Connie White, San Antonio, TX writes: “In the Beginning” in The Main Central Jin Shin Jyutsu Newsletter, issue Number 80, Spring 2013:

This is a story about the usefulness of the Art of Jin Shin Jyutsu in remarkable situations. I’m remembering “The Farm”, isolated, deep in the heart of Texas Hill Country, a Sufi community who encourages natural childbirth utilizing midwives, homeopathic remedies and a women’s prayer circle during the birth process itself. In this tradition the Spirit (“Ruh”) stirs (enters) the fetus at the fourth month of pregnancy and emerges from the womb as a human being. Birth becomes a joyous yet profound religious event.

I can recall Mary saying that holding the hi-ones would be of great benefit for a woman during childbirth, and I had several occasions while in this community to apply this prescription. During labor Jin Shin Jyutsu is of tremendous benefit not only with respect to the comfort of the mother but helps to provide a focus to the spiritual vibration of the natural childbirth experience. Most of the women I helped through labor were not comfortable with complete flow patterns, but they loved having their hi-ones held tightly. There is a human tendency when there is discomfort to pull away from the pain. During childbirth this only compounds problems and intensifies the pain. Grab those hi-ones, and a laboring woman connects with the ground of all being and can then focus that the baby needs to come down.

Safety Energy Lock 1 is often called “The Prime Mover…where it all starts.” Wayne Hackett describes Safety Energy Lock 1 as “the place from which all activity, all movement, begins, and so it’s the initiation of the process of spirit as matter” and as “Movement. In the beginning.” (The Main Central Volume 1 Number 3) For a woman in labor, the number One is like an anchor. It keeps her from running away. Attention and focus are single purpose at the beginning. This leads to the realization that the only way out is through, and the only way through is dealing with the moment.

The spirit-mind-body connections of Jin Shin Jyutsu were quickly recognized at The Farm, and I was kept busy giving treatments and teaching people how to help themselves. I had attended many births in this community of Muslims, and so I was not surprised when Aisha (eye-ee-sha) asked me to be present at the birth of her second child. I got a call early one evening. Aisha asked me to come to her apartment; the midwife was already on her way. We arrived at about the same time; the midwife took out her stethoscope to listen to the baby’s heart. She could not find a heartbeat. Aisha recalled then that the baby had stopped moving a few days before. After many attempts to find a heartbeat, the midwife announced that the baby was in fact dead. Her strong and concerned recommendation was that Aisha have the delivery in the hospital.

Confronted with this crushing reality Aisha had to quickly, yet deliberately, consider her choice. There were many miles to the hospital and not much time. Recalling her first childbirth, she did not want to go to the hospital. She had faith that what had happened was God’s will, trusted the circle of her Sufi friends and wanted the prayers and support of her community. She also realized that they could only give the baby a proper ritual washing and Muslim burial if the birth took place at The Farm. Aisha decided despite the circumstances that she wanted to deliver naturally and asked for our help. We gathered several more women and another midwife. We felt that Aisha needed all the support we could muster. A prayer circle formed, and several women began singing Arabic from the Koran. As labor intensified she pleaded for her hi-ones to be held unceasingly. It kept her from going off in her head about the reality of what she was going through – so much discomfort with no baby at the end of the process.

I was connected to Aisha through my fingers. Attached to her ones, I felt no separation from her or events as they unfolded. Connecting with a woman in labor in this context is like hooking into the sea. As physical contractions raised in intensity, the waves of labor – waves of energy – waves of emotion – waves of prayer – washed through the room – primal, intense, life changing. Birth and death together, I was hooked in with her, sharing her agony, grounding her to help her get on with the labor at hand. Connecting in that circumstance with a mother’s grief, we held on through the night. At dawn Aisha delivered the stillborn perfect beautiful boy. Even though the child had died in the womb, there was a strong presence in the room. Perhaps the spirit conceived needed to be born in order to be released. A few days earlier he had tangled his foot in his umbilical cord and strangled himself. Aisha held him and wept from a totally broken heart. Presently her husband came to wash, wrap and bury the boy according to traditional Muslim custom…a terrible but beautiful story. I feel so privileged to have been there and was able through the Art of Jin Shin Jyutsu to assist this courageous woman through her challenge. I really could share in her pain, and in that sharing relieved a great deal of it.

Thank you, Connie.

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.