What Is Jin Shin Jyutsu?
Jin Shin Jyutsu (pronounced Jitsu) is a wonderful, one of my clients once said, elegant, way to help yourself feel better simply by using your hands. It’s an innate, inborn wisdom each one of us has built in. It’s part of our natural human ‘being-ness’. In fact, this Universal Art is as old as humanity itself.
We Already Practice It Without Knowing
We see how babies instinctively suck their thumbs or hold their toes. This is such a natural thing for them to do. They are practicing Jin Shin Jyutsu in its purest form: it’s effortless, natural and instinctive.
When I give talks, I often notice some people already sitting in perfect self-help positions before I even begin. These are movements we all do unconsciously. But they show that we are listening to the the messages that the body is sending us: I need help here, or here! The nice thing is that once we become aware of what we are ‘doing’, and why we are ‘doing’ it, we can ‘do’ more of it and get better results.
Watch the Video: Where Does Jin Shin Jyutsu Come From?
An Ancient Art Nearly Lost to Time
This is a Universal Art but over time the KEYS to the treasures of Jin Shin Jyutsu were nearly lost. For centuries, its teachings were passed down by word of mouth, from generation to generation. Over time, much of it faded from common memory.
The Remarkable Story of Jiro Murai
In the early 1900s, a young Japanese man named Jiro Murai rediscovered the art. At just 26, he was declared terminally ill. Doctors could not help him. He asked his family to carry him to their remote mountain cabin because he wanted to die alone. He requested that they leave him there for seven days and to return on the eighth day to see what had happened to him.
During the course of six days, he fasted, meditated, and practiced eight finger poses or mudras he had encountered in his studies. He slipped in and out of consciousness and at the same time his body got colder and colder by the day. Then, on the seventh day, he felt an intense heat, as though his body moved from icy cold to burning heat. When the tremendous heat subsided, he was astonished to find that all his symptoms were gone. In fact, he felt so well that he walked down the mountain on his own!
Grateful for his healing, Jiro Murai vowed to dedicate his life to the study of this Art which he called Jin Shin Jyutsu, known then as the Art of Happiness, the Art of Benevolence, the Art of Longevity.
How Jin Shin Jyutsu Reached the West
Master Jiro Murai never left Japan, but he had a vision, a dream that Jin Shin Jyutsu would be known around the world.
In the 1940s, he met Mary Iino (pronounced ee-noh), a young American-Japanese woman who was visiting Japan. He asked if she would like to take a gift back to America with her. Luckily for us, she said yes – having no idea how much this gift of Jin Shin Jyutsu would change her life.
Mary became one of Master Murai’s most devoted students and later brought Jin Shin Jyutsu to the West. After marrying, she became known as Mary Burmeister. She passed away in 2008, leaving behind not only the teachings but the beautiful simplicity of self-help that makes Jin Shin Jyutsu so accessible.
She would often say, “We are here to simplify.”
Why Jin Shin Jyutsu Is an Art, Not a Technique
Now, you might wonder: why do we call Jin Shin Jyutsu an ART and not a technique?
A technique is a method: you follow steps, you hold a finger, you notice how it feels, then you move to the next. It’s structured, straightforward, and often where we all begin.
But an art is something different. An art grows with you. It expands as your awareness expands. It deepens as you deepen. It evolves as your understanding evolves. There is no finish line, no point of completion. Instead, there is a continual unfolding. We become the artists, the ones shaping our own experience, and Jin Shin Jyutsu becomes not just something we do, but an Art of Living.
Once you learn Jin Shin Jyutsu, it becomes a lifelong ‘companion’. It begins to soften life’s complexities, offering comfort, clarity, and balance in simple yet profoundly meaningful ways. You start to see life differently, respond differently, breathe differently.
This complete, expansive art is always available to you – day and night, in moments of stress or stillness.
And the best part? It is already part of you. You don’t have to create anything for it to ‘work’.
Want to practice Jin Shin Jyutsu regularly?
If you’d like to explore Jin Shin Jyutsu further, I offer weekly group sessions where I gather with people from around the world to practice different Jin Shin Jyutsu exercises. Each week offers a new focus – a new way to harmonise energy and deepen awareness.
The shared group energy often amplifies the calm and clarity that this practice brings. If you’re interested please visit this page: Jin Shin Jyutsu Group Practice.
It’s a wonderful way to care for yourself and connect with others through Jin Shin Jyutsu.