Sara Harper

In four days, Sara Harper will be here to teach our fifth 5-Day Basic Seminar in Nashville. I feel so much anticipation before these classes: What will it be like? How will our students gel together? What small or large miracles will occur over the five days?

Right now, there is something even bigger on my mind, though: How do we embrace holistic healing in a culture of mainstream medicine? Being born into a medical family, I’m constantly reviewing my relationship with medicine. What is healing? What is health? How do we allow for healing while not interrupting Nature’s brilliant processes that already happen, with or without us? What is our role?

Deep questions that have been asked for a long, long time. What I know is this: I love Jin Shin Jyutsu because it has brought me into an intimate relationship with myself. And I don’t think that mainstream medicine has caught up with that notion, as highly technologically advanced as it is.

When I practice JSJ self-help, I use my intuition to determine what I need. A laboratory wouldn’t be able to keep up with it, because it’s always changing at subtle levels. And when I work with others, I also use my intuition, along with pulses, body reading, etc. It’s so individual for each person in each situation. Patterns emerge, but they can have small differences from one day to the next.

Evidence-based medicine is important. I’ve used pharmaceuticals and surgery to great effect during my lifetime. I wouldn’t want to receive medical treatment that had never been tested or proven to be effective.

With Jin Shin Jyutsu, it’s different. It’s medicine in the form of soul healing, and in the form of cosmic energy. It’s healing in the form of channeling jumper-cable energy from one being to another, even though there is no energy exchange. What kind of a miracle is that? It’s otherworldly, it’s strange, it’s ultimately mysterious.

How do we integrate these modalities together? Morristown Hospital in New Jersey and the Markey Cancer Center in Kentucky both offer Jin Shin Jyutsu as a part of their oncology services, thanks to dedicated practitioners who have presented and conducted research on the benefits of Jin Shin Jyutsu for those undergoing cancer treatment. It is wonderful for the Art to be offered in these medical settings.

For me, Jin Shin Jyutsu’s benefits extend beyond the physical and into the emotional/mental and spiritual realms. It is important for me to acknowledge how helpful the Art has been for me in these areas, and to share my love of Jin Shin Jyutsu with people experiencing these kinds of stresses.

We live in a stressful world. We need a lot of help and support all the time. Really, we can’t get enough, in my opinion. Jin Shin Jyutsu is one of many modalities I use to stay balanced, and that I offer to other as a way to find and maintain balance in their lives.

I hope to continue to offer this modality to as many people as possible. The 5-Day classes form the foundation of Jin Shin Jyutsu. Having the opportunity to go back to the basics (which are far from basic!) every year and to host new and returning students in their experience of JSJ has been a great pleasure. And I hope that it takes root in Nashville in deep, sustaining ways that create a foundation of health, balance, and self-care in this city.