© 2016 Kebba Buckley Button, M.S., O.M., World Rights Reserved.
I want to share with you a very powerful, yet simple to use, method for deep stress relief. It’s sourced in oriental medicine. I urge you to give this method at least 10 minutes after reading this article. I promise you will feel much calmer and more harmonious after just 10 minutes. Here’s the background and the technique.
In the 1980’s, when I first began studying oriental medicine, I didn’t know that was what I was doing. I had found my way into a class on Jin Shin Jyutsu®, an ancient healing art rebirthed by a Japanese man, Jiro Murai, in the early 1900’s. One of the few direct students of Jiro Murai, the late Mary Iino Burmeister, was my teacher. I had been hampered by a multimonth ankle injury that would “heal” and then begin to hurt severely again. Two orthopedists were unable to clear this injury.
Finally, friends sent me to a holistic practitioner, who would place his fingertips lightly on pairs of points on my fully clothed body, while my pain seemed to melt away. After these sessions, I also felt more cheerful and vital. I asked the therapist for homework, and he gladly taught me a few points to do at home. My second orthopedist was very excited that the ankle finally healed. Meanwhile, the therapist referred me to an office where I could get Jin Shin training. I gradually learned it was based on the Tao and a branch of oriental medical tradition. In the quarter century since, I have seen success with every condition to which this art is applied. The power of the fingers and points is astonishing.
I learned that different types of stress accumulate in different circuits and locations in the body. Some call the circuits “meridians”. Some think of “the nervous system”, the physical neural network in the body, which circulates impulses around the body, and to and from the brain. I learned that we can correct the flow of energy in the body, by going to and holding spots Jin Shin Jyutsu calls “Safety Energy Locks”, and I call “access points to the nervous system”, or in some cases, “trigger points”. While a diagram of the body’s “meridians” will not look just like a diagram of the physical nervous system, there are clear parallels.
Without a holistic therapist, there is much you can do to harmonize yourself, working from the fingers. Five major emotions, or attitudes, are reflected in the fingers: the thumb for worry, the forefinger for fear, the middle finger for anger, the ring finger for sadness, and the little finger for pretense or “too much to do”. Look at your fingers now. Are you seeing bends, thickening of joints, or repeated injuries to the same finger? Ask yourself if your stress profile matches the key emotion for that finger. Now gently “hug” the distressed finger with the other hand, for 5 minutes, and feel the body and mind relax.
In meetings, at movies, or on airplanes, why not quietly give the whole body a treatment, using finger holds and breath? Hold each finger in sequence, while exhaling and inhaling three times. Spend extra time on the fingers where you feel pounding pulses. When you have treated from left thumb to little finger, touch your right fingertips to the left palm, and take three breaths at this hold. Then continue, treating the fingers of the right hand, plus the right center palm. If you lose your “place”, just start again anywhere, and repeat as much as you like.
Now, using your own circuits, you can empower yourself and melt your stress. Get a “finger on the pulse” of your attitudes and fatigue. Feel the power of stress relief using finger holds. And that’s Upbeat Livingsm!
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- Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert. She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. She is the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), plus the 2013 book, Peace Within: Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition(http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc). Her newest book is Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine, available through her office. Just email SacredMeditation@kebba.com.
- For an appointment or to ask Kebba to speak for your group: calendar@kebba.com .
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Kim Smyth said:
Omg, it really works!! I tried it as soon as I finished the post, starting with my right middle finger since it has a big knuckle. I immediately felt my shoulders relax and the tension leave my body. I really needed this today, one of my sons is in crisis and I’m worried (even though I trust the Lord, I’m a mom and that’s my son!) anyway, thank you!!
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Kebba Buckley Button said:
Kim, Thank you so much for trying it and sharing your results! That middle knuckle can also reflect *frustration*, which matches your situation. Thanks for visiting and commenting! And keep practicing those finger holds :-). Also, teach them to your kids! 🙂
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Kim Smyth said:
Will do!
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Linda Hampton said:
Love anything involving the Meridians because you always have them with you. When particularly stressed about a situation you can easily do the finger old and no one will be the wiser. Moving energy is important because it gets rid of the stuck negative energy
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Kebba Buckley Button said:
Linda,so true! I’ve been an energy therapist for 30 years now, and I love it for releasing any emotion or any physical condition! Thanks for visiting and commenting.
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Busybethie said:
I will have to try this!
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Kebba Buckley Button said:
Beth, you’ll be surprised how effective this is. Especially the next time you’re angry. Try holding the base of your middle finger. All the best!
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Peter said:
Wow I’ve learned something totally new Kebba. Thanks for sharing this. I’m not sure why but when I held each finger and breathed I kept getting flashes of childhood memories.
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Kebba Buckley Button said:
Peter, that is fascinating! Were they memories that related to each of the fingers? Like, when holding the forefinger, fearful memories? Thanks for visiting and sharing.
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Peter said:
You know I didn’t pay attention to the relationship between the memory and the finger. I started with the thumb. Then moved onto the index finger and I started to get flashbacks. It was like I was observing a scene of a younger, maybe 4 year old version of myself with my mother or maternal figure. In the third person. No memory present.
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Kebba Buckley Button said:
Peter, thank you for the gift of your experience with the finger holds. You are the first person I’ve heard having that experience. Please let me know if you have more of those experiences or any conclusions about them?
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Peter said:
You’re welcome and I will keep you posted
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