by Colleen M. Quinn

"We need to love and appreciate energy input from one another," says Patricia Jordan. A knowing smile spreads across her face. "That's why touch is so important." Having built her life's work around various forms of touch therapy, Patricia knows the value and power of simple human contact. She specializes in the art of Jin Shin Jyutsu, a healing touch practice that is both subtle and potent in its application.

Patricia’s experience leading up to and with Jin Shin Jyutsu is diverse, having explored other areas of healing touch and therapies before settling on the one that she loved the most. She graduated from the Boulder School of Massage Therapy in 1979. Her studies there had focused mainly on Shiatsu and Oriental massage, and following her graduation worked both independently and with others using her knowledge and skills.

Patricia has worked with several spas in Boulder, as well as with osteopath Keith Swan, working with personal injuries from car accidents. She also studied Plant Spirit Medicine with Elliot Cowan in the mid 1990s, and has both practiced and taught yoga throughout the years. Patricia says she has gained much from her various accomplishments, but ultimately she felt the strongest connection with the practice of Jin Shin Jyutsu.

Touch therapy has always been a part of Patricia's life work, from Shiatsu to her degree in massage therapy. As well as a practitioner, Patricia is also a frequent recipient of such treatments most notably Rolfing. Rolfing is a form of massage therapy, and is characterized by its deep technique of muscle manipulation. For Patricia, "Deeper was better!" she says of her fondness for it, adding that for a while, she couldn't get enough. However, that all changed quickly when, "I suddenly couldn't bear it any more. I simply didn't want it any more, I wanted only energy work." It was this desire that introduced her to Jin Shin Jyutsu.

Many forms of touch therapy have deep mental, emotional, and spiritual effects in addition to physical benefits, and Jin Shin Jyutsu is no exception. For Patricia, her very first experience with this form of light touch and energy work was eye-opening. A shoulder pain that had been bothering her was gone after her first session. “I was so surprised at the gentleness,” she says of the Jin Shin process.

This gentleness is the trademark of Jin Shin Jyutsu. Using a light touch, a practitioner works with 26 points of the body’s meridian system to enhance a person’s energy leading to an improvement of overall health and well-being. Like other forms of energy work and healing touch, part of the goal of Jin Shin Jyutsu is to find energy blockages within the body and release them. Energy blockages often manifest themselves in physical ailments such as chronic aches, localized pains, or even a general feeling of poor health. Jin Shin Jyutsu helps practitioners find these blocks and literally work with the energy to improve its flow throughout the body.

A session of Jin Shin Jyutsu is a very relaxing experience. With the person lying face up and fully clothed on a massage table, Patricia begins the session by holding their sacrum or the lower back and hip area to get a feeling of the energy flow. She also listens to the energy pulses in each wrist, much like listening to a person’s pulse of blood flow.

There are six distinct energy pulses in each wrist and Patricia takes careful note of each one to discern where her skills are most needed. “[The location of] symptoms are not always where the problems are,” she says. For instance, a headache could signal a blockage or problem in the person’s liver.

Patricia also does body readings to help her determine the source of energy blocks. “I look at how they speak and their lifestyle; the whole picture, if the client is willing,” she says. The bigger picture is so important to the art of Jin Shin because it focuses on the body working as a whole not just the state of its individual parts. “This is the reason why Jin Shin is so great,” says Patricia. “It’s not intrusive, much less so than acupuncture or regular massage.”

Once she’s identified the location of the blockages, Patricia then lightly holds onto two points in the person’s meridian system. This allows the energy between the two points to flow more freely, and for the client to become more connected with their sub-consciousness. She continues this two-point touch throughout the rest of the session depending on the person’s individual needs.

“This is very powerful work but it’s also very subtle,” says Patricia. While the specific benefits of Jin Shin Jyutsu can vary from person to person, it’s common to feel extremely relaxed and grounded afterwards. Physically speaking, aches and pains can be lessened or eliminated, and lingering sicknesses are often improved.

Because this art is such an individual process, how often a person needs or wants a sessions varies greatly. Patricia practices Jin Shin on herself every morning for a couple hours, combining with yoga and meditation to make the practice a fundamental part of her lifestyle. For clients she will sometimes recommend sessions five days in a row for a more profound experience. “It’s a deep way to change your energy,” she says. “And a great way to address problems head-on.”

During her experience with this healing touch, Patricia has discovered ways to blend it with other types of therapies and practices to truly focus its benefits in different ways. Just as she does for herself, Patricia incorporates Jin Shin elements in the small yoga classes she teaches which allows her students to meditate more deeply. In addition to her love for teaching and practicing yoga, Patricia also offers massage sessions even though her true passion lies with Jin Shin Jyutsu.

“I like to get clients involved [in their own Jin Shin Jyutsu],” she says. She adds that she gives clients homework by showing them what points they can hold and how, so that they can recreate a bit of Jin Shin themselves. Patricia believes that this can help people better understand their own systems which is crucial to becoming and staying healthy. They must also allow themselves to be open during a Jin Shin session. “A client does all the work, actually. I just aid in the healing process – I definitely don’t consider myself a healer,” she says.

Another way Patricia uses Jin Shin is through a technique called Cellular Transformation. Patricia co-developed this technique with Noona O’Riley, a psychotherapist who also specializes in clairvoyant readings. They use their respective skills together to offer clients a truly unique experience. As Patricia does Jin Shin on the person, Noona receives clairvoyant information from them because Jin Shin can often bring the subconscious and its information to the surface. “She can tell you what’s happening in the body during Jin Shin,” Patricia says. People who have done Cellular Transformation sessions with Patricia and Noona say that there are physical, emotional, and spiritual changes that take place on many levels, hence the name Cellular Transformation.

Patricia also offers Raindrop Therapy which she says, "Helps balance the electromagnetic fields within the body." Primarily based on energy work and using some of the meridian points as in Jin Shin, Raindrop Therapy involves more massage with hot,moist heat applied, says Patricia. It focuses mainly on the soles of the feet and the spine where she uses essential oils to bring balance to a person's body.

More recently, Patricia has been working to bring Jin Shin Jyutsu to those who otherwise might not have the opportunity to experience it. Working with clients at Fraiser Meadows Retirement Community in Boulder, Patricia offers self-help lessons through Jin Shin Jyutsu and individual sessions for residents.

The beauty of Jin Shin is that it can bring a person to a deeper, more spiritual level where they can find the healing that they need. The process of doing so Patricia describes as “delayering” because it’s through these personal layers of mind, body, and spirit that this practice makes the difference. In her eyes, Jin Shin has made all the difference in the world for Patricia. “The passion that I have for my work is so thrilling, I feel so blessed,” she says.

“My goal, for myself and others, is about learning how to live, why we’re here, to find that path in life. That’s in my work.”