The Healing Art Of Jin Shin Jyutsu With Karen Ridder Stuart

This inspiring interview is a glimpse into the incredible journey of Karen Ridder Stewart. An expert in Jin Shin Jyutsu, a form of self-help, she shares her inspiring story of how the healing art helped her son overcome an immune disorder. Not only does Karen discuss her own story of enlightenment, but she also provides insight into what enlightenment truly means.
Gain an understanding of Jin Shin Jyutsu practices from an experienced practitioner and get inspired by the power of self-enlightenment. Get practical tips and advice for your own enlightenment. Unlock the secret to inner knowledge and discover the power of self-awareness.

Music: An Mhaighdean Mhara, Margot Krimmel, solo harp from Ever the New Time Comes

Transcript

You're listening to Women's Dream Enlightenment.

Dream decoding,

Deep discussions,

And spiritual stories of self-discovery to inspire your personal enlightened journey.

I'm your host,

Megan Mary,

Founder of Women's Dream Analysis.

Let's bring in the light.

Welcome.

Today I have Karen Ritter-Stewart.

She is a Jin Shin Jitsu practitioner and self-help instructor.

Karen began studying this profound healing art after it helped rid her son of a serious immune disorder.

Karen is a married mother of four who lives in Larchmont,

New York.

Welcome Karen.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

I'm so glad to have you here today.

I love this concept of this healing art,

And I know that it is not that well known.

So I'm really excited to bring it to everyone today so that you can share everything about how it has changed your life so that hopefully they can have a taste of it as well.

So one of my first questions for you is,

What does enlightenment mean to you?

So enlightenment means a lot of different things to me,

But I think at its core,

It just means like an innate knowledge.

Like when you're enlightened,

It's just you're at one with yourself in the universe and you just have like an inner knowing.

Yes,

I agree with that completely.

Enlightenment is how we get to that state of inner knowing,

I think.

Yes.

Yes.

So share with us your enlightenment journey.

It was there a pivotal moment and I know I know your story,

So let's share it with everyone else.

The pivotal moment that brought you to where you are today.

So the pivotal moment was when my child was,

He was diagnosed with something that's called hypogamma globulinemia,

Where he basically had stopped making antibodies.

And he was four years old at the time,

But before then he had started having a lot of health issues at the age of one.

So from one to four,

It was just a nonstop series of doctor visits and going to different specialists and having,

Trying all this different medication.

And it just was,

I mean,

To be honest,

It was terrifying.

And you know,

I shared this story before,

Like it started when I had three boys in three years and when Finbar was only a year old,

I gave birth to my third son,

Brendan.

And I don't want to mention names,

But somebody came over with a child who was very sick.

And I grabbed the infant,

Brendan,

To hide him.

And I didn't,

Instead of politely asking them to leave and please come back when,

You know,

Your daughter's healthy,

Because I didn't want to embarrass them or make them feel uncomfortable.

I just figured,

Okay,

If Finbar gets a cold,

It'll be fine.

It's not a big deal.

Let me just protect the infant.

And that's,

Unbeknownst to me,

The child had RSV.

So it wasn't just a common cold that,

You know,

Finbar quickly got over.

It started like this three-year nightmare of him just being so sick.

And,

You know,

I don't like to focus on the details that much because I never want to call that back into his life.

I just like focusing on his health.

But I was so angry at myself and I was so angry at this person for bringing their child over when they were so sick.

And when the day we got the diagnosis of the hypogamma globulinemia,

I just surrendered to God.

Like literally,

I just was on my knees begging for help.

And the second I let go of my anger,

And the second I just,

As I said,

Surrendered and I begged for help,

Our children's pediatrician,

You know,

Called me on the phone and said,

All right,

Karen,

Before we start,

Because his immunologist wanted to start him on this very invasive treatment that once you started,

He would have to do for the rest of his life.

So our pediatrician called and said,

Okay,

Before we start this,

Let's try ginseng jitsu because our pediatrician was a ginseng jitsu practitioner before he was a doctor.

He's from France.

And then as an aside,

He was like,

I think,

You know,

You would really benefit from,

You know,

Getting a session yourself because I literally was just like in bed,

Like covered over my head,

Nervous breakdown.

I actually had landed in the ER that day,

And it was the first time somebody had said to me,

This is anxiety,

This is not the things that I was concerned it was.

So I guess that was the beginning of my enlightenment journey because,

You know,

Our pediatrician was so kind.

He literally drove us to,

Because throughout the years,

We'd become like very close friends.

He drove us to our appointment at the ginseng jitsu practitioner's office.

And like,

I just,

Words escape me to completely describe how I felt.

I thought there was no help,

Like I was never going to feel okay again,

Nothing was ever going to be okay again.

But I figured,

You know,

I'll try it.

And I,

It just,

Like I found myself,

Like laughing about stories I did in college.

And I was like 30 at the time,

I'm like,

What is wrong with me?

Like,

Why am I even thinking about things like when I was 18,

Nevermind,

Like,

Sharing and laughing about them.

And then it occurred to me because I was free,

And college was the last time I just felt like Karen,

Without any labels,

Because my,

Like,

Right after I graduated from,

I know I didn't share this before,

But right after I graduated from college,

My parents were killed in a car accident.

And so,

You know,

That was traumatic.

And you know,

My brothers were in high school,

I became their guardian.

So you know,

I had that trauma.

And then I got married pretty shortly after that.

And then I had these most beautiful baby boys.

But yet they were sick.

And it was just so much,

There was just so much stress and so much anxiety.

And in that one hour session,

I guess 23,

When my parents,

When the accident happened,

And I was 33,

34,

When I had my first session.

And in that one hour was the first time I felt like Karen,

Since I was 23 years old,

Like no labels,

Just like just free and just happy.

And all I knew is that I always wanted to feel this way.

And I just wanted to learn everything I could about Jin Shin Jitsu.

And on the flip side,

My son Finbar,

We took him like once a week for,

You know,

His session,

But I was working on him myself at night,

Because the beauty of Jin Shin Jitsu,

It's like all self help,

And you could do it on yourself,

Others can do it on you,

You don't have to wait to go to a doctor or whoever,

For your next appointment,

It's like available to you 24 seven.

And so with the combination of taking him to an official Jin Shin Jitsu practitioner,

And practicing on him myself,

When we went back to the immunologist,

After about four weeks,

His labs were perfect.

100% perfect.

He was taking off all of his medication.

And it was just like,

It was astounding.

And I literally have just devoted my life to not only learning as much as I can about Jin Shin Jitsu to help myself and my family and friends,

But also to do what I can to make it a household name,

Because it is the most simple,

Beautiful art.

But it's just very little,

It's just very little known.

And I just would love to do what I can to help people know that this is out there.

And this is so easy.

And you could do it on yourself,

If you do it on anyone,

And you'll just be astounded by the difference it'll make in like your mental health,

Your physical health,

Your emotional health,

It's just mind,

Body,

Spirit harmonizer.

That's my story.

Well,

The enlightenment comes in because it was such a lesson to me about anger and holding on to anger and bitterness.

And that was,

In terms of enlightenment,

That was like a huge lesson,

You know,

To let things go and not stay in that like negative place.

And just to be in a,

You know,

I find the more I look at people with love and from a loving place instead of,

You know,

An understanding where they're coming from,

And just have love from them,

No matter what,

Life just flows so much easier and better.

Yes,

Absolutely.

And that's the leading with your heart.

That's the Dharmic approach,

Right?

That's the whole reason that I sought out women who were following their calling and had started heart-centered businesses,

Because I feel like they have something really special to offer.

They've had their own struggles and their own tragedies,

And really have found a gift through that.

And your story is no different in that sense.

But what you found is very different.

And I think it's really important that you share that.

I feel like that's the silver lining to things that happen to us,

Is if we share them,

Then they help others.

And it takes a lot of courage and kind of selflessness to do that,

But the rewards are profound.

The extent that you can reach other people can be profound.

I agree.

I honestly,

In retrospect,

I feel like this is just God was using the situation with Finbar to put me in this place to share this gift with others.

I feel Finbar was always safe,

As terrifying as it was at the time,

I feel like he was always in God's hands,

And he was always safe,

He was always going to be okay,

And that this was just part of the journey.

And I feel like that pivotal moment where you released your anger,

Opened the blockages that allowed that goodness to come into your life.

100%.

And I think that that is,

We need to get out of our own way,

Which is easier said than done.

But I think that a lot of times that's whatever modality you're using,

It's trying to achieve that same accomplishment of letting the energy flow freely,

So that you can be open.

Exactly.

Yes.

I think that part of what you've discovered,

I also like the aspect that it helped you as well,

Because you were seeking out the answer for your son.

You weren't really seeking for yourself,

But in doing that,

You actually found something that you also deeply needed.

I would like to add,

Because in Jinshin Jutsu,

There's something about the mother controlling the energy of the household,

And the better I got,

The better my children got.

And so it's so important,

If any mothers are out here listening,

And they have a child who might be struggling with some kind of label or another,

It's so important to not just get that child help,

You have to help yourself first.

And I do work with a bunch of mothers and sons,

And it's such a beautiful experience,

And it's such a beautiful bonding experience for the two of them.

But it's super,

Super,

Super,

I can't emphasize enough how important it is for mothers to take care of themselves and heal themselves or harmonize themselves,

And not just make it about the kid,

Because the healthier you are,

The healthier your child and whole family will be.

That makes perfect sense,

Yes.

And also because it's the energy,

Right?

It's the energy that's flowing in your environment,

And that can,

That as well as anything harbored can create this ease in the body,

And that this ease can present itself in a variety of ways,

And it doesn't just have to be in one person,

It can be just the environment in general.

So let's talk a little bit more about the technique of Genshin Jutsu,

And the different Yeah,

Genshin Jutsu,

The way that it works,

So that people can make it a little bit more accessible to the listener,

So they understand,

Yeah.

So basically,

It just works with your fingers and your hands.

Your body has what they call 26 safety energy locks on your right and left side of the body,

And any disharmony that might occur is from one of those safety energy locks becoming jammed or locked.

And so the energetic pathway is locked and things aren't flowing smoothly.

And so the purpose of the session is just to hold those points in a certain sequence,

Depending on what I hear.

A session starts by listening to a client's energetic pulses that are in the wrist.

And that kind of guides me to where in the body,

The disharmony might be.

And just the goal of each session is to unleash and release any disharmony,

Just have things flowing.

And I would imagine that when you do identify where that block is,

That releasing it,

I don't know,

You tell me,

Does it,

Does it,

Do you then have to reprocess that emotion?

Or does it just disintegrate or?

In my experience,

It just releases.

Hmm.

Well,

That makes it easier.

Yeah.

But it's funny because,

You know,

Everybody's different.

Every situation is different,

But emotions that are deep and buried will come up during a session.

And I mean,

I don't like to talk about anybody else,

So I'll just talk about myself.

One time when I was having a session,

My practitioner was like,

Ooh,

Like in,

In Genshin Jutsu,

We divide things into depths and each depth has an emotion attached to it.

And he had asked if I was angry because he was hearing a lot of third depth in my pulses.

And I was like,

I'm not angry.

And I wasn't in my mind lying or just like hiding anything.

I wasn't feeling angry at all.

And so,

You know,

He started to work on me and do flows.

And then all of a sudden I just started going off on this person who,

Um,

It was really like irritating me or as upset about,

And after a couple of minutes of kind of like talking about it,

I looked and I was like,

Oh my God,

I had no idea that was in me.

Cause it was something from like so long ago,

Like I had no clue that that was still like,

I hadn't.

So that's kind of cool how Genshin Jutsu works that way.

It just brings things to the surface so that they can be released.

So that was kind of cool.

Yes.

And I feel like there's a lot of parallels there with dream work because you have,

You're carrying around subconsciously a lot of things that you don't consciously know you are,

And they are affecting your,

Your daily life,

Your behavior,

The way your viewpoint,

Your perspective and your health.

And when we,

When we delve into dreams and we look at what they're trying to tell us in their,

In their stories that they're telling us,

That leads to many times the revelation of that item,

Person,

Situation that you're holding on to and can help to bring that to the surface just as you're talking about.

Definitely.

Definitely.

So I think they both have that same healing modality in a different,

In a different way,

But they're both treating,

Treating the body's blockages,

Treating the things that occur in the,

Stay in the mind,

But affect the body,

Affects the spirit.

And so I see a lot of,

A lot of overlap there for sure.

Yeah,

Definitely.

I can see that for sure.

It's like,

We're like an onion.

It's like somebody will present with a symptom,

But the symptom is nothing to do with the cause.

Like the cause is so many layers down and you just have to peel each layer off to get to what the core,

Which I love about Jin Shin Jitsu,

Because it really,

It gets to the root,

Like instead of just treating the presenting,

As I said,

The presenting symptom,

It really gets to the root of what's causing the symptom.

And so that's when like the deepest healing and harmonizing take place when you get to the root of it.

Yes.

Yes.

So what do you find are the most common misconceptions people have about what you do?

Oh,

That's a good question.

I don't know if misconception is the right word.

I would say,

I don't know if people really believe how that in its effectiveness.

And I always say like Jin Shin Jitsu,

It's experiential.

You need to experience it to understand it.

I am the first to admit,

I thought all this was woo woo too,

Until I experienced it.

And then I'm like,

Oh my gosh,

Like silly me.

Like it's just,

It's just words until you experience it and then when you experience it,

Then you know.

And but I also like,

I'm sorry,

No,

Go ahead.

Oh,

I just think it's important.

Like I don't want to make it sound like this is some like magic,

You know,

Pull out a thumb or a safety energy lock for a minute and like,

Woo,

Like you're done.

It's a lifetime.

It's you know,

I always say like you can't be a thousand pounds and go to the gym for an hour and expect to be your perfect health and perfect shape.

It Jin Shin Jitsu,

It's cumulative and it really,

The more you do it,

Like the more effective it is and the more you'd make it an everyday part of your life,

That's when you'll see like the greatest results.

And it doesn't have to be like an hour every day.

It could be a couple of minutes,

But just if it just becomes part of your day to day,

You know,

Practice or lifestyle,

Like that's when it's just the results are amazing.

Can I share a story that happened today?

Absolutely.

I just consider this my Jin Shin Jitsu life because there is not a day that goes by or a circumstance that doesn't arise where I use it.

Today I'm sure you're aware up in the Northeast,

We're just surrounded by like the smoke and like the smoke and the,

What's it called,

The clouds and the,

From the Canadian wildfires.

And today was the worst day.

I mean,

The pitch to go outside was like,

You know,

Startling.

And normally I had,

I'm not going to lie,

I knew we had this podcast and I wanted my hair to look nice.

So I made a hair appointment and I normally would have,

Like,

If we didn't have this,

I would have rescheduled it because I knew today wasn't the day that I want to be with like a group of people because just as I suspected when I got to the salon,

Everybody was talking and there was so much,

There was just so much fear in the air.

And I found myself without even thinking or realizing I was holding my thumb and thumb helps release worry.

And I was like,

Oh,

That's so,

Yeah,

I love how I just,

Without even thinking,

Just helped myself.

And then,

But as time went on,

It really moved beyond just people being a little concerned because I was like,

The sky got yellower and yellower.

And then we started to actually smell the smoke inside the salon,

Which you couldn't when I first got there,

The salon felt very clean.

So people's anxiety was amped up.

And I found myself just wanting to run and be like,

I just want to run.

I just want to go home.

Like,

I don't want to hear all this scuttlebutt.

And I was like,

Carrie,

No,

That's silly.

You know what to do.

And so in Jin Shin Jitsu,

I actually wrote an Instagram post about this today.

The outside of your wrist is called Safety Energy Lock 17.

And this is like so dynamic to help if you're feeling like really,

Really anxious or scared,

Even like lightheaded,

Like it just calms your body right down.

So I took a breath and,

You know,

I held it and I was like,

You know,

A couple minute or two later,

I was like,

All right,

I'm good.

So it's just like every day,

Like something like that happens,

Like there's something that can always help.

Like I always use it to help me in whatever situation might arise because I have a hard time.

Like,

I don't know,

You might be the same way,

Like it's this is something I really have to work on,

Like I absorb the energies around me,

Like if I'm with somebody who's feeling sad,

Angry,

It's like I feel it and that's something I know I need to work on myself to kind of protect myself and not absorb.

But in this moment,

I have a hard time if it's just one person,

Like it's but to have like,

You know,

A mass of that energy,

Like it's a struggle to kind of stay in my own center and not,

You know,

Get caught up in all of that.

So I was excited.

I was like,

This is so great that I can help myself.

That would be a great tip for any empaths that are listening and as well as anybody who is susceptible to absorbing other people's energies,

Anyone that's highly sensitive or intuitive,

You really tend to take on other people's energy quite easily.

And you have to be part of the self care of that is cleansing that.

And so it's great to hear that there's practical applications of it that you can use it in an emergency,

As well as the benefits of it being a long term thing,

Because I found when I was doing it that,

Okay,

This is very calming,

And takes almost a lot of patience to slow down that much.

And in doing that,

It reminded me very much of meditation or breath work or anything that slows you down and says,

Stop everything,

And breathe and be still.

And when we when we open that space for ourselves,

And we hold that space,

That's when we really are able to connect to source or whatever you want to call it,

That your higher self,

That's when we can hear that.

And that's when we can feel that.

And when we live in our busy world,

And we take on everybody else's energy,

And we let fear rule our decisions,

Then we're not listening to that we're very disconnected from that and we get used to that disconnect state.

And I think that the disconnect is also part of the disease,

They go together and they feed off each other.

I know fear is such,

Um,

I mean,

That's my project in life,

I definitely have PTSD.

And just,

You know,

That's been my journey and my healing process,

But it's,

It's just when you can release it,

And be in a place of trust,

Like I just,

It just life is so much,

It's just so much better,

And all levels.

Yes,

I read just yesterday,

If you're dwelling on the past,

You're depressed,

And if you're dwelling on the future,

You're stressed.

And the only way to avoid both of those is to be present.

And really just not,

Not worry that way,

Not worry that way,

Just try to live in the flow of the present,

Which sounds so easy,

But it's one of the hardest things to do.

But when you do it,

It's worth it.

I mean,

Of course,

I'm not perfect,

I get caught up and but I know,

But I know I get caught up and I know,

Okay,

You can choose to be in this situation where you know how you can help yourself like,

You know,

It's.

Hopefully,

I use helping myself instead of,

You know,

Really getting too caught up and stuff.

And you've done it so regularly for so long that you almost instinctively did it for yourself,

Which is amazing.

And see everybody instinctively.

It's very interesting because each finger has an emotion associated with it.

And it's so interesting when I see people holding the fingers and it's like,

Or just the way their body,

Like you're just the way you hold yourself,

It just tells so much about you.

And it's cool to see how and even like colors,

Each color is associated with a depth and an emotion.

So it's very cool to see how people just instinctively know how to help themselves without even knowing what they're doing.

Right.

It's so,

So,

So subtle.

But I think that's where it's beauty lies.

So what's next for you in your journey?

Honestly,

Like,

This is it.

Like,

This is where my children are older.

You know,

For the past 20 years,

I really only practice on myself and my family.

And if a friend asked,

Of course,

I'd be happy to.

But now that my youngest is in college,

I feel like this is my time to really focus on Jin Shin Jitsu and again,

Doing what I can to promote it and just educate people or just let them know it exists.

Yes,

That's the first step.

Yeah.

So what are the three takeaways you hope listeners learn from today's talk?

Oh,

Gosh,

I guess the number one is I have three things going on my head.

I'm trying to decide what I think is the most important.

So maybe in no particular order,

Because I think they're all important.

But I guess,

You know,

Starting out with like,

Just like the releasing the anger that was so profound.

And as you said,

It opened me up to let in the good come in.

I think the second thing,

I just want people to know that Jin Shin Jitsu exists.

I want them to know that they can feel so amazing.

Like,

You just don't need to,

You know,

Feel anything other than perfect health and harmony.

And Jin Shin Jitsu,

It's so easy to do on yourself.

And it's so gentle.

And it's just the world is I just would love to see a world where everybody makes it like a daily part of their lives.

I mean,

You'd have just so much more.

That wasn't proper English,

Because I wasn't sure what I wanted to say.

It would just be filled with people who just were so much more at peace with themselves and with others,

And just healthier in their bodies of their minds,

Spirit.

That's a beautiful vision.

And that I guess the third,

We wanted three.

So the third takeaway is that there's always hope.

Like just when you think that there is none,

There is always hope.

And I am a big believer in prayer.

Awesome.

Well,

Thank you so much.

I will put your links in the show notes so everyone can find you.

And hopefully this will spread the word for you.

And I'm glad to have discovered it as well.

And I'm going to be experimenting with it.

And just happy to spread the word and try it out.

So thank you very much.

Thank you so much,

Megan.

This is such a pleasure.

Thank you so much.

Reviews

Excellent discussion of little known & fab self healing modality!