Kumuda Belcher writes: “Return the Favor” in The Main Central Jin Shin Jyutsu Newsletter, issue Number 75, Winter 2012:

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I have a Jin Shin Jyutsu practice in South Fallsburg, New York, which I began in the Spring of 2000. Recently I decided to go back to school part-time to pursue a Master’s Degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages).

Some well-meaning friends have been asking me why I am going back to school and pursuing an additional line of work when Jin Shin Jyutsu is so powerful and seems to be my calling. I considered their queries deeply and my short answer is this: Ever since the earthquake and tsunami occurred in Japan earlier this year, I have felt a deep and growing urgency for us to share Jin Shin Jyutsu as much as possible, to empower people to help themselves and particularly to empower those who live in isolated or natural disaster-prone areas around the world. I feel it would be especially extraordinary and wonderful if somehow Jin Shin Jyutsu were more available and known to the people o Japan, as a way of thanking Jiro Murai and Mary Burmeister for the wonderful gift Mary brought to the United States from Japan in the 1950s.

Earlier this year I toured Washington, D.C. – maybe the story of the cherry trees inspires me as well. (In 1912 and again in 1965, over three thousand cherry trees – sakura – were donated to the area by the city of Tokyo and the Japanese government. Every year during the month of April there is a beautiful display of these blossoming cherry trees along the Potomac River in D.C. They serve as a reminder of the enduring spirit of friendship between our nations.) Jin Shin Jyutsu is definitely the “blossom” I love to offer most!

This past summer for two weeks in the mornings I taught English to ten- and eleven-year-olds from Japan at a summer camp which has an exchange program with its Tokyo sister organization. My lesson plans included learning to name and identify parts of the body in English. As a way of reinforcing and remembering the new vocabulary, I taught the class to hold each finger (by name), shoulder and buttock, etc. They also learned to do thirty-six aware breaths with fingers and palms when fatigued or when having difficulty falling asleep. Everyone seemed to sincerely embrace the finger holding, listened with rapt attention, and happily agreed to share this information with friends who express these needs to them!

Yes, we had Jin Shin Jyutsu self-help classes (in practice, not by name) in the middle of English class! I was delighted to watch these visiting Japanese children holding their fingers and holding their upper arms with their opposite inner thighs. I was thrilled to hear them say sentences I taught such as “My stomach hurts, so I will hold my thumb.”

The bottom line is that Jin Shin Jyutsu is so much a part of my life and so much a love of my life that no matter what I appear to be doing on the outside, I am on some level always applying Jin Shin Jyutsu to and integrating it with everything else in my world. If I owned a bakery, I would probably apply “jumper cables” to the cakes! (Just kidding…)

In the past I have submitted several articles to The Main Central newsletter, and I find I come to the same conclusion and want to express the same sentiment at the end of each of them, no matter the article, no matter the topic: I thank you, dear Mary, from the bottom of my heart for so generously sharing Jin Shin Jyutsu, something which continues to enrich, nourish, and energize all aspects of my life in innumerable and wonderful ways! 

Thank you, Kumuda.

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.