Amazingly, it’s been five years since our small group of five initial participants (including two facilitators :-) inaugurated our bi-monthly Art of Jin Shin sessions one Tuesday evening in March 2019. Since then, many others have joined our sessions, some for a one-off taster and some staying on to dive deeper over time…
Practising together Again and again someone would comment that practising Jin Shin together, in a group, can feel more impactful than practising alone. Whether we met in person or on-line, this has become palpable to many of us. One of our regular participants captured this beautifully: “The enhanced feeling of calm and safety that we experience when together can be of benefit especially to those who struggle with fear and trauma. This is at least my experience.” Similarly, I often have the sense that a pond of harmony emerges, as our nervous systems co-regulate - even across the miles that Zoom helps to bridge. The bigger vision Our Jin Shin sessions were inspired by a vision of Sustainable Health for a Climate Changing World. This was created by Dr. Stephanie Mines, founder of the TARA Approach, which merges modern neurosciences with the ancient Art of Jin Shin. This Sustainable Health vision sees communities organize and support themselves to sustain wellbeing, when other sources of healthcare are either unavailable, unaffordable or simply less attractive. As such, it is very much part of worldwide grass roots movements that are both regenerative and empowerment based. Above all, this vision invites us to shift our approach to health and healthcare, by restoring authority to ourselves, our families and communities. It invites us to reclaim our sense of agency with respect to our well-being and vitality (for more details see: www.tara-approach.org/maphd-program). How it all began In 2018, as part of her vision, Dr. Mines gifted the Findhorn Community & Eco-village in Scotland a 6-page e-book of introductory Jin Shin resources, following several years of offering TARA Approach trainings in the community. This e-book is still available on the New Findhorn Association webpage - see Tara Approach self-care introduction here: findhorn.cc/groups-projects/caring-community-circle Together with a dear friend and long-term student of Stephanie Mines, we presented an introductory Sunday slot on the TARA Approach in January 2019. The aim was to bring this e-book alive and to gage whether there was interest to take this work further. In March that year, our first in-person group came together in the beautiful Sunshine Room at the Park Eco-village and later in the Moray Art Centre. It all began very gently and organically. There was no charge, other than to help cover the room costs. We started off with simple acupressure holds. We learnt the 26 Jin Shin sites – even using pens and post-it notes on our bodies to remember them - and picked a TARA card each time (covering the various sites) to help us memorize these locations further. Co-creating sessions Ever since the outset, we have invited requests from participants, always asking: "What would you like support with? What would you like our sessions to focus on? Insomnia? Fatigue? Head-aches?" We then built our sessions around the issues brought forward, offering simple holds and sequences (or flows) that could help restore harmony. This co-creativity has always been at the heart of our sessions. What one person brings inevitably serves others, be this directly or by harmonizing related issues. And our Jin Shin tool kit keeps growing. Over the years we have covered a huge array of topics - from harmonizing vision and back issues to detoxing, and more. We have done immunity boosters or shock absorber holds at short notice when someone’s sore throat or challenging experience that day called for it. In the process, we keep learning together while nurturing a collective space we can all benefit from. Here’s a word cloud relaying the gist of feedback from one such session… The WHY behind it all The aim of our Jin Shin group has always been to offer simple, practical self-care tools applicable to daily life to enhance our sense of well-being and to support the self-healing capacity of our bodies. More specifically the intention of our group sessions is to offer:
Going on-line With the onset of Covid in April 2020, we moved online and my co-facilitator sadly decided to release holding our group. Many thanks to Sally Ibbotson for stepping in to support at this time, as we tried out Zoom and explored ways to create a safe space online. Our Jin Shin netiquette emerged as a result, while sessions were free for two months as we grappled with life in this new setting. There was also a surge of interest in our sessions, as many were drawn to soothe their nerves, and suddenly we had the chance to welcome participants from across the UK and further afield: physical distances seemed to collapse as we practised together, coming into harmony as a group. A community of well-being To make sessions sustainable, we trialled a pay-from-the-heart pricing structure, which we have run with ever since. Creating a community of well-being lies at the core of this: “What each of us brings to our sessions - our unique presence and engagement - cannot be valued in financial terms. It's priceless. At the same time, monetary contributions make it sustainable for me to offer these sessions. You may be able to make a higher end contribution, knowing you are supporting the viability of our group. You may receive a free place, knowing the contributions of others cover this. You may be contributing anything in between. Through giving and receiving, the flow of money and energy balances out. And, in the process, we forge community together.” ~ from Pay-from-the-Heart & our Jin Shin sessions It has been heart-warming to experience and trust this flow. Above all, I want to thank everyone involved – from those participating for minimal or no financial contributions (while bringing precious contributions in other ways) to those generously sponsoring our sessions in monetary terms. Each and everyone's commitment, participation and generosity nurtures our sessions and makes it possible for me to keep spending time, energy and money not only on essential Zoom costs, but also on researching and preparing sessions, as well as on-going training and mentoring. Ripple-effects As we come into harmony, we impact those around us. As we practise on ourselves, our nervous system may become a soothing impulse for others. In our sessions, the group wisdom that spontaneously emerges can have a similarly contagious effect. What someone else shares may help me notice what I hadn't been aware of before - or perhaps simply could not articulate in words. What I relate may help someone else remember something they had dismissed as insignificant. And, in the process, we keep expanding our horizons together. Sometimes Jin Shin requests emerge to support friends, family, colleagues or pets who may be unwell or ready to transition to the other side. We might also find ourselves sharing this work with strangers or fellow-travellers in random conversations. As such, holds and flows come into play to serve others and the impulse of our self-care sessions ripples out further... Duplicating our sessions In March 2022, we set up our new Thursday morning sessions at 11am GMT to cater for others in non-EU time zones. This would not have happened without Kyoko’s dedication to keep coming sleepy-eyed to our Tuesday 5pm GMT sessions at what was 2am for her in Japan. She had returned home to Tokyo from Scotland (where she first joined our group) and was eager to keep learning Jin Shin. Kyoko’s passion and Joan’s willingness to keep joining our Thursday sessions while visiting family in Australia that year (a big thank you to both) meant we had a mini-group for those first mornings, which have since grown popular with others too. Both our Thursday and Tuesday sessions cover the same content, so if one date doesn't suit, there's an alternative option – or the chance to attend both, as questions and experiences shared make each session unique. Five years in What was seeded as an e-book and a big vision, has grown into a small global community - organically, progressively and by word of mouth. A huge thank you to each and every one who has attended and helped to shape our sessions. It is everyone’s presence and our shared experiences that bring our Jin Shin circle alive and create an oasis of calm for us all to drop into. For related blogs see:
The Art of Jin Shin & the TARA Approach Introduction to the Healing Art of Jin Shin Comments are closed.
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AuthorKaren Luedtke ~ Archives
March 2024
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