What is kinesiology
Imagery: Mathew Coyte // @mathewcoyte
Words: Emma Vidgen // @emma_vee
Andrea O’Shea was working in the beauty industry and feeling totally disillusioned when she discovered kinesiology. “I was looking for something more. I felt something was missing for me, and I couldn't really pinpoint what it was,” Andrea tells The Wayward. “I was working in a medi-spa and my boss at the time recommended I go for kinesiology, it was part of the work package.”
With no idea what to expect, Andrea booked in. “I went every week for 10 weeks and was like, "Wow! Oh my god." It changed my life!” Andrea says. “Finances were always a struggle for me, and that just completely transformed. I started to step into my power. I started to see my value more… I started to get better positions at work, better pay, better bosses and then from there, my whole life transformed.”
WHAT IS KINESIOLOGY
Andrea was so inspired by the shifts she saw in her own life, she decided to study kinesiology herself. She now runs her own clinic Kaizen Skin.Body.Being in Sydney. For the uninitiated, kinesiology is a holistic healing modality drawing on chiropractic theory, Traditional Chinese Medicine and nutrition. The aim of a kinesiologist is to restore balance to our physical, emotional and mental systems. Using muscle-testing to decipher where the body is holding imbalances, a kinesiologist draws on a huge tool box of skills from tapping and acupressure to botanical essences and talk therapy to restore equilibrium to the body.
healing the root cause
Unlike simply going for a massage to treat bad back, kinesiologists dig deeper to investigate underlying emotional issues that may be manifesting in physical ailments. “We look at the cause, not just the symptom. It’s about getting to the root,” says Andrea. “Sometimes people will have lower back pain and that lower back pain maybe because they're not emotional supported or they're stressing about finances or something like that, so you connect ... you test the emotion behind it and then as you're doing the correction for the back, while they connect with the emotional reason.”
HOW TO GET THE MOST FROM YOUR KINESIOLOGY SESSION
So how do you get the most out of a session? Like most things in life, intention is key. Turning up with an intention – even if that intention is “I need more clarity!” – is key to getting the most out of your consultation. “In every session you have a goal for where you want to be. You would set that goal and then we test the body to find out where there's imbalance in relation to that goal, but we're also involving the client,” says Andrea. “We get the client to connect to different situations from their past that may be triggering them in present time. Sometimes they also help with some of the correction techniques, so it's very interactive.”
MAKING SPACE FOR CHANGE
Once you’ve started to process and clear imbalances, the shifts in your life can be profound. “Lots of people have a limiting belief about love, like they're not worthy or not deserving or they don't love themselves fully and then they attract the wrong relationships,” says Andrea. “Once you clear that kind of stuff, they start attracting people who are right for them. A lot of clients have also built up their self-confidence and step out into running their own businesses.”