Megan Mary: Welcome. Today I have Karen Ritter Stuart. She is a Jin Shin Jyutsu, practitioner and self help instructor.
Megan Mary: Karen began studying this profound healing art after it helped rid her son of a serious immune disorder. Karen is a a married mother of 4 who lives in Larchmont, New York. Welcome, Karen.
Karen Ridder Stuart: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Megan Mary: I'm so glad to have you here today. I love this concept of this healing art, and I know that it is not that well known. So I'm really excited to bring it to everyone today so that you can share everything about how it is changed your life.
Megan Mary: so that hopefully they can have a taste of it as well.
Megan Mary: So one of my first questions for you is, what does enlightenment mean to you?
Karen Ridder Stuart: So enlightenment means a lot of different things to me. But I think at its core it just means like an innate knowledge, like when you're enlightened. It's just you're one with yourself in the universe, and you just have like an inner knowing.
Megan Mary: Yes, I agree with that completely. It's
Megan Mary: enlightenment is how we get
Megan Mary: to that state of inner knowing, I think.
Megan Mary: Yes.
Megan Mary: yes, so
Megan Mary: share with us your enlightenment journey. It was there, a pivotal moment, and I know I've I know your story, so let's share it with everyone else. The pivotal moment I brought you to where you are today.
Karen Ridder Stuart: The pivotal moment was when my child was. He was diagnosed with something that's called hypogammaglobulinemia, where he basically had stopped making antibodies, and
Karen Ridder Stuart: he was 4 years old at the time, but before then he had started having a lot of health issues at the age of one. So from one to 4 it was just a nonstop series of doctor visits and
Karen Ridder Stuart: going to different specialists and have it trying all this different medication. And it just was.
Karen Ridder Stuart: I mean to be honest it was terrifying, and
Karen Ridder Stuart: you know I shared this story before like it. It's started when I had 3 boys in 3 years, and when FinBar was only a year old, I gave birth to my third son, Brendan and
Karen Ridder Stuart: I don't want to mention names, but somebody came over with the child, who was very sick, and
Karen Ridder Stuart: I grabbed the infant Brendan to hide him, and I didn't.
Karen Ridder Stuart: Instead of politely asking them to leave and please come back when you know your daughter's healthy, because I didn't want to embarrass you to make them feel uncomfortable. I just figured, okay. If Finbar gets a cold. It'll be fine. It's not a big deal. Let me just protect the infant, and that's
Karen Ridder Stuart: unbeknownst to me, the child had RSV, so it wasn't just a common cold that, you know. Finbar quickly got over. It started
Karen Ridder Stuart: right
Karen Ridder Stuart: this 3 year nightmare of him just being so sick. And
Karen Ridder Stuart: you know I don't like to focus on the details that much, because I never want to call that back into his life. I just like focusing on his health. But I was so angry at myself, and I was so angry at this person for bringing
Karen Ridder Stuart: their child over when they were so sick, and when the day we got the diagnosis of the hypogammaglobulinemia I
Karen Ridder Stuart: just
Karen Ridder Stuart: surrendered to God like literally. I just was on my knees begging for help. And the second I let go of my anger, and the second I, just as I said, surrendered, and begged for help. Our children's pediatrician, you know, called me on the phone and said, All right, Karen.
Karen Ridder Stuart: before we start, because they, his immunologist, wanted to start him on this very invasive treatment that once you started he would have to do for the rest of his life.
Karen Ridder Stuart: So our pediatrician called and said, Okay, before we start this, let's try Jin Shin Jyutsu, because our pediatrician was a Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner before he was doctor. He's from France, And then, as an aside, he was like, I think you know, you would really benefit from.
Karen Ridder Stuart: you know, getting a session yourself because I a nervous break. I literally was just like in bed, like covers over my head. Nervous breakdown!
Karen Ridder Stuart: I actually had landed in the ER that day
Karen Ridder Stuart: because my it and it was the first time somebody said to me, you have like you have. This is anxiety. This is not the things that I was concerned it was so. I guess that was the beginning of my enlightenment journey. Because I
Karen Ridder Stuart: you know, our pediatrician was so kind. He literally drove us to because throughout the years we'd become like very close friends. He's drove us to our appointment at the Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioners office and
Karen Ridder Stuart: like. I just in words, escaped me to completely describe how I felt I thought there was no help like I was never going to feel okay again. Nothing was ever going to be okay again.
Karen Ridder Stuart: but I figured, you know. I'll try it, and I
Karen Ridder Stuart: it just like I found myself
Karen Ridder Stuart: like laughing about stories I did in college, and I was like 30 at the time I'm like, what is wrong with me like? Why am I even thinking about things like when I was 18? Never mind like sharing and laughing about them, and then it to me, because I was free and college was the last time.
Karen Ridder Stuart: I just felt like Karen without any labels, because my like, right after I graduated from. I know I didn't share this before, but right after I graduated from college my parents were killed in the car accident.
Karen Ridder Stuart: and so
Karen Ridder Stuart: you know, that was traumatic, and you know my brothers were in high school. I became their guardian. So you know I had that trauma, and then I got married pretty shortly after that, and then I had these most beautiful
Karen Ridder Stuart: baby boys. but yet they were sick, and it was just so much there was so much stress and so much anxiety. And in that 1 hr session
Karen Ridder Stuart: I that's 23, when my parents, when the accident happened, and I was 33, 34, when I had my first session, and in that 1 hr it was the first time I felt like Karen
Karen Ridder Stuart: since I was 23 years old, like no labels, just
Karen Ridder Stuart: like just free and just happy. And all I knew is that I always wanted to feel this way, and I just
Karen Ridder Stuart: wanted to learn everything I could about Jin Shin Jyutsu, and on the flip side
Karen Ridder Stuart: my son Finbar
Karen Ridder Stuart: We took him like once a week, for you know his, a session. But I was working on him myself at night, because the beauty of Jin Shin Jitsu it's like all self help, and you could do it on yourself. Others can do it on you. You don't have to wait to go to a doctor, or whoever, for your next appointment. It's like available to you 24, 7. And so, with the combination of taking him to an official Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner and practicing on him myself. When we went back to the immunologist. After about 4 weeks his labs were perfect.
Karen Ridder Stuart: the 100% perfect. He was taken off
Karen Ridder Stuart: all of his medication, and it was just like. It was astounding, and I literally have just devoted my life
Karen Ridder Stuart: to
Karen Ridder Stuart: not only learning as much as I can about Jin Shin Jyutsu to help myself and my family and friends, but also to do what I can to make it a household name, because it is the most simple, beautiful art.
Karen Ridder Stuart: Yet it's just very little. It's just very little known. And I just would love to do what I can to help. People know that this is out there, and this is so easy, and you could do it on yourself, you could do it on anyone, and you'll just be astounded
Karen Ridder Stuart: by the difference it'll make in like your mental health, your physical health, your emotional health. It's just mind, body, spirit, harmonizer.
Karen Ridder Stuart: That's my story.
Karen Ridder Stuart: It was such a lesson to me about anger and holding on to anger and bitterness, and that was in terms of enlightenment that was like a huge lesson.
Karen Ridder Stuart: you know, to let things go and not stay in that like negative place, and just to be in a you know.
Karen Ridder Stuart: I find the more I look at people with love
Karen Ridder Stuart: and from a loving place instead of, you know, an understanding where they're coming for, and just have love from them, no matter what life just flows so much easier
Karen Ridder Stuart: and better.
Megan Mary: Yes, absolutely. And that's the
Megan Mary: leading with your heart. That's the the dharmic approach. Right? That's the the whole reason that I sought out women who were
Megan Mary: following their calling and had started heart center businesses. Because I feel like they have something really special to offer. They've had their own struggles and their own tragedies, and really have found
Megan Mary: a gift through that. And your story is no different in that in that sense.
Megan Mary: but what you found is very different. And I think it's really important that you you share that I feel like. That's the silver lining to things that happen to us is, if we share them.
then
Megan Mary: they help others, and it takes a lot of courage and
Megan Mary: kind of selflessness to do that. But the rewards are profound, and the extent that you can reach other people can be profound.
Karen Ridder Stuart: I agree, I honestly, in retrospect. I feel like this is just. God was using the situation with Finbar
Karen Ridder Stuart: to put me in this place to share this gift with others. I feel Finbar was always safe. as terrifying as it was at the time like, I feel like he was always in God's hands, and he was always safe. He was always going to be okay, and that this was just part of the journey.
Megan Mary: and I feel like that the pivotal moment where you released your anger
Megan Mary: opened the blockages they allowed that goodness to come into your life. And yeah, and I think that is, we need to get out of our own way, which is easier said than done. But I think that a lot of times that
Megan Mary: whatever modality you're using, it's trying to achieve that same accomplishment of letting the energy flow freely so that you can be open.
Karen Ridder Stuart: Exactly. Yes.
Megan Mary: So I think that part of part of what you've discovered. I also like the aspect that it helped you as well, because you were seeking out the answer for your son.
Megan Mary: You weren't really seeking for yourself.
Megan Mary: In doing that, you actually.
Megan Mary: found something that you also deeply needed.
Karen Ridder Stuart: So I would like to. Oh, sorry. Yeah, I just want to add, because in Jin Shin Jyutsu there's something about like the mother controlling the energy of the household, and
Karen Ridder Stuart: the better I got, the better my children got. And so it's so important it, you know, if there are any mothers out here listening, and they have a child who might be struggling with some kind of label or another.
Karen Ridder Stuart: It's so important to not just get that child help. You have to help yourself first, and I do work with a bunch of mothers and sons, and
Karen Ridder Stuart: it's such a beautiful experience, and it's such a beautiful bonding experience.
Karen Ridder Stuart: for the 2 of them. But it's super super super. I can't emphasize enough how important it is for mothers to take care of themselves and heal themselves or harmonize themselves, and not just make it about the kid, because the healthier you are, the healthier your child your whole family will be.
Megan Mary: It makes perfect sense. Yes, and
Megan Mary: and also because it's the energy, right? It's the energy that's flowing in your environment. And that can that as well as heart anything harbored can create dis-ease in the body.
Megan Mary: and that dis-ease can present itself in a variety of ways, and it doesn't just have to be in one person. It can be just the environment in general.
Megan Mary: So let's talk a little bit more about the technique of Jin Shin Jyutsu
Megan Mary: the way that it, the way that it works so that people
Megan Mary: okay, make it a little bit more accessible to the listeners so they understand? Yeah.
Karen Ridder Stuart: So basically, it just works with your fingers and your hands. Your body has what they call 26 safety energy locks on your right and left side of the body, and any
Karen Ridder Stuart: disharmony that might occur is from one of the safety energy lots becoming jammed or locked. And so the energetic pathway is blocked and things aren't flowing smoothly. And so the purpose of the session is just to hold those points in a certain sequence, depending on what I hear.
Karen Ridder Stuart: A session starts by listening to a clients, energetic pulses that are in the wrist, and that kind of guides me to where in the body the disharmony might be.
Karen Ridder Stuart: and just the goal of each session is to unleash and release any disharmony just have things flowing.
Megan Mary: and I would imagine that when you do identify where that block is
Megan Mary: that
Megan Mary: releasing it, I don't know. You tell me, does it? Do you, then have to reprocess that emotion, or does it just disintegrate, or
Karen Ridder Stuart: In my experience, it just releases.
Megan Mary: Hmm, well, that makes it easier.
Karen Ridder Stuart: Yeah.
Karen Ridder Stuart: But it's funny, because it.
Karen Ridder Stuart: You know everybody is different. Every situation is different, but emotions that are deep and buried will come up during a session, and
Karen Ridder Stuart: I mean, I don't like to talk about anybody else, so I'll just talk about myself. One time when I was having a session my practitioner was like, Oh, like
Karen Ridder Stuart: in in. We divide things into depth, and each depth has an emotion attached to it. And he had asked if I was angry because he was hearing a lot of depth in my pulses, and I was like, I'm angry, and I wasn't in my mind lying, or
Karen Ridder Stuart: just like hiding anything. I wasn't feeling angry at all. And so, you know, he started to work on me and do flows. And then all of a sudden, I just started going off on this person who
Karen Ridder Stuart: was really like irritating me, or as upset about. And after a couple of minutes of kind of like talking about it. I looked at him like Oh, my God! I had no idea that was in me, because it was something from
Karen Ridder Stuart: like so long ago, like I had no clue that that was still like I hadn't. So that's kind of cool. How, Jin Shin Jyutsu, it works that way just brings things to the surface so that they can be released.
Karen Ridder Stuart: So that was kinda cool.
Megan Mary: Yes, and I feel like there's a lot of parallels there with dreamwork, because you have. You're carrying around subconsciously a lot of things that you don't consciously know you are, and they are affecting your daily life, your behavior, the way your viewpoint, your perspective and your health.
Megan Mary: And when we, when we delve into dreams, and we look at what they're trying to tell us i in their stories that they're telling us
Megan Mary: that leads to many times the revelation of that
Megan Mary: item, person, situation that you're holding on to and
Megan Mary: can help to bring that to the surface. Just as you're
Karen Ridder Stuart: definitely
Megan Mary: so. I think they both have that same
Megan Mary: healing modality in a different in a different way. But they're both treating the bodies blockages treating the things that occur in the stay in the mind but affect the body, affect the spirit.
Megan Mary: And so I see a lot of a lot of overlap there.
Karen Ridder Stuart: for sure. Yeah, I definitely can see that for sure.
Karen Ridder Stuart: We're like an onion. It's like
Karen Ridder Stuart: somebody will present with a symptom. But the symptom is nothing to do with the cause, like the cause is so many layers down, and you just have to peel like each layer off to get to what the core which I love about Jin Shin Jyutsu, because it really it gets to the root like instead of just treating
Karen Ridder Stuart: the presenting, as I said, the presenting symptom, it really gets the root of what's causing the symptom. And so that's when, like the deepest healing and harmonizing take place when you get to the root of it.
Megan Mary: Yes, yes. so what do you find? Are the most common misconceptions people have about what you do?
Karen Ridder Stuart: Oh, that's a good question. I don't know if misconception is the right word, I would say
Karen Ridder Stuart: I don't know if people really believe how that in its effectiveness. And I always say, like.
Karen Ridder Stuart: Jin Shin Jyutsu it's experiential. You need to experience it to understand it. I'm the first to admit. I thought all this was "woo woo" too, until I experienced it. And then I'm like, Oh, my! Gosh! Like
Karen Ridder Stuart: silly me like it's just. It's just words until you experience. And then, when you experience it. Then, you know.
Megan Mary: and I, but I, I'm sorry. Oh, go, ahead.
Karen Ridder Stuart: oh, I, just think it's important, I don't want to make it sound like this is some like magic, you know. Hold of a thumb or a safety energy lock for a minute, and then, like Whoo! Like you're done. It's a lifetime. It's you know. I always say that you can't be a thousand pounds and go to the gym for an hour, and expect to be your perfect health and perfect shape, and Jin Shin Jyutsu it's cumulative. And it really.
the more you do it
Karen Ridder Stuart: like, the more effective it is, and the more you'd make it an everyday part of your life. That's when you'll see, like the greatest results.
Karen Ridder Stuart: It doesn't have to be like an hour every day. It could be a couple of minutes. But just if it just becomes part of your day to day. you know, practice or lifestyle like that's when it's just the results are amazing. Can I share a story that happened today?
Megan Mary: Yeah, absolutely.
Karen Ridder Stuart: Because I just consider this my Jin Shin Jyutsu life because there is not a day that goes by, or a circumstance that doesn't arise where I use it. Today. I'm sure you're aware. Up in the northeast we're just surrounded by
Karen Ridder Stuart: like the smoke, and like the smoke and the but what's it called the
Karen Ridder Stuart: The clouds from the Canadian wildfires. And today was the worst day. I mean the to go outside was, like you know, startling. And normally.
Karen Ridder Stuart: I had. I'm not gonna, lie. I knew we had this, podcast. I wanted my hair look nice. So I made a hair appointment, and I normally would have like, if we didn't have this, I would have rescheduled it because I knew today wasn't the day, like I wanted to be with like a group of people, because, just as I, you know, suspected when I got to the salon. Everybody was talking, and there was so much.
Karen Ridder Stuart: there was just so much fear in the air, and I found myself, without even thinking or realizing I was holding my thumb and thumb helps to release worry.
Karen Ridder Stuart: And I was like, so it yeah, I love how I, just without even thinking, just helped myself. And then but as time went on
Karen Ridder Stuart: it it really moved beyond just people being a little concerned because I was like the sky got yellower and yellower, and then we start to actually smell the smoke inside the salon which you couldnt when I first got there, the salong felt very clean, so people's anxiety was amped up, and I found myself
Karen Ridder Stuart: Just wanting to run and be like I just want to run. I just want to go home like. I don't want to hear all this scuttlebut and I was like, "Karen, No. That's silly, you know what to do". And so in Jin Shin Jyutsu. I actually wrote an Instagram post about this today. The outside of your wrist is called safety energy lock 17. And this is like so dynamic to help if you're feeling like really, really anxious or scared, even like light headed like it. Just it just calms your body right down.
Karen Ridder Stuart: So I took a breath. And you know I held it, and I was like, you know, a couple minute or 2 later I was like, All right, I'm good.
Karen Ridder Stuart: And so
Karen Ridder Stuart: every day, like something like that happens. If there's something I can always
Karen Ridder Stuart: help like, I always use it to help me in whatever situation
Karen Ridder Stuart: might arise because I have a hard time I
Karen Ridder Stuart: like I don't know. You might be the same way like it's. This is something I really have to
Karen Ridder Stuart: work on like I absorb the energies around me, like if I'm with somebody who's feeling sad, and it's like I feel it, and that's something I
Karen Ridder Stuart: I know I need to work on myself to kind of protect myself and not absorb. But in this moment I have a hard time. If it's just one person like it. But to have, like.
Karen Ridder Stuart: you know, a mass of that energy like it's it's a struggle to kind of stay in my own center, and not, you know, get caught up in all of that. So I was excited. I was like, this is so great.
Karen Ridder Stuart: that I can help myself.
Megan Mary: That would be a great tip for any empaths that are listening.
Megan Mary: and as well as anybody who is susceptible to absorbing other people's energies. Anyone that's highly sensitive or intuitive. You really tend to take on other people's energy quite easily, and
Megan Mary: you have to. You have to
Megan Mary: be part of the self care of that is cleansing that. And so it's great to hear that there's practical applications of it that you can use it in an emergency as well as the benefits of it being a long term thing, because when I when I was doing it. But okay, this is this is very
Megan Mary: calming. It takes almost a lot of patience to slow down that much.
Megan Mary: and in doing that it reminded me very much of meditation or breathwork, or anything that slows you down and says, Stop everything and breathe and be still. And when we, when we open that space for ourselves, and we hold that space.
Megan Mary: that's when we really are able to connect to source, or whatever you want to call it, your higher self.
that's when
Megan Mary: we can hear that. And that's when we can feel that, and when we live in our busy world, and we take on everybody else's energy, and we let fear rule our decisions then we're not listening to that. We're very disconnected from that. And we get used to that disconnect state. And I think that the disconnect is also part of the dis-ease. They they go together, and they feed off each other.
Karen Ridder Stuart: I know fear is such I mean, that's my project in life. I I definitely have PTSD and and just. you know this.
Karen Ridder Stuart: that's been my journey and my healing process. But it's
Karen Ridder Stuart: it's just when you can release it and be in a place of trust like I just it's just life is so much, it's just so much better.
Karen Ridder Stuart: And and all levels.
Megan Mary: Yes, I read just yesterday. If you're dwelling on the past, you're depressed, and if you're dwelling on the future, you're stressed.
Megan Mary: and the only way to avoid both of those is to be present, and really just not not worried that way. Not worry that way. Just try to live in the flow of the present, which sounds so easy, but it's one of the hardest things to do.
Karen Ridder Stuart: but when you do it it's worth it. I mean, of course, I'm not perfect. I get caught up, and but I know. But I know I get caught up. And I know. Okay, you can choose to be in this situation or you know how you can help yourself like, you know, it's
Karen Ridder Stuart: and hopefully I choose to be helping myself instead of, you know, really getting too caught up and stuff.
Megan Mary: And you've done it so regularly for so long that you almost instinctively did it for yourself, which is amazing.
Karen Ridder Stuart: And see everybody instinctively. It's very interesting, because each finger has
Karen Ridder Stuart: an emotion associated with it. And it's so interesting when I see people holding fingers, and it's like, or just the way their body like you're just the way you hold yourself. It just tells so much about you, and it's cool to see how and even like colors, each colors is associated with a depth and an emotion. So it's very cool to see how people just instinctively know how to help themselves without even knowing what they're doing.
Megan Mary: Right? It's so, so so subtle. But I think that's where it's beauty lies.
Megan Mary: So what's next for you in your journey?
Honestly like as
Karen Ridder Stuart: this is it. This is where my children are older. you know, for the past 20 years I really only practiced on myself and my family if a friend, as of course I'd be happy to. But now that my youngest is in college, I feel like this is my time to really
Karen Ridder Stuart: focus on Jin Shin Jyutsu, and again doing what I can promote it and just educate people, or just let them know it exists.
Megan Mary: Yes, that's the first step.
Megan Mary: Yeah. So what are the 3 takeaways you hope listeners learn from today's talk.
Karen Ridder Stuart: Oh, gosh! I guess the number one is.
Karen Ridder Stuart: I had 3 things going in my head and trying to decide what I think is the most important. So maybe in no particular order, I think they're all important. But I guess that, you know, starting out with, with just like to releasing the anger that
Karen Ridder Stuart: was so profound, and, as you said it.
Karen Ridder Stuart: it opened the up to let in the good. Come in.
I think the second thing, I just want people to know that Jin Shin Jyutsu exists. I want them to know that
Karen Ridder Stuart: they can feel so amazing like they you just don't need
Karen Ridder Stuart: to, you know, feel anything other than perfect health and harmony and Jin Shin Jyutsu, it's so easy to do on yourself, and it's so gentle, and it's just
Karen Ridder Stuart: the world is. I just would love to see a world where everybody
Karen Ridder Stuart: makes it like a daily part of their lives. I mean, you'd have just so much more.
Karen Ridder Stuart: That wasn't proper English, because I wasn't sure what I wanted to say. It would just be filled with people who just were so much more at peace with themselves and with others, and just healthier in their bodies, with their minds, Spirit.
Karen Ridder Stuart: It's it's a beautiful vision, and that I guess the third thing we we want to 3, so that there's always hope like just when you think that there is none, there is always help, and I am a big believer in prayer.
Karen Ridder Stuart: I'm a very big believer in prayer.
Megan Mary: So where can people find you if they want to learn more about this?
Karen Ridder Stuart: Oh, sure. So I have a website. It's www.jsjbykaren.com. I also have a Facebook page and an Instagram. It's jsjbykaren.com.
Karen Ridder Stuart: and I just post tips.
Karen Ridder Stuart: you know, and helpful Jin Shin Jyutsu tips, and if anybody is any questions I mean, I do offer virtual sessions, or I could guide people, you know, through self help themselves, or you know, anybody could reach out to me. You know my contact information is on all of my social media sites, and you know I'm happy if anybody has a project they need help with them. Happy to offer. You know any suggestions, or.
Karen Ridder Stuart: you know, help that I can.
Megan Mary: Awesome.
Megan Mary: Well, thank you so much. I will put your link in the show notes, so everyone can find you. And hopefully this will spread the word for you and I'm glad to have discovered it as well, and I'm going to be experimenting with it, and
Megan Mary: just happy to spread the word and try it out. So thank you very much for being here today.
Karen Ridder Stuart: Thank you so much Megan, this is such a pleasure. Thank you so much.