Written by Ondrej Bursik
It is not un-usual for clients of kinesiology to not fully understand the processes that they undertake when they take part in a kinesiology session. More often than not they rave about the outcomes or the insight that they have gained by seeing a kinesiologist, however how it works is often a mystery.
Lets de-buff Kinesiology! One of the challenging reasons why the modality as a whole is hard to understand is due to the huge variety of techniques that are used by the therapist. In the early 1970’s several chiropractors started the movement of muscle monitoring. Although there are variations of muscle monitoring, it is probably the most common thread that would bind kinesiology as a whole and as a discipline. Muscle monitoring is a process where the practitioner applies gentle pressure against a muscle (an arm or a leg) in order to get feedback from the brain. What kind of feedback? What can the body tell us? These are some of the more common questions people ask. Muscle monitoring is a tool that allows the practitioner to get an insight about how the brain relays information to the body. A very simple explanation is, under stress (used in its broadest terms) the brain’s ability to send and receive messages from the body is reduced. This is what practitioners look for when they do muscle monitoring. In simple terms the way the brain can send messages to muscles is different when the brain or body is under stress.
Understanding this process and understanding its limitation, the information indicated can be extremely useful to the practitioner. In simple terms, the practitioner through muscle monitoring can identify factors that are stressing the client. These factors may be both conscious and subconscious in nature. In this way a good practitioner can identify and share with the client this information so greater understanding and steps can be taken to help the client to let go, recover and process this information. Further, it is important to understand that muscle monitoring is not a truth teller, should not be used to diagnose or predict and is not a process that can’t be used incorrectly. The process can be significantly affected by the practitioner, especially if the practitioner is not aware that they can influence the outcome of the process.
Where does the variation between practitioners come from? Muscle monitoring is an important tool which most kinesiologists use in one form or another. However, what tools, techniques and processes they use to actually help the client vary significantly. There are literally 100’s of techniques that have their origins in Counseling, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Energetic Medicine, and different bodywork. Generally a good practitioner has been trained in modalities that allow them to address issues from several different ways, through counseling or through physical corrections, psychological or vibrational means.
So due to preferences and modalities the practitioner has been trained in, a number of techniques will be used. However, if the practitioner understands the limitations of the muscle monitoring, combines it with other assessment tools and is trained well in complementary medicine techniques, they may be exactly what one needs when they are looking for insights into their lives. An overall understanding that the body, when assisted, can heal itself, Kinesiology can be extremely beneficial in many common issues, including: learning difficulties, peak performance, emotional stability, stress, sleep problems, energy problems, lack of motivation, anxiety and so on.
