Jill Pasquinelli writes: “In Communion” in The Main Central Jin Shin Jyutsu Newsletter, issue Number 74, Fall 2011:

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I’ve been treating Paula for about twelve years now. She originally came to see me because she was dealing with breast cancer. As her health improved, she continued with a real commitment to the transformation that began with her initial experience with cancer. It has been incredible to see her evolution in becoming more and more herself.

Recently Paula called me and left word on my voicemail that her husband, Frank, who was a prominent surgeon, had been diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma and it had metastasized to his lungs and his brain. They were going for a second opinion but wanted to know if there was anything she could do to alleviate the pain and bloating that he was experiencing. I gave her opposite fingers and toes, Special Body Function 3, and the Special Bloat flow from the Now Know Myself seminar materials.

A few days later she called again to tell me that Frank never made it for the second opinion. The doctors said he had at most a few weeks to live and keeping him comfortable was the most important thing, palliative care, something Frank had been so familiar with from his work with his own patients. And now here he was, one day delivering babies and performing surgery, and the very next day in bed, fast approaching the end of his life. He never returned to work, it accelerated at such a fast pace that there was no time for even a second opinion or any kind of treatment other than a few days of radiation to reduce the swelling in his brain. It was clear that it wasn’t about building, repairing, protecting, or even extending life. Instead the focus was on going with the flow, helping this to be as smooth a transition as possible, surrendering and listening to where life was taking him as he was struggling to let go of everything he knew. Paula called me often and I would give her simple Jin Shin Jyutsu flows for what was arising.

Frank left this world in under four weeks.

After a few weeks Paula came for an appointment. As she came in, she seemed tired and numb. I asked her how she was doing and she replied, “Because it’s you asking, I know you’ll understand when I say in the moment I’m fine. But when I start to look at anything bigger I’m a mess. I’m overwhelmed by the details, anything to do with the future; then I feel anxious and start to panic. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

We were quiet for a while. I finally just said, “It’s a good thing you don’t have to do anything right now. You probably really don’t have to do anything for the next year. It seems like some time to be with what is, what arises, might be the only thing that makes sense now. It has al happened so fast, I imagine you’re in shock.”

To be continued…

Jill Marie Pasquinelli shares: “Musings from the Treatment Room” in The Main Central Jin Shin Jyutsu Newsletter, issue Number 73, Summer 2011:

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Emma arrives at the door for her 8 a.m. appointment. Before she lies down on the table she shares something with me about how she’s been doing since her last treatment, so there’s a sense of a continuum like a thread weaving her experiences into a beautiful tapestry in which her life is unfolding.

She tells me that she realizes that her Jin Shin Jyutsu treatment starts before her appointment. Things are set in motion; she started feeling it last night in her awareness, her feelings, and her dreams. She’s able to access all parts of herself, her past, the present, and an inkling or glimpse of a movement towards wholeness in the future.

We’re silent during the treatment. I experience a deep sense of rest in myself, just being, and witnessing the different qualities of movement beneath my fingers as I apply Jin Shin Jyutsu. I don’t want to name it, describe it, analyze it. I just want to be in the experience. It’s as though we are both riding in a sea of spaciousness, allowing things to arise and dissolve.

At the end of the treatment Emma says, “I just wanted to stay in the space after exhaling for a long time before the next inhale. I knew you would be okay with it, and it wouldn’t freak you out.”

I realized we were both in the same place, hanging in a suspended limbo, a space I call the little death. No wonder it was so peaceful. It was as if we were both lifted and being carried into some embryonic experience, floating, and having a sense of some deep reassurance, nurturance, and connection to something greater – like being held.

I watch Emma’s journey and see that her whiplash is unraveling along with her whole life. She tells me that she is experiencing herself going back to being an infant, not being held by her mother but now feeling completely held in her experience with Jin Shin Jyutsu.

I said with Jin Shin Jyutsu it’s like spiraling through different layers, the body holding memories of the past and future, the energy of Generation and Regeneration weaving it all together and working us into the present. Emma loved the image of spiraling as oppose to “breaking open”.

“It’s a more gentle unfolding process. This work is just allowing me to be. My whole family is pushing me right now, telling me that I’ve spent enough time exploring the world of spirit, and now it’s time to be in the practical world. But Jin Shin Jyutsu is giving me the gift of my world, my life.”

I think how many of us have felt like we’ve come home when we discover Jin Shin Jyutsu.

Thank you, Jill.

Thank you, Mary.

Thank you, David.

Gassho, Namaste, Blessings

All issues of The Main Central Jin Shin Jyutsu Newsletter are available at http://www.jsjinc.net.