The body talks…but…are we listening…
My first introduction to Kinesiology or Muscle Response Testing (MRT), was surprising. A doctor in the front of the room was demonstrating how this worked. He had a woman with him and asked her to hold her arm out while he tried to ‘push’ it down. He did not use force, just a small amount of pressure to match hers. The arm remained horizontal, indicating a ‘strong muscle’ as he explained to the audience. He then asked her to hold some sugar in one hand and hold the other arm straight out. When he applied pressure again, the arm went down easily and fast! It was such a difference that the audience was stunned! Why? What happened? This, the doctor said, was a ‘weak muscle’ and meant that sugar was not good for her body.
He began to explain how muscle testing works and how the body ‘likes’ something or not! In other words, this particular woman’s body would not tolerate sugar, and therefore, the arm went weak.
The Body Talks!
Who Developed Muscle Response Testing?
Kinesiology, referred to as Muscle Response Testing (MRT), was developed in 1964 by Dr. George Goodheart, a Chiropractor. He developed a diagnostic system called Applied Kinesiology, which allowed muscles to be tested to diagnose or read certain blockages in the body and not just to determine muscle strength. Applied Kinesiology was derived from the ancient art of Acupuncture.
Dr. Alan Beardall took this idea further by integrating not only acupuncture therapies, but all major chiropractor techniques, nutrition, homeopathy and Chinese Five Element diagnostics.
“Health”, according to Dr. Beardall, “may be regarded in a general sense as a robust existence, a feeling of optimum vitality and strong resistance, a state of alertness and awareness”. He liked to think of it as “being able to do physically whatever you envision for yourself mentally”.
Muscle Response Testing, provides a new and fascinating way of communicating and healing through the inseparable energy linking mind, body and spirit.
Why Muscle Response Testing Works
Within the Chinese system of acupuncture, every reflex point on your body contains electrical potential. Through stimulation of acupuncture points, the treatment re-aligns the energy in the body.
Kinesiology, or Muscle Response Testing method relies on the extremely precise energy connection between mind and body. Your body has been pre-programmed to sustain life. Each cell, body part, organ and energy system is genetically encoded to work for continued survival of the organism. Your brain acts as a giant ‘switching’ center to channel this energy into action to maintain body function, coordinate messages, store data and retrieve information. As connections are made, energy flows and intelligence is communicated. Your body ‘talks’! Therefore, ‘tapping in’ to this communication through muscle testing ‘works’!
When a practitioner of MRT taps into your body’s software system by testing a designated muscle, the muscle responds either ‘strong’ or ‘weak’; the brain’s way of saying ‘on’ or ‘off’. If a muscle proves weak during the testing of a problem area, or the touching of an acupuncture point, you have uncovered a relationship which may be a clue to something not optimally functioning.
Needed information lies just below the surface for recall and, specifically, to monitor the body. If this body system records an imbalance, you are notified immediately—the body-mind works together to create a symptom.
In a way, Muscle Response Testing is similar to a lie-detector test. The body literally reveals what it likes and doesn’t like according to whether a substance tests strong or weak when held by the patient during muscle testing.
When your body hears truth, it is strengthened; and when it hears a lie, it is weakened. Your subconscious monitors and maintains all operations within your body and it can easily hear spoken words and it will respond to them. Actually, it also responds to thoughts, which is why both tester and testee should maintain a neutral thought pattern so as not to adversely affect the MRT responses.
The physiological responses of your body to truth and lies can be measured using a lie detector, or you can measure the responses using MRT. The nice thing is, MRT requires no instruments, and will reveal what your body needs in order to achieve maximum health.
For instance, when a noxious substance is introduced into the vicinity of the patient’s energy field, as in having a patient hold an unlit cigarette in their lips, muscle testing will show it to be ‘weak’. If the cigarette is removed from the patient’s lips and the patient is immediately retested, muscle strength returns to the normal baseline level of strength.
In studying symptoms, Dr. Beardall searched for truth and found that the key to diagnosing any problem with MRT depended on the energy feedback from each individual’s unique body. He believed that the body knows what’s going on internally, what is needed and how to heal itself. Most all medical tests do not take into account the energetic patterns that precede the physical situation, until they become full-blown pathology or disease.
The first step in using Muscle Response Testing is to begin listening to your body by recognizing the importance of your symptoms. Remember, every symptom in your body constitutes a signal- a warning that something is not quite right.
Imagine driving your car when the oil warning light goes on. If you pay attention to the ‘symptom’, you will stop, check the oil and supply more oil if necessary. You are then able to continue driving.
But, if you ignore the ‘symptom’- or worse, try to cover it up by unhooking the wire that makes the oil warning light work, you will only cover up or ignore the message. If you continue to drive, you may also ruin the engine of your car.
Likewise, when you notice a symptom, it is your body computer flashing a warning, signaling that you may need to make some changes. Somewhere, something needs to be improved, balanced, or regulated. You cannot just get rid of symptoms! They are your friends- little warning messengers that should be listened to. Regard them as clues. The more carefully you listen to your “body language”, the more you will come to know what those symptoms mean and how to treat them.
Observe your symptoms. What appears on the surface may be an important indicator of unseen problems beneath the surface. The size of most icebergs in Arctic waters can be deceiving. Ninety percent of a massive iceberg may float silently underwater, while only ten percent appears in view. The problem may not be where the pain is!
Muscle Response Testing utilizes your mind-body computer in uncovering the underlying causes of symptoms. It is simply the tool relied on to detect pre-stage dysfunction to disease, which your symptoms represent.
Your body can talk, so, simply ask it! Information from your software system relays hidden, energetic messages to the surface for consideration and indication of healing through Muscle Response Testing.
Like a jigsaw puzzle, each ‘piece’ of your body connects to another ‘piece’. MRT relies on the synergy (the combined action or function) of all parts of the body, and recognizes that there are no ‘quick fixes’ to maintaining your whole body. Everything affects everything else.
Our whole body is a system which works as a unit. When the whole system is functioning, it is working at its optimum. Unfortunately, that does not always happen. Whenever we hold on to thoughts, ideas, and emotions, we are affecting our whole system.
It is important to remember that Muscle Response Testing is not about testing muscle strength. You are actually testing the energy that is associated with the thought, idea, or emotion, as well as the energy blocked in the organ. Whenever you are testing a certain muscle or organ and the energy flow is disrupted, the energy level is going to fall, and the associated muscle test is going to be weak. If it is not disrupted, you will have a strong response.
Only by learning the principles of how your bioenergetics system works can you happily and healthily resolve that you are much more than just individual body parts! Muscle Response Testing reveals the link between pain or symptom in one part of the body and the underlying cause of that pain or symptom. Often, the cause may not lie in the same area where the symptom manifests.
MRT taps into the early warning system that displays changes in body function before they appear physically. Therefore, it means, this method evaluates imbalances or dysfunctions ‘before’ the disease, or other serious disorders have the chance to develop. Muscle Response Testing can show this through muscle changes of strength or weakness during testing. We can get insights about the problems and create an opportunity for a balanced state of health by making appropriate changes. The problem is usually NOT where the pain is. MRT utilizes your mind-body computer in uncovering underlying causes of symptoms. It is the tool to detect pre-stage dysfunction to disease, which your symptoms represent.
To Summarize: MRT is amazing because it allows your body the opportunity to communicate what its needs are and how to best solve them. It is a tool used by many holistic practitioners to determine what is occurring within the body that may be causing the issue at hand; be it physical, mental or emotional. There are ways in which one can test oneself, also! Perhaps, that can be a future article!
Once again, we see that we are more than physical beings and our wellness depends on this understanding!
References:
Gerber, Richard, M.D.; Vibrational Medicine for the 21st Century. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, Inc., 2000.
Holub, Ph.D., Alexander, and Budd-Michaels, Ph.D., Evelyn. Psychokinesiology. New York: Bridge House Publishers, Inc., 1999.
Levy, D.C., Susan, and Lehr, M.A., Carol. Your Body Can Talk. Arizona: HOHM Press, 1996.
hhttp://www.cwgministries.org/blogs/your-body-will-speak-you-through-muscle-response-testing
Disclaimer: I am not advocating any particular Alternative technique. I ask that you keep in mind that all the information given is just my web research. It is only meant to give you the basic history and knowledge to hopefully whet your desire to learn more by doing your own research. One must do ‘due diligence’, researching more information than I am able to provide here in order to make a knowledgeable, individual and personal decision as to which route to choose.
Written by Dr. Felicia Santelli, Ph.D., L.Ac. at Santelli Healing Center in Niwot, CO
Copyright 2015 Dr. Felicia Santelli, All Rights Reserved