“In living your Now, there is no need for comparison.”  ~ Mary Burmeister

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A Poem by Marcus Bach

There is always a purpose. Nothing happens without meaning. Every intricate detail of life is bounded by the Omnipotence of God.

All life is one and everything in life is related to everything else. There is a line, a  chain of circumstances, a continuity, and in it all things work together for good.

Chance is God at work, a hunch is the whispering of the divine, what men call fate is cosmic purpose and coincidence is immutable law.

Life with a horizon knows no ending. There is the vastness of infinite vision and life is an adventure in faith.

“The best way to understand why a disharmony recurs after consistent treatment is to go to the attitudes. The attitudes are at the bottom of everything.”

~ Mary Burmeister

Judy Andry writes about: “MARY” in The Main Central Jin Shin Jyutsu Newsletter, issue Number 75, Winter 2012:

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Jin Shin Jyutsu arrived in my life in the summer of 1984, thanks to the hands of Charles de la Vergne. Mary’s sisters, Helen and Alice, friends of Charles, visited New Orleans for the Worlds Fair over the Labor Day Weekend that summer, and Charles introduced us. As a thank you for having dinner at our home, they sent me Mary’s first Self-Help book.

After two and a half months of almost daily JSJ self-help my life was so significantly changed – body, mind and spirit – I talked my friend Mary Jane Phelan into going with me to Scottsdale for a week of sessions with Helen and Alice. It was a “watershed event” for both of us. It was impossible to even consider seeing Mary, she had standing appointments and a long waiting list in case of cancellations.

Halfway through our week with Helen and Alice, they announced they had a surprise for us. They had arranged a “top secret” session for each of us with Mary! We were sworn to secrecy, because they knew how furious folks on the waiting list would be if they found out someone was sneaked in ahead of them.

So my first meeting with Mary was a “through the back door” encounter. She was at that time kneeling on the floor treating people lying on very low pallets. I cannot imagine how she did that all day long – and into the night. As she zeroed in on my right 11 and my right 5, and I grimaced, she gently opined, “That’s not ME hurting you, that’s YOU hurting you.” Words seared into my memory!

The last time I saw Mary was in 1990 when she was giving a 5-day class in Santa Rosa. On the final day I was going to have to leave early in the afternoon in order to catch a bus that would get me to the airport in San Francisco in time to catch the flight back to New Orleans.

By this time I had attended many 5-day classes and felt like I knew Mary – and that she actually knew or at least recognized me – though I still approached her with total awe and some trepidation. So, on that last afternoon I found myself on the far left side of a large room filled with about 200 people, with Mary in front on a stage, and the exit door on the far right. To leave early meant I would have to walk in between Mary and her audience while she was in the middle of a lesson. I was mortified.

Finally I had no choice but to make my move to leave. Hot with embarrassment, I began the long walk across the auditorium. As I walked,Mary stopped her lecture and began walking herself, toward the steps on the right end of the stage, arriving there just as I reached that place. I looked at her wide-eyed as she extended both arms, inviting me into them for a giant and lingering hug. I was both flabbergasted and transported. She said a gentle and happy good-bye, and I floated out of the room. Whatever it was, something transpired that touched me deeply. To this day I have no memory of the trip home beyond getting on that bus in Santa Rosa. I was simply transported by her loving gesture. What a gift she gave to me.

Who could have known that would be Mary’s last class…

Thank you, Judy.

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.

“My mind is open. Wherever I am, I am simply beginning. Thank you, God, thank you.”

~ Mary Burmeister

“I am the cosmos.”

“I am creation, a replica of Cosmos.”

“There is no greater or lesser power: I am it.”

from page 7 of “What Mary Says,…”

“Man cannot deal with nature in a piecemeal way. BE the whole.”

~ Mary Burmeister

“Rather than trying to correct, simply observe the harmonizing.”      ~ Mary

“Whatever our imperfections, there exists a silent pulse of perfect rhythm.” ~ Mary Burmeister

Lynne Pflueger shares a little story about a session she had with Mary Burmeister in “The Main Central Jin Shin Jyutsu Newsletter”, issue Number 62, Fall 2008:

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“Jin Shin Jyutsu is truly the knowing of a simple way of life.” ~ Mary Burmeister

In 1978 I received my first Jin Shin Jyutsu treatment from Marian Campbell, a doctor’s wife in San Francisco. She told me all about her wonderful teacher in Arizona. Seeing how interested I was, she encouraged me to take a class. I met Mary  at my first class in August of 1979 and travelled to Arizona for a week of treatments in January of 1980.

Some of her greatest teachings came to me during sessions. We had many so called ‘idle’ conversations about our families, our sons, and all the trivialities relating to everyday life. One precious pearl of wisdom was imparted to me during a conversation about buying a car. For the first time in my life I was on my own without parents or husband to provide for me. I needed a new car. A friend was selling Acura Legends, the kind of car I had been used to driving, not necessarily suited to my newfound economic status. Nevertheless, I picked one out, denied myself the leather seats (which I really wanted), and immediately called two people who would tell me I was being foolish to buy a car, much less this one.

First, the dealer called to say they had sold the models with cloth seats… Would I possibly consider leather? Next, I was approved for a car loan, something rare in 1986 for a single woman. I felt somewhat anxious and doubtful, wondering if I should allow myself to indulge in such abundance. Then, before closing the deal, I went to Arizona to receive a week of sessions with Mary and Pat.

I told Mary about the car, explaining the leather seats, the car loan already in place, and that all I had to do was to sign the papers and drive my new car home. I went on to say that I probably shouldn’t buy it, and probably wouldn’t have the means to pay for such a nice car anyway. We had one of our ‘idle’ conversations about everyday life. As memory serves me, she said, “…well if you want to drive around in an old car that is beginning to break down, if you don’t want a reliable car, or really don’t care about the security of a new car…”

Her dynamic punch line has stayed with me all these years, coming to me in countless life situations, saving me from myself:

“How can you not afford that which you have already been given?” 

Thank you, Lynne.

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.

“Great is the art of beginning, greater is the art of continuing.”

~ Mary Burmeister