What is Kinesiology
Kinesiology is an alternative health practice that arose from Chiropractics in the 1960’s. It combines a detailed understanding of Anatomy and Physiology with Eastern energy practices. It looks for the root causes behind symptoms, health concerns, emotional trouble or the inability to move forward and works to address the underlying problems so that the body can heal itself and equilibrium can be restored. Kinesiology is designed to attempt to remove blocks and unsupportive mental processes, allowing people to reach their health, emotional or life goals. The practice considers the body-mind and energy of a person to all be important in achieving balance and looks for stresses in any or all of these systems – considering the person as a whole.
Kinesiology uses manual-muscle monitoring – testing how a muscle functions by pressing gently on the muscle to see how it responds – to identify imbalances. In this way kinesiologists get direct feedback from the body and use the body as a bio-feedback machine – the muscles allow Kinesiologists to find subconscious problems and work with people who can’t communicate verbally, don’t wish to talk about issues or are very young children. Each treatment programme is unique and individual as it follows what the body – i.e. the muscle response- says. When a muscle responds differently to what is expected this provides clues to the underlying causes, allowing the treatment to pin-point the real issue and identify what will help.
Numerous, non-invasive, correction techniques are used to help the body remove stresses or blockages. Corrections will vary depending on the type of kinesiology being used and the kinesiogist’s background but may include acupressure, needle-less acupuncture (using a tai-shin), reflex point stimulation, emotional stress release, nutritional advice, counseling, sound/ vibration, massage, coaching, cranial release therapy, bach flower remedies, lymphatic point stimulation, exercises or affirmations. A Kinesiologist will usually provide guidelines for the client to continue the healing process at home.
The meridian and acupuncture system of Traditional Chinese Medicine is very much part of Kinesiology. Consideration is given to the the meridian-organ-gland-muscle relationship and in NeuroEnergetic Kinsiology and Applied Physiology acupuncture points, alone or in combination, are used to find problems, drill down into them and to heal or restore balance. Consideration is also given to all the body’s physical systems, the environment and the emotions and how they all affect and interact with each other. For example if there is a problem with digestion you could look at any number of things to help such as the muscular system (smooth muscle and fascia), the hormonal system, neurotransmitters such as serotonin, the stress response, brain parts like the amygdala that deal with the stress response, the TCM meridian system and specific acupuncture points, environmental toxins etc.
How the stress (fight/flight/freeze) response gets subconsciously activated and what these reactions, hormones and neurotransmitters do to the body and mind in the short and long term are often relevant to a Kinesiology balance and are investigated with a client.
One way to understand Kinesiology is to think of the body-mind-energy as an electrical circuit! When functioning optimally the circuit flows smoothly with little resistance and all the appliances connected to the circuit function properly. Sometimes switches get turned on or off and fuses blow – affecting the circuit and the appliances that it operates. This is like an out of balance body, if the flow is not smooth then various parts of it may malfunction! Kinesiologists test the circuits, find those switches that are off or fuses that have blown and reset them so that the circuit flows freely again. Another way to look at it is to think of a stream – if there are numerous boulders and stones upstream the flow downstream will be effected, if we are downstream we will see the interrupted, uneven flow but maybe unaware of the boulders and stones upstream. Kinesiology goes upstream to find and remove the stones, starting with the largest boulders and helping to reestablish the river flow.