Touch for Health Kinesiology
Touch for Health® Kinesiology is a safe and practical touch-healing process of balancing the body's natural energies to ease discomfort of common aches, pains and stresses of daily living. It is a combination of Traditional Chinese Medicine principles like those used in acupuncture/acupressure and recent Western developments in wellness and preventive health care.
This integrated East-West approach links certain muscles with specific organ systems, and these connections also interrelate with particular energy meridians, and parts of the lymphatic and vascular systems. By balancing a specific muscle, balance is restored to all of the other systems related to it, and thus to the whole body.
Touch for Health was created by John F. Thie (pronounced 'Tee'), DC (1933-2005). The first TFH manual was published in 1973 and launched a worldwide movement in a holistic approach to health that teaches a way to restore our natural energies. TFH is now being used in over a hundred countries in the world. It is a practical approach using acupressure, touch and massage to improve postural balance and reduce physical and mental pain and tension.
The focus in TFH is on the whole person and on assisting the person to balance the vital energies, which are variously called chi, prana, or ki. TFH practitioners help their clients to see that all aspects of their lives are interrelated and that as they bring the different parts of their lives into harmony, they are able to improve their health.
Touch for Health uses muscle testing to let the body speak for itself and tell the client and practitioner what needs to be corrected. Then, by using non-invasive techniques such as tapping, meridian balancing, and color therapy, the imbalances are corrected and retested.
Muscle testing is a biofeedback technique and is used by a number of health care professionals from chiropractors to physical therapists. By gently pushing on the muscle while the client tries to resist, the practitioner can tell if the muscle "locks" or tests weak. Muscle testing is not a strength or range-of-motion test. No more than two pounds of pressure (usually less) is used against the muscle to see if it will lock. A multitude of stressors can affect the locking capability of muscles. Consequently, the muscle test is an effective indicator of stresses in the body.
The method of muscle testing used in Touch for Health is an adaptation of the standards used in physical therapy disciples which were developed by Kendall and Kendall. These standard are based on the research of applied kinesiolgist, Dr. George Goodheart, Jr., who in 1964, established a connection between muscle testing and their association with the Chinese meridians used in acupuncture.
Some of the benefits of Touch for Health are:
- Accelerate recovery from illness and injuries
- Reduce or eliminate many different kinds of pain
- Prevent future health problems
- Increase energy and counteract fatigue
- Show you immediately which foods are undermining your energy
- Boosts your body's ability to heal itself
- Helps clear energetic blocks that hinder you from reaching your goals
Touch For Health sessions are done with the client seated or standing while fully clothed, or if the client prefers to combine TFH with a massage, it can be performed while he/she is lying on the massage table. The client participates with the practitioner during muscle testing by monitoring movements and rubbing or tapping points on the body per the practitioner's instructions to correct weaknesses. Usually, a full TFH session clears all of the body’s meridians.
Suzanne's Qualifications
Suzanne is a Level 3 Touch for Health Practitioner, having completed 45 hours of TFH education. She has been practicing TFH since 2006. She is a member of the Touch for Health Kinesiology
Association. While in public education, she used concepts from Brain Gym, a related field, in her classroom. She has also studied in the fields of One-Brain, EFT, and Energy Medicine.
Related Branches (and Offshoots) of Applied Kinesiology
Touch for Health is a branch of Applied Kinesiology and is related to several other branches of that field. There are a lot of free resources on the web that you can use to explore the principles used in Touch for Health on your own. Others are specialties within the field. Some of these related branches include:
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Brain Gym: Educational Kinesiology,
"enhanced learning through movement", was created by Dr. Paul E. Dennison and Gail E. Dennison through their extensive research in areas that include education, brain function, psychology, and applied kinesiology. The Dennisons' visionary insight into the learning process led them to develop the unique approaches to education now known as Edu-K and Brain Gym - tools used to integrate the mind and body through movement. - One-Brain (Three-in-One Concepts):Three In One Facilitators are internationally known for helping adults and children improve performance in many areas....assisting people labeled slow learners and as "learning disabled" or "dyslexic" to make dramatic positive changes. They do so by identifying and releasing the emotions fused to events that prevent people from being in present time. With these past stressors resolved, attitude and behavior change for the better. People feel free to make different, more profitable "choices" for themselves.
- ICPKP International College Professional Kinesiology Practice: Developed by TFH instructor, Dr. Bruce Dewe and his wife Joan, ICPKP is a series of advanced [TFH] skills that include personal development, relationship issues and the opportunity to make personal emotional and spiritual growth.
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Energy Medicine: Donna Eden is also a TFH graduate. She developed Energy Medicine, incorporating TFH and other Applied Kinesiology techniques into a new system that works well with TFH. She also wrote a book by the same name.
She says that Energy Medicine is the science and the art of optimizing your energies to help your body and mind function at their best. Controlling your chemistry by managing your energies is the fast track for helping your body evolve and adapt to the challenges of the 21's century. (You can find some great handouts on this site) - Energy Psychology: Dr. David Feinstein is Donna Eden's husband. He calls Energy Psychology "acupressure for the emotions." It uses a tapping technique on acupressure points. By tapping these energy points on the surface of the skin while focusing the mind on specific psychological problems or goals, the brain's electrochemistry can be shifted.
- Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT):EFT also uses tapping of the acupressure points to relieve emotional, health and performance issues. Developed by Gary Craig, there is a wealth of free information on the web about EFT.
- Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Technique (NAET)Developed by Dr. Devi Nambudripad, a California based acupuncturist and physician, NAET draws on ideas from acupuncture, applied kinesiology, and allergy medicine. It's goal is to eliminate allergies using a blend of selective energy balancing and testing and treatment procedures from acupuncture/acupressure, allopathy, chiropractic, nutritional, and kinesiological disciplines of medicine.
- Thought Field Therapy: Developed by psychologist, Roger Callahan, TFT uses specialized tapping with the fingers at meridian points on the upper body and hands to improve and/or relieve emotional, mental and physical disease.
- Psych-K: Developed by Robert M. Williams, Psych-K stands for Psychological Kinesiology. It incorporates PSYCH-K incorporates Educational Kinesiology, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), acupressure, Ericksonian hypnotherapy, and various psycho-spiritual healing systems with the goal of changing sub-conscious beliefs and replacing them with more desirable ones. Specific body postures and movements cause neuron firings in both hemispheres of the brain, creating a state in which change can more readily occur.
- Hyperton-X (Sports Kinesiology): Developed by Frank Mahoney, Hyperton-X is system of muscle energy techniques linked with applied kinesiology whose application provides an effective, gentle non-manipulative approach to total mind and body integration through the release of muscular tension. Its name comes from hypertonus, which is a term for a muscle in extreme tension. Hypertonic muscles can have adverse effects on other body systems and structures. Hyperton-X uses applied kinesiology to restore the body to equilibrium.
Many of the developers of the above branches began their work in Touch for Health. Indeed, in many cases, Touch for Health can and does provide the same benefits as the techniques are very similar.
Some of these techniques focus more on learning and educational aspects of Applied Kinesiology; some on specific physical, emotional or mental health issues; and others on an integration between body, heart, and mind. This work in all branches of Applied Kinesiology is being taken more and more seriously as new research proves the theories are verifiable in a controlled setting. Clients have also found the work to be verifiable in their own experience.
See the suggested reading page and the links page for more information.
