cycle, so holding them, you help to harmonize it and speed up these energies. It’s very helpful for jet lag as well.

Well, that’s very timely because I was in Bucharest yesterday.

Really?

Yeah.

So you’re still jet-lagged.

A bit but I do use this device—it sounds like hocus pocus—called the Human Charger. It looks like a little iPod Nano and I put them, they look like earbuds, you can listen to music but it shines blue light in the ear canal which penetrates the skull and directly stimulates the brain. I know it sounds a little bit crazy but it actually works. At least it works for me and I heard about it from Christine Peterson, who I think very highly of. She was a guest on this show. She’s the co-founder of Foresight Institute and she coined the term “open source”. She’s a very smart cookie and she’s the one who told me about it. So, if she buys into it, I’m going to at least give it a try. The phrase, “The willing suspension of disbelief,” that’s what I did and it’s been great for me. I don’t feel that tired. I’m pretty good right now.

That’s wonderful, so it’s really working. I don’t think it sounds strange at all. I think it’s important that the human race really move into this direction of self-healing and taking care of oneself in other ways. Jin Shin Jyutsu works very well and very complementary to western medicine but often you suppress a symptom and it’s important to go to the cause. Even with this device you use, you’re stimulating breaths, you’re not actually suppressing something. I think that’s really important. It’s a big principle of these eastern traditions. You go to the cause and you heal the body.

Right. You’re not suppressing symptoms, you’re going to the root.

You’re going to the root of it and that’s so interesting. I go and ask people questions. Sometimes they tell me that they fell on their tail bone when they’re three, and that gives me a lot of information, and something later in life can show up. It’s important to go back and clear that energetically.

What’s the difference between right and left, as far as the Jin Shin study?

If you have a lot of projects on your right side—people know how they chose up—it’s like, “Oh, it’s always on my right side. I hurt myself,” or, “I bumped into something.” That means that’s just something with your lifestyle, your daily living, stress, environment, diet. That’s very much what people will come into today’s stresses. 

The left side has the older projects, or genetics, or older trauma. It can be a few years ago or many years ago, and that could manifest on the left side. That’s very interesting to look at because Jin Shin is really the art of getting to know, really know yourself deeply and learn how to help yourself. To understand that, you get into understanding what’s going into your life. Then, you can start to really get command of it. I don’t like the word ‘control’ so much but to really do something about it. People say, “Do I hold my right fingers or my left?” Now you know that the right side is more lifestyle-related and today’s living, and the left side is older genetic projects.

Things that maybe you inherit from your lineage, things that are carried—shame, anger, guilt, and so forth—over generations. Would that be something you could address with the left side Jin Shin?

Yes. Even a lot of labels or diseases, they are genetic and you can change it. You can change it. When you start to harmonize it, then it changes and it doesn’t have to show up when you change it on an energetic level. You feel it when you work on yourself. You’ll really feel different after or when you get a session. There are practitioners in many different places, in many different states, and all over the world. You can go and get a session as well. You can really change your whole being. Most people that come to me, it really changes their life, then make this a part of their daily living and their daily routine.

That’s good, yeah. When you’re talking about the left side and the right, I was also comparing that to what I’ve learned in Kabbalah—I take Kabbalah classes—I actually had three different Kabbalah teachers of mine on this show. 

Left column energy and right column energy. Have you ever heard of those terms?

In Jin Shin?

Just in the course of your life, your studies. I learned about these in Kabbalah, but I hadn’t heard of them before. Left column energy is all about receiving and right column energy is all about giving. If you’re healing somebody with an energy technique through Kabbalah, you’re actually using the right hand, not both hands. Then, if you’re receiving, that’s where the left side of the body comes in.

That’s interesting. We do have that the left side of the body builds and the right side breaks. Again, they are not really different. They have to be the same. Otherwise, it can’t be really the truth. That’s really what I feel. I do love interviews with people about different modalities. We see where they combine, where they overlap, and they all do. When you say that, in effect, it’s the same. The left side builds and the right side breaks. In turn, if not harmony, the right side also builds accumulations and the left side has to break it down. It’s always this cycle of building, breaking, inhaling, exhaling, and all of it.

Now, one thing that I want to say is that in Jin Shin, we tap into what Deepak Chopra calls the consciousness, or the universal energy, or whatever you want to call it, or the light. Again, when you apply your hands, I’m not giving my own energy or I’m taking energy from the person. That’s why it’s really important that I use a practitioner, get my ego out of the way and that I connect. There’s nothing really to do. All I have to do is listen to the energy on the body and brace myself. That’s it. Can you imagine if I would take on what people come in with? That would not be healthy necessarily. 

Right. In fact, some people are very intuitive and empathic. They’re empaths. They have to put up these energetic boundaries so they don’t take too much of it on. For example, getting sick because they’re working with somebody who has a lot of negative energy or has a lot of trauma.

Exactly. That’s very important. Again, we can all tap into that and get out of the way. For me, that is natural and for other people, they have to do a little bit more practicing about it or have a little ritual to clear themselves first. But the concept is the same. We are really a conduit, a vessel. We are not, as practitioners, the source.

That’s another Kabbalah term. You’re a vessel and the light is the light of the Creator. We also have a light inside of ours. The light of the Creator is the light of wisdom. The light inside of us is the light of mercy. We should work on increasing the size of our vessels so we can take on more on the infinite light that shines on us. Pretty cool.

Yes. I hope that people are comfortable with the term connecting to consciousness or source. Today, I think that is really more common if people look at that more.

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I think so. I think my listeners are more open-minded. Hopefully, they are. I believe so.

The thing is, when they’re your own kids they’re not always as open. Of course, they had us all their lives, but even though they’re not open, they call me often from school. It’s like, “Mom, what do I do for this?” or, “What do I do for that?” Even in emergency situations, they call me.

My son had somebody in his college who collapsed. He called me and he said, “Mom, this person collapsed. What do I do?” and I said, “You go sit with him and you hold the back of his head.” He said, “Oh, forget it. The EMS is coming.” I said, “You know? Just stay with it because it’s going to take the EMS a while. Just hold the back of his head.” A few minutes later, I had a text, “I did it.” The guy was fine, he got up.

You can use this in so many different levels. To hold the insides of the knees for digestion or breathing or making a comprehensive daily routine. That is part of the beauty also. Even if you don’t understand it, just to do it.

Yeah. I think that’s a testament to how good of a parent that you’ve been to your kids. They’re open, willing, put themselves out there and do stuff like you’ve described it. It’s all about modeling. You can say, “Don’t smoke,” or, “Don’t do this.” If you do the thing that you’re saying that they shouldn’t do or vice versa, that’s not congruent. If you just model the way you want them to be in the world, they’ll pay attention to that.

 Yes, it’s nice. Do you have kids?

Yeah, I do. They’re all grown; 28, 26, and 23. 

Oh, nice.

When do I tell people that, they’re like, “What? You can’t be that old.”

You looked young.

“Were you 12?”

That’s a good thing. This kind of work also helps to maintain the fountain of youth in us and our life force. It sounds like you’re doing a lot.

I didn’t always use to be that way. I had some other episodes where I talked about those but I had a big breakthrough when I went to my first Tony Robbins event and walked on 2000 degree hot coals in my bare feet and I didn’t get burned. I thought, “Wow. If I can do that, I can do anything.” I went, got Lasik surgery, hair transplant, changed my diet, I started working out, I replace my wardrobe and everything—I brought in some stylist to help me with that. I started learning all sorts of stuff from personal development, disciplines, and so forth. A year later, I was totally unrecognizable. I looked like I lost 15 years; gone back in time 15 years. People didn’t recognize me. It was pretty awesome.

That’s great. Are you happy with it?

I’m very happy with it.

Good. It’s important to find these tools that will help us. It’s very empowering to make us feel better and to help ourselves be able to change so much. I worked with a lot of people who also go through cancer treatment. For them, it’s very empowering to be able to keep their blood counts up, to boost their own immune system, to make themselves feel better even if they have to take medical treatment. It’s so empowering to bring energy to your body and feel better by yourself. That’s really great as well.

What would you tell somebody who feels powerless in the face of cancer? They’ve already done all these different treatments. Actually, I know somebody who’s in a situation where she says basically, “I know it’s terminal at this point. I’m basically just waiting for the end at this point.”

When somebody feels that way, there’s kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy, I would guess. I also can understand her position that she’s gone through all these chemotherapy treatments, surgeries, and so forth, and it keeps coming back. Now, she doesn’t have any allopathic options left. It’s hard to maintain a positive sense of “this is not the end,” I guess.

Yeah. Sometimes it’s just important that people feel okay through these most very difficult process when they know they’re not going to live for a very long time. I know a close friend of mine. She would come to me three times a week for years. It extended her life and she went through it very gracefully and it made her feel better. She felt okay until almost very much in the end. I think that’s very important, too. Even if we don’t always can’t get rid of the stage four cancer which I hear about a lot today, I suggest making yourself feel better to be able to get out of pain. I think that can be very important as well, to go through it very gracefully, and feeling as good as you possibly can. Jin Shin can do that. It also can help you even to transition much more peacefully.

Do you think it will be interesting to talk for a few minutes about the history?

Let’s do that. Before we move into the history, I’m very curious to know how you ended up developing a friendship with Deepak Chopra because you mentioned him briefly earlier in this episode. I also noticed that a quote from him is on the front cover of your book. I also saw that he gave you some nice testimonial quotes in a video that you were both on. I don’t know if it’s in an interview or what exactly that was. I watched a little bit of that and he was very complimentary of you. That’s impressive. He’s a big deal.

We did a Facebook live just two weeks ago from his page. If you go to his page, you’ll see it, or on mine on Jin Shin Institute’s Facebook page. He very much talks about this kind of work and energy medicine. He believes in it. I gave him a session a few weeks ago. He said, “I feel so good. I feel lighter and so relaxed.” He very much believes in this kind of thing. He has been very supportive. I’ve known him for a long time when he first wrote a book Perfect Health. When I read that, I said, “He explains why Jin Shin Jyutsu works”. For me, that was so interesting. We became friends and we’ve been friends for all these years. We had interesting discussions about consciousness, energy, and all of that.

Very cool. I think very highly of him. That’s really great. Let’s talk about the history.

Jiro Murai, who’s the father of it, he came from a family of medical doctors. He did a lot of eating contests and things like that, not so healthy. He became ill at a very young age. He became terminally ill and his family couldn’t help him. He had read stories about fasting, mood rest, and meditation. He asked if his family could take him up to their mountain cabin and come and look for him after a week. 

For a week, he went to experience this finger mood rest, meditation and fasting. On the seventh day, he was healed. As his family came up the mountain and he down the mountain. That was wonderful. It really surprised his family. At that point, he decided to devote the rest of his life to the research and practice of what he called Jin Shin Jyutsu. He would go around the country and treat people. He would see them about once a month and then he would teach them the self-help. The self-help is a big core part of this practice. 

He went around to do all these researches. He also saw the energy pathways. He would go to slaughterhouses and he would actually dissect a cow’s head that just died. He would see this fluid moves through the body. Those were the superficial flows. He did a lot of experiments like that on animals, on people, and people who had just died. Also, on himself by fasting. For example, one kind of food would affect the energy flow in the body. Or fasting, how that would affect it. He would do a lot of experimentation on himself.

Then, Mary Burmeister, who was half-Japanese and half-American, she met with him. He said to her, “Would you like to take a gift from Japan to the United States?” She said, “Sure, yes.” She said she was going to get a little package. She got this whole philosophy and technique to take with her. She was the one that brought it to the United States. She brought in a lot of the philosophy. He was more about the technique part of it. Even though he studied the Kojiki records which brings in a lot of the mysticism, Mary focused a lot on the philosophy. That’s because, in the west, we are not really brought up to it, these concepts are new, of energy, consciousness, and universal energy, while in the east, people know that there’s another energy. They can call it ancestral energy or energy of generations.

With our practice today, we focus a lot on the philosophy, on the body, mind, and spirit connection; all of those meanings. Now, I am the president of Jin Shin Institute. That was founded by Pamela Markarian Smith who was a student of Mary Burmeister. I trained practitioners and we have a certified practitioner program for teachers. I’m having a really good time with that. I really enjoyed that.

Very good. You mentioned, Kojiki records?

Yes.

Is that like Akashic records?

It’s kind of like the bible, the Japanese. It’s a big book, has all the stories of the gods and goddesses. That’s really interesting, when we talk about the flow, the main center source, the left supervisor flow, the right supervisor flow, and the mediators. Those all were gods that are there and came to Korea. It’s a body and it’s a source of energy. That’s where you get in the mysticism and a little bit more esoteric.

In this book, I don’t go too much into that. He did a lot of research there and also in the Ise Shrine in Japan.  There’s a lot of foundation this technique is based on, a lot of research and foundation. It’s really brilliant. There are many different flow patterns that he developed. It is very complete. That’s why it’s effective also.

Have you been to Japan to go deeper into your study? Or have you learned all of it just being in New York?

Yes. I did go to Japan because there were two students. There was another student, Haruki Kato. He was in Japan and he stayed in Japan. He’s dead now, but I did go to study with him. I went with my teacher. She invited me to come to study with him for a week. Then, we saw very much a difference between what they did with it in Japan which was more technical than what Mary did. It was so much about philosophy which I loved. They know, the philosophy is really like anybody can do it when you place your hands, energy is going to move. Anybody can do it. It’s available to everybody. Then, you can start to build on it, understand more, and learn more of the techniques.

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Interesting. I have something that I’d love to get your input on that has been bothering me for about six years. It’s a physical problem. It probably has some sort of metaphysical roots to it, maybe. My index finger on my left hand has, what the doctor told me, is a Morton’s Neuroma. It just pulses or throbs especially at night when I’m trying to sleep. I do sleep on my side and on my stomach, that’s probably not helping it. I oftentimes sleep on my arm underneath the pillow.

It’s super sensitive particularly on the outside part of my finger towards the thumb. If I just bump it ever so lightly, it will feel like I took a hammer to my finger. I have to be super careful not to bump that finger against anything. If I’m clapping my hands, I move that finger out of the way. It’s definitely part of my life in an almost down to the muscle memory level. When you bump your head once on the top of a low clearance stairway or whatever, then you never do it again. That’s how I have to live my life with this finger and it’s awful.

I’d love to figure out a way to solve this. I’ve gotten MRI, they can’t see anything. I’ve tried some different things. So far, no joy. It just seems to slowly get worse and not better. It’s been five or six years.

How we look at it, where is the thing? You say the index finger. It is the large intestine energy that moves through that area. There is a relationship to the large intestine. Even when you said, “No joy,” large intestine energy is related to sadness and grief. Literally, it has something to do with joy and you sound very joyful. This is where you can just look at it.

Also, in the book, it says 12 organ functions. I hope you will keep this book and use it. You can do the large intestine flow. You will see how the energy moves in the large intestine. You see that it moves through the index finger. That is the one that I would work with. It’s the large intestine flow.

Okay. As you said before, it doesn’t mean that you have a disease with that organ. It just means that there might be energy blockages. The energy isn’t just in the organ that flows through your body.

Yes. The large intestine pathway, when it dances down, then it becomes the organ. Before it dances down, it is pure energy. In turn, when somebody has something wrong with the large intestine, the cause may not be the large intestine energy. It might be the other energy that’s burdening it. This one, you go more to the cause. It is just your body talking and it tells you something about large intestine energy. You can look at it and read a little bit more about it. 

For example, when you hold the thumb and it helps the stomach and spleen energy, we call that first depth. The large intestine and the lung energy are related to the second depth. These are cycles of energy, cycling through the body, going from the skin surface to skeletal, from the surface to core. That is another reason why it’s so effective. When you just simply hold, it spirals all the way through the core and backs out. If you must massage, you work on a muscular level while this goes really deep to the core of the body. As well as down the front and up the back.

Does that answer your question? Do you know what to do now? You can hold your index finger.

Yup, I’m actually doing that right now. I’m trying that out.

That’s one thing. On one level, you’re helping the large intestine energy. Not to be confusing, when you read the book, it also helps to keep the bladder energy but that’s on a different level. In the book, I simplify everything but I do explain everything. There are different levels of energy and different levels of density. It’s just from source energy dancing down all the way through the body. I guess, on organ function level on your index finger, it has to do with the large intestine flow.

All right. What if somebody has hormonal imbalances? They don’t have enough certain hormones when they get their hormones tested. It’s not me, it’s somebody I know. What would you advise from a Jin Shin standpoint that they do?

I mentioned hormonal balance on different levels. The book goes from less dense to dense. It starts with the first three flow as the source energy. The main center source helps with hormonal balance. Then, in the end, there is a list of 70 symptoms and there’s something for hormonal balance. One quick hold. One quick hold that you can do is hold the ring finger and also the top of the shoulder. What you can do for your friend, she can place her left hand on her right shoulder and make a ring with the thumb over the ring fingernail. That will help with hormonal balance.

Okay. I really like your book, you have all these great photos of all the different holds, where to put your hands, your fingers, and all that. It makes it very straightforward.

Yes. They’re all real people. All these people are involved in Jin Shin. They’re friends, families, and our clients. There’s a bunch of stories about people that are in the book. They are real people. Everybody in my life is exposed because of this. I do think it is a wonderful thing so all these people in the book are.

I can tell. It’s a mission for you. It’s part of your purpose why you’re here.

It is. I hoped that you learned something too, Stephan. A different way and different modality that you can use as well.

I did and thank you so much for that. I’m going to go more into your book and try some more of these kinds of stuff. The way I approach things as I said is a willing suspension of disbelief. I’m not looking to find a reason to put a book or some formal study down. I’m just open. At least, I try to be as much as I can. I see being a skeptic is really not that different from being a cynic. They’re kind of two sides of the same coin. Cynicism and skepticism.

Yeah. I really like that you helped me to introduce this to your listeners. Being a skeptic, this will turn you around. Honestly, I was a skeptic and sometimes I still am. When I see the transformation in front of me, it can help it. It’s the same for the people. You can’t resist the energy. Once you start to move, that’s it. You just feel it.

Right. Well, thank you so much. If somebody wanted to learn more, what website should we send them to? If they wanted to find a practitioner, if they wanted to get your book or watch some video trainings or anything like that, where should they go?

The first place they can go is jinshininstitute.com. We have a support there. We can answer your questions and refer you to practitioners. We also have a Facebook page, Instagram, and Twitter, all of it. There’s lots of information they can get. They can contact us.

Great. Your book is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold?

Yeah, local bookstore.

Perfect. Thank you so much, Alexis. I really do hope that our listeners will at least experiment with this. Try something. Maybe they even did the exercise with me. Hopefully, they did unless they were driving or listening while at the gym or something or working out. Anyways, thank you so much. This was great. Keep on changing the world with what you do.

Thank you, Stephan.

And thank you, listeners. We will catch you on the next episode of Get Yourself Optimized. This is your host, Stephan Spencer, signing off.

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About Alexis Brink

Alexis Brink is the author of “The Art of Jin Shin” and the President of Jin Shin Institute in New York City. A practitioner of the Art of Jin Shin since 1991, Alexis is a licensed massage therapist and interfaith minister and has taught self-help classes and workshops in New York City as well as in different countries for many years. She has taught Jin Shin in hospitals to nurses and to teachers and their students in the public school system. Today, Jin Shin Institute under Alexis’s guidance is offering a comprehensive curriculum to a new generation of practitioners and teachers.

Disclaimer: The medical, fitness, psychological, mindset, lifestyle, and nutritional information provided on this website and through any materials, downloads, videos, webinars, podcasts, or emails is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical/fitness/nutritional advice, diagnoses, or treatment. Always seek the help of your physician, psychologist, psychiatrist, therapist, certified trainer, or dietitian with any questions regarding starting any new programs or treatments, or stopping any current programs or treatments. This website is for information purposes only, and the creators and editors, including Stephan Spencer, accept no liability for any injury or illness arising out of the use of the material contained herein, and make no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the contents of this website and affiliated materials.