| Touch Therapies / Visualization Applied Kinesiology (Muscle Testing)
You might be willing to believe in the power of the mind... But how on earth do you do muscle testing on an animal that you can't instruct? ...And why? But first I'd better make sure you know what I'm talking about... My hands-on introduction to muscle testing was in a chiropractor's office. I'd heard about it years before, in connection with "Touch for Health", but didn't really "get" what it was all about. This chiropractor was excellent, I was intrigued, so she lent me a book on "applied kinesiology". "Kinesiology" means the science of movement. Applied Kinesiology was the name given to muscle isolation techniques developed by U.S. chiropractor Dr. George Goodhart. I'll quote from Dr. Devi Nambudripad's book Say
Goodbye to Illness: «- Clicking
on this link will take you to book info at Amazon.com (Or click HERE to try Powell's used books] These "...make it possible to test the strength of an individual muscle or muscle group without the help of other muscles. How Applied Kinesiology Works "Kinesiology holds that when the body is disorganized, the structural balance or electrical forces are not functioning in a normal way. ...The central nervous system sends out a signal that is directed at each and every cell of the body, because each cell...is directly connected with the brain via a network of nerves...capable of conducting messages back and forth...under the direct command of the brain. The electrical energy, or the life force, flows through these nerve cells, which makes energy channels." ...Which leads us into Chinese medicine, acupuncture meridians, and the belief that blocked energy creates imbalance, which can cause illness. (Did you know that the founder of chiropractic, Dr. David Palmer, stated in the 19th century that "too much or too little energy is sickness"? The coolest thing about all of these healing modalities is how they interconnect!) Tapas Fleming (the developer of "TAT", who has also practiced NAET) likes to think of applied kinesiology as "energy field testing", a way of letting your body communicate to you. She feels that it is a means of getting information that the body usually only communicates through pain or discomfort of some kind. Back to Devi... "The central nervous system instantly responds to the presence of the substance that caused the blockage of an energy pathway and perceives that substance to be toxic and harmful to the body." The brain's mobilizing of the body's defensive forces is an "allergic reaction"... or pain? And if we borrow from some of the other ideas in these pages, the "substance" can be an idea, a traumatic memory. It can also be inherited from one's ancestors. Chinese medicine assumes "the body electric"... "All substances have an electromagnetic charge around them as man has around him. Therefore, nearly all of these substances are capable of affecting the human body in a negative or positive way by transference of the electromagnetic charges alone. When an unsuitable electrical charge or an allergen (whether it be food, drink, materials, fabrics, animals, or another human being [! - or a memory?])...comes near the body, there will be a clash in their fields. There will be a large force of repulsion between the charges. This repulsion creates blockages of the meridians or energy pathways. "...If one is surrounded by unsuitable charges from many objects around him that cause energy blockages in his meridians at various parts of the body, no matter how much one tries to help him with massages, therapies, and medications, his discomfort would only increase and no relief will be in sight." This is why the NAET therapist also looks for possible causes of allergic responses in inanimate objects the subject may come into contact, in weather, in relationships... in emotional blockages and, yes, memories. And sometimes the clearing of one such emotionally-charged allergy (notice how we call it "charged"?) can wipe all the others off the board. So what does all this have to do with the way a normally strong indicator muscle suddenly loses strength in the presence of an allergen? Devi explains it in terms of the body's electrical energy... "When the subject touches the allergen with the fingertips, the sensory receptors sense the charges of the allergen and give a message to the brain. If it is an incompatible charge, the strong indicator muscle will go weak." |
|
You almost have to see this done, or have it done to you, to believe in the absolutely unequivocal nature of the muscle response... The normal way of testing is to use the extended arm, as though as a lever; held out perpendicular to the body (whether the subject is standing, sitting, or lying down doesn't matter), it either can or can't easily be pushed downward by the tester. Usually, it's a clear yes or no, and when it's no, it's really no! (When it isn't unequivocal, the subject needs to be "rebalanced" by placing one fingertip on his or her Conception Vessel 17 point (between the nipples) and a fingertip from the other hand on the "sea of energy" point about 1 1/2" below the navel. Tap both fingers for 20-30 seconds and try the indicator muscle again - it should be strong when there is no allergen present. Do this until the indicator muscle remains strong.) Of course, it may not be possible to verify "scientifically" that the messages coming from a subject's body are "true", or uninfluenced by his or her mind. Again, I'll have to interject a "so what?" If the bottom line is healing results, "clinical outcomes" will have to do... and are what matter. If you can find out what is causing a problem so as to avoid it (or "clear" it, as NAET can do), you'll soon know whether it worked or not! Devi also tells how one can test oneself, making an "O" from touching one's thumb and little finger together, and seeing if one can easily break through the ring with a finger of the other hand. How Muscle Testing Can Be Done on an Animal Then she progresses to the capability of doing surrogate testing, having the person really being tested (the subject) simply put his or her hand on top of the surrogate's body. "Energy from the subject flows through the surrogate, and the weakness or strength can be seen in the surrogate's body." That way it's possible to do muscle testing on a very weak person, or a baby... or an animal? Devi briefly mentions that "animals, pets, etc., can also be tested this way." ...And so we arrive back at my original question, how do you do muscle testing on an animal that you can't instruct to hold its leg out and try to keep it steady while you push down on it? - you don't, you use a surrogate! And why? So you can discover things about what might be causing your pet's illness. [Some people do NAET treatments on animals - after finding the cause, there is a treatment. I took one of my dogs to a holistic veterinarian for this. (The tricky part is to isolate the animal from whatever s/he's allergic to for 25 hours after the treatment.) And if you or someone you know has severe allergies, or you know anyone who suffers from a mysterious malaise or pain that won't go away no matter what, I encourage you (from good personal as well as anecdotal experience) to get hold of Devi Nambudripad's book, Say Goodbye to Illness «- Clicking on this link will take you to book info at Amazon.com (Or click HERE to try Powell's used books] Clicking on this link will take you to book info at Amazon.com (Or click HERE to try Powell's used books], and an NAET practitioner... If visualization or TAT doesn't work for you, which you can do yourself! - see the next page...] This is reputedly the best book for an introduction to applied kinesiology... Your Body Can Talk: How to Use Simple... Muscle Testing to Learn What Your Body Knows and Needs: The Art and Application of Clinical Kinesiology, by Susan L. Levy. «- Clicking on this link will take you to book info at Amazon.com (Or click HERE to try Powell's used books]
NEXT (and LAST)... "TAT
(Tapas
Acupressure Technique)" AlternativePetHealth.com HOME
|
