Now that we understand that Muscle Response Feedback (aka Kinesiology) is not a modality, but rather a communication tool (see the previous post that explains this here), let’s look at what the advantages are of using this remarkable tool. These are the core understandings that will allow you to fully understand what is happening when someone pushes on your arm or leg to get a response from your body!

1. Muscle feedback allows the body to communicate where energy blockages exist.
2. Muscle feedback allows the body to work with the cause of energy blockages.
3. Muscle feedback allows the body to communicate exactly what it wants to unblock the blockages

Let’s dive in a little deeper on each of these…

1. Muscle feedback allows the body to communicate where energy blockages exist.
If muscle feedback is “the voice of innate intelligence,” it still needs a language. The language of the body is electromagnetic. Typically, a person using muscle feedback will use a series of “indicator points” to identify where blockages might exist. By
touching these points and applying gentle pressure on an arm or leg to gauge its response, the body tells you if it is experiencing stress in relation to the point being touched.

These points might come from a variety of disciplines.

One of the most common is the Alarm Points (Front Mu points) of Chinese medicine. Each of these relays information about the energy flow in the meridians of the body, which also have connections to the organs and glands. This provides information about where an energy blockage might exist.

There are a variety of other points systems, including those for chakras – energy vortexes in the body that relate to the nervous system and glands. So a number of possibilities exist for helping to identify where an energy blockage might be creating a problem.

Another form of the “language” of muscle feedback is the use of “hand modes.” These are based on the Indian Ayurvedic principle of mudras, and also involve the electromagnetic properties of the body. By holding different combinations of fingers and thumb touching each other, information can be obtained.

Another common example of the use of muscle response feedback is the “direct challenge.” In this case, someone might use a food, a supplement, or some other substance as a challenge to your system. Muscle response feedback is also an indicator of stress – so if the substance that is challenging your system causes a change in your muscle response, that provides information about whether or not that substance is good for you. You then might continue to figure out how to balance the stress of the substance so it’s not longer a problem – or simply take the information and eliminate the substance from your diet or environment.

These are just a few examples of how muscle feedback provides a voice for the body to express where and how imbalances disrupt the body’s energy.

2. Muscle feedback allows the body to work with the cause of energy blockages.
Because energy blockages create the body’s need to compensate…which in turn leads to symptoms and dysfunction…then by working with the blockage itself, you’re more likely to be working with the cause of a problem rather than just the symptom. This is in stark contrast to the current medical models.

If you can do something to unblock the blockage, allowing energy to flow and the body to come into balance, then the body has the opportunity to access its own innate healing response.
This provides another key philosophical aspect to the use of muscle feedback. The information about what a person needs to heal is coming from their body! In other words…they are the healer – not the practitioner. The practitioner is simply a facilitator of the person’s innate self-healing mechanism.

Sometimes a person has been out of balance for such a long period of time that finding a blockage isn’t necessarily the main underlying cause. That’s fine. In the body’s wisdom, it will show the blockages it needs to unblock in the order needed to be able to go deeper and eventually get to the causal blockage.

This presents another tremendous advantage in the use of muscle feedback. It allows the body to heal at its own pace. This usually avoids the possibility of a “healing crisis” that can arise from going too deep, too fast.

3. Muscle feedback allows the body to communicate exactly what it wants to unblock the blockages.

This is where things get really fun! What this means is that muscle feedback is the ultimate integrator. It allows the facilitator to integrate the entire world of the natural healing arts.

This is a huge advantage! This allows the body to communicate not just what modalities it wants to access its own innate healing ability…it can say specifically which part of a modality to use, and what order it wants the modalities to be applied.

There are a couple of limitations to keep in mind. A practitioner is limited by what they’re legally allowed to do (for example, one can’t stick needles in someone if they’re not a licensed acupuncturist). And a practitioner is somewhat limited by what’s in their particular “kit bag” (you can’t offer what you don’t know…although, I’ve often had a person’s muscle feedback lead me to something I didn’t know either!).

A person specializing in nutrition and using muscle response feedback to identify the best supplements for a person to regain health is unlikely to then balance your chakras if they don’t really know about that. But the advantage of allowing a person’s body to communicate exactly which nutritional supplements (or herbs, etc.) would best benefit them provides that practitioner a huge advantage. Imagine if doctors used MRF to let the body say what medication might be best suited for them rather than experimenting with which med “might” work.

Practitioner limitations aside, the modalities a well-rounded practitioner uses are drawn from the 4 areas mentioned before: physical, biochemical, emotional and energetic. Again, a major advantage!

In this scenario, in a typical “session,” a facilitator/practitioner may use a combination of pieces from several healing modalities in the order the body asks for them. As an example, the body might want a specific reflex rubbed (rather than an hour of only reflexology), then indicate the desire for a specific flower essence to help diffuse an emotional experience (rather than long questionnaires to determine what might be the best essence for a person based on what they’re experiencing). It might then indicate that it wants a particular food for nutritional support – or perhaps a food to avoid! – followed by the root chakra being tuned to help complete the picture.

A lot of guesswork and “generalized” healing is avoided, as your body communicates exactly what it wants. And who knows better what’s needed than your own body?

This is one of the most exciting aspects of using muscle feedback. It’s very inspiring to see and experience the results that happen from using multiple healing modalities. Every person is unique and has different needs. Therefore, every session is different…based on what your needs are at that time!

With the understanding of these 3 core benefits/advantages, it’s much easier to understand exactly what Muscle Response Feedback is and does, and how you can benefit from it.

It’s important to understand the core philosophy – the model – of almost all of the natural healing arts.

The underlying philosophy of most natural healing art forms is that the body is designed – intelligently – to heal itself. When it’s unable to do that, we look at the reason as being due to a blockage…and in some circles, an energy blockage.

This blockage arises from a one or more of the 4 principle areas of our body’s makeup: physical, biochemical (nutritional), emotional and energetic (often equated with metaphysical/spiritual).

The body, being intelligent as it is, then attempts to correct this blockage. When you sprain your ankle, you limp as a means of continuing to be able to get around. This is a compensation…and it takes its toll on other parts of the body until you don’t need to limp anymore.
However, when the imbalance is internal – as most are – compensation is mostly accomplished subconsciously. You don’t even know it’s happening! If successful, compensation provides the time for the body to obtain what it needs or go through the process required…then healing occurs.
But what if what’s needed for healing doesn’t come along? The body then continues to compensate for the blockage and the imbalances it’s creating. This puts pressure on other areas (causing further compensation).

All this compensation takes an enormous amount of energy! This energy draws directly from the body’s ability to heal in other areas that may require attention as well. Eventually, the body isn’t able to keep up and something breaks down – dysfunction, pain, illness, etc. Because compensation happens automatically and subconsciously – and the body’s very good at it! – you may not even know that’s something’s wrong until you experience symptoms or dysfunction. By this time, it’s a much longer road back to health!

Naturally, anything that can help unblock blockages before this becomes such a long term problem is going to provide a huge advantage. Balancing energy and keeping it flowing by providing what the body needs, when it needs it, helps prevent these long term problems from occurring. This is the basis of preventative care – wellness.

Perhaps you’ve seen it. Someone holding a bottle while another person pushes on their extended arm. And you wonder… “What the heck is that all about?”

Perhaps you’ve experienced it. “Here, hold this.” And someone pushes on your arm. And you wonder… “What the heck is that all about?”

Perhaps you’re even an experienced practitioner of it, and you tell others to “hold.” And then someone asks you… “What the heck is that all about?”

And that’s where things get tough. Whether you’re the explainer or the person being explained to, there’s likely a lot of ambiguity involved. 

I’d like to clear that up so that you have a clear understanding about Muscle Response Feedback (MRF). If you’re the explainer, this will help you tell your family, friends and clients what you’re really doing. And if you’re a person who either knows little or nothing about MRF, or you’ve had it explained to you but still don’t really “get it,” at the end of this, you’ll have a much better understanding about why MRF is such a critical tool for helping with health and wellness.

MRF Defined

Let’s begin with just a straight definition…

Musce Response Feedback is the response a practitioner receives from another person when applying gradual pressure to (usually) an arm or a leg in a specific position. That position is based on a particular muscle’s action – in other words, what that muscle does to make the arm or leg move.

For example, the Anterior Deltoid muscle, located at the top of the arms and crossing the shoulder joint, swings the arm forward. So if you place the arm forward about 30 degrees with a straight elbow, and the practitioner tries to push it straight backwards, you are “testing” the anterior deltoid’s ability to “hold,” or maintain, that position.

When a person pushes on your arm or leg being held in a specific position, there are two possible responses. The muscle “holds,” meaning that with gradual pressure, the muscle responds and the arm or leg maintains its position. Or the muscle doesn’t hold, and it becomes more difficult to hold the arm or leg in place. 

What Does The Feedback Mean?

While there are some intricacies to the interpretation of a “hold” vs. a “not hold,” these are the two basic responses that a practitioner gauges to follow the story the body has to tell. In this manner, the body now is communicating.

Therefore, Muscle Response Feedback is a means of communicating with the body via muscle response. This gives the body the opportunity to:

1. Indicate where blockages to healing exist 
2. Why they exist (so you work with cause, not just symptoms)
3. What the body wants to unblock the blockages.

Where, why and what. 

When blockages to healing are removed, the body has the opportunity to access its own innate healing ability. (see post… The Basic Philosophy of Healing)

And how exactly does MRF do this? 

My Journey Through The Confusion

Like anyone first learning MRF, also commonly referred to as muscle testing or some sort of Kinesiology (Energy-, Specialized-, Applied-, etc.), I struggled to figure out how to tell people what MRF is. Part of the problem is that no-one ever really clearly explained it to me! The focus was much more on the how to do MRF, and not so much on the how or why it works.

Now, with 30 years of both using and teaching others how to use this amazing tool, I’ve developed a clear understanding of the philosophy and models of muscle feedback and healing. This has led to a means of communicating what MRF is in a way that people better understand.

When I was first learning, I was often asked… “What exactly is Energy Kinesiology/muscle testing?” (or whichever other name comes up). Or, more commonly, something to the effect of… “What the heck is it that you do???” 

I would stumble along…and then they’d ask… “Is it like massage? Reiki? Acupressure?”

The answer is that MRF is not like any of those things. And this is where the fundamental misunderstandings arises. Massage, Reiki, acupressure and more… those are all healing modalities. Things that a person does to someone to affect a change – in their body, their biochemistry, their emotions, their energy…whatever.

Pushing on an arm or leg as a means of getting muscle feedback is not a healing modality. This is the core principle that helps people begin to really understand muscle feedback. 

And it’s something you’ve likely never heard someone say so clearly…

Muscle feedback is a communication tool…plain and simple.

You push on an arm or leg as a means of getting information from the body. That’s it!

So, simply put, muscle feedback/testing/Energy Kinesiology is a means of “talking” to the body to get information about the body wants to heal. 

And while seemingly so simple, it’s actually extraordinarily profound. As such, when using an individual specific muscle to communicate with the body in this way – often referred to as an Indicator Muscle – I refer to MRF as “the Voice of Innate Intelligence.”

Muscle feedback doesn’t balance, heal or fix anything. It’s just information. And, as with any information, it comes down to interpretation. This is where the skilled facilitator comes into play.

Ok…So Now What?

Distinguishing between a healing modality and a communication tool may not seem like a big deal. But it is! It provides an initial foundation for people to understand what to expect from using or experiencing Muscle Response Feedback.

And while using MRF doesn’t “do” anything to a person – after all, it’s “just” feedback – its importance cannot be overstated. In fact, its importance is emphasized.

While there are many methods based on muscle feedback – various forms of Energy Kinesiology or Specialized Kinesiology (blanket terms often used for these methods) – it’s the healing modalities contained within them that ultimately affects change in the person being practice upon. The healing modalities are much of what you learn when you attend workshops and seminars based on the use of muscle feedback.

The key to this is now the body has the opportunity to pick exactly which healing modalities it wants in order to achieve the goal of accessing its innate healing ability. This is incredibly powerful.

And therein lies the power of using this important communication tool.

Questions or comments? Start or join the discussion below.

Now that you have a better idea of what MRF is, the next post goes deeper into the 3 main advantages to be gained from using MRF. Click here to be taken directly there…

To learn more about what the key advantages are of using MRF, continue on to the next post here.