Mary Burmeister's Self Help Book I, Project II: The Little Finger, Ring Finger, Middle Finger sequences.
With in mind those who know and practice from Mary Burmeister's Self Help Books I II III and other of her published materials.
Preface: Why I drop the name 'Jin Shin Jyutsu' from the title and replace it with 'Mary Burmeister's books'.
This is the point where I shift in the way I refer to the learning journey I have been on, from using the name Jin Shin Jyutsu to now simply and more accurately pointing towards the source of my learning: The books written by Mary Burmeister. Those are five to my awareness: Self Help Books I, II, and III, and Text book I and II, found on https://jsjinc.net/
I read through the introduction written by Glenn King on https://tkmhistory.info/top-menu and realized that I need to go back to the teachings of Islam on how one reports material from its source. I do not know the Japanese language and so I have never read any of Jiro Murai's texts. Mary's books are to my understanding the way she took the knowledge and put it into English words from what she learned in practice. They are one could presume texts that reflect as accurately as she might have known how to, to put the knowledge she received from Jiro Murai, and practiced first hand into words and onto paper. It is, one can also assume, her way of understanding and communicating that knowledge and that if Jiro Murai were to put it ink on paper he may have done so through other words. Mary's books are not a translation from Japanese to English, hers are her own books, from knowledge she received from practice, and as I understand through guidance given through written letters exchanged other years between Jiro Murai, and her father and her, at least that is what I have gotten so far.. this is why I adjust the naming I use, to: my source of knowledge is not the grater "Jin Shin Jyutsu" because that would be directly through Jiro Murai's texts and teachings, rather it is Mary Burmeister's synthesis of that put in the form of these books we have in hand, that I am grateful for, and that I am also learning through Laila Moustafa's own processing not only of those books and teachings through ones who themselves received it from Mary Burmeister directly or indirectly, too, that Laila's overall knowledge and practice influences how the material is absorbed. And in all ways is knowledge and to each is gratitude for what they bring into the puzzle piece.
While this approach removes the name that was given by Jiro Murai and does not state Jiro Murai, by virtue of having the books as the source, it is implicit that her knowledge as she saw herself being true to it, is embedded and named in the books.
I will refer to the books as M.B.' Self Help Book, or simply: Book adding to it the number I am referencing.
It took me a year and eight months to come to kinship with the second project of M.B.'s Self Help Book I: Attitudes. The five sequences I cannot catch a logic to or a method that is personalized of how to remember those sequences. I skip trying to give it a logic, and find my way to tie each sequence to something that my memory can tap back into.. and that bit is not relevant to share here, you will find your own ways. The part I do share is how much I felt of the movement and flow within me in applying one of the sequences.
On a day a few days back, as I was still getting familiar with the fingers sequences, in light of each attitude: worry, fear, anger, sadness, and pretense, I was inclined to focus on the shortest, the ones with only two fingers in sequence: the sequence to address pretense: starts with the little finger (makes sense since this is the finger one would hold for a 'quickie' on pretense) followed by the ring finger.
Ease was to the continue with one added step, the middle finger, making the three step sequence of the 'anger' attitude. So, with three fingers, I covered two sequences dedicated to two attitudes: pretense (small and ring), anger (small, ring, and middle).
It was the left hand that I was holding. Note: my visible imbalances are generally on my left side.
At the end of the sequence, I felt what I would most closely describe as motion of particles in a closed bottle on a hot day where particles are pressuring the sides of the bottle. That was felts in my leg and foot. That came after another type of sensation and motion, when I was still on the first finger, the little one, a while into the hold of minutes that crossed the ten minutes, there was a motion of the legs, it was perhaps too quick for me to observe what part exactly had moved, but it did move, then again closer to the feet and legs knew down a second time after a brief moment. When I reached the second finger, the ring finger, the motion was in the knee area, and an apparent prick at the bottom part of the left toe.
My toes, of both feet, the left feet toes most often dry-wood-like unbendable almost, could very healthily fold onto themselves, albeit with some mental nudging from me to have the fold on the left foot toes mimic the originally healthy fold on the right foot الحمد لله alhamduliLlah, thank God.
The second application of that sequence a few days later captured a different sensation on the last step, interestingly when holding the middle finger, I felt as if a pull between the arch and the big toe, especially on the left foot, was felt. I say interestingly because in M.B.'s Book II the middle finger is identified as the finger to energize lock #6 which is where the arch is.
I stop at this observation as a way to mark readiness to now absorb the application of the five finger sequences of the five attitudes, that Book I project II 'Attitudes' is about.
Proofing note: This is a text that is not proofed with terminology and accuracy from the textbooks and teachers. I write it in rawness at the very point I am at in my knowledge, this is a disclaimer that the content may contain mistakes and so, for students and seeker of that knowledge to revert back to books and teachers.
Home, Flat C, 104 Crystal Palace Park Road, Bromley, London, UK. Monday 25 Shaaban 1446, 24 February 2025.