Jill Marie Pasquinelli writes about: “Jin Shin Jyutsu and Family Life” in The Main Central Jin Shin Jyutsu Newsletter, issue Number 78, Fall 2012:

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I would share some, but mostly I asked her what she thought or felt about a situation. We talked about how it might feel after the surgery. Really, we talked about it all. I told her to hold her fingers before and after the surgery, and I showed her mother opposite fingers and toes, so we had all the bases covered. As she was leaving she said, “Thank you Jill. I always feel so much better when I come here. I’ll be okay.”

…And I knew she would be.

She went through her surgery very well, and her recovery was much easier than she imagined. It wasn’t long before she resumed her weekly sessions. Three years later Tara joined a swim team – this was in addition to her weekly ballet and yoga classes.

Through the years I watched Tara handle different situations and challenges in her life with ease and grace. When she was twelve, she learned that she was dyslexic. She started seeing a tutor and got extended time on tests which relieved her stress. All along I was giving both girls self-help, and they were diligent doing it. Last Tuesday she came for her session after she had given a talk to 400 people at her school about how it is to have a learning disability and what she had learned. She decided to do her senior project on this theme with the focus being how you can help yourself, what she learned from having this disability, and using Jin Shin Jyutsu as one of the ways to help focus and remain calm.

There have been a number of challenges in Tara’s young life, but as each event comes along she has a willing and curious approach to what comes her way. She seems to be an old soul. As she’s entering her senior year, I see her blossoming. Being the first student of the year to give a speech to the entire school, including the parents, gave her a confidence I haven’t seen in her before. She said, “I think I’m going to really enjoy college now. I’m looking forward to it.”

At the age of seventeen years, Tara has the foundation for living an authentic life. It’s been so beautiful to see how all of this has unfolded – being a witness to someone so young, and to see her moving ahead with such a strong sense of who she is and who she isn’t. Her journey is nothing less than sacred. This is truly an expression of being one’s own testimony and knowing oneself. Not once in all the years of being with this family was there any doubt or disbelief in Jin Shin Jyutsu. They accepted what came their way – what was, rather than how they wanted things to be – and it was effortless reality. Jin Shin Jyutsu has become a way of life, not something they do but something they live.

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.