Consider this very common scenario: A person has been experiencing significant and chronic lower back pain. A variety of contemporary remedies including surgery, have been to no avail. This person’s quality of life has lessened dramatically and he/she is now despairing of ever again being able to enjoy life and living again. In what feels to the person as a last ditch effort to find relief, he/she again consults two orthopedic surgeon experts. One recommends additional surgery, assuring the patient that this is the very best option. The other surgeon says: “This back pain is due to your mental and emotional habits. Changing your thinking and emotional habits will offer you the very best chance to heal, recover, and live a full life. Surgery is definitely NOT your answer.” Two experts offering two dramatically differing recommendations.
What is that person to do? What would you do if you were in this position? How is the person to know which approach, if either, is the best to take?
This scenario is presented in the arena of what most would refer to as the hard sciences (e.g., orthopedics, oncology, even physics). Now imagine that this person’s problem fell in the arena of the softer sciences, for example, the fields of psychology and psychotherapy. If experts in the hard science fields can disagree, one can imagine the breath of conflicting clinical opinions that exist in the softer sciences. I assure you, they do.
Now consider this: What if the patient and doctor had a tool they could use that could tell them which clinical intervention would be best? As profound as it might seem, such a tool does exists. It is called muscle-testing.
Muscle Testing
Muscle-testing, also referred to as clinical kinesiological muscle testing (Hawkins, 1995), is a procedure in which a clinician assesses the relative strength of a patient’s indicator muscle, which is typically the deltoid muscle. Any muscle can be used, and I most frequently use a patient’s finger muscles. The procedure is based on the fact that when a person holds in mind a proposition that is true, his/her muscle(s) will test strong and when a person holds in mind a proposition that is false, the muscle(s) will briefly test weak. This response occurs regardless of the person’s belief and whether or not the person has any familiarity with the concept/proposition being tested.
Muscle testing was originally researched by Kendall et. al. in 1971. It was popularized by chiropractor George Goodheart in 1976 when he published his book, Applied Kinesiology. Goodheart used muscle testing in part, to determine if a particular substance was healthy/life enhancing or not for a particular individual. He also used muscle testing to assess which areas of a person’s spine were functioning properly or improperly and thus knew where to apply chiropractic interventions.
In 1979, psychiatrist John Diamond, MD, expanded muscle testing to include his discovery that muscles would respond strong or weak to positive or negative emotional and intellectual stimuli, respectively. For example, a picture of a smiling infant will test strong and the statement, “I hate you,” will test weak. Dr. Diamond’s called his new discipline, Behavioral Kinesiology.
Research on the kinesiological response as applied to truth or falsehood, was begun by psychiatrist Dr. David R. Hawkins, MD, PhD in 1975. He first published his findings in 1995 in a book entitled, Power vs Force. It appears that there is a part of the human being’s consciousness that has access to what Hawkins referred to as a database of consciousness. Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung, MD called it the collective unconscious. Physicist Amit Goswami, PhD referred to this database as the undivided, non-local consciousness. Some say we are tapping into the Divine Omniscience. Whatever it is, it appears our minds can access data our conscious minds are unaware of.
Particularly seminal was Dr. Hawkins’ discovery of a “scale of relative truth by which intellectual positions, statements or ideologies could be ranked on a range of one to one thousand.” In other words, it was now possible to determine just how true a particular statement was. As an example, consider the difference between a Ph.D. mathematician’s answer to the question: “What is mathematics?” and a second grader’s answer. The former would contain more truth than the latter. This discovery was expanded into Dr. Hawkins’ scale of Levels of Consciousness. Since this scale is not so relevant to the main purpose of this article, the interested reader is directed to see Hawkins (1995).
How I Use Muscle Testing in My Practice
Essentially, I use muscle testing to ascertain which type of intervention to apply, to which problem/symptom, and in what order to apply it. For example, a patient presents a complaint of suffering the physical symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). We determine further that the person also experiences depression and anxiety as a result of having this physical condition. Let us also understand that the patient initially sought treatment because he/she believed that the use of hypnosis, which I specialize in, would be helpful.
After introducing the person to muscle testing as a tool and then demonstrating it with the patient, we proceed to test which symptom to address first. In this example we test the following: The first symptom to address is physical sensation A, B, or C. The first symptom to address is the anxiety. The first symptom to address is the depression.
Let’s say the muscle testing indicated Yes, i.e., went strong to the statement: The first symptom to address is the anxiety. We would then next test which tool/method/procedure to apply first (often more than one is required) to reduce or eliminate the anxiety. My patients find it fascinating to note that they are able to demonstrate differential responses (i.e., yes and no) to propositions, constructs, and procedures they do not consciously understand. As an example, I might say: “The best method to apply to reduce the anxiety is TFT” (or EMDR or The Protocol, etc.). It is also important to note that at the time of testing, the client typically does not know what these procedures are, yet a part of his/her mind does. The treatment proceeds with the continuous use of the muscle testing procedure until the desired outcome is accomplished.
Muscle Testing Oneself
The greatest majority of people with whom I work in my practice are capable of learning how to muscle test themselves. If a patient chooses to learn self muscle testing, I tutor them throughout the course of our work together. There are a number of variables which the patient must learn about that can and do affect the accuracy of the muscle testing response.
Also, there are some people who are unable muscle test themselves, in-particular, those whose level of consciousness is below the scale of 200 (Hawkins, 2003). Fortunately, I and other practitioners are able to muscle test ourselves in order to access all the data required to assist our patients even when the patient him/herself is unable to respond accurately. We are able to tap into that database of consciousness mentioned above, which contains the information needed for us to be of assistance to our patients.
Muscle Testing: Additional Applications
In addition to the abovementioned uses of muscle testing, there is data I assess prior to agreeing to meet prospective patients. During my initial telephone contact with the person I muscle test several basic and central propositions. Typically, I assess the following, if granted permission by the One I refer to as The Holy Spirit:
Based on the information the individual has conveyed to me, I do have the capability to be of assistance.
This person is currently able to benefit from treatment.
This person is currently willing to benefit from treatment.
The symptom(s) can be significantly ameliorated, healed or cured.
The Holy Spirit directs me to work with this person at this time.
The answers help me in my decision to accept (or not) the person as a patient. Thus, I know in advance, the potential for our work together to be successful. However, in light of the gift of free choice, any individual can, at any point in the process, choose to reject his/her opportunities for self-improvement. Oft times, people will succumb to fear and retreat from the rigors of the treatment process. Yet, even in such instances, seeds of health, help, and happiness have been sown which may bear fruit sometime in the future.
I have taught muscle testing to hundreds of colleagues these past few decades. When they contact me to conduct a remote session with themselves and their clients, the clinicians will often utilize muscle testing with their clients during our session. This helps make the information that is being offered objective and often ratifies for the patient the soundness of the interventions.
Conclusion
It is my hope that this article has served to clarify both what muscle testing is and how it is employed in my practice. It is a marvelous tool that most people can learn to use and apply to almost every facet of their lives as well as its usefulness in clinical practice. It helps to reinforce the understanding that it is the person’s High Self whom is the expert regarding the person, above and beyond any professional expert. This is remarkably empowering for the patient.