In the resonance repatterning system we use muscle checking to determine what the body needs or what the body is resonating with. We deliberately use the term muscle checking because it’s very neutral. We are simply checking in with the body and asking for direction. Other practitioners prefer the term muscle testing. That is often found in a more medical setting like a chiropractor, naturopathic physician, homeopathic physician, or other more medical models. Can you remember being in grade school and having your teacher announce “get ready for your test”? Does your body still constrict when you hear that word “test”? What if the teacher said “I would like you to answer some questions for me so I can check in with you and make sure you’re clear about the material we covered this week”. Do you think that would have felt better? That’s energetically the difference between the word test and check in my opinion. Test tends to create an anxious response. Check is a touchstone. It tells us where we are at this moment without judgment.

What is muscle checking? It is applied kinesiology which has been a reliable biofeedback mechanism for decades. Our bodies continually respond to the smallest of signals from the outside environment and from the inside environment of our thoughts, feelings and body chemistry. The autonomic nervous system has two branches. The sympathetic nervous system referred to as SNS. The parasympathetic nervous system referred to as PNS. The SNS speeds things up so we get ready to go into action. The PNS slows things down and allows us to relax and bond. This creates the perfect balance within. The autonomic nervous system controls about 90% of our bodies functions: breathing, heartbeat, digestion and all the millions of cellular responses that keep us alive and healthy. Our muscles,approximately 600 of them, are also controlled mostly by our autonomic nervous system. Muscles are binary. They can only give two responses; they either tense up or relax. That makes muscle checking very reliable. With practice muscle checking is the key that opens the resonance repatterning system. When we touch a hot plate we instantly take our hand off that hot plate before we have time to think about it consciously. This automatic reflex prevents us from harm. This is one way we are wired for success and survival. Our autonomic nervous system lets us know what will support our survival and what does not. Our muscles respond so we can take appropriate action.

When we muscle check ourselves or another we are asking the system to tell us where we’re at. Are we handling stress? Are we relaxing once the stress is over? If our checking in process tells us we are not handling stress and we are not relaxing once the stress is over; it can also tell us what we can do to change that pattern. There are 127 options available in our system!

Ardis