I am part of a women’s public speaking community called WomanSpeak. Founded by KC Baker, it provides women the opportunity to practice public speaking skills in a supportive, nurturing, and positive environment. Recently, during an “impromptu speech” session, a friend asked me to speak about the relationship between Jin Shin Jyutsu and ancestral trauma healing. What an amazing question! Because I’m deeply interested in both topics, the fact that she combined them into one query was powerful for me.

Her question started me thinking about my history of healing modalities. I’ve participated in so many amazing methods and practices over the years in the process of self-healing, and they have all worked together somehow.

I’ve been studying and practicing Jin Shin Jyutsu since 1997, when I took my first class with Lynne Pflueger. During that first class, I remember having multiple students working on me at one time, and starting to sob on the table. I didn’t know what was happening exactly, but I knew that something powerful had shifted inside of me. After that class, I knew I had to keep studying Jin Shin Jyutsu.

What I said in my impromptu WomanSpeak speech that day was that trauma fragments us, and Jin Shin Jyutsu puts us back together. I have this experience every single day with Jin Shin Jyutsu self-help. I daily experience the reintegration of split-off aspects of myself as I practice Umbilicus Flow (especially). This flow seems to pull all of the pieces of me back together. It’s a miracle flow for me.

However, so many other flows feed into my 6th Depth healing experiences….Bladder, 1-Flow, 13-Flow, Lung Flow, Breathing Flow, Diaphragm Flow, and 5,6,7,8 Flow seem to be the themes right now, but Stomach, Gall Bladder, Heart, Large Intestine, 20,21,22 Flow, Main Central, Mediator, 15-Flow, 10-Flow, and 2-Flow have all been important recently, as well.

Healing is Grace. As much as we show up for it through our practices, ultimately, we are guided toward what we need in each moment if we allow the guidance in. I’ve used body-oriented psychotherapy methods for many years to heal from trauma, and I use something called Shambhavi Kriya every day (a from of yoga practice) that I learned at the Isha Institute. I practice simple hatha yoga to stay limber and flexible in my spine. I walk in the park every day to receive nourishment from Nature. I drink tons of water and attempt to eat healthy foods, although that doesn’t always happen.

The point is this: Grace heals my trauma as I ask for help through these practices. If I did not show up asking for help, no help would come, because Grace is not pushy.

I feel grateful for all of the beautiful modalities and practices that I’ve been guided to learn and experience throughout my lifetime. They have all made me who I am today and inform the way I work with others in my own healing practice.

I believe that the unique combination of practices that is right for each person is a mystery that can only be known through trial and error and learning and growing and letting what is not ours fall away. It’s like Michelangelo’s description of sculpting: “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” We are the sculptor of our own lives, and we carve and carve away what is not ours until we set ourselves free.