By Karen Parr-Moody
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – If you want to learn to relax – deeply relax – and heal your body, the ancient Japanese art of Jin Shin Jyutsu could be your guide. On a recent Saturday a group of women approached the home of Christina Burawa to practice this art.
A small Buddha statue sat, Zen-like, on a retaining wall while Burawa, a cheery brunette with pink cheeks, greeted each student. She seemed as calm as the Buddha, which is good, because relief from anxiety is one of the gifts practitioners seek from Jin Shin Jyutsu. (In fact, Burawa said the practice has helped with her anxiety.) It is also said to help with pain, depression and stress.
A Buddha figure sits outside the door that leads to Burawa’s class.
Students filed into Burawa’s house and sat on comfy pads on the floor as she explained a practice that, to Westerners, might sound foreign. She said that Jin Shin Jyutsu is an “an energy-based modality” in which teacher and student work on 26 pairs of points – “safety energy locks” – located bilaterally throughout the body. This practice is said to clear energy blockages, thus improving the balance and flow of the student’s life force energy.
During the one-hour class, Burawa led the students through a series of points. They placed one hand on their heads and the other hand through a set of points. Under Burawa’s guide, they moved their hands through the points in order to deliver energy to each one in succession.
Burawa also performed “mini-treatments” on each student by placing her hand, on top of their clothes, over the “safety energy lock” points.
“In my opinion there’s a qualitative value of the human touch that is nurturing and supportive for people,” Burawa explained of Jin Shin Jyutsu.
The touch that is delivered by a practitioner during Jin Shin Jyutsu is gentle and is aimed at conducting energy.
“You’re just helping that person to pull in more energy,” Burawa said. “And to help open those points that can shut down with life stresses and tension.”
The class learns about how Jin Shin Jyutsu is said to help with help with anxiety, pain, depression and stress.
Vicki Slater, who learned about energy work 25 years ago, said as soon as she discovered Jin Shin Jyutsu, “I fell in love with it.”
Practicing in Burawa’s class, Slater added, “Is the best of the good hours of the year.”
Burawa has been studying since 2003 and practicing professionally since 2006. She pointed out that Jin Shin Jyutsu is now being valued by hospitals. It has been blended into the treatment of heart transplant patients at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco.
It has also been used to assuage the side effects of cancer treatment at University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center, with results being published in The Atlantic magazine. The study revealed that “patients experienced significant improvement in their symptoms, even after just one session of Jin Shin Jyutsu. The average decreases recorded were three points for stress and two points for both nausea and pain.”
Burawa’s next Jin Shin Jyutsu classes will take place from 1 p.m. to 2:20 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 11 and Saturday, Oct. 25. The class fee is $12. There will be 15 minutes of instruction, one hour of guided hands-on practice with mini-treatments by Burawa and a cup of tea after the class. Reservations are required by contacting Burawa at 931-539-9265 or by emailing her at christinaburawa@gmail.com. Her website here.
Karen Parr-Moody began a career as a New York journalist, working as a fashion reporter for Women’s Wear Daily, a beauty editor for Young Miss and a beauty and fashion writer for both In Style and People magazines. Regionally, she has been a writer at The Leaf-Chronicle newspaper and currently writes about arts and culture for Nashville Arts magazine each month.