Specialised Kinesiology – A truly holistic complementary therapy
By Margie Donde
Introduction - natural trend
Read any magazine or newspaper and you will see the great surge in new methods of complimentary treatments – herbs, vitamin and mineral supplements, magnetic field therapy, bio-energetic therapy, vibrational therapy, reflexology, reiki – the list goes on and on. Compare the amount of health books in any bookshop now to 20 years ago. It seems that more and more people are "sick and tired of being sick and tired." and are ready to take responsibility for their own health and well-being by turning to natural health methods.
We don’t have to look too far for answers as to why taking responsibility for our health has become so popular when the following are readily apparent:-
- Complementary/natural therapies work by getting results naturally
- They are non invasive and have little or no side effects.
- Compared with Conventional Medicine it is highly cost-effective – (as endorsed by the World Health Organisation)
- They treat the whole person and emphasises prevention, health and wellness rather than sickness.
- Ever increasing Iatrogenesis (illness induced by medical or surgical treatment - in Australia currently 50,000 people a year are involved in permanent disability from complications arising from medical treatment. In the USA the figure is close to 100,000) (The recent Vioxx controversy is a case in point)
The future of health seems to be firmly entrenched in complementary or natural medicine and therapies.
Specialised Kinesiology is one of the Natural Complementary Therapies that can be used on both animals and humans. It is a broad based, non-invasive, and inexpensive method that is becoming more widely utilized by natural health care practitioners, sports trainers, physiotherapists, chiropractors, medical doctors and veterinarians
Origins of Kinesiology
Kinesiology originates from the Greek word “kinesis” meaning motion. Kinesiology as we know it today was originally developed by an American chiropractor Dr George Goodheart in the 1960’s to enhance his chiropractic treatments. Known as Applied Kinesiology (AK) it was aimed at professional health care practitioners and involved the application of muscle testing to determine physical conditions and structural problems. In the 1970’s Dr John Thie, an Applied Kinesiologist and Chiropractor synthesised his knowledge of AK into a simple and effective method of balancing energy and made this available for the layperson. Touch for Health as it is known has been taught worldwide and the original manual has been translated into many languages. Through the popularity of Touch for Health many new and enhanced forms of kinesiology have come about and it has evolved into a much broader all encompassing therapy known as Specialised Kinesiology. Today, Specialised Kinesiology incorporates many different streams all based on the scientific, neurological workings of the body. This comes from the dedication and work of people such as Dr Bruce Dew MD (The International College of Professional Kinesiology Practice) Dr Paul Dennison (Educational Kinesiology), Gordon Stokes and Daniel Whiteside (Three in One Concepts), and Andrew Verity (Educating Alternatives) to mention just an few.
Kinesiology uses many different techniques to effect change. All these techniques are used with muscle monitoring or muscle testing as it is commonly known - the tool used in all kinesiology protocols.
The term muscle testing came from Applied Kinesiology as they were testing the strength of the muscles for structural integrity. Although a Specialised Kinesiologist does test muscles, they are monitoring the response of the muscle not evaluating the muscle for strength. When a Specialised Kinesiologist tests a muscle and monitors the response, he or she is monitoring how the neurology of a person is functioning. Kinesiology uses the scientific functioning of the muscles and the central nervous system to identify areas of blockage. Put simply Specialised Kinesiologists are monitoring muscles to check for brain responses to identify imbalances in a person. To understand this technique, it is important to understand a little of how the body functions.
Our natural healing ability
The human body is self-regulating; we are designed to heal ourselves. We are mental, emotional, physical and spiritual beings. This means that in order to survive, our body must maintain balance (homeostasis) in all these areas of our life. The body is constantly monitoring itself and the environment via our nervous system and making the appropriate adjustments and changes. The cerebellum, the “computer” in the brain, is responsible for these adjustments. Responses and signals are sent between the brain and muscles via the nerve pathways and the muscles in turn send signals to alert the brain that changes have taken place. A specialised kinesiologist monitors these responses via the muscles using muscle monitoring and because the muscles and brain are connected via the nerve pathways a kinesiologist is accessing the conscious and subconscious of the person
How stress affects us
If we have this innate ability to naturally heal ourselves then why do we get sick? Sometimes the inner mechanisms for this self-regulation become blocked or impeded. Why does this happen? We impede our innate ability to heal by eating and drinking food that may be energy depleting rather than life supporting, we become stressed by the strains of everyday life, we think negatively, lack emotional support and we may take medications that suppress our immune system. This in simple terms equates to stress – stress can be on a mental, emotional or physical level. Symptoms and dis-ease (or disease) develop when we exhaust all options.
How Muscle Monitoring works
Living a stressful life, as most of us do, when we are unable to adjust or respond in an appropriate way the signals between body and brain become unclear. This shows as a change of muscle response via muscle monitoring which enables the kinesiologist to find out where the person is not coping or adapting well in his or her life. The person with whom we are working is actively engaged in the process – we use his or her own body as a reference to find out in which area (or context) the person is not coping well in relation to the issues that they want to work with. This may be in relation to mental, emotional, physical, chemical or other areas. In other words it is important to see pain, “disease” or negative patterns as a messenger. A Kinesiologists job is to help you find out the message that your body is telling you and where you need to make changes!
Kinesiology has a set of protocols that the kinesiologist can then apply to help the person to change to find solutions.
And there is more ……
In our lives we create references as to how to deal with situations.
In every set of circumstances, our brain scans through all our previous life experiences and finds the most similar one relative to the issue we are dealing with now, to decide how to respond to the present situation.
Often these stored responses are fear-based and ultimately counter-productive in terms of finding positive outcomes.
Age recession is a process of activating memory cells that may be related to the disease or negative patterns that the person has now. We find this age by using muscle testing to find when the first stressor occurred. This may be referred to as “finding the age of cause” and is often a childhood related issue. As a child we may have had limited understanding and responded in a way that may not have been optimal and certainly will not serve us in the best way now.
Example: a child is reprimanded for untidy writing in front of the class and as a result feels shame and resentment. As an adult, that person might respond to any criticism (constructive or not) by feeling shame and resentment. This may lead to feelings of inadequacy and fear of failure, creating extra pressure and stress in their life. By allowing muscle testing to guide us to the incident of being reprimanded as a child, we can defuse the undesired emotions of shame and resentment, thus changing the perspective and enabling the individual to respond differently. With understanding of the underlying cause, the person can now choose to be more forgiving of themselves and their errors, and they may now be able to attempt new tasks and to take risks. These stress responses can be created at anytime during our lifetime from the moment of conception onwards.
References can also be inherited from either the mother or father and we are then looking at deeper-seated automatic responses to life. These genetic responses may include beliefs around money, family values, the way family and society "should be", happiness, religion etc.
Example: A 27-year-old man (lets call him John) wanted to buy a new car- his second vehicle. He placed the order and made arrangements to finance the vehicle. Shortly thereafter John developed a pain in his abdomen and felt nauseous. Muscle testing revealed that the family belief is “you only buy something if you need it and you must pay cash for it”. His father grew up in the Second World War and came from a very poor family. If the children did not finish all the food on their plate at meal times he would say, “The war must come then you will know what poverty is!” John made the connection to the family belief that was not even his own and the pain dissipated immediately.
By using muscle-monitoring to find the age of cause, the body accesses the cellular memories connected to the incident which is what allows such an effective release of those old patterns.
How we effect change using Kinesiology methodology
Specialised Kinesiology is a holistic and complete complementary therapy. Kinesiology is founded on many different therapies and we can therefore work with mental, emotional and physical issues and have a very broad base of techniques that we can apply to affect change. We use tools from many different therapies such as Neuro-Linguist Programming, Flower essence therapy, cheirology, traditional Chinese therapies, polarity, Meridian therapy, Emotional Freedom Technique to mention a few. These include acupressure points, massage points, visualization techniques, goal setting, running meridians, flower essences, charkas, aura’s, glandular reflexes, brain integration techniques, emotional stress release, nutrition, defusing food sensitivities, muscles, brain functions, cheirology lines and much more.
People are different - finding the right context
Many people have tried many different techniques to help themselves and to heal their lives –what works for some may not work for others. What one person swears by, another person may find that it made no difference to their specific problem. Why is that? Perhaps because we are all different! We have had different life experiences, different values and different………. No two people have the same life-story and in the same way, no two people have the same story behind whatever is causing discomfort or distress. Muscle monitoring makes it possible to identify an individual’s unique story.
Kinesiology’s gift is the ability to find the priority for the individual right now in relation to any issue that the person may have
For example
Two people come to see me with lower back pain.
One fell down the stairs and in so doing may have pulled a muscle, put their back “out”, or bruised their back. Therefore there are likely to be many physical aspects to work with because of the accident!
The other person however has not fallen. But perhaps has recently gone through a break up in a relationship and then developed back pain. It is possible that the back pain, although physical, may be as a result of the emotional issues that the person is dealing with? Therefore to treat these two people in exactly the same way makes no sense.
As you can see it is important to see symptoms as messengers. and we want to discover what is the underlying message. So, if we just treat the messenger, it can be likened to killing the messenger for bearing bad news. We might stop the symptoms but may not have dealt with the underlying issue. We really need to find out what is the underlying message that your body is sending. Dis-ease and discomfort are the indicators from our bodies that something within our selves or our lives need attention. Using the intrinsic, scientific functioning of muscles and neurology, a trained Specialised Kinesiology facilitator identifies adverse stressors and blockages and identifies the appropriate techniques to re-establish balance. Kinesiology is not about finding "right" or "wrong", nor "good" or "bad", simply stress instead of ease. So when symptoms occur you body is talking to you – are you listening?
Kinesiology Consultations
A kinesiology consultation is about an hour to two hours long. The client is fully clothed and lies down while the Kinesiologist uses muscle testing by gently pushing on the clients’ arms.
Kinesiologists do not;
- Heal – only your body can do that (just as it heals a broken bone or a cut!)
- Diagnose or treat – we work with your “symptoms” to find the underlying message that your body is communication and help you to work towards solutions
- Work with illness or disease – we believe that we can assist in improving your quality of life and so “re-educate” your body and yourself.
- Interfere with your faith or religious beliefs
- Make predictions
Kinesiology has helped with the following issues;
- Aches and pains
- Fatigue
- Food intolerances
- Headaches
- Fears
- Stress
- Trauma
- Learning and attention problems
- Low self worth
- Negative self talk
- Relationship stresses
- Self sabotage
- Finding better solutions
- Acceptance of self and others
- Increased functioning ability
- Improved quality of life and much more
Courses in Kinesology
Internationally certified courses in Kinesiology are available in South Africa, countrywide including a diploma in kinesiology from the International College of Professional Kinesiology Practice (ICPKP)
Click here for more on courses
Kinesiology courses are a combination of theory and practice. The concepts learnt are applied in a dynamic, interactive process. Each student facilitates processes with other students and in turn is facilitated. The courses give a complete and well-rounded grounding in muscle testing and kinesiology protocols and are ideal for individuals seeking personal and spiritual growth as well as those in the helping professions who wish to expand their therapeutic options.
Specialised Kinesiology – A truly holistic complementary therapy
By Margie Donde
Introduction - natural trend
Read any magazine or newspaper and you will see the great surge in new methods of complimentary treatments – herbs, vitamin and mineral supplements, magnetic field therapy, bio-energetic therapy, vibrational therapy, reflexology, reiki – the list goes on and on. Compare the amount of health books in any bookshop now to 20 years ago. It seems that more and more people are "sick and tired of being sick and tired." and are ready to take responsibility for their own health and well-being by turning to natural health methods.
We don’t have to look too far for answers as to why taking responsibility for our health has become so popular when the following are readily apparent:-
- Complementary/natural therapies work by getting results naturally
- They are non invasive and have little or no side effects.
- Compared with Conventional Medicine it is highly cost-effective – (as endorsed by the World Health Organisation)
- They treat the whole person and emphasises prevention, health and wellness rather than sickness.
- Ever increasing Iatrogenesis (illness induced by medical or surgical treatment - in Australia currently 50,000 people a year are involved in permanent disability from complications arising from medical treatment. In the USA the figure is close to 100,000) (The recent Vioxx controversy is a case in point)
The future of health seems to be firmly entrenched in complementary or natural medicine and therapies.
Specialised Kinesiology is one of the Natural Complementary Therapies that can be used on both animals and humans. It is a broad based, non-invasive, and inexpensive method that is becoming more widely utilized by natural health care practitioners, sports trainers, physiotherapists, chiropractors, medical doctors and veterinarians
Origins of Kinesiology
Kinesiology originates from the Greek word “kinesis” meaning motion. Kinesiology as we know it today was originally developed by an American chiropractor Dr George Goodheart in the 1960’s to enhance his chiropractic treatments. Known as Applied Kinesiology (AK) it was aimed at professional health care practitioners and involved the application of muscle testing to determine physical conditions and structural problems. In the 1970’s Dr John Thie, an Applied Kinesiologist and Chiropractor synthesised his knowledge of AK into a simple and effective method of balancing energy and made this available for the layperson. Touch for Health as it is known has been taught worldwide and the original manual has been translated into many languages. Through the popularity of Touch for Health many new and enhanced forms of kinesiology have come about and it has evolved into a much broader all encompassing therapy known as Specialised Kinesiology. Today, Specialised Kinesiology incorporates many different streams all based on the scientific, neurological workings of the body. This comes from the dedication and work of people such as Dr Bruce Dew MD (The International College of Professional Kinesiology Practice) Dr Paul Dennison (Educational Kinesiology), Gordon Stokes and Daniel Whiteside (Three in One Concepts), and Andrew Verity (Educating Alternatives) to mention just an few.
Kinesiology uses many different techniques to effect change. All these techniques are used with muscle monitoring or muscle testing as it is commonly known - the tool used in all kinesiology protocols.
The term muscle testing came from Applied Kinesiology as they were testing the strength of the muscles for structural integrity. Although a Specialised Kinesiologist does test muscles, they are monitoring the response of the muscle not evaluating the muscle for strength. When a Specialised Kinesiologist tests a muscle and monitors the response, he or she is monitoring how the neurology of a person is functioning. Kinesiology uses the scientific functioning of the muscles and the central nervous system to identify areas of blockage. Put simply Specialised Kinesiologists are monitoring muscles to check for brain responses to identify imbalances in a person. To understand this technique, it is important to understand a little of how the body functions.
Our natural healing ability
The human body is self-regulating; we are designed to heal ourselves. We are mental, emotional, physical and spiritual beings. This means that in order to survive, our body must maintain balance (homeostasis) in all these areas of our life. The body is constantly monitoring itself and the environment via our nervous system and making the appropriate adjustments and changes. The cerebellum, the “computer” in the brain, is responsible for these adjustments. Responses and signals are sent between the brain and muscles via the nerve pathways and the muscles in turn send signals to alert the brain that changes have taken place. A specialised kinesiologist monitors these responses via the muscles using muscle monitoring and because the muscles and brain are connected via the nerve pathways a kinesiologist is accessing the conscious and subconscious of the person
How stress affects us
If we have this innate ability to naturally heal ourselves then why do we get sick? Sometimes the inner mechanisms for this self-regulation become blocked or impeded. Why does this happen? We impede our innate ability to heal by eating and drinking food that may be energy depleting rather than life supporting, we become stressed by the strains of everyday life, we think negatively, lack emotional support and we may take medications that suppress our immune system. This in simple terms equates to stress – stress can be on a mental, emotional or physical level. Symptoms and dis-ease (or disease) develop when we exhaust all options.
How Muscle Monitoring works
Living a stressful life, as most of us do, when we are unable to adjust or respond in an appropriate way the signals between body and brain become unclear. This shows as a change of muscle response via muscle monitoring which enables the kinesiologist to find out where the person is not coping or adapting well in his or her life. The person with whom we are working is actively engaged in the process – we use his or her own body as a reference to find out in which area (or context) the person is not coping well in relation to the issues that they want to work with. This may be in relation to mental, emotional, physical, chemical or other areas. In other words it is important to see pain, “disease” or negative patterns as a messenger. A Kinesiologists job is to help you find out the message that your body is telling you and where you need to make changes!
Kinesiology has a set of protocols that the kinesiologist can then apply to help the person to change to find solutions.
And there is more ……
In our lives we create references as to how to deal with situations.
In every set of circumstances, our brain scans through all our previous life experiences and finds the most similar one relative to the issue we are dealing with now, to decide how to respond to the present situation.
Often these stored responses are fear-based and ultimately counter-productive in terms of finding positive outcomes.
Age recession is a process of activating memory cells that may be related to the disease or negative patterns that the person has now. We find this age by using muscle testing to find when the first stressor occurred. This may be referred to as “finding the age of cause” and is often a childhood related issue. As a child we may have had limited understanding and responded in a way that may not have been optimal and certainly will not serve us in the best way now.
Example: a child is reprimanded for untidy writing in front of the class and as a result feels shame and resentment. As an adult, that person might respond to any criticism (constructive or not) by feeling shame and resentment. This may lead to feelings of inadequacy and fear of failure, creating extra pressure and stress in their life. By allowing muscle testing to guide us to the incident of being reprimanded as a child, we can defuse the undesired emotions of shame and resentment, thus changing the perspective and enabling the individual to respond differently. With understanding of the underlying cause, the person can now choose to be more forgiving of themselves and their errors, and they may now be able to attempt new tasks and to take risks. These stress responses can be created at anytime during our lifetime from the moment of conception onwards.
References can also be inherited from either the mother or father and we are then looking at deeper-seated automatic responses to life. These genetic responses may include beliefs around money, family values, the way family and society "should be", happiness, religion etc.
Example: A 27-year-old man (lets call him John) wanted to buy a new car- his second vehicle. He placed the order and made arrangements to finance the vehicle. Shortly thereafter John developed a pain in his abdomen and felt nauseous. Muscle testing revealed that the family belief is “you only buy something if you need it and you must pay cash for it”. His father grew up in the Second World War and came from a very poor family. If the children did not finish all the food on their plate at meal times he would say, “The war must come then you will know what poverty is!” John made the connection to the family belief that was not even his own and the pain dissipated immediately.
By using muscle-monitoring to find the age of cause, the body accesses the cellular memories connected to the incident which is what allows such an effective release of those old patterns.
How we effect change using Kinesiology methodology
Specialised Kinesiology is a holistic and complete complementary therapy. Kinesiology is founded on many different therapies and we can therefore work with mental, emotional and physical issues and have a very broad base of techniques that we can apply to affect change. We use tools from many different therapies such as Neuro-Linguist Programming, Flower essence therapy, cheirology, traditional Chinese therapies, polarity, Meridian therapy, Emotional Freedom Technique to mention a few. These include acupressure points, massage points, visualization techniques, goal setting, running meridians, flower essences, charkas, aura’s, glandular reflexes, brain integration techniques, emotional stress release, nutrition, defusing food sensitivities, muscles, brain functions, cheirology lines and much more.
People are different - finding the right context
Many people have tried many different techniques to help themselves and to heal their lives –what works for some may not work for others. What one person swears by, another person may find that it made no difference to their specific problem. Why is that? Perhaps because we are all different! We have had different life experiences, different values and different………. No two people have the same life-story and in the same way, no two people have the same story behind whatever is causing discomfort or distress. Muscle monitoring makes it possible to identify an individual’s unique story.
Kinesiology’s gift is the ability to find the priority for the individual right now in relation to any issue that the person may have
For example
Two people come to see me with lower back pain.
One fell down the stairs and in so doing may have pulled a muscle, put their back “out”, or bruised their back. Therefore there are likely to be many physical aspects to work with because of the accident!
The other person however has not fallen. But perhaps has recently gone through a break up in a relationship and then developed back pain. It is possible that the back pain, although physical, may be as a result of the emotional issues that the person is dealing with? Therefore to treat these two people in exactly the same way makes no sense.
As you can see it is important to see symptoms as messengers. and we want to discover what is the underlying message. So, if we just treat the messenger, it can be likened to killing the messenger for bearing bad news. We might stop the symptoms but may not have dealt with the underlying issue. We really need to find out what is the underlying message that your body is sending. Dis-ease and discomfort are the indicators from our bodies that something within our selves or our lives need attention. Using the intrinsic, scientific functioning of muscles and neurology, a trained Specialised Kinesiology facilitator identifies adverse stressors and blockages and identifies the appropriate techniques to re-establish balance. Kinesiology is not about finding "right" or "wrong", nor "good" or "bad", simply stress instead of ease. So when symptoms occur you body is talking to you – are you listening?
Kinesiology Consultations
A kinesiology consultation is about an hour to two hours long. The client is fully clothed and lies down while the Kinesiologist uses muscle testing by gently pushing on the clients’ arms.
Kinesiologists do not;
- Heal – only your body can do that (just as it heals a broken bone or a cut!)
- Diagnose or treat – we work with your “symptoms” to find the underlying message that your body is communication and help you to work towards solutions
- Work with illness or disease – we believe that we can assist in improving your quality of life and so “re-educate” your body and yourself.
- Interfere with your faith or religious beliefs
- Make predictions
Kinesiology has helped with the following issues;
- Aches and pains
- Fatigue
- Food intolerances
- Headaches
- Fears
- Stress
- Trauma
- Learning and attention problems
- Low self worth
- Negative self talk
- Relationship stresses
- Self sabotage
- Finding better solutions
- Acceptance of self and others
- Increased functioning ability
- Improved quality of life and much more
Courses in Kinesology
Internationally certified courses in Kinesiology are available in South Africa, countrywide including a diploma in kinesiology from the International College of Professional Kinesiology Practice (ICPKP)
Click here for more on courses
Kinesiology courses are a combination of theory and practice. The concepts learnt are applied in a dynamic, interactive process. Each student facilitates processes with other students and in turn is facilitated. The courses give a complete and well-rounded grounding in muscle testing and kinesiology protocols and are ideal for individuals seeking personal and spiritual growth as well as those in the helping professions who wish to expand their therapeutic options.