What is kinesiology and how can it help you?
Find out more about this holistic healing practice and how it can help you look and feel better
Developed in the United States in 1964 by chiropractor, Dr. George Goodheart D.C, kinesiology is a holistic healing modality which uses muscle testing to reveal systemic, structural and biochemical imbalances in the body. It combines chiropractic techniques with ancient acupressure points on the Meridian system to work with the flow of energy in the body. Since the 1960s, it has been developed further to include the lymphatic system (which is largely ignored in Western medicine, despite being an important channel which feeds and cleans cells and eliminates their waste), the vascular system, the digestive system and the cerebrospinal fluid.
Known as Applied Kinesiology in the U.S., this healing modality was brought to the UK in the 1970s, by The Academy of Systematic Kinesiology founder, Brian Butler. With the founder’s permission, it was given a new name for the UK, as kinesiologists are able to address health issues in a systematic and thorough way.
Brian Butler researched and discovered more as he practiced kinesiology, adding nutritional and emotional reflexes to the techniques used in a treatment. These techniques can heal an enormous range of ailments, from bloating and digestive discomfort, injuries and back pain, hormonal issues, skin conditions, stress, anxiety, insomnia and phobias to behavioural issues in children.
Everything in the body is connected - nothing happens in isolation. Nerves from the spine carry impulses all over the body from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. It’s why amputees might feel their foot itching even after it’s been surgically removed.
Much is now known about the gut-brain axis, whereby the body’s largest nerve, the vagus nerve, carries messages from our gut to our brain and vice versa. Hence the term ‘gut feeling’. Until recently doctors and scientists stated the gut was sterile, however, that has been disproven. The gut is teeming with bacteria both ‘good’ and ‘bad’.
The HeartMath Institute, set up by former NASA scientists, has also shown that the heart sends more messages to the brain, than the brain sends to the heart.
Why am I highlighting these points? Because there is much ancient wisdom that science is only just beginning to understand, and that has previously written off, despite its effectiveness. Kinesiology combines some of these ancient practices with scientific knowledge, with enormous success in alleviating numerous ailments that people have struggled with for years.