If I had my way…
In the 10 years I spent working with patients at the Markey Cancer Center and around the hospital, I gave thousands of Jin Shin Jyutsu sessions. Some patients I saw once and others I saw many, many, many times over the course of their treatment and recovery. There was never one starting place or one ending. It was always different depending when and how patient had found me. No matter where along the treatment path we connected I was always excited to start and people benefited. But for cancer patients I always wished we could begin at the beginning.
If I had my way, people would be referred to me as soon as they were diagnosed. I’d be part of the plan. The moment people hear the words, “You have cancer”, it’s a trauma. It’s the moment that the world turns upside down and shock sets in. No wonder people say they can’t remember anything after those words. The spirit leaves the body - - heads for the hills, disassociates as a safety mechanism. Can you blame them? A cancer diagnosis is like a bomb going off. The reverberation doesn’t leave.
When my mother in law was diagnosed with cancer it was this way. She insisted in going to the appointment with her pulmonologist alone. It was just going to be a short check in she said. So I ran an errand and planned to meet her in the parking lot. An hour later, there she was, wandering around the lot, lost and confused. She’d just been told she had cancer. She was shell shocked. I was shocked as well. I was also more than unhappy with how this doctor delivered the news with no support in place.
We both returned to our versions of that day over and over again for years, which is not unusual. People report that they went into a foggy state when told their diagnosis. Time seems to slow and they’re frozen in time. From then on they return again and again to that moment. It’s on auto replay, like any traumatic event. If it’s not addressed at that point. It becomes anxiety, depression and confusion. We know it happens. The medical researchers acknowledge cancer related post traumatic stress. It starts at diagnosis and it’s off to the races from there as the body is assaulted with more traumatic experiences of surgery, chemo and radiation. Yes it can be life saving, but the mental emotional toll for many is ongoing and a huge burden.
Jin Shin Jyutsu calms trauma. It helps put the pieces that have shattered back together. How do I know? Simply because I’ve seen it hundreds of times with the people I’ve work with. The trauma could be a cancer diagnosis, rape, or a car accident. Doesn’t matter. Peter Levine, one of the premier trauma specialists in our country developed his own system for trauma completely borrowed from Jin Shin Jyutsu, and stated that Jin Shin Jyutsu was the only modality that he had seen help trauma so deeply. I don’t know why he felt the need to change what was already a perfect system to address trauma but that’s for another blog. I see people begin to feel like themselves again. Couldn’t this be part of the cancer treatment plan from the beginning? Why wait to address it or cover the symptoms with medications that never get to the root cause?
Cancer patients will tell you that the fog rolled in after the diagnosis. They couldn’t even hear the doctors, let alone understand all they said and be fully present to decide the best course of action for themselves. It goes on for days, months and sometimes years. They rely on their families because they’re still stuck in the moment. But it doesn’t have to be this way. If the trauma of the diagnosis that shocks the energy system can be addressed it can change. The sooner the better when the energy hasn’t been set in a pattern that will become a life of anxiety, triggers and post traumatic stress.
Let’s give people who are diagnosed with cancer or any big label diagnosis their power back, sooner than later. Jin Shin Jyutsu can help do this. If I had my way, Jin Shin Jyutsu would be a part of every treatment plan, right at the beginning.