Muscle Testing

What is Muscle Testing?

Simply put, it’s testing the resistance of a small or large muscle group. The strength or weakness of the resistance can be decoded as a yes or no answer to a question posed to a person’s subconscious.

What is it used for?

Muscle testing is a way to decode answers from the subconscious mind.  By testing the resistance of a muscle group, I can decode whether the answer is a “yes” or a “no” and it can be used in many areas of life. 

Emotion Code & Body Code Work: Muscle testing is at the forefront of this healing modality.  The muscle testing trusts the subconscious mind to walk the client and me through the body code map to isolate each layer of imbalance. 

Diet & Food Sensitivity:  When I was 20, I began having severe gastrointestinal issues and couldn’t figure out what was going on since nothing in my life or diet had changed.  I pulled out everything I was eating on a daily basis and muscle tested each item.  When it came to the peanut butter, the resistance weakened between my fingers and that was my answer - my body could no longer tolerate peanut butter.  The moment I cut out all peanut-based products from my diet, my stomach issues vanished.  The moment I ingested anything with peanuts, it reappeared.  

Supplements: Each time I take a new supplement, I muscle test and ask how many I need and how many times a day I need it. I also ask if it’s needed with or without food.  After I have been taking a supplement for six months, I will muscle test and ask if my body still needs it and make decisions accordingly.  I will muscle test for my dog and ask if his body would benefit from certain supplements and how much he needs per day.

Plants: I have over 30 house plants and I have learned that plants know when and how they want to be watered. So, every few days I go to each plant, muscle test, and ask if they need water, whether it’s egg or banana water, and whether it’s top or bottom water. I will also muscle test to ensure the plant is happy with where I have placed it in the house and the light it receives.

Food in the Fridge: I have a tendency to leave food in the fridge with good intentions to eat it later.  I will muscle test and ask if the food is still safe to eat. If the answer is no, it goes straight into the green bin!

What it’s not used for:

Muscle testing does not act as a lie detector test, nor can it pull up repressed memories. It also cannot win the lottery or predict.  

Who can muscle test?

Anyone! Muscle testing takes practice like anything else, but with time and trust in your body, you can muscle test! 

How do I muscle test?

There are various ways to muscle test yourself and each has their own name.  Two popular types are the sway test, which is easiest for beginners to feel it in their bodies,  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyp1VnGHiS8) and the ring-in-ring method, which I do during sessions (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az51_hxC6YU)

The arm test (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_TvWopgzho) can be used to perform a muscle test on another person.

Even more techniques can be found here: (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=different+types+of+muscle+testing)

Whether my sessions are in person, the phone, or on zoom, I always use the ring-in-ring method on myself. I have found that people will try and guess what they are supposed to do after each question, which gives an inaccurate read for the answer.  Since I can connect to the subconscious energy of my clients, I can use myself as a conduit to decode what my client’s subconscious is communicating.

The History:

The first documentation of the theories about muscle testing appeared in The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, written during the Han Dynasty, sometime between the 4th and 2nd centuries BCE in China.  The development of muscle testing was influenced by acupuncture and acupressure points.

In the late 1800s, an occupational group in Sweden became the foundation for physiotherapy and physical therapy.

In Boston during the early 1920s, orthopedic surgeon R.W. Lovett developed a hands-on method for assessing muscle strength to identify functional loss and nerve injury in patients with polio.  He maintained that these muscle tests could reveal the location of nerve impairment because muscles that appeared “weak” typically corresponded to the same spinal nerve.

In 1948, two physiotherapists, Kendall and Kendall, published Muscles: Testing and Function, where they built on Lovett’s premise and created their own model for muscle testing. 

In the 1960s, George Goodheart, a Detroit chiropractor, used Kendall and Kendall’s findings with his clients.  He found that he was able to help clients feel more relief beyond a regular chiropractic adjustment by balancing their muscles, which cleared additional issues.  He noticed there was a connection between chiropractic techniques and Chinese medicine.

In the 1970s, Goodheart’s following grew as he lectured in conferences and he began to teach his methods to students. These students then shared the information with new students and developed their own system of testing.  One student, Dr. John Thie proposed that muscles respond differently depending on the type of stress placed on them. This insight supported the view that muscle-related problems are tied to internal imbalances.  These imbalances might arise from blocked energy or from challenges in the physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, or nutritional realms.

In the 1980s, Dr. Bearall, another student of Goodheart, created his own system of over 250 specific muscle tests, meant to target major muscles of the body.  He also introduced the idea that the subconscious mind could communicate through muscle testing, with strong or weak reactions indicating “yes” or “no” responses.  Applied Physiology was also developed by Richard Utt, which included multiple muscle states. Lastly, American researcher Charles Krebs expanded the practice of muscle testing by creating the Learning Enhancement Acupressure Program (LEAP). His work involved extensive study of the brain, the nervous system, kinesiology, and various energetic sources.

In 2007, Holistic Chiropractor, Dr. Bradley Nelson, created the Emotion Code, using muscle testing to find and release trapped energies, emotions, and imbalances.

Currently, manual muscle testing systems are PSYCH-K, Total Body Modification, BodyTalk, the Emotion Code, Body Code, and Belief Code, Neuro-Emotional Technique (NET), and Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).