There are many energy practitioners who are highly skilled in using muscle testing in their work. Many find muscle testing of some sort helpful and use it frequently. I do think it is a potentially very helpful skill to learn. In trained hands it can be a useful tool to help assess where to start or where to “go” in a session.
However, even though I have had 6 days of muscle testing classes, I now only occasionally use it in my work with others. I’ve been asked several times, “Why?”
First, part of my education about muscle testing was about all the ways it can be inaccurate. Secondly, as I became more experienced I began to know how the muscle would respond as soon as the question was formulated but before the muscle reacted at all.
Did I get better at intuition, which my ego likes to think :-), or was I able to recognize an even more subtle response that happened before the muscle responded? On the other hand, was I in some way influencing the response of the client?
I took Roger Callahan’s Thought Field Therapy class in 2000.
I was at Roger’s TFT Level B workshop at his 75th birthday and we were all treated to the absolute best carrot cake
I’ve ever tasted. But, I digress.
TFT, as you probably know, uses muscle testing to “diagnose” which point needs tapping in what order.
We often broke into dyads during the week to work with each other. At one Q&A session to discuss our experiences I asked Roger Callahan if every person in the room tested the same person for the same problem that I had tested would they get the same response as I had. His answer was – no. He talked about the energetic connection between people and that the energy of the “two” could impact the responses. Wow! This was early in my “energy” career and this was “earth shattering” to me.
Remember Power vs Force by David Hawkins? Great book, I recommend it. However, as I read it I recalled Callahan’s remarks and have always wondered about how Hawkins “trained” his assessors to be able to have the exact same response with everyone. Wouldn’t some standard deviation of variance be expected? Wouldn’t that same level of human energetic connection that Callahan mentioned and the same level, but unrelated, of natural human variance in the way they see others, still be impactful?
Where do you weigh in on the muscle testing issue? Pro or Con? Why? Leave your comments below.
HOW TO SELF MUSCLE TEST – there are many ways but here are my favorites
THE PENDULUM – One way is to use a pendulum and ask for a yes response and then a no response – they are not always the same from person to person, and sometimes even for you it may be different so check every time before asking. I first learned this in 1974 from a book on hypnosis. Freaked me out when I tied a ring to a string and it started giving me a different response as I asked for a yes and no and I don’t know and I don’t want to answer! I dropped the thing like a hot potato.
THE FINGERS – hold your ring finger and your thumb of one hand tightly together into a circle. Using the middle finger of your other hand attempt to break the circle. Check what a tight hold feels like. Then say the word YES and pull with your middle finger. Then say NO and pull. You should feel either the fingers part or a slight “give” where the fingers join.
THE GALLON JUG – Take an empty gallon jug and fill it with just enough water that you can comfortably hold up with one out stretched hand. Say YES and note what happens. Say NO and somehow the jug seems heavier and may drop down a bit. If nothing happens you may try adding a bit more water at the time and try again.
Important! Two key factors that can impact muscle testing are hydration and muscle tiredness. So don’t have marathon sessions. And, last tip? Don’t make any life or death decisions based on muscle testing – yours or someone else.
It can also be fun to play with. While I did not pick a pendulum up again until 1999, I taught the “ring on a string trick” to my children and nieces as a game to keep them busy on long trips!
Please share your experiences with muscle testing and your pros and cons in the comments below.
Certain people can definitely do muscle testing and get good results. For me, though, I can’t get my conscious mind out of the way enough to do it properly. I can feel my thoughts “posturing” (think Mick Jagger) and “I know the answer”-ing as I ask the question. It’s even worse when it’s on myself. I also can’t be trusted to use the same pressure twice to test yes and no, so I just stay away from it. When I’m completely focussed on a client and I’m in a trance-y state from tapping, my conscious mind pretty much goes to sleep, THEN, my intuition will come alive and I’ll get real “answers” or inspired ideas, ones the client can relate to and which feel much more true and uninfluenced.
Yes, getting our “self” out of the way” (i.e. your “trance-y” like state ) and not being attached to the outcome, are both critical to all aspects of working effectively with a client, including muscle testing. Only then does the work flow “through you and not by you,” as Gary often said. And, this getting self out of the way thing can be a real challenge sometimes! Hence, the emphasis on self-work throughout the EFT world.
I am intrigued by muscle response testing as well. I know there are people out there who are very efficient, and can even do remote testings. I have taken a course but didn’t have the patience to perfect the skill … on the future to-do list :)
I am certainly not anti MT; it can come in very handy in some situations. It does take practice. Practicing with the finger “ring” one is a easy way to gain experience. It is the one I use when I do occasionally remote test. It is still necessary to verify the results (e.g. a gut feeling) with the client. Or, I teach the client to do the finger test and check to see if we both get the same response. Amazingly, most all the time, we’ve had the same response.