What the hec is "kinesiology?"

I always laugh when someone asks "what do you do?" because I know they are probably going to look pretty confused after I answer them! Lots of people are interested in natural remedies, natural foods, and the environment these days but don't know much about the practitioners who work in these areas or what they are called. So I will often say "Oh I am a Kinesiologist, which is sort of a natural therapist". They often still look confused but at least they have a bit more of an idea of what I am talking about.

Of course I love what I do, which is working with people to help them improve their own health, find better ways to deal with stress, improve their "brain power", find solutions to why they are sick and how to get better, and get rid of some of the garbage in their life from the past that stuffs up their relationships right here in the now. It's great to see clients being able to make better choices and feel more positive about themselves and their lives. LOL sometimes helping the client also helps their cat or dog as well because animals are so connected with their owners that they feel everything that the owner is feeling - depression, sadness, aches and pains - strange but true! Of course if my answer to people who asked me what I do, included "oh and I am a Kinesiologist for animals as well as people" well the straight jacket would probably come out pretty fast but that's ok because I think its strange too, but also know it happens!

The other challenge is that many people are a bit sceptical about "energy" when it comes to talking about health and well being. People who know anything about Eastern medicine, Meridians, Chakras and those type of things are less confused by Kinesiology, but Western society and especially Australians are more wary of any energy or natural type approaches.

Funnily enough in Europe and England and America, Kinesiology is a common option as a health maintenance, and is also used in schools to help improved educational and sporting achievements but for the moment this 30 year young natural therapy in Australia still has a lot to prove to anyone who has not tried it for themself.

There have been and will continue to be, detractors and criticisms of Kinesiology in any and all of its forms – some from mis-informed persons, some from religious radicals, again undoubtedly mis-informed, and often from the conventional medicine/wisdom proponents threatened by the self responsibility –self healing focus of Kinesiology.

The thing is that conventional medicine is great in some circumstances but it is not the solution to eveything, and as costs to attend a doctor rise, and the it becomes more difficult to even get an appointment, it becomes more urgent for people to know how to improve and maintain their own health and well being. Not only that - conventional medicine is becoming a dangerous choice at times -

In Australia, in the Brisbane Courier Mail, Monday February 2, 2009 a report from the federal Productivity Commission said that in 2006-2007 33 Queenslanders either had the wrong body part operated on, or under went procedures intended for someone else, in NSW there were 9 patients subjected to the same mistakes. Death of a patient that could be reasonably attributed to incorrect administration of drugs was 6 in Queensland and 3 in NSW, there were 4 accidental deaths in Qld in relation to labour and birth, 1 in NSW. Fetal deaths were 7% in Queensland and 5% in NSW. In Queensland, 3.1% or 3454 patients returned to hospital within 28 days for unexpected treatment of the same condition, in NSW it was 2.1%.

Mike Connor of the Courier Mail said “The reality is that nothing ever changes and that the system continues to kill people who should have lived and delivers a standard of service which falls short of what it should be”

In America, the FDA program to encourage doctors to report adverse effects caused by drugs and devices generated more than 4,000 serious reports in its first eight months of operation. (FDA Medical Bulletin, May 1994) They define "serious" as any one of the following: death, hospitalization, disability, a life-threatening condition, a congenital anomaly or intervention to prevent permanent damage. Sixty-five percent of the total number of reports were reactions to drugs

By comparison – there is NO evidence or even accusation that Kinesiology has harmed, maimed or killed a client. Sites dedicated to attacking Kinesiology and promoting “medical science” seem to omit the statistical data relating to the “deaths in custody” of their patients!

As the founder of TFH, the basis of all Specialized Kinesiology protocols, Dr Thei said in 2003 “We need to be realistic about the Powers that be, government institutions and international, national, and local law, as well as organized professional institutions and business associations. We have seen that in the U.S., the American Medical Association has managed to establish their dogma of Medicine/Science as almost a state religion with the AMA as the high priesthood. We have experienced decades of witch hunts, where "Quack busters" have used their self-referential standards to judge alternative healing models and essentially persecute many healing practices nearly out of existence. However, it is the very magnitude of that success, and the subsequent failing of modern medicine to adequately address the health needs of the people that has resulted in our current resurgence of alternative world views and healing practices, which are now being honestly examined and integrated with the best of allopathic medicine…….We need to be able to distinguish between people who we respect and ideas or practices which we criticize. Whenever we can have discussion about competing ideas, to enrich and increase our understanding of each other, rather than argument to decide who is right or wrong, we are remembering wellness. We need to maintain mutual regard, multiplicity of possibly valuable views and techniques, even seemingly diametrically opposite or contradictory concepts and approaches to helping people. This is a testimony to the multiple ways in which the whole Soul (the whole person, physical, mentally, emotionally & spiritually) may function, and not a question of the right way and the wrong way.”

The critics of Kinesiology seek to prevent us from experiencing our own empowerment and expressing our own inherent knowledge of our higher good health and well being by predefining the limits of human potential. They do this in the face of varied and substantial documented evidence to the contrary.

Dr Thei said “One model of science states that "real" science involves testing theories by repeated and independent experiments. This model is spoken of as robust at certain statistical levels and less robust when there is more "room for chance". This model is very good for certain concrete material objects which our modern technology allows us to build. But when it comes to human beings, there are too many significant variables that cannot be controlled in isolated experiments. We cannot and do not seek to prove that any single aspect of our intervention has any singular effect. We seek to have a highly integrated, and individual, subjective process, which can be shown to consistently yield positive results while simultaneously having negligible risk of harm. When we remember wellness with TFH, we recognize that what the person feels (emotion), believes (faith) or thinks (cognition) at the time of the muscle testing makes a difference in the outcome of the testing. None of these factors can be controlled in the (blind, double blind, or triple blind) Random Clinical Trial, the so-called gold standard of "scientific" evidence of efficacy. We must adopt research on the outcomes of what we do. We need to concentrate on what happens in real life situations, rather than trying to control for a single discrete mechanism that is proposed to explain the results of the Kinesiology interventions. We cannot allow ourselves to be pressured into explaining Kinesiology from a solely materialistic point of view.”

Quantum physicist Fritjof Capra states “My conscious decision about how to observe an electron will determine the electron’s properties to some extent. If I ask it a particle question, it will give me a particle answer. If I ask it a wave question, it will give me a wave answer …. The electron does not have objective properties independent of my mind”

The Detractors are asking a set of questions and receiving answers to those questions based on perceptions, not based on the totality of the information available if they were prepared to ask more appropriate questions or view more relevant data. This is why the Newtonian mechanistic data verification approach of conventional medicine does not work as an assessment model for Kinesiology – assessment and results are bio- individual and contextually specific.

As for the detractors, and the arguments they promote. It is not that they are arguing from scientific evidence but rather from their own fears and prejudices. Dr Bruce Lipton, Cellular Biologist says in his book the Biology of Perception “You can only see what you have perception filters to see. You see the world not as it is but as you are” so it is logical that there will always be those who cannot “See” the scientific and statistical evidence of the success of Kinesiology because their own perception prejudices will not allow this.

As a Kinesiologist, this does not offend me, I am aware that every person’s journey is their own and I have no need to form a judgment on them as they do on Kinesiology or on our clients. It is one of the foundational principles of Kinesiology to respect each individual where they are at any given moment in their journey.

I have seen over and over Clients who have been ill for many years, who have felt there was no way out from their life bound up by depression or illness, find ways within themselves to take control of their life, and to find healing and well being by being able to recongnize the contributing factors to their illness.

If you want to try a simple technique for yourself - next time you are feeling stressed - with two fingers, hold the two points on your forehead that protude just above your eyes, or place your palm completely over your forehead ( you may realize you already do this automatically when stressed) now, holding those points, close your eyes and breath deeply and slowly. If you have a special place that brings you peace and joy - perhaps a waterfall, a view from a mountain, or holding a child, visualize that special moment. Exclude all thoughts of what you are stressed about. Allow yourself a few minutes in that position. What occurs is that the blood is drawn to the front brain which is where you process from an analytical/creative position, and away from the back brian which is your survival mode. The increase in blood to the frontal lobe helps increase positive processing and reduce increased stress responses in the neuroprocessors. Tried it? Felt it? You just gave yourself a Kinesiology session! Hope you liked it. Will post some more quick helps if people like this!