Issue 14, Winter, 2020
Issue 14, Winter 2020
Healthy Travel
Specialized Kinesiology Magazine
Adventures in Health and Wellness
You Set the Pace
Qinesiology –
Healthy Travel
a Tool for Learning to Enjoy Life
Advice from the
Practitioners Meet in Costa Rica
Vegan Travel
Healthy Travel KinesioGeek Magazine, www.gemskinesiology.com 1
Issue 14, Winter 2020
Healthy Travel
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Issue 14, Winter 2020
Healthy Travel
Editor/Publisher/Writer Proudly brought to you by and flawed dictator: Alexis contributing KinesioGeeks: Costello Alexis Costello (Editor/ Publisher / Flawed DictaContributors: tor) Alison Kingston Conrad Ho Anne Jensen Michelle Greenwell Hugo Tobar Natasha Polomski Jane Thurnell-Read Reenie Rose Robert Frost Matthew Thie Sylvia Marina Michelle Greenwell Cover image is a stock Sylvia Marina photo Toni Lilley Opinions expressed by contributors and advertisers are their own.
Adam Lehman: Healthy Travel inside the holoAdvice from the pros gram
page 6
page 6 Qinesiology : A Tool for Learning to Enjoy Life
page 23
Contents: p. 4 Letter from the Editor p.5 Your turn: letters, questions and social media p. 6 Healthy Travel: advice from pros P. 11 Making Travel a Purposeful Adventure in Health P. 15 Touch for Health Archive p. 16 Traveling as a Vegan p. 20 Qinesiology
P. 24 You Set the Pace p. 27 Meeting of the Minds P. 31 Conference listings P. 32 Classifieds p. 33 Because Health should be Fun!
Cover art: photo of Tanah Lot in Bali, taken by me (Alexis) while there for the IKC conference October 2019
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Issue 14, Winter 2020
Healthy Travel
Adventures in Muscle Testing
I
Photo by Alexis Costello taken in Bali
The Sound of Science The Frequency of Balance
travel a lot, and I love it, but I understand fully that my travel is not usual. While others go to new places to see the sights or lie on beautiful beaches, I typically end up spending the majority of my time in a classroom or conference center, seeing the world through kinesiology-tinted lenses. This might give me a different view on things than the average, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
For many, the entire idea of travel is stressful: fear of flying, of germs on planes, of picking up bacteria or parasites in a foreign place, of the stress of jetlag... Fortunately, we have tools that can make the whole process easier. We can balance ourselves and each other. We can use little tools to keep energy stable while on airplanes or in hotel rooms. And these little tools can make all the difference so that we get to experience more of the joys of travel and less of the difficulties. In this issue, read travel tips from Specialized Kinesiology instructors and presenters that you can use, whether it’s a weekend away or a trip around the world. Read nutritional advice for those of us trying to eat well away from home and trying to keep to a specific food philosophy, and learn more abut your international KinesioGeek community. Thanks for reading, we’re all in this together!
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Megan Gann Slye Collagen peptide sticks I can put in any drink. Search ahead to see what food choices are available where you will be staying and check out their menus. Make ahead healthy bars or snacks you can stash in a carry on or purse. Stay hydrated and have fun. No one can be perfect all the time. Enjoy the experience and some culinary flair and get back on track when you get home. Jamie Taverner I take a nutritious protein meal replacement drink with me so I know that no matter what comes my way through the day I have what I need in my belly... saves me money too!! Jen Thomson Shop local fresh markets for the rest. When I went to Hawaii I loved their aรงai bowls, my shake for lunch and a nice balanced dinner with protein and greens. Jonathan Baran Wash your hands every chance you get Christine McGough Find out if they have a tea kettle or coffee maker in your room! All sorts of handy things come in powder packs that go through TSA. Just test the packets before you leave, or you may find that your chocolate protein powder when shaken with warm water explodes like a bomb in your hotel bathroom! Russ Bain I think a sound nutritional program to take with you is key. Eat clean when you can and enjoy and be mindful no matter what. Robin Kalmakoff Always eat the Local yogurt to get local bacteria into your gut. Helps to climatize Melanie Mclean We always do a bag of granola mixture nuts seeds dried fruit dark chocolate chunks yummy and fun
Lyudmila Kormich My main suggestion is to bring along Super Enzymes to be able to digest unfamiliar foods. Or ear salads n fresh veggies after a meal to add extra enzymes to digest food. Also buy a life straw so that drinking water anywhere will be safe. Helga Petersen I don't eat raw vegetables and peel skin off fruit to avoid picking up some strange germs. Nuts is always a favorite while traveling. KinesioGeek Magazine, www.gemskinesiology.com 5
Your Turn: sharing who you are
Any Nutrition Tips While Traveling?
Issue 14, Winter 2020
Healthy Travel
Healthy Travel Advice from the Pros
Photo credit Julie White while we were in Washington State
By Alexis Costello
O
ne of the amazing things about teaching Specialized Kinesiology is the opportunity to travel: to teach classes or attend them, to attend conferences. Some of us spend large portions of the year ‘on the road’, sharing this work that we love with people all over the world. As a result, we have to come up with strategies to help us to deal with the stress that can come along with that: jet lag, different food, and exposure to germs on crowded airplanes.
There are so many blogs, websites and products out there designed to help people travel well but I find that they are not usually helpful for me. Either the advice is too simplistic to help those of us who already understand a lot about how to keep the body balanced, or it seems to be designed just to advertise a specific product or system, rather than to actually inform.
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Issue 14, Winter 2020
Healthy Travel Traveling is one of the times when I really see the value in some of the simplest techniques that we learn in our muscle testing careers. The ability to switch-on when I am feeling particularly scrambled and haven’t had enough sleep. The ability to ‘tunein’ (unrolling the ears, as taught in TFH 1) to the sounds of a different language or dialect o that I can better understand what is going on around me. These are things that we can do for ourselves in under a minute, no books or equipment required. What are some other techniques or supplements that can make travel better? I asked some of my friends; professional Specialized Kinesiology Instructors that I know spend a lot of time in transit every year sharing their knowledge, if they would answer three questions: Photo at the IASK conference in Moscow.
1. How do you keep yourself balanced and healthy while away from home? 2. Are there any supplements you won't leave home without? 3. What is your best advice for others? Read on for their best ideas. Hugo Tobar:
Here are my answers after over 3 million miles in 20 years 1. a. Planning places where there is good food; this is important to me because sometimes I am half the year on the road. I even refused to go back to one place because of the food. b. I buy business class tickets for long haul flights, I can get good deals from Australia to Europe and as some of the
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funds are refunded as a course expense, the balance I pay from my pocket. As I tell my children, I am spending their inheritance.
an herbal immune formula, it works very well 3.
c. Exercise is important. I took up skiing 7 years ago, so I plan trips with skiing days. I find it really helps with jetlag d. 2.
Receive kinesiology
a. Besides the usual things there is a great Italian product called relaxina plus, it has a little melatonin and other herbs that help with sleep. I can only get it in Europe, so I stock up while I am there b. Supplements to support the adrenals: DHEA and Metagenics Adrenotone
c. Also, I carry ‘wellness formula from ‘source naturals’ (capsules I find better for me) to support the immune system, if I feel like I am coming down from something I take 10 capsules 2 to 3 times a day. It is
a. Always fly with one alliance for frequent flyers points, upgrade vouchers and status. If you travel a lot it makes a huge difference. Things like free upgrades, free lounge access in airports away from the hustle and bustle make a big difference b. Time management, I try to plan travel meticulously, departure and arrival times, days off, travel days, ski days and teaching days I have to plan months ahead.
Toni Lilley: 1.
My favourite is Time of Day Balance when travelling across multiple time zones, switch on and ESR. If things are slow and frustrating my mantra is “This too shall pass”.
2. Vitamin C, absolutely. 3.
Pack light! If possible, wash smalls each night and have fun.
Have you had a chance to listen to Debbie Rossi’s ‘As 1 Kinesiology’ podcast? KinesioGeek authors Alexis Costello and Michelle Greenwell have both had interviews this year. Listen to all of the interviews here: http:// www.centreforintuitivekinesiol ogy.com.au/podcast/
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Issue 14, Winter 2020
Healthy Travel Sylvia Marina: 1.
I drink mostly water. Choose gluten free as often as practical. Minimal acid forming foods Go to bed when i feel tired Visualise my body resetting to the ’time of day’ in my new location.
Matthew Thie:
2. A multi vitamin and mineral - I don't take them everyday but a tiny hint of “opps pushing the boundaries” fatigue and a welll balanced vit/min is my go to friend.
My dad (TFH Founder, Dr. John Thie) always used to say it is important to get exposed to the sun whenever you've gained or lost hours traveling to a new place. Try to do a little bit of exercise outdoors, day or night, to reset to the natural, local, "sun time". 14 muscle balance under the stars counts as some movement/ exercise to reset, and of course should also contribute to coming into balance with the local natural rhythms.
3. Have your teaching / presentation material for at least the first two days and and a complete set of 'dry-overnight' essentials / undies in your carry-on bag.
A short-cut 14-muscle balance, and famous pain control procedure, as well as "jet-lag" balance is the "Time of Day" Balance: just test all 14 muscles, then work a few reflexes for
Photo: IKC Faculty and Trainers in Bali
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Healthy Travel CV, GV, and the Meridian that is currently at its peak time locally. If nothing else, just trace the related meridian a few times (or if you want to get fancy, trace all 14 meridians, starting with CV, GV, and the time of day meridian). Personally, I also find it very important to try to get onto the sleeping and eating schedule immediately, so I try to arrive in the afternoon or evening, have a dinner, and then go to bed close to the local bedtime. When I do this, I usually get into the rhythm within a day or two. If I arrive in the morning, and take a nap during the day, I usually find myself waking up at night and feeling out of sync for days. One other famous short-cut is to "work the horary points" which are not in the TFH book, or IKC curriculum, but have always been listed on the TFH Meridian Chart.
Alexis Costello I agree with so much of what my colleagues have to say here that there isn’t much left to add. I would say take advantage of the expertise of the people around you when traveling to conferences and classes. Offer your services to your peers and then get them to return the favour so that everyone is in good shape to learn. For supplements, I always have probiotics, activated charcoal and digestive enzymes in my emergency kit, and lavender oil for topical use on bites, burns, cuts, etc. Are you feeling inspired? Check out the Classifieds and page 31 for listings for 2020 conferences you might want to travel to (or come visit me in Costa Rica!).
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Issue 14, Winter 2020
Healthy Travel
Making travel a purposeful adventure in health and wellness
By Michelle Greenwell
I
n researching for this article I found several postings that face the idea that travel is a risk and you need to accept those risks. Global News reported in March 2018 that there were 4 items you could do to remain safe from germs: 1. Change Seats, 2. Get a Flu Shot, 3. Wash your Hands, 4. Accept it. These are all avoidance actions and do not bring into account any of the tools that we find in our BioEnergetic Wellness toolboxes. In fact, statistics were presented that if you sat within one or two rows of a sick person, the chances were much higher that you would get the illness shared across the rows. Westjet Airlines had a report on Jet Lag in their fall 2019 In Air Magazine. Recommendations were to get plenty of rest, try to get some sunshine, put your feet on the ground when you arrive at your destination, and to try not to go to sleep until it is nighttime where you have travelled to. What if our tools could exceed these simple and inactive tools? Welcome BioEnergetic Wellness! Self-care is at the center of BioEnergetic Wellness tools. Let’s start with “How to prepare for a trip.”
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Healthy Travel 1. Set a goal and balance for the trip. This could be about the trip, about the travel, about the adventure. Take the time weeks ahead of travel to create the kind of trip you have dreamed of. 2. Engage in movement activities that expand energy and cultivate and store energy. This might be to involve yourself in balancing and movement activities that create energy. Tai Chi is a great tool as the expansion and contraction element of Tai Chi creates a storage of energy that can sustain throughout a travel regime. 3. Be hydrated. Drinking water is essential to having a body that is completed supported for a flow of energy through the system. Energizing the water with intention can support this even further. 4. If there will be sleep disruption. Ask permission of the body to accept the minimized sleep pattern and determine what else the body may like to use to keep it in flow. One of my favorite phrases is “I only need 4 hours of deep sleep, everything else is a bonus.” My son expresses to himself that “He is energized and supported at all times throughout his travels.” He imagines his life transported to his new location with ease and flow. No worries. 5. Check in throughout the travels to see what on your checklist of tools your body might need for support, and then engage in that activity. Setting the Body Clock There are many different ways to set the body clock. My favorite technique is to imagine the time that I am travelling to. Rubbing with firm pressure Spleen 21 on the left side of the ribs for about 10 seconds, and then Rubbing from top to bottom of the ear in three passes on each side. The first time is on the outer edge, the second
time is a little bit towards the center of the ear, and the last time is deep into the ear center of the ear (just not inside the ear). On a long trip I will do this a couple of times throughout the travel to shift the clock to the time zones I am travelling through. “How to adjust to sick people around you while travelling”. Before travelling, ensure that you have lots of energy that expands your energy field. If you don’t, try engaging in the following: 1. Engage in deep breathing as much as possible. 2. Drink plenty of energized water. 3. Create a bubble of energy around your biofield. This might be to create a Flower of Life 3 dimensional shape of rainbow color and step inside it for the trip. It might be to create a waterfall to shower down and around you sealing at the bottom. It might be to create a grid of protection around you that bounces low frequencies out of the range. 4. Do the meridian dance several times through the trip to keep the flow of energy constant. 5. Set a goal and balance for healthy travel. 6. Ask permission for the body to let the low frequency of the illness pass through you without stopping. Checking in throughout the trip can support this. 7. Avoid anything that will bring the energy down. This could be alcohol, sugar, lower levels of consciousness or emotions, thought patterns that come from a place of fear. 8. Muscle monitor for the color that will support your biofield during travel and make sure this color is touching the skin throughout the journey. This could also be gemstones.
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Issue 14, Winter 2020
Healthy Travel “Keep the energy flowing through the trip by moving.�
When people travel, they often have the mindset that they need to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible. This often means only stopping on a car ride to gas up and use the washroom. However, depending on the age of the people travelling this way can be very hard on the body. Check in with the body before the trip to determine how long the body can travel before it needs to move and get the energy flowing. Make sure to stop before this point of no return. What do you do when you stop? Do you just walk around? You need to engage the body in whole body movement that spirals, uses the full length of the body, engages deep breathing, and includes staying supported with water for hydration. Recommended movements come from Tai Chi and include Seated Foot exercises which help to prevent blood clots and promote the flow of fluid through the body. As well as Hands Turning, Hands Pedaling, Parting the Bamboo, Spine Rotation, and Reaching for the Sky. You can find these movements on Youtube at Tai Chi Wellness and the Seated Form Series. These can easily be done in a car, on a plane, sitting on a bench in the park, at the height of a hike, on a layover, in bed. Also, very valuable is the QSeated Don Yu which may only involve hands or can include feet and moving from seated to standing. This is a powerful move that can help bring movement to the intestines to assist with digestion while travelling and promoting regularity in bowel movements. For older travelers this can be extremely important.
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Healthy Travel “Reducing anxiety about travelling.” If you know that there will be stressful aspects of the trip. Begin balancing for these specific details well ahead of the trip. While travelling you can engage in Emotional Freedom Techniques to tap through anxieties or challenges faced on the trip. If you have some emotional changes, you can hold the forehead with your finger tips for Emotional Stress Release while breathing deeply. This can calm the whole system. Hold the fingers there until the feelings pass. This can also help with calming the mind to sleep when you have the chance. If there is an experience that causes great stress, the possibility of using Injury Recall Technique or Innate Matrix Memory can release the emotional impact of the incident so that there are no repercussions of the experience to pocket in the tissue of the body. To keep this to its simplest form you can do three things. 1. Create a cone with both hands and place them by your jaw on either side, then drop the head forward and back to straight three times. 2. Hold GV 20 at the top of the head towards the back of the skull with several fingers. Again, incline the head forward and straight three times.
3. Hold a point feeling tension or pain, or think about the incident and nod the head three more times. For more information of the advanced techniques you can find them at knowlative.com, or under Resources, (articles) at www.dancedebut.com. Lastly, create JOY, LOVE and GRATITUDE for your travelling experience. It is the level of consciousness that you maintain while travelling that will support you through challenges and successes. Travel is not to wait to see what will happen to you, but to create the journey of your dreams. Michelle Greenwell is a movement specialist who thrives on providing the most profound and simple techniques to transform life challenges. She has just launched her new YouTube channel on Tai Chi Wellness and the Seated Form Series along with a facebook page, with all videos open to the public for FREE. You can find her with specialty conversations on the Touch for Health UK events page for TFH Hangouts. And, you can be supported with tips and tools on her facebook page at “The KEY to Health with Energy Medicine.” A recent Master’s graduate from Akamai University in Complementary and Alternative Medicine, she is now pursuing her doctorate in Integrative Health. If you want to be a part of the development of her latest programming you can become a Patron with her on the Patreon account for The KEY to Health with Energy Medicine.
Have a message , a class, or a product to share with the world? Advertise here. happy@alexiscostello.com
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TouchforHealthArchive.com A Resource & Forum for KinesioGeeks
By Matthew Thie TFH Instructor and Consultant, Brian Esty, with cooperation from the TFH Kinesiology Association (of USA), has scanned, indexed and posted an extensive collection of Conference Journals and Newsletters from the past 40+ years of sharing Touch for Health! Peruse informative and historical articles, search and download related to particular topics, Donate to support the activity! Most importantly, please leave your responses/ comments/questions to contribute to the potential discussion/forum and bring the archive higher in the search listings to share the information with a wider audience :) Speaking of kinesiologists travelling, it's amazing how we have a family of TFH'ers/ Kinesiolocos all around the globe. You might be surprised how many places you can trade a balance, and get oriented to the local vibe, if you look for local kinesiogeeks. Claudia and I were doing a little Tai Chi one morning on the deck of a small "cruise boat" on HaoLong bay in Vietnam. After the master finished the session, a member of the group showed us a few yoga moves. When they asked if anyone had any other "energizers" I shared a little of the old "Zip-up, Switch-on, Tune-in", including some muscle checking. In this small group of people, in this far-flung place, several of them were already familiar with this Kinesiogeekery! One said that her daughter was scheduled for a kidney removal, but after seeing her local kinesiolgist, she no longer needed the procedure. Another, a naturopath, said that when she had difficult cases, she referred her patients to the local kinesiologist. What I have learned from sharing kinesiology on the road, and on the fly, is that very, very simple things can be quite powerful. A 3-muscle balance can certainly be helpful, if not profound. A quick check of turning the head, and stretching the ears often has amazing results (the bigger the group, the bigger the "WOW!" when people see the immediate improvement in comfort and range of motion). The most rudimentary tracing of the figure 8's can have fantastic results. (Ask any kinesiogeek, they will have stories!). So when you're on the go, it's not necessarily about how much you know, but what you can quickly use. And finally, whatever your stress in the journey of life, remember to take a moment, breathe, and hold your ESR points. Works miracles. www.touchforhealth.us www.touchforhealtharchive.com KinesioGeek Magazine, www.gemskinesiology.com 15
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Traveling as a Vegan
By Jane Thurnell-Read
I
have been a vegan for over 4 years. Before that I was a vegetarian for around 40 years. My main reason for becoming vegetarian and then vegan is to reduce animal suffering. The environmental and health benefits of a plant-based diet are important but secondary for me.
If I were vegan solely for health or environmental reasons, I might feel that it was OK to eat animal products when I was travelling – such a small amount wouldn’t matter. One or two meat dishes wouldn’t compromise my health in any significant way. Two or three fish meals wouldn’t have a catastrophic effect on the environment.
But eating animals or products derived from animals causes suffering. In fact, in many countries the legal restraints on how people treat animals is much less than in the UK. So, for me, it is often even more important to avoid eating animals and animal products when I’m travelling. In many ways I now find the idea of putting the flesh of another creature in my mouth deeply disturbing. I find the idea of consuming dairy products designed for the babies of another animal revolting.
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This was really put to the test in 2012 when i was doing a bike ride from St Petersburg to Istanbul. I arrived at the first hotel after around 60 miles of riding. I was ravenously hungry. Sadly, the hotel hadn’t done anything to provide me with a dinner I could eat, even though they’d been told in advance. My dinner was two helpings of potato and some boiled cabbage! I stayed hungry and dissatisfied although most of my fellow cyclists were urging me to eat meat “just this once” and “in these extreme circumstances”. I refused because my temporary pleasure/ hunger cannot be weighed against the suffering of the animals I would be consuming. When I travel, I very rarely put on weight. This is because I am not over-indulging in lots of high-calorie
unhealthy food. Being plant-based makes many choices naturally healthy and nutrient dense. In 2019 I returned to Russia for the International kinesiology conference and found one of the best vegan cafes anywhere. I used the app “Happy Cow”. Using this app, which is free (if you don’t mind the adverts) you can find restaurants and shops that are vegan-friendly. We were in St Petersburg doing some tourism trips after the conference. I found Mir Restaurant on Happy Cow and decided to try it. The food was great, and everyone was relaxed and friendly. The people who worked there and people who were at the next table wanted to know how I’d heard about the place. I wouldn’t have found it by accident. It’s down several side roads,
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through a courtyard and up some stairs to the first floor. The people who worked at Mir didn’t know that customers were writing glowing reviews about the cafÊ on Happy Cow! On another night I took two colleagues, one a confirmed meat eater. They were both totally impressed by the taste and quality of the food. At the end of the meal one of them said that she'd really enjoyed the meal and didn't feel that she had missed anything. The other one said it was nice not to feel bloated after a meal. I think it gave them both a new perspective on what a vegan diet could be like. One of the great things about places like this is
that they are not usually part of the tourist scene. When I go to them, I meet local people. Many are young but intrigued about how I found their restaurant. Fortunately, most young people speak excellent English. This sparks a conversation, which then often leads on to other topics. I often have quite long conversations! When I was in Riga for an ICAK conference a few years ago, I found two wonderful restaurants. One was raw vegan with the most exquisitely visual food. The other served much more earthy vegetarian and vegan comfort food. In both places I was the only tourist, but people made me very welcome. They
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Healthy Travel appreciated that I was vegan and had managed to find their restaurant. I don’t want to paint a totally glowing picture of what it is like to travel as a vegan. The biggest problem is when I’m travelling with a crowd of other people. Very often there is only one choice on the menu for me. When people comments, I usually say: “I’m not here for the food. I’m here for the conversation, so you’d better make it good!” That always makes people laugh. I did a tour with a group in Albania and Kosovo a few years ago. Some days I ate spaghetti with tomato sauce for lunch and for dinner. It was hard as everyone else was tucking into regional delicacies and eating a very varied menu. But when I think back to that holiday, I remember the two good friends I made on the trip. I remember the time I was able to spend with one of my daughters-in-law who came with me. I don’t remember the food. The dullness of my food didn’t spoil my holiday.
In many countries meat eating is associated with success and affluence. Some people find it hard to understand why I voluntarily choose to forgo this “status symbol”. Because of this, it can take some digging to find local or regional dishes that are naturally vegan. More expensive restaurants tend not to have them on their menu, whereas cheaper more authentic restaurants do. Being a vegan traveller takes me to places off the beaten track and involves me in adventures where I find a more authentic experience. Yes, it is sometimes difficult, but being a vegan is an important part of who I am. I don’t give up that part of me just because I am travelling. www.lifeworkpotential.com www.janethurnellread.com Instagram @thrivingjane
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Qinesiology –
a Tool for Learning to Enjoy Life By Conrad Ho
Q
i, commonly translated into English as energy or subtle energy, pertains to anything too small to be visible to the naked eye. Rigorously speaking, qi can be matter or energy in the sense as used in traditional Chinese medicine. Kinesiology is the science and art of muscle testing or monitoring. Different streams of Kinesiology have their own standard protocols to use muscle monitoring and to interpret the phenomena of unlocked and locked muscle before and after intervention. This is what the Kinesiologists call the balancing procedure and is the scientific part of Kinesiology. And in each Kinesiology balance, the Kinesiologist will involve the client in their own growth process by communicating with them, helping them set the balancing goal and facilitating them to participate
in the intervention procedures. This is the artistic part. Qinesiology is the short form for Qi Kinesiology. It means the Kinesiology which handles subtle phenomena of the client invisible to the naked eye. So, what is this “subtle phenomena” specifically? When Conrad began learning about Kinesiology back in 1997, one of the most frequently asked question of mine was how long the good effects of a Kinesiology balance would last. And the most frequent response I got was: it would last forever, so long as the balancing procedure was correctly and thoroughly done. “How come I need to do various balances continuously, then?” “Because you have got lots of factors that will put you offbalance.” From these conversations and related balancing experiences, I slowly came to my own
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conclusion that a good Qinesiology balance not only must be able to bring the client back to the equilibrium state, but also help them stay there. No more off-balance, no need to balance! Why should someone become off-balance? Something negative has such a big impact on the client that they are pushed off-balance. With increasing experiences in doing balances and observing how the client is reacting to impacts, I discover that it all boils down to perception and utilization. Balance the client on how they perceive the stimulus, be it positive, negative and as is. Also balance the client on how to receive and manipulate the push so that it will help them move toward where they want to be and at the same time, keep their balance. This is the first subtle phenomenon that I am after – how to balance the human system so that it will stay in equilibrium in front of constant stimulations from daily life experiences.
Second, when the blow is so hard, so disorienting to receive, the client struggles to stand up again and could not find their way back to function. My approach to help these clients is multi-fold. At the lower levels, I would balance on the client’s flexibility, to increase their ability to avoid the blows and to receive the blows in the soft-hit rather than the hardhit ways when they could not avoid them. At the middle levels, I would balance on the client’s wisdom, to harvest benefits from the blows, too! As in each crisis, there are always opportunities existing alongside the dangers. When the benefits outweigh the costs, the blow would transform into enjoyment on its own. At the higher levels, I would balance on the client’s dreams, especially those lifelong pursuits. When there is the clear and sweet dream ahead, one would not lose their way in life. This is the second subtle phenomenon that I am after – how to balance the human system so that it will stay in function in front of major
After two, three years of full-time Kinesiology caseworks, as my professional skills improved, I could be able to attract increasingly difficult cases. I observed that for minor impacts, people could bounce back on their own. For more serious impacts, they needed to seek professional help which amounted to a few balances. However, for major impacts, it seemed that the client’s inner mechanisms had failed, shattered, melt down so that the human system crashed and stayed crashed despite efforts from within and without to help. It dawned on me that a good Qinesiology balance not only must be able to bring the client’s inner mechanisms back to function, but also help them stay in function. No more stuck state, no need to balance! Why should someone stay crashed? First, when the blow is so hard, so painful to receive, the client chooses not to stand up to avoid a second blow. KinesioGeek Magazine, www.gemskinesiology.com 21
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trials from life crises. After over a decade of professional Kinesiology practice, as I am perfecting my casework skills, I bump into more and more chronic and extreme cases, like people of terminal diseases, with innate disabilities and specific difficulties. I learnt from my clients that they can and may enjoy life no matter what endowments or resources they possess. The question is only on the level and efficiency of transformation from resources into enjoyment. It occurred to me that a good Qinesiology balance not only must be able to bring the client’s inner mechanisms to good use, but also help them stay in good use in the long run. With continued progress, no need to balance! Why should someone not enjoy life? Apart from the obvious answer in principle of not living one’s dream, there is a more operationalized answer to it, i.e. what I have called the theory of half a glass of water. The more the client is focusing at the empty space in the upper half of the glass, the more they are feeling only the lacking and the craving and eventually, the less their life enjoyment. The more the client is focusing at the water in the lower half of the glass, the more they are feeling only the current haves and not the possible haves and eventually, the less their life enjoyment. The more the client is focusing at the water in the lower half of the glass and then the empty space in the upper half, the more they are consuming what they already have and then capitalizing on the opportunity of what they may have, the more their life enjoyment. My approach to help these clients is five-fold: balance on how to 1) get back to equilibrium for comfort; 2) stay in equilibrium for ease; 3) progress along the locus of equilibria for result; 4) adventure along the locus of equilibria for novelty; and finally 5) play along the locus of equilibria for fun. This is the third subtle phenomenon that I am after – how to balance
the human system so that it will stay in efficiency and effectiveness, irrespective of what and how much resources it possesses in the moment. My original ambition in designing Qinesiology courses is to investigate into how to balance at the root of things so that there is no more need to do a balance. After over 20 years of enquiry into tackling the roots, I have come to the idea that personal growth is NOT self-improvement at all. Nature has always endowed us with enough resources to live one’s life to the fullest. There is no need to improve oneself; but to improve our ways to be ourselves, to come to terms of what and who we are. To put it simply, choose to be oneself and be oneself. The idea is not new, but so true. If the person is so wise and skillful that he or she has already realized all of their potential, then, by all means proceed to improve upon themselves. Or else, it should be easier to utilize unused capacity rather than augment capacity. I would like to end this brief introduction to Qinesiology as a tool of learning to enjoy life by offering a take-away balancing technique to the readers. It is a movement called the Yin Yang Hands. It is particularly useful in balancing energy imbalances. The first part of the movement is a static body posture. The client will stand with feet parallel and more than shoulder-width apart, with knees slightly bent and the spine perpendicular to the ground. The spine is slightly lengthened, activating each vertebrae, with head level and chin tucked in. The shoulders are relaxed; the mind, blank; the breaths, slow and deep. The hands are raised to the left and right body midline, with the left palm facing down and directly above the Dantian or centre of gravity of the body, and the right palm facing up and directly below the Dantian. Feel the energy
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The movement is called Yin Yang Hands because the hands are constantly changing between the yin and yang states. exchanges between your palms in the forms of warmth, slight pressure or a faint sense of flow. If you feel nothing, let it be. No need to force or imagine it. After 10 seconds or so into the posture, do a pre-check. If getting an unlocked muscle response, go on with the posture till you get a locked muscle response. The second part of the movement is a dynamic body exercise. With said posture as the starting point, the person will initiate the movement from the thoracic vertebrae, with hands matching, going first toward the upper left along the locus of the infinity sign, ∞, and going toward the upper right after doing the circle on the left. While doing the first half of the circle on the left, the left palm will keep facing down and the right palm facing up. While doing the second half, the left palm will change to facing up while the right palm, facing down. The same holds true for the circle on the right. The right palm will be facing down and left palm facing up while doing the first half but change over in the second half. The spine itself will exhibit a wavy movement while swaying to the left and right, forming the ∞ locus. After 10 seconds or so into the exercise, do a pre-check. If getting an unlocked muscle response, go on with it till you get a locked muscle response.
The movement is called Yin Yang Hands because the hands are constantly changing between the yin and yang states. For example, in the static posture part, the left hand which is the yang hand is facing down, embracing the
yin. The right hand is the yin hand but is facing up, supporting the yang. In the dynamic exercise part, the hands are constantly going from the left, the yang side, to the right, the yin side, and back. The palms are always flipping from facing up, the yang direction, to facing down, the yin direction, and back.
Thank you for reading my article till the end! Trust that you have gained something from it. Please experiment with the Yin Yang Hands. It will be fun and useful. Maybe some day, we will meet in person in a Qinesiology class. About Conrad Ho Conrad Ho is one of the co-authors of Qinesiology courses. He is an explorer, an adventurer, a facilitator and a coach in the field of personal growth and natural healing. His mission is to facilitate himself and others (who also choose to do so) to restore, consolidate and improve the personal balanced state so as to better actualize oneself and grow to be the greatest self. Conrad is gentle, sincere, and easy going. He loves play, likes travelling, gets excited about new experiences and craves for challenges. He is down to earth in the delivery of his courses which are backed up by researches from various disciplines and evidences, and which are practical and operational. His speech is sometimes deep and always precise and inspiring. The courses he has been designing use everyday experiences to prompt participants into life reflections. Through exploratory, experiential and playful activities, participants are encouraged to condense their thoughts into insights, make new decisions and turn into their respective appropriate life paths.
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Issue 14, Winter 2020
Healthy Travel
You Set the Pace
By Sylvia Marina
S
ecretly a travelpreneur or person who metaphorically speaking suffers itchy feet or restless leg syndrome or searching for a place to belong.
For various reasons our ancestors’ journey-ed, food, family, marriage. Apart from fire, flood and famine, generations left their family structure in search of someone to make their babies with, and complete their cycle of life. Through disappointment, starvation and disease many lost their lives.
Present day desire for travel is driven more by curiosity than desperation, however memory of ancestral trauma continues, hence it is within our basic survival to manage our lives better. Healthy Travel Habits begins in the home. Live by example. Teach the children well… •
Adequate sleep
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A morning drink of water
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Take time to establish toilet and bathroom habits
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Health and energy sustaining breakfast
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Waking with time to leisurely prepare for the day ie meditation, physical stretching…. Leave for home or school with time to spare so in the event of unexpected delay your emotions and stress hormones have breathing space.
“Don't Let Your Luggage Define Your Travels.” ― Shane Koyczan “Define Canada “ Slam Poet Olympic Games Speech, Vancouver
Pack your bag the night before and write a note as to what needs to be added the next morning – this means you can rest without wasting energy remembering to remind yourself to add the ‘last minute items’ before departure. Set Your Watch – before departing set your watch to the time of your next destination. Arrive at your destination, breathe, have a drink of water and complete your day.
When booking travel consider what is a “best time” to arrive rather than “when to leave”. When I am on a teaching or speaking tour, I instruct my travel manager to ensure I arrive early to mid-afternoon. If you have travelled across time zones, go to bed when you begin to feel tired. Sleep for as many hours as your body needs.
Carry your computer in your carry-on – do not pack it in your luggage. Too many times I’ve heard travellers’ stories of smashed computers caused by baggage security probes. Healthy Travel is about preparation. •
Travel light – dress in layers
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Resist the temptation to wear tight fitting clothes especially in the crotch – don’t encourage overheating and possible bacterial urinary tract infection.
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Drink mostly water – on long flights I have three to one – three water’s and one apple juice.
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Exercise your feet and hands frequently walk and stretch.
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Choose gluten free.
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Unless you are on a specific diet…80/20 diet is best for the traveller – 80% alkaline foods 20% acid.
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When flying, special diets can be preordered.
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Take your supplements with the same meal / time as you would at home.
Healthy Travel Habits grow with you. Good habits travel through-out your life. I’ll share the practicals as I know others will write in this publication about meridians, pulses, acupoints…. Business Travel for peace of mind. Have your teaching / presentation material for at least the first two days and a complete set of 'wash and dry-overnight' essentials in your carryon bag.
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Go to bed when you begin to feel tired – visualise your body resetting to the “time of day” in your specific location.
Honeymoon Holidays – ladies, a wee tip to have a best holiday. Before sexual play and physical intercourse – drinking water, before and after (so you can pee) helps fight against bladder irritation and infection.
Sylvia Marina Author of RETURN TO LOVE.
Co-author of TRANSFORMING DNA MEMORIES https://SylviaMarina.com
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Issue 14, Winter 2020
Healthy Travel
Meeting of the Minds: Costa Rica
By Alexis Costello
A
couple of years ago, at a conference in Malibu, I sat outside late with a group of friends drinking wine and talking. Every once and awhile one of us would declare ‘no more kinesiologytalk’, but it never lasted long; the conversation returning again and again to the work/ research/politics of this fascinating modality. Some of these were people I had never met in person before, but we all felt deeply bonded by our shared experience with this work. Later, talking with one of these friends, he expressed some sadness that there had been so few opportunities to actually work on each other at the conference. Sure, there was a ‘Balance Room’, but only one and working in there often meant missing the presentations that were happening in the main hall. But this is the way most of the large conferences are set up. What if we tried to do something a little different?
The idea was pretty simple: get a group of practitioners of different modalities together in a beautiful place, teach each other new usable techniques, exchange deep sessions and go on adventures. While I have organized many classes before, I have never tried to do something for a group like this, coordinating accommodations, transport, food, learning and adventures, and I was worried that it would fall flat. So what did I get out of our time together on the beach? (continued next page)
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Issue 14, Winter 2020
Healthy Travel 1. The chance to deal with all the stuff I had been cramming into boxes. Like a lot of practitioners, I live in an area where it can be very difficult to see other muscle testing professionals. Even when I am making a concerted effort to take decent care of myself it can be tricky, and sessions are usually far enough between that it is difficult to make real headway on the issues that bother me. Having sessions every day, five days in a row allowed me to see some change. I am hoping that, in a few days, all this work will be integrated, and I will be left with a better version of myself than existed before. 2. Physical and mental calm. Every morning we put our feet in the sand and stretched, aligning our bodies with the sand and surf, finding center and balance. Starting the day in this manner, then having a good
session and enjoying a meal with friends before going on an adventure meant that I was able to feed the different levels of my being. I experienced several moments of actual mental relaxation; a sensation that is kind of rare for me as my head is usually spinning with all the things it’s trying to do. 3. A greater sense of community. One of the biggest motivating factors for the retreat was the desire to create and support a stronger community of practitioners. People from different countries and modalities coming together to share their own unique way of working. I think each of the practitioners involved was exposed to a couple of styles and modalities that they haven’t ever experienced before, and we are all richer for the experience. A few days together in this way and I feel very close to all these people, the differences between us seeming to melt away quickly.
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Healthy Travel 4. New tools to work with. Part of what we did every morning was ‘Show and tell’, leading switch-ons and offering something to the group: a new technique, an exercise – something relatively easy to do and of value. Because of my fellow participants I stepped in to a 5-element map, learned some seated tai chi, did yoga stretches and breathing exercises, learned a series of steps someone with chemical dependencies can use to self-balance and did an Irish jig. I shared the new dan tien protocols I have been working on with the group and some people used them right away in their sessions that week, offering me instant feedback about how they worked for them. 5. A new ritual of self-care. “Self-care” is becoming a bit of a buzzword in the healthy industry and frankly, I think it gets misused – often becoming an excuse or a justification rather than a full expression of love and healing.
Self-care can mean looking deeply inward, understanding what you actually need and showing some empathy for yourself the way that you would a client. Seeing how this retreat went; I fully intend to create more spaces like this and turn it into an annual event that will rejuvenate my soul and help move me forward. After a new venture, I try to look at it from all angles – what would I do again, what didn’t work, what kind of feedback did I receive, etc. While I can see areas that we could improve on next time, the overall experience was very positive. . So often when I am working with practitioners around the world I hear complaints about the lack of community – that they feel isolated or cut off. It is up to us to create the community that we want, to support each other intentionally and to do the work ourselves so that we can be clear and strong while helping others. So thank you to those who came on this journey with me. I can’t wait to see what the rest of 2020 will bring!
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Practitioner Retreat, day 4: Here's what's amazing about this picture - when I told the group that we were going ziplining, some were afraid or anxious. Some flat out said they would not be joining us, thank-you-very-much. After 3 days of sessions everyone did it and had a fantastic time. Here's the interesting thing; no one balanced for the experience or for the fear specifically. But as we shed our old baggage and limiting beliefs, suddenly new things are possible. That's the power of what we do with muscle testing!
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Feeling the urge to travel after reading this issue? Here are some great places to go to meet with other practitioners, hear brilliant presentations and take classes; click on the links below for more information: AKA and AIK conference, Brisbane Queensland Australia— March 27-29, 2020 KF conference, Oxford, United Kingdom, April 25 & 26, 2020
Conferences 2020
TFHKA Conference: Boise Idaho, USA— May 28-June1, 2020
TFH Nederland conference: Amersfoort, Netherlands— October 2-4, 2020
Next year IKC and IASK will join forces with the Hungarian Association to have a huge conference in Budapest! Stay tuned for more details!
Not seeing your conference or event here? Please get in touch to be included in future issues.
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Classifieds:
Classifieds
Class listings online for each National Association, Conferences, Products and More Class listings for individual countries
Upcoming SIPS classes
Australia: http://www.kinesiology.org.au/page-1712619 Canada: https://canbewell.org/ Denmark: http://kinesiologiuddannelse.dk/kursuskalender/ Ireland: http://www.kai.ie/kinesiology-training-in-ireland
There are classes coming up in Canada, the US and Europe – visit the website to find courses near you. http://www.sipskinesiology.com
UK: http://www.kinesiologyfederation.co.uk/training/coursediary-search.php USA: http://touchforhealth.us/classes/classes-by-state/ USA: http://energyk.org/training-events/
TFHKA Conference
AKA and AIK are joining forces! Be part of the biggest Kinesiology Conference ever held in Australia! 27-29 March 2020 Brisbane Queensland AUSTRALIA. Inquiries vision2020@aka.asn.au or go to www.aka.asn.au
May 28-31, 2020, Boise, ID
Www.touchforhealth.us
This section is a work in progress! If you are a kinesiology association and would like to have your events (conferences, demo days, etc) mentioned, please email us. There are far too many classes internationally for us to list them all, but please send a link to the page on your website that shows upcoming classes and we will add it here. If you would like to advertise your conference, presentation or post-conference workshop, please contact us for details.
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Because health should be fun!
Travel Puns 1. The food provided
on the small aircraft wasn’t good. It was just a little plane. 1. I’m travelling South
America at the moment. I Ecua-dor it.
1. Ever thought about
how funny mountains are? They’re hill areas.
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