Muscle testing
Muscle testing
Natural remedies
Anastasia and I were in a natural medicine shop looking for some natural type remedies that could enhance my life. I looked around at all the shelves and daunting rows of similar sized and shaped bottles with names I didn’t recognize. I must have given her my look of dizzy exasperation. She encouraged me to find a salesperson who could help me choose what would be best for me.
I wondered, how could any of these people know what I needed? I live in this body and I don’t know!
Muscle testing
I looked inside, first. The Shadow (inside my body) knows. I opened the door to the refrigerator where the probiotics were displayed and tested one using my muscle testing method. No, that one is not for me. I checked each brand until I found one that resonated with my energy Then I tested for the dosage. The instructions on the container suggested 3 per day, with meals. I checked. For me, one per day showed strong. Two and more were all weak. Take it in the morning? Strong. Take it in the afternoon or evening? Weak. So, without reading labels, comparing ingredients, and promises, I knew which one to get, how much, how often, and when to take it.
I’ve been hearing about the benefits of lemon essential oil. There were several brands available. There were no open testers, but I didn’t need to smell anything. I held each one and tested it by observing my muscle strength. In less than a minute I knew which brand to buy (not the one that was recommended), how much to use, and how to apply it. My mind hadn’t known. My body, when asked, responded with certainty.
The body knows best
Muscle testing is simply a method that asks the body what is best for it. One holds an object (food, supplements, brand of golf ball) in his or her hand and/or focus, and tests the strength of their muscles. Even when we have the best intentions and an abundance of information, we don’t always make the best decisions for ourselves. We have so much misinformation and bias stored up here (tap forehead). We want to believe the advice of people we trust and follow them. So often, though, their views are based on myth, the eagerness to help without adequate experience or training, and parroting what their teachers, who’ve been taught by manufactures’ reps, told them.
There is a way to bypass the consciously reasoning, decision making mind. We ask the body what it wants!
There is nothing magical or mystical about muscle testing. Our amazing bodies are making all sorts of choices all the time; none of which we have any control or awareness. It knows what it needs. Maybe some platelets over here, some lymphocytes over there, a little extra dopamine or insulin at the right time and place. Maybe some extra oxygen, yawn. Maybe a release of tension, stretch.
The body is always ready to tell us, if we ask and are willing to listen.
There is a commonality to all the different ways to muscle test. Just as a dog moves closer to you when he wants your touch and distances himself as a signal for “no.” A “yes” or positive response is demonstrated by strength and connection. A “no” or negative response, is shown with weakness and disconnection.
Applied Kinesiology
The first time I heard of muscle testing it was under the pseudonym of Applied Kinesiology. My friend Jerry shared this great new (old) technique he’d just learned with the students of our (human) massage class. He asked each of us to hold our arm out to the side and pressed down on it. We each resisted; our arms holding firm against his downward pressure. That was his baseline. Then he asked us to hold an object, like a bottle of massage oil or our textbook. When he pressed down on our arms, our arms held. We were able to resist. We each emptied a packet of sugar onto our tongues and he tested us again. This time, when Jerry pressed down on each of our extended arms, none of us could resist. Our shoulder muscles were weak. Our bodies were telling us that using the oils and the textbook were helpful; and ingesting sugar was not in our best interests.
Since then I’ve watched chiropractors and holistic veterinarians use this technique for choosing supplements and naturopathic remedies. They are asking the body what it needs.
This is the method I use.
I make a circle with one hand, connecting the tips of my thumb and middle finger. Then I insert my thumb and forefinger into the circle and, focusing on my choice, gently open my inside hand, pressing out with the backs of my knuckles from within. If the link is strong, it is good for me, and my fingertips stay together. If it is weak, or not for my best interests, the connection breaks.
Connection: good. Disconnection: bad.
Living in the now
The answers to our questions are based on who we are, how we are feeling, and how we are processing our lives at the time of the asking. The response is spontaneous. The response is correct for that moment. We are constantly changing though. Something that might have been affecting us physically or emotionally this morning may now no longer have sway over us. You may have eaten something that shifted your pH. You may have had a restorative conversation, or insight. You may have had a refreshing nap, a traffic accident, or a hearty transformative bowel movement. People change.
Limitations
While the muscle testing techniques described here are good for personal dilemmas, like whether to order the cheesecake or the chocolate lava with ice cream, or whether to lease a BMW or a Lexus, there is another, more effective variation of muscle testing that we use in PetMassageTM.
Is this dog in pain? Yes. Okay, now what? What do we do with that information?
PetMassageTM is more concerned with movement, with wellness, and with the flow of chi energy, than getting straight, and limiting, yes and no responses.
Next week: Dousing: Using Muscle testing in PetMassageTM