FAQs

What is Jin Shin TARA?

Jin Shin is a folk healing art that had its origins in ancient Japan around the time of Moses and Buddha, but that was lost over time. In the twentieth century, it was rediscovered by a Japanese man named Jiro Murai who dedicated his life to the study of what he named Jin Shin Jyutsu. He asked his Japanese American student, Mary Burmeister, to take Jin Shin Jyutsu to the West where she taught thousands of students for decades. One of her advanced students, Stephanie Mines, a clinical psychologist specializing in trauma therapy, created a specific application for the treatment of trauma based on current understandings of the neurobiology of trauma, which she called Jin Shin Tara or the TARA Approach.

Jin Shin Tara is similar in Oriental philosophy to acupuncture and acupressure massage, yet it is different. Jin Shin uses a gentle touch on potent areas of the body which lie along energy pathways to balance body energy. Treatments calm the body while enhancing your awareness and deep connection to yourself and your resilience, to others and to the world. Jin Shin Tara combines the Oriental hands-on bodywork with Western mind/body techniques including guided dialogues and creative expressive modalities.

Because it is a treatment system for helping nervous systems recover from overwhelming threat, it is germane to the experiences of stress, PTSD, mild brain injury, stroke, and life transitions. Jin Shin Tara sessions are not a substitute for appropriate medical care or psychotherapy. On their own Jin Shin treatments foster body/mind integration, deep relaxation, and regeneration which people use for personal growth and energy balancing. However, when used as an adjunct to medical care or psychotherapy, Jin Shin can lead to more potent and efficient results.

What will the Jin Shin treatment feel like?

A client will feel more and more relaxed as internal tension releases and thinking and mental agitation settle. People often enter a very peaceful state. This state, while sublime, simply reflects a body's natural energetic balance. In the course of the session the client may feel that she has traversed some distance in her inner world. For example, a client may enter a session feeling quite stressed and disturbed and leave feeling deeply balanced and peaceful. Oftentimes people experience rich colors and meaningful imagery in their internal visual field. It's not uncommon for a client to reach an attuned state of communion within herself.

Are there any side effects to the Jin Shin treatment?

Jin Shin is safe and gentle without unpleasant side effects. The only contraindications that I know of are the use of certain energy points during the first trimester of pregnancy or the use of Jin Shin with a person who has psychosis or bipolar disorder. It is possible that personal material that has been suppressed may surface. As energy moves through an energy block sometimes a person may experience temporary nausea, shaking, or tingling during a session.

How is creativity used with a client?

Creativity is an option, not a requirement, within a session or at home. I do not use creativity in a formulaic manner. I notice the creative impulse as it arises in a client and may choose to incorporate it right then or I may recommend creative activity as homework.

For example, sometimes I have the client draw a picture of her inner body experience before the treatment to use as a baseline. Then I have her draw another picture after the treatment. This way she has a pictorial representation of the energetic change she has experienced. This change is often quite revelatory.

Or, let's say that a client reports a sensation in an arm. I ask her to observe it and then to let the sensation expand. If it should begin to feel like some kind of movement, I encourage her to let the movement expand into a larger experience, but very slowly so that there is a high degree of observing awareness around the experience. This little sensation, allowed to express, may end up being some information from her inner body wisdom. Movement can often say so much more than words alone. It is a kind of primal truth, just as sounds, drawings, or writing are. When we give expression to these parts of ourselves, the result is deep connection, not only to oneself but also often to something larger.

If a client is visually inclined she can draw or make collages. If she is auditorially inclined she can speak or tone or sing. If she is kinesthetically inclined she can write, dance, or move.

Creative expression can happen in the midst of the Jin Shin treatment while I treat. Or the session can be halted to allow the expression to happen in whatever way it wants. A session can begin with creativity and/or end with it. I just follow the flow of the river with the client.

Creative strategies help clients to express their authentic selves, to integrate and embody the positive changes they experience during Jin Shin sessions, and to develop healthy new neurological pathways in the brain and nervous system different from the ones resulting from the trauma.

As facilitator, my role is to make sure that the client is safe and that the creative expression is well-contained.

Where will my Jin Shin session take place?

Your Jin Shin TARA energy balancing session will take place in a warm, comfortable, quiet room. Soft music may be played to help you relax. You will lie on a table designed for your comfort.

Must I be completely undressed?

Clients are completely clothed during a Jin Shin TARA session. No oil is used.

Will I be covered during the session?

Even though you will be clothed, depending on the temperature, you may be covered.

What should I do during the Jin Shin session?

Prior to the treatment, feel free to ask me any questions about the technique or the upcoming session. During the session, make yourself comfortable. I will either gently move you or tell you what is needed throughout the session (such as bending a leg). Many people just close their eyes and completely relax, communicating if/when they need more or less pressure, another blanket, or anything else relevant to the session. If you have any questions regarding the session or about the particular technique you are receiving, feel free to ask.

How will I feel after the Jin Shin session?

Most people feel very relaxed. Some experience freedom from long-term aches and pains developed from tension or repetitive activity. After an initial period of feeling slowed down, people often experience increased energy, heightened awareness, and greater productivity which can last for hours and days. Energetic balance can also feel like having been in a stuffy room whose windows were just opened allowing a fresh breeze to blow through.

What are the benefits of Jin Shin TARA energy balancing?

Benefits and results vary from person to person. Jin Shin can help release chronic muscular tension and pain, improve circulation, increase joint flexibility, reduce mental and physical fatigue and stress, promote faster healing of injured muscular tissue, improve posture, and reduce blood pressure. People have also reported better sleep, improved concentration, reduced anxiety and an overall sense of well-being.

Are there any medical conditions that would make Jin Shin TARA energy balancing inadvisable?

Yes. That's why it's imperative that, before you begin your session, I will have you complete health history. It is very important that you inform me of any health problems or medications you are taking. If you are under a doctor's care, it is strongly advised that you receive a written recommendation for massage or bodywork prior to any session. Depending on the condition, approval from your doctor may be required. For example, certain energy points in the Jin Shin treatment system are not to be used if a woman is in her 1st trimester of pregnancy. Also, Jin Shin treatment is contraindicated for anyone with a psychiatric diagnosis of psychosis or bipolar disorder.

What parts of my body will be touched?

Using gentle pressure I will hold two points at a time on your body. Areas I will touch include points on the head, face, neck, shoulders, chest, torso, hips, thighs, knees, calves, ankles, feet, arms, hands and back.

Are there any types of trauma you don't work with?

I don't work with clients who are survivors of torture, sexual trafficking, child pornography, or currently dealing with an addiction. For highly vulnerable people who come from backgrounds of complex childhood trauma and extremely dysfunctional family systems, I would only offer Jin Shin TARA as an adjunct treatment for a client under the care of a licensed psychotherapist or psychologist, licensed social worker, or MD.