Around 2001 or 2002, While I was working for a chiropractor in Raleigh, NC as a MAT practitioner, I found a significant number of cases where client's muscle shutdown has to do with their negative emotions/feelings.
quote from a previous post:"Connections between Emotions and Body"
When I took my MAT certification, The practical exam is to do a full body balance on Greg, the founder of the program. After I finished the practical exam I asked him, "If you are getting MAT done on yourself on a regular bases, why do you still have so many muscles that are shut down?" He replied: "Stress."
I didn't quite get the whole picture at the time. Later on when I work with clients at the chiropractor's office, I began to see more and more cases of muscle shut down causing aches and pains because of emotional stress.
Note: "Muscle shut down" is a term folks in MAT program used to describe the muscle not firing properly on demand. When the body moves, the entire muscular system function as a tight knit of force endurer. when we move, walk, play sports, the muscular structure is creating a balance between our strength, our weight, gravity, and the movement. When one muscle in the chain does not provide proper support at the instant of movement (demand), the force is displaced onto other parts of the body, whether it be muscles or joints. Eventually, that force causes pain.
In the cases that muscles shut down due to injuries, or physical stress, MAT was brilliant in restoring the muscle firing ability. In the cases of emotional imbalances and energy(meridian) imbalanced that contributed to the muscle shutdown, MAT treatment can only hold the results for minutes or seconds. The use of nutritional supplements also have very limited long term results. Usually those Chiropractors who uses AK will muscle test which nutritional supplement strengthens the system, and recommend clients taking the supplement on a regular basis to keep the system strong. In my observation, some cases the supplements works great in keeping the energetic system balanced, but in some cases the results are also very short lived.
I begin to experiment in working with the mind and emotions, to see how long the effect last. And to my surprise, when clients change their emotions that was the contributor of a muscle shutdown, the muscle fires up without any kind of treatment.
I am not sure if I got my point across. What I was trying to share with you is that I do think there is a place for MAT, I also think that MAT is limited to what it can do.
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so, back to the main topic.
quote from a previous post:"Connections between Emotions and Body"
When I took my MAT certification, The practical exam is to do a full body balance on Greg, the founder of the program. After I finished the practical exam I asked him, "If you are getting MAT done on yourself on a regular bases, why do you still have so many muscles that are shut down?" He replied: "Stress."
I didn't quite get the whole picture at the time. Later on when I work with clients at the chiropractor's office, I began to see more and more cases of muscle shut down causing aches and pains because of emotional stress.
Note: "Muscle shut down" is a term folks in MAT program used to describe the muscle not firing properly on demand. When the body moves, the entire muscular system function as a tight knit of force endurer. when we move, walk, play sports, the muscular structure is creating a balance between our strength, our weight, gravity, and the movement. When one muscle in the chain does not provide proper support at the instant of movement (demand), the force is displaced onto other parts of the body, whether it be muscles or joints. Eventually, that force causes pain.
In the cases that muscles shut down due to injuries, or physical stress, MAT was brilliant in restoring the muscle firing ability. In the cases of emotional imbalances and energy(meridian) imbalanced that contributed to the muscle shutdown, MAT treatment can only hold the results for minutes or seconds. The use of nutritional supplements also have very limited long term results. Usually those Chiropractors who uses AK will muscle test which nutritional supplement strengthens the system, and recommend clients taking the supplement on a regular basis to keep the system strong. In my observation, some cases the supplements works great in keeping the energetic system balanced, but in some cases the results are also very short lived.
I begin to experiment in working with the mind and emotions, to see how long the effect last. And to my surprise, when clients change their emotions that was the contributor of a muscle shutdown, the muscle fires up without any kind of treatment.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Of course, there were many cases client left after a MAT session and felt great, they also let me know afterwards that their problem went away permanently.
So you understand that my intention is not to put down MAT.
In fact, the reason I was hired by the chiropractor was that he had a ACL injury from a skiing accident years before I met him. Even thought his ACL was surgically repaired, but he always had on-and-off pain with his knee. When I worked on him in my job interview, the pain completely disappeared. He was an athlete and he could tell that the leg and knee felt balanced. He hired me on the spot.
For my personal experience with MAT treatments, certain problems I had, MAT was excellent, yet some conditions of mine even puzzled Greg during the 10 month internship (classes).
for example, I had a rupture PCL on my right knee from an old motorcycle injury when I was 20 years old. After years of teaching aerobics, running, and weight-lifting, my right knee began to deteriorate. Eventually I was told by doctors and physical therapists that I would need a thigh-to-calf casted brace to support my knee for the rest of my life. But with MAT, during the 10-month classes while all students practice on one another, the knee pain was first minimized, eventually completely gone. (I am still pain free and can exercise at will.)
I also had plantar fasciitis and could not stand on hard surface barefoot for more than a few minutes, and I had been wearing casted orthotics for 8 years at the time I took MAT classes. Sometime during the internship, I was able to rid my orthotics completely and walk, play sports and run without any pain. I used to have to only wear running shoes because of the foot pain and orthotics inserts. Since the MAT treatments, I was finally able to wear sandals again. Thank God for MAT.
The above is my personal successful experience with MAT.
I also had a condition where my anterior neck muscles have always tested weak in muscle testing. I usually have some difficulty holding my head in place when I do supine abdominal crunches. During MAT internship, Greg made many attempt but could never get lasting results for more than a few minutes. Of course I would like to say that I have found another cure for this condition, but I had been experimenting with many modalities, so far I had not found anything that would solve this problem. Because of this, I continue to learn many alternative therapies, including Reiki, many forms of energy healing, crystal healing, aroma therapy, Qigong....... so far some methods had helped in a short term or gave a tiny bit of improvement. I am pretty sure someday I will find a way to fix it. Although I am really not in a hurry to get this solved. After all, there is really no significant aches and pains that is caused by this condition whatsoever.
For my personal experience with MAT treatments, certain problems I had, MAT was excellent, yet some conditions of mine even puzzled Greg during the 10 month internship (classes).
for example, I had a rupture PCL on my right knee from an old motorcycle injury when I was 20 years old. After years of teaching aerobics, running, and weight-lifting, my right knee began to deteriorate. Eventually I was told by doctors and physical therapists that I would need a thigh-to-calf casted brace to support my knee for the rest of my life. But with MAT, during the 10-month classes while all students practice on one another, the knee pain was first minimized, eventually completely gone. (I am still pain free and can exercise at will.)
I also had plantar fasciitis and could not stand on hard surface barefoot for more than a few minutes, and I had been wearing casted orthotics for 8 years at the time I took MAT classes. Sometime during the internship, I was able to rid my orthotics completely and walk, play sports and run without any pain. I used to have to only wear running shoes because of the foot pain and orthotics inserts. Since the MAT treatments, I was finally able to wear sandals again. Thank God for MAT.
The above is my personal successful experience with MAT.
I also had a condition where my anterior neck muscles have always tested weak in muscle testing. I usually have some difficulty holding my head in place when I do supine abdominal crunches. During MAT internship, Greg made many attempt but could never get lasting results for more than a few minutes. Of course I would like to say that I have found another cure for this condition, but I had been experimenting with many modalities, so far I had not found anything that would solve this problem. Because of this, I continue to learn many alternative therapies, including Reiki, many forms of energy healing, crystal healing, aroma therapy, Qigong....... so far some methods had helped in a short term or gave a tiny bit of improvement. I am pretty sure someday I will find a way to fix it. Although I am really not in a hurry to get this solved. After all, there is really no significant aches and pains that is caused by this condition whatsoever.
I am not sure if I got my point across. What I was trying to share with you is that I do think there is a place for MAT, I also think that MAT is limited to what it can do.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
so, back to the main topic.
Besides many successful one session wonders, I also discovered some cases were different. Clients may walk out of a session feeling great with all the muscles restored. But they would come back the following day with exact same issue and condition (same muscles shutdown), or something that is different but still with a lot of shutdowns. After a few of these cases, I started to became dissatisfied with MAT process. I want to be able to take the problem away for these clients, and not charging them for the same treatment over and over.
My understanding is, if a client comes back for a follow up treatment with the same muscle issues within a few days, I didn't get to the source of the problem. personally, I would not feel good about charging my clients for the sessions if I can not solve the problems. If I only gave them temporary relief and the problem came back, I didn't do it right.
My understanding is, if a client comes back for a follow up treatment with the same muscle issues within a few days, I didn't get to the source of the problem. personally, I would not feel good about charging my clients for the sessions if I can not solve the problems. If I only gave them temporary relief and the problem came back, I didn't do it right.
I remember Greg talked about a case he worked with a young woman who had a lot of muscles shutdown. After a few repeated sessions, Greg had a very difficult time restoring her muscular functions. In one session, Greg noticed that she was wearing a silver belly button ring. By asking her to take off the silver belly button ring, the entire system suddenly began to work properly. At the time, Greg concluded that she was allergic to silver.
I wanted to bring this case up because I know that I am not the only practitioner who encounter odd cases. I am one of the odd cases myself, so was my sister who lives in California. My sister flew to Colorado to see Greg for sessions and spent thousands of dollars, none of the treatment held. I am not saying Greg's MAT is ineffective. I just think these cases are definitely beyond the scope of MAT can handle.
A little bit of my personal opinion, I thought Greg charged my sister $200 US dollars an hour (standard price in 2002) to experiment the treatment on her, had no improvement or any results whatsoever, was a bit unethical. Of course, I think the medical industry in the United States is like this too. You pay for services, not results. I personally feel very different about my practice. If I feel that a case is beyond my scope, I would tell them that I didn't think I can help them and not continue charging them for indefinite sessions. And based on what I found from the sessions, I would recommend them to another practitioner who uses other methods that I think may suit better for their condition. And in cases that I want to 'try to see where I can go with what i know', I would inform them that I would be "practicing and experimenting with many different modalities but no guarentee results" and offer to charge very little or nothing.
A little bit of my personal opinion, I thought Greg charged my sister $200 US dollars an hour (standard price in 2002) to experiment the treatment on her, had no improvement or any results whatsoever, was a bit unethical. Of course, I think the medical industry in the United States is like this too. You pay for services, not results. I personally feel very different about my practice. If I feel that a case is beyond my scope, I would tell them that I didn't think I can help them and not continue charging them for indefinite sessions. And based on what I found from the sessions, I would recommend them to another practitioner who uses other methods that I think may suit better for their condition. And in cases that I want to 'try to see where I can go with what i know', I would inform them that I would be "practicing and experimenting with many different modalities but no guarentee results" and offer to charge very little or nothing.
I had always been a problem fixer in my life, in my work, and in everything else. When I found out that MAT alone can not correct all of the muscle shutdown permanently, I realized that there were more things that are contributing to the muscle shutdown that I did not know about. I decided to begin a journey of exploration and research.
The chiropractor I worked for taught me a lot of AK (Applied Kinsiology) skills. He is really good with AK. in fact, his brother is one of the top AK instructors in the United States. He recommended me to take Touch For Health. I took Touch For Health with instructors who also tough Professional Kinesiology Practice (PKP). When I completed the series of 4 TFH classes, I decided to partake PKP. It was Touch For Health and PKP that opened my eyes about how much emotions can influence the physical body.
Touch For Health got my eyes open about how much emotions can influence the body.
In one of the TFH classes, instructor advised us to identify something we want to change about ourselves or something others complaint about us. I remembered my husband at the time (now ex) had complained to me that "I never apologize".
In a typical Touch for Health session, the practitioner will ask the client to set a goal. then they will use muscle test and many balancing methods TFH provides to create synchronization between the person and the goal. Synchronization also means energy balance.
The instructor asked me to visualize myself in a situation that I did not feel comfortable apologizing. He asked about discomfort level from 0 to 10 with 10 being extremely uncomfortable. My answer was 10. (Note#1)
So in this exercise, my goal was " I apologize with ease and comfort." We muscle tested the statement of the goal first, the result was weak. That meant my body did not feel that the statement was "TRUE". The objectives of a TFH session is to do a "balance" and at the end of the balance, your body will feel that the statement is TRUE and your muscle will test strong.
We followed the procedure to create energy balance towards the goal. Most of the steps involves muscle testing. It has been more than a decade since the session. I don't remember all the details of the session. I remember part of the procedure involved placing hands at the forehead and the lower part of the back of the head with my eyes closed. The purpose of this, according to the instructor, was to stimulate brain activity to recall subconscious details that was related to the cause of the imbalance.
There were two amazing things that happened in this TFH balancing session.
The first amazing thing was, during the brain activity stimulation, I saw and felt the following: I saw my mother beating "me" with a stick while holding on to my arm with her other hand. I was crying and screaming "I am sorry, I am sorry, I'll never do it again!" I was in pain and a lot of stress. (As I saw and felt this, tears ran down my face uncontrollably.) I also saw the surrounding was only faintly familiar to me. It was the house I lived in from my birth to age 4. This "I" was about 10 or 11year old and my sister who is 7 years older than me, in this "memory" she was only a toddler. (This subconscious memories did not make proper sense. I will explain this detail later.)
At this instant I realized what this subconscious detail meant. All my life, my brain and my body was equating apology to physical punishment. That explained why I had the hardest time apologizing to anyone at any circumstance.
After the balance session, I was muscle tested strong at the statement "I apologize with ease and comfort." and asked me to visualize myself apologizing in the situation I mentioned in previous paragraph note#1. He asked me to estimate the comfort level and this time it was down to 2 on a scale of 0-10.
personally I think this result is quite impressive. but what really surprised me was something else I discovered a few days after the session.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I do want to take a few minutes to explain the unconscious memory that I discovered during TFH balancing session.
to save you the trouble scrolling back up to find the paragraph, I am just gonna repost it here in a lighter green color.
The first amazing thing was, during the brain activity stimulation, I saw and felt the following: I saw my mother beating "me" with a stick while holding on to my arm with her other hand. I was crying and screaming "I am sorry, I am sorry, I'll never do it again!" I was in pain and a lot of stress. (As I saw and felt this, tears ran down my face uncontrollably.) I also saw the surrounding was only faintly familiar to me. It was the house I lived in from my birth to age 4. This "I" was about 10 or 11year old and my sister who is 7 years older than me, in this "memory" she was only a toddler.
OK, you would probably say this totally doesn't make sense. It didn't make too much sense to me either at the time when I felt it. I tried to make sense out of it and spent a lot of time revisiting my experience.
Why would I see my older sister when she was a toddler? She is 7 years older than me. I wasn't even born yet when she was a toddler. So if this "I" in this subconscious memory wasn't me, who was the one that was beaten by my mother? Why would I see and feel the experience from this person's perspective?
I figure out the answer to the 2nd question. That was my brother's memory. He was the one being punished and beaten by my mother. About the question "why would I experience this memory as the first person?", I really don't have a proper answer. I speculated a few possibilities. However, no one can ever tell me which possibility is the correct one.
**************************
I was still puzzled by the memory of punishment and how it relates to chronic constipation. So my Journey begins.... more than a decade of research on the relationship between memories, meridian/energy pattern and physical ailment.
Yes, I have a lot of stories to share. I just hope that time will allow me to continue to write and share these findings.
Touch For Health got my eyes open about how much emotions can influence the body.
In one of the TFH classes, instructor advised us to identify something we want to change about ourselves or something others complaint about us. I remembered my husband at the time (now ex) had complained to me that "I never apologize".
In a typical Touch for Health session, the practitioner will ask the client to set a goal. then they will use muscle test and many balancing methods TFH provides to create synchronization between the person and the goal. Synchronization also means energy balance.
The instructor asked me to visualize myself in a situation that I did not feel comfortable apologizing. He asked about discomfort level from 0 to 10 with 10 being extremely uncomfortable. My answer was 10. (Note#1)
So in this exercise, my goal was " I apologize with ease and comfort." We muscle tested the statement of the goal first, the result was weak. That meant my body did not feel that the statement was "TRUE". The objectives of a TFH session is to do a "balance" and at the end of the balance, your body will feel that the statement is TRUE and your muscle will test strong.
We followed the procedure to create energy balance towards the goal. Most of the steps involves muscle testing. It has been more than a decade since the session. I don't remember all the details of the session. I remember part of the procedure involved placing hands at the forehead and the lower part of the back of the head with my eyes closed. The purpose of this, according to the instructor, was to stimulate brain activity to recall subconscious details that was related to the cause of the imbalance.
There were two amazing things that happened in this TFH balancing session.
The first amazing thing was, during the brain activity stimulation, I saw and felt the following: I saw my mother beating "me" with a stick while holding on to my arm with her other hand. I was crying and screaming "I am sorry, I am sorry, I'll never do it again!" I was in pain and a lot of stress. (As I saw and felt this, tears ran down my face uncontrollably.) I also saw the surrounding was only faintly familiar to me. It was the house I lived in from my birth to age 4. This "I" was about 10 or 11year old and my sister who is 7 years older than me, in this "memory" she was only a toddler. (This subconscious memories did not make proper sense. I will explain this detail later.)
At this instant I realized what this subconscious detail meant. All my life, my brain and my body was equating apology to physical punishment. That explained why I had the hardest time apologizing to anyone at any circumstance.
After the balance session, I was muscle tested strong at the statement "I apologize with ease and comfort." and asked me to visualize myself apologizing in the situation I mentioned in previous paragraph note#1. He asked me to estimate the comfort level and this time it was down to 2 on a scale of 0-10.
personally I think this result is quite impressive. but what really surprised me was something else I discovered a few days after the session.
The 2nd amazing thing:
I had always defecate (yes, taking a dump) approximately once a week all through my life and I thought that was normal for me. I attributed that to my strong digestive system. Since that TFH balance session, I became regular everyday (or almost everyday with occasional laps).
So I thought to myself: If "I felt so uncomfortable to apologize and so I refuse to apologize in many situations, and that equals to a physical manifestation of chronic constipation, what other emotional issue are there that are contributing to all of human's physical ailments? Can emotional issues contribute to muscle shutdowns? "
So...... I devoted myself in finding out more in this direction. I began to explore in my clients cases.
I had so many findings I don't think I can mention enough in this blog. I will try to mention a few later on this blog that I felt was quite significant.
How to identify a muscle weakness caused by emotional issue
First, I want to share a way you can identify muscle weakness that is caused by emotional connection.
I did not invent this. The chiropractor I worked for showed me this.
If you are a MAT practitioner, AK or other kinesiology practitioner and are testing specific muscle and not using surrogate testing. When you identify a weak muscle, have client use one hand and touch an inch under their either eye (emotional point) and hold it. Test the muscle again while client touching emotional point. If the muscle test strong this time. It means this muscle weakness is related to a certain emotional response or an event that is quite emotional.
I do want to take a few minutes to explain the unconscious memory that I discovered during TFH balancing session.
to save you the trouble scrolling back up to find the paragraph, I am just gonna repost it here in a lighter green color.
The first amazing thing was, during the brain activity stimulation, I saw and felt the following: I saw my mother beating "me" with a stick while holding on to my arm with her other hand. I was crying and screaming "I am sorry, I am sorry, I'll never do it again!" I was in pain and a lot of stress. (As I saw and felt this, tears ran down my face uncontrollably.) I also saw the surrounding was only faintly familiar to me. It was the house I lived in from my birth to age 4. This "I" was about 10 or 11year old and my sister who is 7 years older than me, in this "memory" she was only a toddler.
OK, you would probably say this totally doesn't make sense. It didn't make too much sense to me either at the time when I felt it. I tried to make sense out of it and spent a lot of time revisiting my experience.
Why would I see my older sister when she was a toddler? She is 7 years older than me. I wasn't even born yet when she was a toddler. So if this "I" in this subconscious memory wasn't me, who was the one that was beaten by my mother? Why would I see and feel the experience from this person's perspective?
I figure out the answer to the 2nd question. That was my brother's memory. He was the one being punished and beaten by my mother. About the question "why would I experience this memory as the first person?", I really don't have a proper answer. I speculated a few possibilities. However, no one can ever tell me which possibility is the correct one.
**************************
I was still puzzled by the memory of punishment and how it relates to chronic constipation. So my Journey begins.... more than a decade of research on the relationship between memories, meridian/energy pattern and physical ailment.
Yes, I have a lot of stories to share. I just hope that time will allow me to continue to write and share these findings.
