PATIENT TO PATIENT 2014
It's been a year since I began visiting Jan Dederick for Kairos treatments. From the start I noticed that individual sessions (90 minutes) allowed me to fall into the most delicious sleep, after which I came out feeling light, energetic and positive.
Then, about the fourth treatment, I started feeling better -- severe back pain and migraine headaches lifted; feelings of emptiness and loss of purpose diminished. In their place I felt refreshed, confident and grounded. These were subtle changes at first, but the longer I went for (weekly) sessions, the more the feelings deepened in both body and mind (and, I guess, psyche and soul).
If you are thinking of trying Kairos, don't worry about not knowing what to expect, since no one does at the beginning. All I knew was that Jan Dederick as a former chiropractor had discovered that "Kairos works faster," whatever that meant. The recommendation to see her came from a Jungian psychotherapist (not mine) whom I admire greatly and who sees Jan for her own treatments.
And no one knows how to describe Kairos either. Some people call it a form of body work, but it's not like massage or guided meditation or talk therapy. Compared to those forms of treatment, in Kairos, "nothing much happens" from the client's point of view: You talk to Jan about things that are bothering you for about 10 minutes; then you lie down fully clothed for another hour or so while Jan moves around the table placing her hands on parts of the body.
Thank heaven for the doctor's sense of humor and humility. Jan has called herself a "kind of a border collie" because her hands sense blockage of chi, the life energy that circulates through the body. She understands how your energy system flows, so strategic placements of her hands open up areas that are stuck and chi can flow unimpeded. It sounds simple, and Jan says it is, but there's something profound about it. All I know is that things that have been bugging me for a long time -- for example, memories that still make me feel depressed after 40 years; sciatica that was killing me when I stood up from a chair -- not only fade away, they're replaced in a positive way I can't explain.
Sometimes you'll feel emotions coming forward while you lie on the table. Jan may encourage you to focus on how it felt to go through something painful that happened years ago, or yesterday. This helps free up those stuck parts.
Most of the time, during the last half of the session you'll find yourself drifting into that dreamlike sleep I described earlier as "delicious." There's no other word for it, except maybe "luxurious," like a beautiful vacation. You're not completely asleep, though you're definitely "in the Kairos," another term I can't define but, like "in the zone," or "among the stars," you'll love it when you go there. Almost always, you'll leave the session feeling ready to go, ready to "take it on," whatever it is. Jan suggests that clients go for a little walk before driving a car because that sense of enormous well-being after the session can slow the reflexes. “Get in your body before you get in your car,” she says.
That's the reason you don't need to know why Kairos works to get the grand benefits. All you need is a mind that's open to something powerful in terms of one's personal health. What you get is joy, maybe for the first time, of experiencing life in the moment.
-- Pat, 2014
