Morristown Memorial Hospital and Jin Shin Jyutsu, Part 1

David Burmeister writes about “Morristown Memorial Hospital and Jin Shin Jyutsu” in The Main Central Jin Shin Jyutsu Newsletter, issue Number 71, Winter 2011:

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[This is a very meaningful article to me personally. Now renamed Morristown Medical Center, I took most of my classes and workshops in this very place. The story of the evolution of JSJ here is amazing, from some volunteer work in the Cancer Center, what? 25 years ago…to the present where so many RNs are certified to practice JSJ and it is now allowed in many departments, even in a surgical suite! It works because it works. It is Jin Shin Jyutsu, the Creator’s Art-Effortless Reality; the Cosmic Artless Art of KNOW (Help) MYSELF. I am eternally grateful to Mary Burmeister, David Burmeister, the wonderful instructors and especially to Joanie Millspaugh and Debbie Burnet (Debbie #1). Going forward I will take my classes in Woodstock, NY, where I moved last September. I will miss my NJ friends and fellow students of 12 years, but am excited to be able to continue my studies here in New York…but enough of my blathering on and on…]

In 2011 David Burmeister wrote:

During this year’s annual Jin Shin Jyutsu (JSJ) organizer meeting, Joan Millspaugh, longtime friend and New Jersey organizer, shared some of the exciting news from Morristown Memorial Hospital (MMH). I’ve known that for nearly 20 years there has been an organized effort to bring Jin Shin Jyutsu to a place of prominence at MMH. Thanks to a bit of strong encouragement from Philomena, who has been working with the hospital during these many years, I decided to take my first opportunity to see what was happening with Jin Shin Jyutsu in Morristown.

Philomena’s three days of special topics October 30th through November 1st seemed like the perfect time for me to visit. I enjoyed her Mothers and Babies day, which was attended by several kids from the local community with pretty big labels. Philomena was able to work with the kids in private, while the rest of us observed via closed circuit camera in an adjoining conference room. This gave the children a space where they could relax and feel comfortable while a room full of enthusiastic JSJ students observed them. One child in particular, however, kept looking up into all the empty seats in the room hoping the audience would return. There’s a showman in every crowd!

After lunch, another local group of children, who are clients of practitioners already in class, were brought to the class by their parents. The children then received the talented jumper cables of Philomena and her students. It was a wonderful experience, one that was enhanced by the excellent facilities and technologies offered at MMH and by our very special organizers, Joan Millspaugh and Debbie Burnet.

That evening I was honored to join Philomena, Susan Schwartz, Anita Willoughby, Betsie Haar, Joan Millspaugh and Debbie Burnet for dinner at the home of Joan Brady, longtime supporter of the hospital, and the person largely responsible for introducing JSJ at MMH. I met Emilie Rowan, director of the Integrative Medicine program, along with many other people who were instrumental in establishing JSJ in their hospitals. It was a lovely gathering where many stories were shared about how JSJ touched lives, both through the work of Philomena and also by the community of JSJ practitioners at MMH.

To be continued…

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