Jin Shin Jyutsu (jin shin jitsu): Subject of The Touch of Healing: Energizing Body, Mind, and Spirit with the Art of Jin Shin Jyutsu (Bantam Books, 1997).

Jin Shin Jyutsu is a non-massage form of shiatsu developed by Jiro Murai in Japan. It uses only 26 pressure points, termed energy locks. According to its theory, fatigue, tension, or illness can trap energy in these safety energy locks.

The design of Jin Shin Jyutsu is to harmonize the flow of energy through the body. Jin Shin Jyutsu involves either:

(a)           prolonged, gentle, manual pressing of these points; or

(b)           movements of the practitioner's hands over such areas without contact. The practitioner's hands function like booster cables. Jin shin jyutsu literally means the creator's art through knowing and compassionate man.

(See also: Jin Shin Jyutsu , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Ki-Shiatsu/Oriental Bodywork (Ki-Shiatsu, Ki-Shiatsu/Oriental Bodywork Therapy, shiatsu oriental bodywork): Healing art encompassing manual and breathing techniques that balance-nurture the whole person.

(See also: Ki-Shiatsu/Oriental Bodywork , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Massage therapy: General term for a range of manual approaches to enhance relaxation, elevate mood, reduce blood pressure, decrease pain and heighten immune responses. It involves the practice of kneading or otherwise manipulating a person’s muscles and other soft or connective tissue.

(See also: Massage therapy , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

facilitated communication (FC, Facilitated Communication therapy, facilitated communication training [FCT]): A means of helping persons with severe communication deficits (e.g., due to autism or cerebral palsy) to communicate. Rosemary Crossley, Ph.D. - the author of Facilitated Communication Training (Teachers College Press, 1994) and Speechless: Facilitating Communication for People Without Voices and the coauthor of Annie's Coming Out - originated FC in Australia in the 1970s.

The facilitated communication practitioner, called a facilitator, maintains physical (typically manual or digital) contact with a hand, wrist, arm, or shoulder of his or her disabled partner while the latter person's index finger is applied to a communication aid, such as the keyboard of a computer.

(See also: Facilitated communication , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Focusing (Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy, Focusing-Oriented Therapy, Focusing Process, Focusing Therapy): Natural stepwise system of personal growth based on the work of psychology professor Eugene (Gene) T. Gendlin, Ph.D., author of Focusing (1981), Let the Body Interpret Your Dreams (1986), and Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy: A Manual of the Experimental Method (Guilford Publications, Inc., 1996).

Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy involves dreamwork and inner child work. The effects of Focusing include: direct contact with the wisdom of one's body (prenatal bodily meaning), which is palpable; the flowing of life's energy in new ways of being; discovery of one's genuine self; and an increase in personal whole[ness].

(See also: Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

creative visualization: Subject of the bestseller of the same name, written by Shakti Gawain in 1978.

In creative visualization, one clearly imagines whatever one wants to manifest (see manifesting); then one gives the idea, image, or feeling positive energy, by focusing on it regularly, until it becomes reality. Creative visualization's theory posits a spiritual source: a supply of infinite energy, love, and wisdom discoverable in the inner beings of humans.

Expressions for methods identical or similar to creative visualization include: active imagination, creative imaging, directed day-dream, directed waking dream, dynamic imaging, guided fantasy, guided imagery, guided visualization, imagery, imaginal medicine, imaging, initiated symbol projection, inner guide meditation, led meditation, magickal visualization, mental imagery, pathworking, Positive Imaging, positive thinking, positive visualization, visualization, visualization therapy, waking dream therapy, and willed imagination.

For example, willed imagination, also called creative visualization, is the magickal art of imagining the result one desires of one's magick (the word for Wiccan magic) in order to achieve that result.

(See also: Creative visualization , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE

The Alexander Technique is movement education in which the student is taught to sit, stand, and move in ways that reduce physical stress on the body.

Alexander Technique teachers use gentle manual guidance and verbal cues to improve students’ posture and movement patterns. A lesson or group class typically involves basic movements such as sitting, standing, walking, bending, reaching, carrying, and lying down. It may also involve more specialized activities such as playing a musical instrument, working at a computer, etc. T

he teacher’s manual guidance stresses the adjustment of the head, neck, and torso relationship. In beginning lessons, the teacher closely monitors the student. Later, the student learns to monitor herself, ultimately learning a unique self-management process - an understanding of balance and dynamic postural control. F. M. Alexander, an Australian actor, developed the technique in the late 1800s as a result of attempting to solve his own physical problem of losing his voice on stage.

He discovered that misuse of the neuromuscular activity of the head, neck, and spine caused maladaptive functioning and that this movement could be corrected. As he began to teach his technique, he found that his students’ overall health improved and that the technique could be used to address a wide array of problems.

(See also: ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE , Alternative Health, Massage, Bodywork, Body Mind and Soul)

Art/Drama/Music Therapy: Using these "expressive" forms of art as a vehicle for change, self-awareness and growth, counselors guide their clients to a resolution of psychological or emotional problems.

(See also: Art, Drama, Music Therapy , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

iridology (eye analysis, iridiagnosis, irido-diagnosis, iris diagnosis): Ostensibly diagnostic system whose principle is that every bodily organ corresponds to a location on the iris (the colored portion of the eye surrounding the pupil). According to iridology theory, the iris serves as a map of the body and gives warning signs of physical, mental, and spiritual problems. Proponents ascribe modern iridology to Hungarian physician Ignatz von Peczely (1826-1911), author of The Discovery in Natural History and Medical Science, a Guide to the Study and Diagnosis from the Eye (1881). , von Peczely discovered the iris-body connection in his childhood, when he broke the leg of an owl and a black stripe spontaneously appeared on the owl's iris. Probably the leading proponent of iridology in the United States is author and nutritionist J. Bernard Jensen, D.C., Ph.D.

(See also: Iridology , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

ACUPRESSURE

Acupressure is an ancient healing art that uses the fingers to press key points on the surface of the skin to stimulate the body’s natural self-curative abilities. When these points are pressed, they release muscular tension and promote the circulation of blood and the body’s life force (sometimes known as qi or chi) to aid healing.

Acupuncture and acupressure use the same points, but acupuncture employs needles, while acupressure uses the gentle, but firm pressure of hands (and even feet). There is a large amount of scientific data demonstrating why and how acupuncture is effective. But acupressure, the older of the two traditions, was neglected after the Chinese developed more technical methods for stimulating points with needles and electricity.

Acupressure, however, continues to be the most effective method for self-treatment of tension-related ailments by using the power and sensitivity of the human hand. Foremost among the advantages of acupressure’s healing touch is that it is safe to do on yourself and others - even if you’ve never done it before - so long as you follow the instructions and pay attention to the cautions. The only pieces of equipment needed are your own two hands. You can practice acupressure therapy anytime, anywhere.

Acupressure can be effective in helping relieve headaches, eye strain, sinus problems, neck pain, backaches, arthritis, muscle aches, tension due to stress, ulcer pain, menstrual cramps, lower backaches, constipation, and indigestion. Self-acupressure can also be used to relieve anxiety and get better sleep at night. There are also great advantages to using acupressure as a way to balance the body and maintain good health.

The healing touch of acupressure reduces tension, increases circulation, and enables the body to relax deeply. By relieving stress, acupressure strengthens resistance to disease and promotes wellness. In acupressure, local symptoms are considered an expression of the condition of the body as a whole. A tension headache, for instance, may be rooted in the shoulder and neck area. Thus, acupressure focuses on relieving pain and discomfort, as well as responding to tension, before it develops into a disease - before the constrictions and imbalances can do further damage.

The origins of acupressure are as ancient as the instinctive impulse to hold your forehead or temples when you have a headache. Everyone at one time or another has used their hands spontaneously to hold tense or painful places on the body. More than 5,000 years ago, the Chinese discovered that pressing certain points on the body relieved pain where it occurred and also benefited other parts of the body more remote from the pain and the pressure point. Gradually, they found other locations that not only alleviated pain, but also influenced the functioning of certain internal organs. (Definition in part from the book Acupressure’s Potent Points, by Michael Reed Gach, director of the Acupressure Institute.)

(See also: ACUPRESSURE , Alternative Health, Massage, Bodywork, Body Mind and Soul)

etheric touch: manual means of directing human and spiritual energies to initiate and boost self-healing. It is a form of chakra healing and channeling whose principle is that, through the hands, one can:

(a)           sense imbalances in the subtle energy fields of an individual; and

(b)           project healing vibrations (universal energy), which are augmentable with divine force. It does not require touch.

(See also: Etheric touch , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

guided imagery (guided visualization): A method akin to creative visualization and led meditation. Its design is to promote physical healing or attitudinal or behavioral changes. Practitioners act as prompters and orally outline scenes and/or give instructions on using imagery for self-help.

(See also: Guided imagery , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Chinese aromatic Qigong: Mode of manual exercise that generates various aromatic fragrances.

(See also: Chinese aromatic Qigong , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

auric massage technique: Manual adjunct to angelic healing that is a form of aura cleansing (aura balancing). Its apparent principle is that health accompanies bodily harmony, which results from the restoration of harmony to the higher bodies that surround the body.

(See also: Auric massage technique , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

Bodywork: A general term used to describe any type of manual, manipulative healing modality that aims to restore health of body mind and spirit. Some examples include massage, craniosacral therapy, acupressure and yoga therapy.

(See also: Bodywork , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

muscle testing (manual muscle testing, Muscle Response Testing (M.R.T.) technique, Muscle Response Test technique, M.R.T., M.R.T. system, M.R.T. technique, muscle-testing procedure): Variety of procedures used with the aim of tapping the body's innate intelligence and determining thereby the energy levels of life forces that control the body. Muscle testing is a component of every form of kinesiology (see above) and a means of discovering imbalances.

(See also: Muscle testing , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

A Course in Miracles: Form of spiritual psychotherapy based on A Course in Miracles, whose three volumes - The Text, Workbook for Students, and Manual for Teachers - comprise well over a thousand pages. The Course originated in 1965, was completed in 1972, and was first published (as a photocopy of typescript) in 1975. It is the fruit of channeling from Jesus Christ to Helen Cohen Schucman (1909-1981), a research psychologist at Columbia University.

(See also: A Course in Miracles , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

angelic healing: any form of channeling, intercessory prayer, meditation, or visualization that involves the therapeutic assistance of angels. Its principle is that angels invisibly guide, protect, and heal people.

(See also: Angelic healing , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

Alternative 12 Steps: Nontheistic derivative of the Twelve Steps, expounded by Martha Cleveland, Ph.D., and Arlys G. in The Alternative 12 Steps: A Secular Guide To Recovery (1992). Three of their Steps affirm spiritual resources or spiritual energy.

(See also: Alternative 12 Steps , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

Angel: A spiritual being, especially in Persian, Jewish, Christian and Islamic theologies, that is commonly portrayed as being winged and as serving as God's messengers. The spiritual guide of an individual.

(See also: Angel , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)