By Alexis Costello (Fall 2016: The Happy Issue)
I met Sylvia Marina in Copenhagen at an IASK (International Association of Specialized Kinesiologists) conference. She moved to the front of the room to speak and I was transfixed. Sylvia speaks in a warm resonant voice and you find yourself instantly trusting her, completely relaxed and yet a little in awe.
Basically, she’s the Oprah of the kinesiology world.
Thanks to superstars of the field like Dr. Bruce Lipton, many of us are familiar with the idea that our emotions and thoughts can have effects on DNA expression, literally changing our physiology to better match our perception of the environment. Sylvia has created a class entitled Transforming DNA Memories that shows students how to work with this to create their best self.
I sit in the early morning sun with a cup of coffee. Sylvia and I are separated by 14 time zones and she is getting ready to turn in for the evening but graciously sits in front of the computer screen to answer my questions.
A: You have been seeing clients for a number of years. What would make you think that a physical symptom in a client has a trans-generational origin?
S: When someone says something like, “I’m always tired. I’ve been to the Naturopathic Doctor, the herbalist, the specialized kinesiologist and acupuncturist. It comes right for a little while but then it’s the same.” I ask if any season triggers it and they say no. Is there any specific upset that might trigger it? Now they may recognize a trigger. “Every time I think about this certain subject…” That’s a sign that it might be more than the day-to-day that is making you tired.
I would work with cancer patients and they would come in saying they are completely clear of all cancer. Then a few months later, the cancer would come back again. Some time later they would come in, completely clear of cancer and again it comes back, almost as if they’re inviting it back again. Or they have a backache they can’t do anything about… maybe there is a greater story here about responsibility. On their DNA structure where genetics are carried and features are carried, the memories are carried on that – maybe this backache is a memory being carried on their DNA. If things are not being resolved in 2 or 3 or 4 sessions, we need to be looking at epigenetics, trans-generational trauma.
A: How long have you been working with this as a Specialized Kinesiology tool?
S: I’ve been working with it professionally for more than 20 years and created a mastery course for it in 2000, so it has been a long time.
A: In your paper (for the IASK Conference Journal) you make reference to trying desperately to please your foster parents, but feeling like they disapproved of your ethnic background. Did this influence your work in looking at trans-generational stress?
S: The whole of my childhood influenced my work. I was the child who was very different. Because of my ethnicity I looked different from my foster family, but I also acted different. I would ask, “Why do you have to cook the fish? We should eat it raw, as it is.” There were many little differences that separated me from my foster family and they resented me for it. When people would visit, (my family) would say, “we love all our children the same”, but when you don’t get the favours and the cuddles and the approval as the other children, you know that is not true.
As a child, you have to wait until you grow up to be able to make your own choices. I was between this very English way of living (from my upbringing) and this call inside myself saying, “This is what I desire.” This has been a huge influence in helping people to be true to their own knowing.
A: This word “Entelechy” (see side bar)… I’m a book fiend and the kind of girl who always wins at Scrabble, but I had never seen this word before I read your paper! Can you tell me about it?
S: I looked for a word that said that we have a wisdom inside ourselves that would make us right and whole. I have always had a fascination with creatures that migrate; the internal wisdom that tells them to travel so far to have their babies and then travel back. I searched for a word that would represent this, and I found it in these writings of Aristotle.
A: Love and connection are major themes in your work. How do these affect DNA expression?
S: People have a concept of love, but when you ask, “What is love?” they don’t know what it is. But they know when they don’t have it! Love is around us all the time. That lovely oxytocin feeling comes from feeling connected to love. Being connected to that vibration of love and healing, appreciation of who we are and that (we are) worthy of healing and being whole. We know the words, but unless we are connected to them, they have no value.
A: You have been in this industry for a long time. What would you consider ‘Required Reading’ for kinesiologists?
S: “The Brain that Changes Itself” (by Norman Doidge) comes to mind. Because that book tells us that; if we have the awareness, the belief, the commitment; then the brain can create new pathways. It has many examples of how people can train their body. People see little bits of improvement, which is exciting, and they begin to believe change is possible. That book is nice because it’s not so complicated for the layperson.
Another is “Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself”, by Dr Joe Dispenza.
A: Is there anything else that you feel it’s important for people to know about you and about your work?
S: My work actually goes in on a level that most other courses just manage to miss. This is what my students say. One of the things I work with in the course is a list of words called Keys to Clearing. Those specific words take people right into their DNA story. We use very specific focused meditation as well.
People often talk about love – we love in many, many ways – but we are only really connected to it through understanding. It is like yin and yang, we can have lots of each, but the beauty is when they come together and everything makes sense. Like when fingertips enfold and move together. It’s the beauty of bringing all our parts together and connecting them.
Sylvia is one of the keynote presenters at the IASK Conference in Bergamo Italy 2017, discussing the topic “Understand Your Entelechy”.
For more information about Sylvia Marina and her work, visit www.sylviamarina.com/
en·tel·e·chy: In the philosophy of Aristotle, it is the condition of a thing whose essence is fully realized. Entelechy is a vital force that directs an organism toward self-fulfillment.
Applied to our lives, experiencing your entelechy is about moving past fear, insecurity, judgment and separation, and understanding the potential that we each brought with us into this life.
Entelechy is knowing that your purpose here is to express all that you are capable of, releasing and expressing your talents and abilities, trusting your life, and living as an actualized, unique and powerful person – you probably know that but are you doing it?
Are you the joy, the love, the inner happiness and stillness you inwardly desire?
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