In this post, I share an easy hack for health decisions. Making decisions about your health can be stressful! And facing multiple layers of decisions at once quickly leads to decision fatigue. When you have Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) or another chronic illness you may not have healthcare practitioners that are not adequately knowledgeable about your illness, you may still be looking for a doctor who gets your situation, or you may just need more daily, hands-on input than your practitioner is able to give you. In any case, having reliable information for making decisions about your healthcare is crucial. This post will introduce you to using kinesiology — the wisdom of your own body — to gather information for healthcare decisions.
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Table of Contents
Note: Kinesiology is not a substitute for professional medical advice, and you should still consult with your healthcare team regarding your healthcare decisions.
What is kinesiology?
Kinesiology uses your body’s electrical system to determine if there is resistance to a decision. Your body has its own electrical system that powers the physiological processes in your cells and the chemical exchange of information in your neurons. Your cells have polarity just like magnets, as do your body parts, and your body as a whole.
Kinesiology utilizes your body’s electrical system, which has access to what your best self knows, to provide YES/NO answers to questions. You may have encountered kinesiology, or “muscle testing,” as it is sometimes called, in a chiropractic visit, or with other holistic providers. A trained provider can use muscle testing to determine the nature of an injury, sensitivity, or imbalance in your body.
There are many ways to use kinesiology to tap into the wisdom of your body, from using your fingers to being monitored by a computer to determine resistance in your electrical circuitry. In the image above a practitioner is using the client’s arm to muscle-test using kinesiology. Below I introduce two techniques for using kinesiology with your fingers and a pendulum.
What is MCAS?
Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) is a chronic condition that affects all organ systems. MCAS is serious and disabling and people with MCAS experience often significant and debilitating symptoms daily, including anaphylaxis, which can be fatal.
MCAS is often found in combination with other chronic conditions such as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).
Frequently healthcare providers do not know about MCAS, and the tests for MCAS are problematic because they are not uniformly reliable. MCAS can be difficult to manage. Treatments include blocking mast cell mediators with anti-histamines and mast cell stabilizers, as well as avoiding triggers.
Check out this post on how to manage MCAS.
The bucket theory
The bucket theory offers a helpful analogy for understanding symptom reactions with MCAS.
Think of your body as an empty bucket that you want to keep from overflowing. Different foods and activities fill your histamine bucket at different speeds but they combine to form the total level of histamine in your body (how full your bucket is). A fuller bucket means you have more histamine symptoms. When you manage triggers, reduce exposure to known triggers, and take medications and supplements to reduce histamine, you can manage the level of your bucket.
Know your typical symptom progression
One of the keys to understanding the level of your bucket is knowing your symptom progression. It is helpful to keep track of the symptoms you are having and to evaluate whether they are escalating. Symptom escalation means that the level of your bucket is rising.
Knowing your symptom progression in a symptom flare is the key to developing your own rescue plan. In this post, I discuss how to determine your own symptom progression. Once you know what typically happens in your symptom progression you can design a rescue plan to address those symptoms.
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Method 1 – Kinesiology using your fingers
The first hack for health decisions is a kinesiology technique where you will use your own fingers to access the wisdom of your body.
For this technique, you use the fingers of one hand to form an electrical circuit and the fingers of the other hand to challenge the integrity of the circuit.
It is helpful to read through the directions for this method a couple of times before you start so that you understand what to do. The following kinesiology technique is based on Machaelle Wright’s method.
Finger kinesiology process
You can watch my video demonstration here on how to use your fingers for kinesiology.
- Use your non-dominant hand to form your circuit fingers: (in this example, it is the left hand)
Allow your left pinky and thumb tips to touch forming a circuit.
These are your circuit fingers. - The right hand (dominant hand) is your test fingers.
Form a “u” shape with your thumb and forefinger.
These are your test fingers. - For the testing position:
Insert your test fingers (dominant hand) into your circuit fingers (non-dominant hand).
Your test fingers should gently touch your circuit fingers with equal pressure. - Ask a question while gently trying to spread your test fingers apart, to break the circuit.
You receive a positive response to the question when your test fingers don’t pull your circuit fingers apart. A strong circuit equals a YES answer. - You receive a negative answer when you can break the circuit (even if only a little). A weak circuit equals a NO answer.
- Now you are going to calibrate your finger kinesiology. Practice asking questions you know the answer is YES to. Notice what YES feels like when your fingers have a strong circuit.
- Then practice asking questions that you know the answer is NO. Notice what NO feels like when you have a weak circuit.
- If you get tired or confused, take a break, and then try again.
Method 2 – Kinesiology using a pendulum
The first hack for health decisions is using a pendulum to get YES/NO answers to questions via your body’s electrical system. The main requirement for this method is that you have a pendulum. You can either purchase a pendulum, or make one using simple tools like a string, and weight with a hole in it, such as a key.
Some people prefer using a pendulum for kinesiology because they like the experience of using a “tool” more than their own body. Others prefer not to rely on a tool to access their inner guidance. You will figure out your own preference.
You can either make a simple pendulum or there are many types available for purchase online.
Here is a quick DIY pendulum-making tutorial.
Once you have a pendulum you are ready to work with it.
Pendulum process
You can watch my video demonstration of the pendulum method of kinesiology here.
- When using the pendulum method start by standing up and press your feet into the ground with your knees slightly bent to get the sense that you are physically grounded. Once you get the hang of using the pendulum you can easily use this method in a sitting position too.
- As with the kinesiology method, you will calibrate your pendulum to understand how your body’s electrical system works with the pendulum to express YES and NO. Ask the pendulum to show you your YES. You might see the pendant begin to move in a circle (clockwise or counterclockwise), side-to-side, or in a front-and-back swing. Whatever you see the pendulum doing is your YES
- Now ask your pendulum to signal NO. Watch for your pendulum’s response, which will be different from the YES. If you can’t tell the difference between your YES and NO, try again, asking for greater clarity.
- Once you understand your pendulum’s signal for YES and NO, practice asking questions you know the answer to.
- Then as you get the hang of it, ask questions you don’t know the answer to. If you feel the answers you are receiving have gotten mixed up, calibrate the pendulum again. If you don’t use your pendulum for a while, recalibrate it.
- Tips – At first it might feel like you are “making” the pendulum move. In some instances that may be the case, but if you relax and ground your feet you can access your body’s wisdom via your electrical system.
Caveats for these hacks for heath decisions
Using kinesiology to obtain YES/NO answers to questions about your health (or anything) is not a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment. Kinesiology should be viewed as a way to get additional information about a situation, a proposed treatment, or a course of action. Kinesiology taps into your body’s inner wisdom, or your intuition, so it should feel like the answers you obtain from it make sense. If you get answers that go against your gut feeling, then it is best to disregard them. Connecting with your intuition feels good and uplifting. Any information that feels heavy or causes negative feelings is not coming from your intuition.
If you would like to learn more about how to tap into your intuition, check out my Sacred Self-Healing site for guided meditations, books, classes, coaching, and Sacred Self-Healing.
Did you try it?
Let me know how you like either of these methods in the comments below!
